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Got set up in mosquito hell about 20 yds off of a field edge where I had heard the birds yesterday and they were all roosted in the same locations...plus a few more! Three were about 100 yds to my right, 1 at 200 yds left, 2 straight ahead at 300 yds, 1 behind me to my right at 300 yds.
The one to my left came down first but went the other way. The three close ones came down and set up strutting about 60 yds ahead and to my right along the edge of the field. It was open in front of me and to the left, open brush behind me and thick brush to my right.
At times I could see them strutting through the brush. I hadn't done any calling until they were all down and I realized they were not moving. Yelped a few times and they responded. Next thing I knew they gobbled about 15 yds to my right in the thick brush! The 3 of them, 2 toms and an jake, stepped out and spent a few minutes looking for the hen and all I could do was freeze because I wasn't set up to shoot that direction and there was always at least 1 bird that would have busted me if I had moved anyway.
They eventually went back the way they had come and set up strutting again. I shifted around the tree to allow a shot to the right and called again but this time only the jake came to me. He walked a circle around me and left headed up the hill behind me while the toms seemed to be moving farther away down the field edge. Once the coast was clear I moved about 3 trees closer to the strut area and did some more yelps which were answered. I shut up and waited and they gobbled again a good bit closer.
Eventually I saw them headed my way along the edge and they were walking and looking this time and not strutting so I got my gun ready and as the lead bird stepped out into the clear at 26 yds I sent a load of 9's his way and put our team on the board!
Really nice bird Jamey!! Way to start off!!
Congrats! Thanks for putting us on the board :you_rock:
Nice bird Jamey
Bird 2, 3-24-2012
Had spent my week scouting and setting up spots for others to hunt and went this morning to a spot that I knew had birds but I had not scouted yet. (BTW, 3 birds were killed by the 3 folks I did the scouting for)
I checked the radar before leaving the house and it looked like I should be good until about mid morning. I went to a spot in the corner of a field where I killed one last year and listened but the only gobbling I heard was very distant and off of the property I could hunt so I just waited until good and light and did a fly down cackle and a little yelping and then just waited.
I thought once that I heard a gobble close to me but it turned out just to be a tom mosquito showing off for the hen skeeters. :) I hope the man who invented the thermacell is a multi billionaire!!!
Started hearing thunder so checked the radar on my phone and saw that a pretty good storm had popped up and I was directly in its path. Was thinking about leaving when I looked to my right and out walks a tom. His beard didn't look all that impressive and he was walking in grass so I couldn't see his spurs so I just let him step on out into the field toward my decoy which he went directly to and then just stood there next to it. Looked at him with binos and decided he had good spurs so was just picking up my gun when something made a noise to my right (where he had come from) and he jumped and hustled further out into the field and out of range. I thought the noise sounded like a tom spitting and strutting so I figured it might be good to see what else stepped out but after several minutes nothing did.
Meanwhile the tom was putting on a real strutting show for my decoy and although he was out of range, he slowly was working his way back in. I did a few soft yelps and waited until he finally made it back to the 40 yd point where I felt comfortable shooting, so I put the red dot on his head and gave him a dirt nap with my 20ga Mossberg and TSS 9's.
Went out to retrieve him and laid him down with my stuff and headed to get the truck and the bottom fell out before I could get there and I ended up being drenched but happy! His spurs didn't have any ground shrinkage but actually were larger than they looked through the binos.
Jamey
Congrats again! :drool:
your a beast Jamey.........congrats on no.2
Congrats bornagain!!!!!where's the story?
Bird #1 down.
scouted the day before the hunt and found this bird. We got to the spot early and waited for day light, he gobbled and we made a move on him.
He gobbled on the roost several times, flew down quite and snuck in. He had a Jake with him and they went right bye us. We let out a few clucks and they came back our way.
He gobbled at every sound in the woods , over 100 times and was only about 18 yds away.
We could tell by the way he was acting he was not the dominate bird in the area. After an hour of thinking about it, he blew up and strutted in nice and slow. Shot was less than 20 yds. There was not a lot of calling, but it sure was exciting having him that close for that long.
