How many of you have ever killed a gobbler while standing up. In all my years of hunting one of the best gobblers i've ever killed i was standing up. I have the bird mounted in a full strut at my hunting cabin.
I've never shot one standing up, but I missed one three times standing up (was off balance). :TooFunny:
I don't think it's fair to shoot them when they are asleep so I always wait for them to stand up! ;-) (ok, sorry for the sarcasm, I couldn't resist) I have shot a standing turkey before. I was fall hunting and we were walking through the woods. Seemed odd to me.
First year TN had a four bird limit, I shot three while I was standing and one while I was kneeling. Fun to move in so close you don't have time to sit. Also, often you have a better view and more open shooting lanes while either kneeling or standing. By not being set (sit) in your ways, you have a whole lot more options on where to set up.
I've killed two or three while standing up. The last one was in a field and wouldn't respond at all to my calls from afar. I slipped up to the tree line at the edge of his field and was too visible to risk trying to sit down. When he finally broke he ran right up to the tree line and 20 yards where I was standing behind a tree.
One morning on public land I walked down a deep dry ditch and accidentally or luckily snuck up on a tom in full strut showing off for two hens. The hens putted and began to walk off but I didn't give the tom that opportunity, as I was standing there here was trying to figure out what hill he wanted to run up and the 870 gave him the ol TKO.
Yep killed a few standing up and kneeling. Killed some laying on my stomach as well.
A few actually, I'm thinking like 4 for various reasons. My favorite though was a buddy and myself went after a swamp bird one morning that I had hunted the week before, but I was on the wrong side of the railroad tracks when he started to gobble and I couldn't get to him because of a train coming down the tracks and by the time the train passed and i got over there he was down on the ground and 400yds out into a field headed off with hens on property I didn't have access to but his beard seemed to drag on the ground which intrigued me.
To get to these birds we had to cross a railroad track in the dark the next weekend and then on the other side the woods had a deep creek meandering through it and lots of low swampy ground and some raised up plateaus with Pines and oaks. We went left and set up but he started gobbling late and on the right side so we had to loop out and around the creek to get close to him. We set up and he was gobbling good but didn't seem to be moving much in the first few minutes when we hear a train coming again. My buddy said he that it was going to be super loud and there's enough cover in here we can slip really close to him without being seen and be in good position to kill him as soon as the train passes. So when the train started rattling by way to loud to hear anything or call we started slipping quickly down a deer trail toward the gobbler. We got maybe 50-60yds when my buddy who is a full head taller than I am told me to freeze, "dude here he comes right at us", "where"... "like point your gun right down the trail he's gonna come over the next rise and be right down your gun barrel"
He was right this bird pops up over the rise in full strut straight infront of us a mere 12yds away, he must have thought hey that hen will never hear my sweet gobbling with that darn train rattling by I better go get her fast. he was so into his strutting he never saw us both standing there in full camo and I shot him head on full strut mid drum at 8yds with a fist full of mag blends.
He had my longest beard to date at a 11 1/8th in and when we came out of the woods had one of the prettiest sunrises coming up over the Hudson just a mere 3/4mile away. Fun hunt and was over in 10min
Quote from: taylorjones20 on March 22, 2016, 10:40:08 AM
Yep killed a few standing up and kneeling. Killed some laying on my stomach as well.
I don't know about you, but that hurts :z-dizzy: Recoil of a turkey load down onto your shoulder does not feel good at all.
I shot one like this up a small grade. He wouldn't come out of strut for anything, but he was facing right at me, so I shot him anyways (he was near the top of the hill, so 2 steps and he would have been gone or I would have waited). I broke both wings, both legs, broke the breast bone and I thought I broke my collar bone. I ended up grinding the whole bird so I could get all the pellets out, and still ran a couple through the grinder.
I've killed one spring bird, and a few fall birds standing, but the most notable was a "fall" bird I killed on snowshoes.
I've done it a few times.
About 20-25% of the ones I've killed have been while I was standing.
Several standing and several more kneeling.
I've killed a few standing and spooked a few that probably wouldn't have if I'd been on the ground with a lower profile.
Bob
Just in the fall
I killed one a few years ago while standing with a Bow. I leaned against a big ole oak and he come by at 30 yards. When his head went behind a tree I drew and when he came out he stopped, I put the 30 yard pin at the base of his wing, and released. The arrow smacked him and he ran down a large ridge. I picked up a blood trail at the bottom and tracked him to a shallow creek where he laid all sprawled out dead. He had an almost 12" beard and 1 3/8 spurs. I used a homemade box call to call him up. I had to stick it in one of the pockets of my pants and I was scared to death it was going to sqwawk every time I moved.
