First Mississippi gobbler of the season

[BB30]

Hunted before work Friday morning and didn't connect. Had an enjoyable morning with a group of jakes.

Saturday morning brought cooler temps and overcast skies. I went with a kid that works for me to his uncle's land. We didn't hear much gobbling on the roost. Set on a bird on the limb but was pretty sure I had bumped him trying to get us in tight. I always forget at the beginning of the season how hard it is getting two people in close on a turkey.

We decided to move down towards the river and struck a bird that was about 300+ yds from us. I wasn't quite sure if what I had heard was a turkey or not. Eased down another 45-50yds and checked him again. This time I was absolutely sure of what I had heard and it seemed as though he had closed the distance considerably. I put him at around 200 yds this time. I backtracked about 45 yds just on the other side of a small rise and set up. By the time I had gotten seated which didn't take too terribly long he gobbled  about 65 yds directly in front of us just over the rise and out of sight.

I scratched in the leaves and the next time he gobbled he was on our level directly to our left around 40-45 yds from us. There was a blow down to the kids left and he never could see him to get a clear shot. He stood there drumming for a bit before heading back the way he came. He covered ground to me extremely quick and covered ground away from me extremely quick. The next time I heard him he was over 200 yds from us.

We decided to make the block and continue on toward the river with no luck. At this point it was around 11 AM with very little going on. We started to hunt our way out and decided to check a field close by. At the other end of the field I could make out a few turkeys and what I thought was a strutter in the group. The road I was on coming into the field went up and crested so we backed down about 15 yds to where he could shoot to the top and called once and was cut off. 30 seconds later a gobbler was periscoping us and being a little rusty I had misjudged the point of where I thought we would first be able to see him. He was at about 50-60yds. I let him walk off and we belly crawled up to the crest.

I cut aggressively and yelped again and he gobbled around 200 yds from me back at the other end of the field. At this point I figured we were potentially out of the game as he had already come over once and left turkeys in the back of the field to do it. Well, not 30 seconds later 5 gobblers are working across the field towards us a a pretty quick rate. 1 strutter and 4 others. I had a kid with me that was on shooting duty. He pulled the trigger when they were at about 25 yds and a nice big click went off. The turkeys stuck their heads up and I was able to get a clean shot on one of the other gobblers. Ended up killing the gobbler at 12 pm. Unfortunately the kid's firing pin went off and hit the primer cap but apparently didn't hit it hard enough to set the shell. 

Was quite an enjoyable day in the woods. Man, it was hard going to work this morning knowing turkeys were gobbling somewhere. Thankful for getting the opportunity to enjoy another season in the spring woods and glad it has started up.   

[BB30]

Pictures from Saturday.


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[tomstopper]

Congrats. Sounds like he has some birds to work with so hopefully he gets another chance.

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[cwb04]

Congrats BB30 - sounds like a great day for sure!  What part of the state are you in.  Pretty quiet for me up here in the Central part.  Heard 3 on an adjacent property on Friday morning - but didn't hear a peep Saturday or Sunday!  Congrats again!

[Jrkimbrough]

Congrats!  Nothing like those first gobbles of the season!

[randy6471]

Sounds like you guys had an awesome day. Congrats!

[shoer2]

Congratulations

[surehuntsalot]

congrats on the bird

[Spitten and drummen]

I thumped me a nice 3 year old this morning. Congratulations.

[kyturkeyhunter4]

Congratulations

[Ozarks Hillbilly]

Congrats

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[BB30]

Congrats BB30 - sounds like a great day for sure!  What part of the state are you in.  Pretty quiet for me up here in the Central part.  Heard 3 on an adjacent property on Friday morning - but didn't hear a peep Saturday or Sunday!  Congrats again!

Lowndes and Noxubee county primarily. It's been hit or miss on gobbling. Gobbled good on the limb Friday and Sunday not so much Saturday.


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[Knik]

Congratulations!

[Gen.27:3]

That is awesome, congratulations!

[zelmo1]

Congrats, too bad about the kid. Next time