We checked a game camera in the area and there are at least two other birds bigger than him, way bigger. I have another hunt on this wma in 2 weeks, so I will be back.
John
Cograts John.
Congrats on your bird John! Let's keep running up that score!
Congrats John ! Thats a good looking bird :drool:
Set up this morning at the corner of a field that the birds like to strut in...right where a lane enters the field. Had 2 gobbling within 150 yds and lots of hens. Hens flew down and landed right in front of me and I think there ended up being about 12 hens but I didn't count to be sure.
One tom entered the field about 40 yds out and he looked pretty good but the most vocal one was still gobbling behind me so I decided to wait and see what he looked like. He walked right past me at 10 yds but wasn't as good as the other (who was by now out of range out in the field) so I let him pass.
Fortunately, even though smaller, he turned out the dominant bird and ran the other, bigger one away from the hens. The looser then started working his way along the edge and toward me so when he got to about 25 yds I had a good open shot and took it. Missed! He took off flying into the woods and the others all just stood out there watching. Finally they all figured out something was wrong and scattered in every direction as they left the field.
I was disgusted with myself for missing and after getting my stuff together and calming down for a minute I headed in the direction he had flown on the chance he was down...but he didn't act hurt by the way he flew away.
Did a grid search around a cypress pond and beyond for about 300 yds, found a couple of pretty good antler sheds while searching and then moved over and started searching my way back. About 100 yds from where I shot I kicked a palmetto clump and out the other side came my turkey trying to run and flap but couldn't go very well!! I ran him down and stood on his head till dead!!
At 64 points he scores less than my others so he won't help us in the contest but I sure was happy to have found him!
Prayer and persistence paid off for me today.
Jamey
http://www.flywayspecialties.com/forumpics/2012gobbler3.jpg
Congrats on the bird, that is a heck of a story.
Good bird man. Way to double check and make sure you didnt just wound and loose him.
Jamey, Congrats. Way to keep with it, like you said persistence and prayer! Coyote's are cussing you, ha.
Congrats Jamey.
That is a good lesson for everyone, always double check.
John
Congrats Turkeykiller22.
I need a score to be on the score thread?
John
I got to the field around 4:00 in the afternoon, scanned the wheat and didn't see anything. As I was heading towards the spot I wanted to set up, I saw a hen come walking out of the treeline right where I wanted to be. Snuck back to edge of field so I could work my way around through the trees, checking the field on occasion, knowing I could not get to my desired location. After an hour and a half of nothing else I decided to walk the woods and try to get a gobble, they would not respond to the crow call. A while later an owl sounded off and I heard a gobble no more than 50 yards from me in the wheat field. I worked my way up and saw the top of his head going towards the hens, the field is terraced so I could not see the birds, but I knew where they were. It was only 6:00 so I knew he would be a while henned up. Walked the woods and found where they had been roosting, followed a few trails and finally found the one covered with gobbler turds, went and camped out near an opening near where it entered the wheat field, figured I would stay there a while. The mosquitos were terrible and I thought about leaving, couldn't take it anymore. Then I heard the hens start fighting and he gobbled again, that was enough to make me stay. After ten minutes I did a few soft yelps and purrs on the traveling call followed by some loud and fast cutts on my diaphragm, put my calls down and waited. Once the bird realized the hens were leaving and heading towards the woods I could now see him, he came out of strut and started towards me in a frantic pace. Stopped about 60 yards out and started looking for the hens that were making noise. He putted around asking where they were, would of been nice had I any decoys out. Gave a few soft yelps and purrs on my diaphragm and he finally came closer. He started getting about not finding any hens and losing the ones he already had, he started to go back towards the other group of hens, but it was too late, he was in gun range. Put a round of one of my reloads across the back of his neck as he turned the other way. A 25 lb bird is a load to carry back across 3/4 of a mile of oats in old corn stubble, well worth it though. A few pics, also one of a bearded dog along with a bearded bird, he did manage to get it off the ground and start retrieving it to me. Total score was 68.5
I shot another bird. It was not a big bird and my other bird scored better.
