Turkey season 2024 was a roller coaster for me. I've never gone such long periods of time between getting on gobblers. Seems like the abundance of jakes and jennies made the existing adult gobblers on the landscape really tough to hunt. They had access to plenty of hens and big gangs of jakes kept them from wanting to gobble much. But, as always, persistence paid off, and I had some really lucky breaks during the season.
I started the season off in Mississippi camping and hunting some public ground for five days. I was able to get on birds each day, but never really got one pinned down good. Made a couple dumb mistakes on set-ups and watched henned up gobblers strut in the woods a couple times inside of 100 yds. Beautiful country with incredible history.
I've yet to tag a Mississippi gobbler, but hunting down there the past two years has been very enjoyable. There are turkeys to be had, they're tough to hunt, but the biggest thing I've noticed is how respectful the other hunters are. Seems like folks take turkey hunting a little more serious down there. Very little non-hunting activity on the public areas and guys keep moving if they see you hunting in an area. That's becoming rare in many other parts of the country.
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Nothing like sitting to a gobbler in a fresh burn on a mixed pine-hardwood ridge in the south.
My home state of Missouri was particularly tough on me. I had to miss almost half of the season due to work, but the days I did get to hunt were not terribly productive. Heard more than one gobbler each morning on the limb but only heard two birds gobble past 8am – a lone gobble at 10am and another bird that I got going at 11am but he had gone quiet again by 12:30pm and hadn't made an appearance by closing time at 1pm. Called up multiple groups of jakes in Missouri so that's encouraging for next year.
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Hard to beat a beautiful sunrise on Mark Twain National Forest – even if the turkeys whoop you.
I ran down to Tennessee one weekend to meet up with my father who was hunting in the area. The farm we hunted had a roving group of jakes that would swarm any gobbler that got fired up. We were lucky enough to have this one slip in quiet with a hen and Dad closed the deal on him.
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My luck finally broke in mid-May when I took a weekend to hit the upper Midwest. Drove overnight and got to MN in time to mess with a gobbler right off the roost. Ran into another hunter that was on that bird as well and had actually missed him the day before. I let him pursue his revenge and he ended up killing the gobbler about 10min after I left him to it. Later that afternoon I eased into an area that I'd gotten on birds in the past. Struck a bird on the first call and was securing a tag to his leg not 15 minutes later.
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Gotta love a textbook afternoon flash hunt.
Wisconsin was out of tags for that season so I drove over to Michigan. Got there the following day and bought a tag. First spot I walked into I came across six longbeards feeding in a field. They were easing towards private and that boundary prevented me from circling around in front of them so I started cutting at them and they turned on like a light switch. I sat against a huge oak tree and watched them strut and gobble all the way to ten yards. That was a sight for sore eyes!
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Then it was either PA or OH and with it being Saturday evening, PA was out as they aren't open on Sundays. I chatted with a buddy of mine who helped do some research for me while I was driving. I decided on a spot in Ohio and got there in time to try to roost a bird and set up camp. No luck roosting a bird and no gobbles at daylight. Seemed like they had an early spring in this area and the woods looked more like June than May. I figured there wasn't a large proportion of gobblers still "in the mood" but having hunted late season in the Midwest, I knew it was all about finding the right bird that still wanted to play. About 9am I got a gobble from way off on the next ridge. Ends up he was almost a mile from where I was when I first heard him. Moved in on him close as he was gobbling on his own consistently. I hadn't been sat down to him for 20 minutes when I saw him easing up the logging road towards the new unfamiliar hen he was hearing.
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3 days – 3 states – 3 public land gobblers. How's that for a change of pace? Chief and I were pretty proud of ourselves.
