Spring 2021 (updated 5/9)

[Gobbler-one]

Great pictures and play by play details. What a way to share a story. I enjoyed reading it.

[JeffC]

Congrats on a great hunt, great pictures , miss the beautiful country , but not that weather,  saw it snow in July when I was stationed out there.

[randy6471]

Congrats on some nice birds! Thanks for sharing the awesome pics and story.

[Hobbes]

Congrats on a great hunt, great pictures , miss the beautiful country , but not that weather,  saw it snow in July when I was stationed out there.

Just had to cancel on a kid because there is slush falling out there right now.  Actually his dad and I discussed it and mutually agreed that it'll be a miserable and unproductive day for a kid's first hunt.

[Hobbes]

Turkey legs and thighs require slow cooking (or pressure cooking) until the meat will literally fall off the bone.  Remove all bone, tendon, and ligament before using the meat for whatever your preference.  I've used it in soup, chopped for tacos, and with barbecue sauce for sandwiches. 












My next hunt was a day hunt where I found plenty of sign and even called in a couple of jakes but did not find a gobbler.









I took a kid from church and his dad and grandfather the next day and worked two different turkeys that would not close in close enough for a shot.  I'm pretty sure we bumped one of them because they didn't understand the urgency in my voice when I said we needed to sit down now.



A buddy from KY flew in on Monday, May 3rd, to try for his first Merriam's.  We started hunting on the 5th.  We worked three different birds (2 of them in one spot) but they were busy following hens around and showed little interest.  Early morning on the 5th was the ticket for the second set of birds and my buddy killed his first Merriam's.









We went to another region the next morning, May 6th, and my buddy had his second Merriam's by 11:30 AM.  This bird was a stud for a Merriam's (at least where I hunt) with 1 ¼" and 1 5/16" spurs and weighed 20.5 lbs.











We went and had a pretty good lunch at a local diner then got back out to look for a bird for me.  We found this bird at 3 PM and he slipped in hard right at 3:30 PM after I was convinced that he wasn't coming.





My bird had a good beard for these birds but only weighed 16.5 lbs. 



On the 7th we made a day trip to Yellowstone which made for one very long day.