It was the last day of my quota hunt so I decided to take the 1st legal bird.
Another tough season, I was fortunate to get 2 birds.
John
way to go team strutt stoppers.. congrats to all
Just got back from New Mexico and was able to kill 2 merriams there however neither will better my score.
Congrats to you other guys who are killing birds!! Looking good.
I got the travel call Tuesday! I set out this morning to hunt one of my favorite wma's in middle TN. I arrived a little early and was taking my time getting my GPS coordinates set when a Longbeard started Gobbling in the pine thicket behind me. The sky is still pitch black. I grab my vest,gun and flashlight and head into the thicket. These birds have been henned up bad. I decided to get as close to him as I dare while all this time he is still Gobbling nonstop. I get within 60 yards of him and decide thats close enough. As dawn slowly arrives I etch out 3 seductive hen yelps from our travel call. The bird answers back with a triple gobble! Within minutes I can hear the sound of foot steps in the leaves. I can make out a white nogging easing thru the timber. I raise my gun and when I see the legal beard...Well the rest is History!(http://i1105.photobucket.com/albums/h351/timberjack86/1335470641.jpg)
Great job timberjack, nice bird. Another bird down with call #1. :you_rock:
Nice Bird Timberjack. Congrats
time to share my story i guess,, sorry for being late .. starting out on open.n morn i was in the woods at daylight ,, heard 3 gobblers was all. one close the other two on opposite sides of the mountain. i do a flydown cackle with the ole' hat flopping trick to simulate a hen flying down then i was quite. then it happened ,the gobbler started sounding off , so i give a few yelps and again went silent but was'nt long till three hens came down the ridge to where he was over the bank but i still give some purr's , clucks .yelps (all real low cause he was close) . things went quite and i never heard a sound for about 30 minutes so i just sat there ,got out my call conditioning kit and worked on my box and slate call because i thought the hens had taken him down the ridge ,then it happened ,,the loudest gobble i'd heard ,,he was still in the same spot as before . he had went nowhere ,,guess he had bred te hens right there and then was coming for me , the stranger in town.. i steadyed myself agaist the tree and the 20 ga. on my knee and was.nt long till he hopped up over the bank and looking arround for me ..BANG///FLOP .7:30m my hunt was over. with bird on the atv ,and heading outa the woods at i called my friend to see if his 10 year old brother-n-law stayed the night with him and he had so i tell him to get him outa bed because i was coming to get him and call him in a gobbler. him and his brother-n-law had hunter since the day youth season came in but seen nuthin' but both were green to turkey hunting (neither had ever been ) .anyway ,Cade and I rode the atv up on the hill behind their house and we walked ,and walked and walked as i was hitting the box call to try to get a reply ,then we heard it ,a Gobble all way arround where we started so we kinda ran to cut the distance in half and i hit the box call again since that was what he answered and there it was a gain. the Gobble was way close so i put Cade up against the tree ,gave him my gloves,facemask and leafy outfit top ,and as he snuggled against the tree i handed him the 20 ga. and told him to set still. i bgan calling and the gobbler was closing in and since i did.nt have alt of camo to hide me i sat kinda on the bcckside of the tree and as the gobble hung up about 40 yards out i took with my feet and made a lot of noise kicking leaves and sticks going into a low purr and some yelps,,well the Gobble could'nt handle that so instear of struttins arround the log in front of hin,it flew up on top of the log, Gobbled and thats when Cade put the hurt on him at 20 yards . at 11:30 we both had our gobbles laying on the ground taking pics .. as we all stood there admiring out harvest with his parents ,grand parents and his sister and brother-n-law he looks up at me and says ,i guess that makes me a STRUT STOPPER too don't it? i laughed loudly as i said you my friend are now an honorary STRUT STOPPER then he ask,,,will you take me again next year .. he is hooked on the outdoors and gobbler huntin..