I am sad to say that my 2013 spring hunting is officially over. It was an amazing season filled with highs and lows where the highs far out weighed the lows. I was able to hunt in several states with some of the best hunting buddies anyone could ask for and we were rewarded with more gobblers than we probably deserve. I am glad I was able to do it one more spring and I am already anticipating 2014.
My hillbilly buddy came down for the opening week and struck iron first in SC
(http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y106/SCtrkyhntr/2013-04-02_10-41-27_903_zpsd346ba3e.jpg) (http://s4.photobucket.com/user/SCtrkyhntr/media/2013-04-02_10-41-27_903_zpsd346ba3e.jpg.html)
Then we managed a public land double on a pair of boss toms
(http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y106/SCtrkyhntr/20130404_111720_zpsbd3d3573.jpg) (http://s4.photobucket.com/user/SCtrkyhntr/media/20130404_111720_zpsbd3d3573.jpg.html)
(http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y106/SCtrkyhntr/20130404_111941_zps0584b78f.jpg) (http://s4.photobucket.com/user/SCtrkyhntr/media/20130404_111941_zps0584b78f.jpg.html)
And a few days later we repeated the public land double
(http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y106/SCtrkyhntr/2013-04-05_09-18-48_888_zpsdb198e02.jpg) (http://s4.photobucket.com/user/SCtrkyhntr/media/2013-04-05_09-18-48_888_zpsdb198e02.jpg.html)
A few days later I ran across this hot headed bird that came in by the book
(http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y106/SCtrkyhntr/2013-04-06_14-03-59_161_zps5831aeb5.jpg) (http://s4.photobucket.com/user/SCtrkyhntr/media/2013-04-06_14-03-59_161_zps5831aeb5.jpg.html)
The very next day I had a red dot failure that cost me two more longbeards, so I made an adjustment to the red dot with a rather unusual tool for optics adjustment.
(http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y106/SCtrkyhntr/2013-04-07_13-31-29_351_zpsd3432b4e.jpg) (http://s4.photobucket.com/user/SCtrkyhntr/media/2013-04-07_13-31-29_351_zpsd3432b4e.jpg.html)
My long time hunting partner and I got on this bird around 11:00 am, after a hour of persuasion, he finally came in for a look.
(http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y106/SCtrkyhntr/2013-04-13_11-30-25_809_zps0bcf65ba.jpg) (http://s4.photobucket.com/user/SCtrkyhntr/media/2013-04-13_11-30-25_809_zps0bcf65ba.jpg.html)
Later that same day I got on three of the best gobbling birds I encountered all season. They gobbled hard but were not easy by any means. Over an hour and a half of hard gobbling before they came into range from the worst possible direction. An off handed shot arranged a meeting between my knee and the shotgun fore arm that left me limping for a few days, the reward was worth the pain.
(http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y106/SCtrkyhntr/2013-04-13_17-49-00_656_zps3f15bb07.jpg) (http://s4.photobucket.com/user/SCtrkyhntr/media/2013-04-13_17-49-00_656_zps3f15bb07.jpg.html)
I then packed my bags and headed for the annual tour of my favorite western states. We had some of the best weather we have ever had on our trip out there and the turkeys worked great as well. We killed Merriams, Rios, and Hybrids. My buddy and I also collected our best spurs of the season out West, his was his best ever.
A double beard and two triple beards that my partner and I double teamed on day one out west.
(http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y106/SCtrkyhntr/2013-04-26_10-14-16_884_zps6741c7c5.jpg) (http://s4.photobucket.com/user/SCtrkyhntr/media/2013-04-26_10-14-16_884_zps6741c7c5.jpg.html)
(http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y106/SCtrkyhntr/2013-04-26_10-23-27_508_zps19d46bdd.jpg) (http://s4.photobucket.com/user/SCtrkyhntr/media/2013-04-26_10-23-27_508_zps19d46bdd.jpg.html)
The next morning he killed a hammer Rio...
