2018 Pre Season Stories

[AC HAMMER]

Alright everyone, the time is getting closer until Spring Seasons start opening! I always like to post a thread like this just before the season to get the blood pumping. Post a picture with either your last turkey or most memorable turkey harvest and post a short (or long) story about the hunt! 

[Vaturkeyhntr]

Last bird I saw get shot last year was my dads, which he tagged out on.  What topped it off is it was on his birthday



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[Teduardo]

Last one I killed last season. Was my limit bird in my home state on a Federal Wildlife Refuge draw hunt. First bird to kill with TSS I loaded. First bird I ever killed with a hand load. Went in with zero info other than the aerial photos. Walked WAY too far! Sat down just before daylight to rest a minute and hydrate a little and this bird gobbled about 250-300 yards from me on the other side of a big feeder creek to the nearby Yazoo River(both sides on the refuge). Couldn't cross it in time to get set up so I tried to get him to come to the opposite bank, which would put him right at 40 yards. He came in on a string and the TSS absolutely demolished him. Had to get wet to go get him but it was worth it. Great bird. 1 1/8 spurs, 10.5" beard and weighed 18 lbs. Good luck to everyone in 2018. I'm ready!


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[AC HAMMER]

Nice birds!

[Laloom83]

Memorable 2017 hunt. My turkey hunting partner and I invited another buddy to tag along with us on Connecticut state land which is something we've never done before.  We managed to get a big ole Tom to come several hundred yards into our decoys and calling, allowing our buddy to take the bird with his grandads old shotgun at 20 yards. Now, If you've been to the New York area or in our case New England then you know the bagels are great.  I was hungry so I routed us a different way home in order to stop by a bagel place that I like. My buddy and I realized there's a piece of state land close to the bagel place so we decided to check it out.  As luck would have it three gobblers were trying to cross the main road just as we pulled up. I couldn't believe it!  Anyways we kept on driving and got around them. We slipped through the woods and with a little calling we had our second state land bird down for the morning. I'll always remember this hunt! 






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[CtRider]

^ That was a great day - loved having the 3 of us in full camo in a preppy bagel shop in a college town.

the second turkey that day to make the double was my first double beard and double spur!

[Happy]

Here's one from last year. Ramps and a turkey.

[GobbleNut]

Got a last-minute invite to run up to Utah (from southern New Mexico) at the very end of the season last spring.  We hunted public land (National Forest) on Memorial Day weekend,...probably not the wisest move on our part, but it was the only option. People camped everywhere, including within a quarter-mile of where this gobbler was roosted.  Fortunately, none of them were turkey hunters apparently.

Got this bird to gobble at a locator call the evening before right at dark.  Went in before daylight the next day (our first morning hunting), moved in on him in the dark after his first gobble and was able to set up within a hundred yards or so.  Waited until I heard some hen talk near him about fly-down time, did a soft tree call in response to the hens, a fly-down imitation, and some rustling in the leave litter like the hen had hit the ground.  Fifteen seconds later I hear him sail out of the tree and watched him land thirty-two steps to my left. 

He immediately went into full strut and took two steps and went behind a tree just big enough for me to adjust my gun.  He turned, stepped back out, and less than a minute after he had come out of the tree, he was down.  ...Talk about a classic roost hunt!

...A beautiful Utah Merriams gobbler. 

[taylorjones20]

I posted the story here about the entire hunt from two seasons ago but to summarize and give an update...

Three days vacation turned into four days of hard hunting.  I can't even count all of the gobblers that we set up on during the hunt but it just would not come together. The very first morning of the hunt we set up on a bird that was gobbling his head off.  He would gobble at everything that made a noise in the woods that morning.  Within 100 yards he was rattling the timber.  Although he never committed it was still a fun hunt.

Skipping forward a few days, we ended up back on this bird late one afternoon.  He had a whole flock of hens and wasn't interested in coming to the calls.  After messing with him for an hour or more I decided to take the chance and make a move on him.  It actually worked!  I was able to close the distance and when I called the next time he was just curious enough that he strutted into range.

He was a big gobbler!  I counted 4 beards and 1.5" hooks.  I sent him to the taxidermist but I never sent the guy a down payment for the mount so it hasn't been mounted yet.

Got a call this past weekend that his freezer had went out and ruined the turkey for a mount.  We were able to save the beard and feet.  When I got the beard back, there was actually 6 BEARDS not 4.  Not sure how I missed that before but it was a great surprise!

[Teduardo]

Nice birds!

Thanks. And thanks for the thread suggestion. Good stories in there to get us even more fired up...if that's possible. Good luck this season.


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[Teduardo]

Got a last-minute invite to run up to Utah (from southern New Mexico) at the very end of the season last spring.  We hunted public land (National Forest) on Memorial Day weekend,...probably not the wisest move on our part, but it was the only option. People camped everywhere, including within a quarter-mile of where this gobbler was roosted.  Fortunately, none of them were turkey hunters apparently.

Got this bird to gobble at a locator call the evening before right at dark.  Went in before daylight the next day (our first morning hunting), moved in on him in the dark after his first gobble and was able to set up within a hundred yards or so.  Waited until I heard some hen talk near him about fly-down time, did a soft tree call in response to the hens, a fly-down imitation, and some rustling in the leave litter like the hen had hit the ground.  Fifteen seconds later I hear him sail out of the tree and watched him land thirty-two steps to my left. 

He immediately went into full strut and took two steps and went behind a tree just big enough for me to adjust my gun.  He turned, stepped back out, and less than a minute after he had come out of the tree, he was down.  ...Talk about a classic roost hunt!

...A beautiful Utah Merriams gobbler. 

That sounds like an awesome hunt!


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[JK Spurs]

Kentucky 2017....closest bird I've ever killed at about 10 steps. He suffered a terrible headache.