I have neither had the pleasure nor the opportunity to harvest a thunder chicken while I was standing upright :toothy12:
Could not hunt opening morning many years ago. I could get away Sunday. A hard rain moved in that night, but since there was no lightning, I went with a buddy. We walked our legs off all over those woods. Never saw or heard anything. About 11:30 we were heading down a tram to my truck and just as we could see the truck a a gobbler ran across the road about 150 yards in front of us. We both said "did you see that?" at the same time. We formulated a plan. Where he was headed was very thick and there were 2 places he could get out of there without flying out, or coming back the way he came. I chose spot A and buddy went to spot B. We hoofed it there at high speed. I already knew where I was gonna set up. Just as I got there, I went to take a seat when a hen came by and spooked. She ran by me at about 5 steps and took flight. Right on her heels was Tom. He could not have seen me, but he saw her and that was good enough for him. I was a new turkey hunter in those days and I aimed at his head as he ran by at about 7 steps. Needless to say, I missed and he took to the air. Mistake. At this point, I had blood in my eye (as my buddy likes to say) and I just said, calm down, you got this. I let him fly far enough out to be sure I had a reasonable pattern and said to myself, "This is like shooting a Canada Goose. Aim at his head." I squeezed and down he went. Ran up to him and he was flopping, quite dead. Several pellets in the head (bulged the off eye). Only hit him in the head and neck. He did have a broken clavicle (wish bone) where he hit the ground so hard it fractured the wish bone! I had never had a chance to sit down or call.
I did accidentally creep up on one in a thick swamp and he had closed the distance to me from where he was gobbling. There were hens all around him and I guess he thought I was another hen slipping in. I missed him through the thick stuff. Should not have shot. Would not shoot today as I know better. Young and dumb I reckon.
I've shot several while standing. Most were in the fall but a couple while hunting in the spring. Walking to a destination and top over a small rise to find a strutting bird in from of you. No need to drop down and setup at that point. I've shot two while laying on my back years ago. Both times I'd shot at a bird in a fall flock and missed. The birds flew above me and lit in the tree above me. I'd just roll over and shoot them. Worked out well. Saves the walk to pick them up when they fall at your feet.
Shot them prone, sitting, and standing. Prone was the worst cause it was way off my right side (I would probably shoot left-handed if that happened again).
Bird I shot standing was strutting 20 yards away from me in a small depression and I never saw his head. I figured he would come out of the rise at any time, but he started walking off... I stood up and took a couple steps to higher ground as he was strutting away from me, gave a loud cluck, and his fan dropped and so did the hammer.
maybe 5 or six in the spring and heaven only knows how many in the fall. A lot. (although not all the fall birds I shot standing up were gobblers)
I have shot a couple standing up. Walking thru the woods and struck one. not realizing how close he was,didnt have time to sit and hide.
Several when I was younger....I didn't know any other turkey hunters to learn from so I taught myself to stalk them.
That was 30 years ago.
Honcho
Shot one standing and 2 laying flat on my stomach.
Shot one last year standing up.
Quote from: Treerooster on March 22, 2016, 10:05:42 AM
Have not shot one laying on my back....just about every other position though. :funnyturkey:
I whacked one laying flat on my back. Great hunt!
I've shot them standing, sitting, prone, laying on my side, kneeling, squatting...basically whatever the situation dictates. I think the biggest mistake most folks make is getting a game plan established in their mind, getting locked into it and not adapting to the situation at hand.
Yes I have . The last one standing came in behind me and I had sat with my back to a huge oak ,big enough for me to stand and look behind it without giving myself away.. Bang
I was hunting one afternoon about 10 yrs ago sitting in a hardwood bottom and had been calling for about an hour. Nothing going on but an armadillo pestering me for the last 30 min. So I decided I would pick up a stick and do the Mohican sneakin on him. I made it about 20 ft. and had that feeling something was watching me. I looked back behind me and a longbeard was headed straight to me. I managed to get behind a big oak and waited for him to get about 25 yds before I lowered the boom on him. The armadillo got away.
Standing up?
I prefer shooting them when they are slumbering on the limb. ;D
Never carry to kill one having a slumber party on the limb ..Swather...is that called hunting or just killing..
3 or 4 I can't remember exactly???
Never have. Always on my hind end.
I did call one in for a good friend one time who was in a short sleeved shirt and blue jeans that was standing behind a tree and killed one.
I kill them regularly standing, I hunt a really hilly property and the birds there are plentiful but they love skirting around you just out of sight, out of sight if your sitting down that is! My friend used to hunt the place and complain about all the birds giving him the slip there, he would always say man there right there they just never show them selves, I said can you stand and see em? He says probably, I say well problem solved then.
First 2 birds I shot there I was standing against the same tree a week or so apart, would not have shot wither had I been sitting! I like to stand behind a large oak and lean the gun against the side, first one was lees then 10 steps and I still scalped him, I could only see his eye to the top of his head. Last season I was working a hot bird and like a dummy I sat down and set up, he came in hammering and all I saw was his head pop up a couple times as he went by, next morning in a different spot I killed one standing behind a large oak!
I've joked around about hunting from duck blinds where birds gather out in the center of huge plowed fields.
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Yes a few. If it's thick cover or terrain dictates a better view point standing than sitting that's the way I'll go. I'd prefer to sit though because it keeps me more still and I'm more likely to stay put for a while.