(http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y106/SCtrkyhntr/2013-04-27_09-11-59_453_zps8fa8c21c.jpg) (http://s4.photobucket.com/user/SCtrkyhntr/media/2013-04-27_09-11-59_453_zps8fa8c21c.jpg.html)
I managed to add a few Merriams to the Rio I already had
(http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y106/SCtrkyhntr/2013-04-28_06-45-32_741_zpsa366ea3a.jpg) (http://s4.photobucket.com/user/SCtrkyhntr/media/2013-04-28_06-45-32_741_zpsa366ea3a.jpg.html)
(http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y106/SCtrkyhntr/2013-04-28_10-32-07_70_zps4e6361ba.jpg) (http://s4.photobucket.com/user/SCtrkyhntr/media/2013-04-28_10-32-07_70_zps4e6361ba.jpg.html)
We headed to another state and continued the carnage for a few more days
(http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y106/SCtrkyhntr/2013-04-28_15-36-28_875_zps5363f9f8.jpg) (http://s4.photobucket.com/user/SCtrkyhntr/media/2013-04-28_15-36-28_875_zps5363f9f8.jpg.html)
(http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y106/SCtrkyhntr/2013-04-28_16-45-03_188_zps9b1f82eb.jpg) (http://s4.photobucket.com/user/SCtrkyhntr/media/2013-04-28_16-45-03_188_zps9b1f82eb.jpg.html)
(http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y106/SCtrkyhntr/2013-04-29_07-47-11_635_zps572a5686.jpg) (http://s4.photobucket.com/user/SCtrkyhntr/media/2013-04-29_07-47-11_635_zps572a5686.jpg.html)
My best spurs from the western adventure
(http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y106/SCtrkyhntr/2013-04-28_15-47-48_667_zpsb22a3231.jpg) (http://s4.photobucket.com/user/SCtrkyhntr/media/2013-04-28_15-47-48_667_zpsb22a3231.jpg.html)
I celebrated our trip with a wild turkey double of the 101 subspecies before I departed.
(http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y106/SCtrkyhntr/2013-04-29_18-18-06_655_zpsa940e029.jpg) (http://s4.photobucket.com/user/SCtrkyhntr/media/2013-04-29_18-18-06_655_zpsa940e029.jpg.html)
I came home and it took less than a week to convince myself that I needed to make a run north and hunt for a few more days. I headed up to visit my hillbilly buddy, I enjoyed some fantastic views and attempted to set a record for climbing the most mountains. We chased the birds hard in some less than perfect weather and after walking the soles off of a pair of boots, I was finally able to connect with a bird on the second afternoon.
(http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y106/SCtrkyhntr/f9e074e6-8b57-4e22-aade-e68dfad2e04b_zpsdd7af134.jpg) (http://s4.photobucket.com/user/SCtrkyhntr/media/f9e074e6-8b57-4e22-aade-e68dfad2e04b_zpsdd7af134.jpg.html)
(http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y106/SCtrkyhntr/2013-05-11_18-16-53_123_zpsbf440fd7.jpg) (http://s4.photobucket.com/user/SCtrkyhntr/media/2013-05-11_18-16-53_123_zpsbf440fd7.jpg.html)
Time to toss out the broken down boots, clean the gun, and order some more hevi shot for 2014.
(http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y106/SCtrkyhntr/2013-05-12_20-52-51_421_zps8c7b8e45.jpg) (http://s4.photobucket.com/user/SCtrkyhntr/media/2013-05-12_20-52-51_421_zps8c7b8e45.jpg.html)
Come on Spring 2014!
Solid work Dusty! Hammered them brother!
Congrats on a awesome season. Great pics, thanks for sharing.
congrats great season
Good stuff Dusty!!!!
Congrats!!
Some great birds there. Awesome season.
Those are some really nice birds, Congrats on a great year!
that is some serious turkey slaying :turkey2:
Man what an unbelievable season!! I wish I had half the time to be in the woods that you have, I envy that. Work gets in the way of everything thats truly important, turkey season being number one on the list!! Congrats on an awesome season!
Awesome. Congrats on a great season....
Outstanding!
congrats!
Unreal. That's awesome. I'm absolutely baffled by some of those hooks.
:drool:
Great birds! Awesome hooks!