Late May, a buddy and I ran out to the Black Hills for 9 days to hunt WY and SD. It took us 7 days to fill our two WY tags and we came up empty over the last two days in SD. Stunningly beautiful country, but we found the gobblers to be largely non-responsive. Some gobbling on the roost and shortly after flydown in the mornings but that was about it. We heard birds gobble on the roost in the evening twice, and heard maybe 4 or 5 gobbles past 7am during the day. The turkeys are certainly not omnipresent in the hills, they're more in scattered pockets. Some areas had turkeys – as we saw gobblers strutting with hens – but no gobbling at all, even on the roost. There was also a shockingly high number of jakes. We saw several groups of jakes running around together – one group had 15 of them. Seems like the light winter they had was a boon for over-winter survival of last summer's production. I'm guessing all those jakes weren't helping the gobbling situation either.
Still it was incredible ground to spend time in and chase turkeys. I'm sure I'll be back at some point.
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Chief out for a mid-day run with Devils Tower on the horizon
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Pure Wyoming Black Hills
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We heard this bird from camp one evening after trying to roost birds elsewhere. Pure luck that we were there in time and weren't making noise when he gobbled 450 yds away so we could hear it. Light rain overnight made it easier to slip right in tight on him the next morning. He flew down with some hens and luckily they came my way. His last gobble was within 30yds just out of sight. That gave me time to get my gun swung around on him before he came walking over the crest of the ridge. It was everything a turkey hunter could ever ask for in a hunt.
So now its catching up on work and life then back to fixing what broke last waterfowl season and getting my crap in a pile before September arrives in a few short weeks.
Congrats, nice story and pics!
Thanks for sharing
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Great pictures and read, Congrats!
Well done! Congrats!
Very nice
Congrats
Thank you for posting, I enjoyed the read.
You had a great spring, congratulations!
You got to hunt a lot of beautiful country! Great Post!!!
Which was your favorite area to hunt? Think I would like the Merriam country...
Nice work.
Thanks for sharing
What a great adventure! Nice hunting. Thanks for sharing your stories.
great read!
thank you for sharing, and stunning pictures!
congratulations!!!
Ive had many jeke shots this season,and passed.Missed a long shot on a gobbler, probably around 50 yards.Only my 3rd miss in 30 years hunting.Still 2 days left,I'll probably get it done.Need some breaks to go my way this season! Come on!
Quote from: ybuck on May 29, 2024, 08:38:17 PMgreat read!
thank you for sharing, and stunning pictures!
congratulations!!!
;)
Congratulations! Not too shabby for a Missouri guy.
Quote from: Marc on May 28, 2024, 04:05:38 PMYou got to hunt a lot of beautiful country! Great Post!!!
Which was your favorite area to hunt? Think I would like the Merriam country...
I'm hard pressed to prefer anything over an eastern gobbler in the hardwoods, but the more "mountainous" country of the west is beautiful. Even when you aren't hearing gobblers, there's breathtaking views around every corner. You almost become immune to it after 4-5 days of living in it.
Awesome season, Thanks for sharing all the great pics!
Fun read. That all sounds great on paper but you must have been exhausted when it was all done. Great experiences though for sure.
Congrats on a great season! We missed you at the Missouri Disabled Sportsmen hunt this year! (This is Brad, the hunt coordinator) Had another great hunt this year as well with 10 mobility impaired hunters killing 7 birds. All but one hunter had an opportunity.
Wow! Great read and sounded like a fun season congrats.
Quote from: Hooksfan on June 03, 2024, 10:21:06 AMCongrats on a great season! We missed you at the Missouri Disabled Sportsmen hunt this year! (This is Brad, the hunt coordinator) Had another great hunt this year as well with 10 mobility impaired hunters killing 7 birds. All but one hunter had an opportunity.
Hey Brad! That's awesome news on the MDS hunt - good on y'all!
I was booked up that weekend guiding for the Kansas One Shot turkey hunt. I was able to watch this young man tag his first turkey on his day of hunting - ever.
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If only spring were just a few weeks longer to fit everything in...
I saw you moved up north - we'll have to try to link up and shoot some ducks at Fountain Grove this fall. I'll try to remember to reach out if/when I make it up that way.
Well done!! Thanks for sharing.