I have to say our family had one of our best turkey seasons ever!
Madison was first up for the youth opener. We tried two different farms, and at the first, we had 2 jakes commit to about 60 yards, but got really spooked, and ran off.
Second farm yielded nothing, so we hit one final spot in hopes of bagging my youngest her first NH Eastern.
We sat in an area where H and I had tremendous success, and where I had a friend harvest a nice bird the season before.
We sat for a while, occasionally cutting and yelping. I heard what I thought was a gobbler a long way off, but couldn't be certain.
We finally heard one in the field below us, and the chess match ensued!
Well, after 15 minutes, he appeared to have lost interest.
Harrison was going to try a tactic of walking away and cutting to try to get him to break.
Just as he was walking, I cut hard on my aluminum call Scott Hembrook made for me, and.....
GOBBLE, GOBBLE GOBBLE!!!
Three big longbeards were approaching from the area I heard the faint gobbles!
Harrison crawled away, cutting hard, and they were eating it up!
Then I saw 3 big birds heading to the decoys!
The biggest was the last one, but he wouldn't break strut.
I told her to line up the lead bird, and when the other 2 cleared him, let the little gun eat!
The lead bird finally got clear of the other 2, and the load of Heviweight 7's found their mark!
17 lbs, 9" beard, 1" hooks!
Fantastic hunt! I was so proud of both my children!
Next up was the hard throwing southpaw, Harrison.
H and I went to a field where we started Maddie's hunt. Hearing nothing, and with our feet freezing, we went to a field adjacent to the one we were in. We had heard great gobbling there from the field we were in.
We get there, and immediately hear a gobble! We cut at him, and he responded, then he went silent.
Well, we sat there for about an hour, and were hearing nothing.
Finally, around 10:15, I hit the woods with some hard cuts off of Jeff White's longbox, and....
GOBBLE, GOBBLE, GOBBLE!
He was in a field about 300 yards away, but we could finally see him!
He came in right on a rope, straight to the decoy!
H was ready. The bird was beautiful, he would go in and out of strut, sun just turning his feathers on fire!
Finally, he hit the 30 yard mark. H gave him a soft cluck, he raised his head, and just like that, H's 2017 season was over!
18 lbs, 8" beard, and 1/2" spurs.
Well, not to be outdone by my kids, I pushed on.
The next 3 days weren't great for the turkey woods, and on Monday I stupided up not 1 but 2 hunts in the span of 3 hours!
The next 2 days weren't fantastic. I heard some gobbling, but not much.
On Thursday, I decided to hunt an area that had given my family decent success a couple years ago.
I got in there, and not long after it got light, I was listening to a symphony of gobbling all around me, and was excited to hear 2 gobblers in a clear-cut just below my set up.
I waited until close to flydown, and did some flydowns with my hat, followed by soft scratching in the leaves. Those boys ate it up!
By about 6, I could hear them on the ground. Unfortunately, I could also hear hens, which I promptly got into arguments with.
10 min, later, I hear a gobble. I hit him with the cuts from Jeff's longbox, and he hammered!
I got ready.....
I then hear the spitting. I'm not great at keying on the drumming, but I knew what the spit meant!
Then I hear walking through the woods, and he pops into view!
It was awesome to see! He came in steady, and at about 30 yards, I got the FFIII swttled on his noggin' and the little 20 barked, and the final family tag was filled!
16.5 lbs, 9.5" beard, one spur was 3/4", and the other was broken, but they gave me 1/4" anyway!
A fantastic season all around!
Best of luck to all still hunting, and congrats to those with filled tags!
