dont post on here much, read alot tho..... figured yall might enjoy some dead turkey pics, and stories...
turkey #1
SEEN THIS FELLA ALONE IN A SMALL FIELD, LESS THAN AN ACRE.... SNUK AROUND TO A ROAD THAT RAN INTO THIS FIELD. SET DOWN BOUT 60 YARDS FROM THE FIELD. HIT THE CALL, 30 SECONDS LATER I SEE HIM LOOKIN, HIT IT AGAIN, HERE HE COMES... HE WALKS TO WHERE HE CAN SEE DOWN THE ROAD, HESITATED FOR A SECOND, THEN COMES ON A STEADY WALK STRAIGHT TO ME... HE STUCK HIS HEAD UP AT ABOUT 40 YARDS, AND I FIGURED HE WAS CLOSE ENOUGH..... LET THE 870 BARK....
IF EVER THERE WAS A STUPID TURKEY, THIS ONE WAS.
HE COULDNT RESIST THAT SPRING ALLURE SLATE THO.
2 YEAR OLD... FIRST TIME I HAVE SEEN A GOBBLER IN THIS FIELD IN 2 OR 3 YEARS......
1 DOWN 4 TO GO...
turkey #2-
went to one of the prettiest spots i have saturday morning.... same place i killed the 4 bearded monster two years ago... this place is notorious for non gobbling turkeys.... first time i went down there this year i didnt hear a peep... me and ccleroy have hunted it several times and havent heard a bird.... its a georgeous creek bottom full of cypress trees and palms...
i knew the turkeys were there because of all the sign on this little road in the planted pines that drops off into the swamp....i get in there at first light, balalalala, one is hammering it, about 100 yards into the swamp, right off the end of that little road. i ease up to within 15 yards of the end of the road and sit down, he continues to gobble pretty good for the next few minutes.... then another bird joins in about 150 yards from the first gobbler, but about 100 yards off the end of the same road, in the opposite direction... he only gobbled one time and as soon as he did, you could here the group of hens start tree yelping all around him...
hell yea, im in between a lonesome gobbler, and a gobbler with a group of hens......then they flew down.... all goes quiet... then i hear that sound... vroooooom....vroooooooom.... i hear that sucker drumming, but cant see him... the lone gobbler is on the edge of the swamp spittin and drumming, working his way to the other birds.... my heart was about to beat out of my chest.... slowly the drumming gets louder and louder until i finally start to hear leaves crunching..... i look to my left through the planted pines and here he comes,.... still blown up he rounds the curve, i let him get to about 15 yards and let him have it... he hit the ground and the rest of the turkeys go crazy clucking and yelping.... i didnt move, hoping the other bird would come around that corner and i would get him a lead breakfast too... i sit there for a good 10 minutes talking back and forth with the rest of the birds, but eventually i couldnt stand it any longer and let them feed on off...
solid three year old.....dead at 7:25... one of my heavier turkeys ever....
20.5lbs.
10.25 beard.
1-1/8 and 1-1/16 spurs....
turkey #3-
set up this morning in the same field i have been hunting for the last week and a half....these turkeys have been handing it to my every time i hunt them. they had my play book, and knew how to read it. so i sat down last night and devised a new plan...... got b-mobile out of the shed, washed the dust of of him, put a new fan on his , and stuck him up in the back of my truck to "air out" for this morning....
there is only one point in this field that the birds would see the deeks, but its about 150-250 yards from either end that the turkeys have been coming out on. i figured if i set up there, no matter which way they entered the field, they would be able to see my deeks and hopefully come running.
well just as i stuck the b-mobiles stake in the ground, a gobble rings out, holy ****, he has finally roosted somewhere else, now instead of being 150-200 yards off of the field, he is roosted in some short pines right on the field edge....i eased back to the edge of the field and sit down. he hammers again. (**(), there is only one of them tho, maybe this is a new bird.... so i listen, waiting for another one to gobble from where they have been roosted, but nothing. man i hope the one bird didnt get shot. as it got a little later, im hearing gobbles from every direction. i prolly heard 7 or 8 different turkeys, some seemed like a mile away, it was so calm this morning i think i would have been able to hear a fly fart from atleast a quater mile.
i sit there and start second guessing my self. (**() i hate using a decoy. if i didnt have this decoy out i would be slipping down the field edge towards this gobbler thats raising hell in the tree. o well, so i sit and wait, hoping he would fly down, see the deek, and come running. i hear one from the field next door fly down, must be a hen. 5 minutes later, here comes a jake, putting like he has seen me, but he hasnt, he seen the deek and came to within about 75 yards of it and realizes its a grown gobbler and takes off in the other direction, putting all the way.
i wasnt even paying attention to the other gobbler that was roosted about 400 yards away, on the other side of the next field over. i am just waiting, thinking any minute the other one is gonna fly down and head strait to me. finally he flies down, but he aint comin. he just stays at the other end of the field and gobbles his head off. soon i realized that the other turkey is heading my way, he is in the next field over, which is seperated from the field i was in by a big ditch, a logging road, and about a 30 yard wide section of planted pines. NO WAY this turkeys gonna come through that just to get to my calling. he wont even be able to see the decoy until he crosses all that stuff. but sure enough, he keeps getting closer and closer and closer until i realize he is at the ditch....so i lay the calling on his . i dunno the language, but i think i said something like "come on big boy, im horny"..... cuz he jumped the ditch and within a few seconds i see his white head bobbing through the pines.... he was headed straight for that other bird that was gobbling. i hit the call hard again, he stops, looks my way, and pops right out into the field in full strut. oooo yea, its about to get good.
he takes off towards b-mobile, stopping every 30-40 yards to strut for about 5 seconds... i let him get to within about 5 feet of the decoy, he slammed on brakes, got in his boxing pose, and i hammered him.
so i guess somethin happened last night, and for what ever reason these two birds got split up and didnt roost where they normally do, the big bird heard the young bird gobblin his head off, and figured he better get back over there before he runs off with his ladies...he hits the field and sees what he thinks is his buddy, bout to pour the heat to his girlfriend, and he comes to whoop .
one of the most exciting hunts i have ever been on..... stud bird too. heaviest turkey i have ever killed.
21.62 lbs
10-3/4" beard
1-1/8 sharp hooked spurs
