2021 Strut Stopper Story Thread

[dzsmith]

Possibly and upgrade . Let me run the calculator. Killed my Missouri bird this morning . He has been shot this season already. Appears somebody may have shot at him too far and while strutting. Lots of missing wing feathers, and some were bloody and crusty. Also had shot in his thigh that was green and a couple spots on the legs and feed. Regardless a fine gobbler. He never said a peep. Strutted only following a hen and a jake. 11" paintbrush . 1&3/8" spurs. I had to find somebody to ask for a scale , and a local had a scale they weighed goats on which said 20lbs. But I figure he's a little heavier than that . 22 maybe 23. Could be wrong. Reguardless a fine bird. It was my last day in Missouri before heading home , and it was very windy today. Don't know if I would have heard him if he did gobble . That's probably it for me this season. Was a tough year but a good one . Limited out in my home state and checked 2 more states off my list. I'd love to hunt with you KY, but I actually just got back to the house . Ohio is in my list one of these days maybe we can do it again one year.

[turkey harvester]

Awesome DZ. I finally connected with one. Not the one I wanted but he'll do just fine for this old man. Went to my brothers area to hunt and we got on 4 right off the bat. They came running to the decoy right after fly down. 4 long gobbles, full fans, but ended up being some rather large jakes. I just seen full fan and heard him gobble and that's good enough for me, lol. Best part was I had my brother and Ole Huckleberry with me to experience it all.  Still got a tag left for rest of the season. This year seems to be no different than last year with the amount of out of state hunters in our area. Bout the same crappy experiences as last year with em. Unreal the nonsense that some people will pull to kill a turkey.

[dzsmith]

Awesome DZ. I finally connected with one. Not the one I wanted but he'll do just fine for this old man. Went to my brothers area to hunt and we got on 4 right off the bat. They came running to the decoy right after fly down. 4 long gobbles, full fans, but ended up being some rather large jakes. I just seen full fan and heard him gobble and that's good enough for me, lol. Best part was I had my brother and Ole Huckleberry with me to experience it all.  Still got a tag left for rest of the season. This year seems to be no different than last year with the amount of out of state hunters in our area. Bout the same crappy experiences as last year with em. Unreal the nonsense that some people will pull to kill a turkey.

yeah I saw a good amount of oos hunters in the area as well. Me being one of them, but there are guys that literally live up there. It's the same in ms. Personally I think most states should only allow 1 tag of non res . You can experience the state but you ain't gonna camp out here and keep killing. Selfish perhaps , but I know a couple years ago according to our states data there was actually more people who punched multiple tags as a non res than the res . Too me , that's a problem. To a impoverished state I guess that's money .

[turkey harvester]

Awesome DZ. I finally connected with one. Not the one I wanted but he'll do just fine for this old man. Went to my brothers area to hunt and we got on 4 right off the bat. They came running to the decoy right after fly down. 4 long gobbles, full fans, but ended up being some rather large jakes. I just seen full fan and heard him gobble and that's good enough for me, lol. Best part was I had my brother and Ole Huckleberry with me to experience it all.  Still got a tag left for rest of the season. This year seems to be no different than last year with the amount of out of state hunters in our area. Bout the same crappy experiences as last year with em. Unreal the nonsense that some people will pull to kill a turkey.

yeah I saw a good amount of oos hunters in the area as well. Me being one of them, but there are guys that literally live up there. It's the same in ms. Personally I think most states should only allow 1 tag of non res . You can experience the state but you ain't gonna camp out here and keep killing. Selfish perhaps , but I know a couple years ago according to our states data there was actually more people who punched multiple tags as a non res than the res . Too me , that's a problem. To a impoverished state I guess that's money .

Its so bad where I hunt I had 2 guys run around my truck Saturday, with me and huck in it, and bout too my mirror off. Jumped over the gate we were parked at and took off running. I let them know they were a piece of crap and went to another spot. Seen them with my wife later in the day as we were just out riding dirt roads and they wanted to start crap with me. I wasn't about to stop with her in there but really a dick move. All because I beat them there.

[Kygobblergetter]

Congrats dz and th!

After killing my Indiana bird and having a few more days off work I decided to buy an Ohio license and go see what I could find. Tuesday I hunted from daylight to dark except for an hour or so lunch break. Didn't have any action until around 7 pm when I finally got a bird to answer a crow call in an area where I had found some fresh scratching earlier in the day. After gobbling at the crow call I got him to answer me 2 more times but then nothing. It was at least an hour before fly up time so I was a little bit worried I wouldn't be able to find them this morning. After sleeping in my car at a Walmart parking lot until 2:30 and then at the gate until 5:30 I got up and headed back in there to the ridge top I had heard him from yesterday evening. Luckily they were roosted right where they had been when they gobbled at me last night. The birds were roosted across a small creek from me about half way up the other hillside, so I decided to go past them and get down off the ridge I was on and over on that side with them where they probably hadn't been hunted from yet. There were at least a couple longbeards, a couple jakes, and several hens and they were very vocal this morning. I decided with a big flock like that I would call pretty aggressive and try to get a bird to break off or piss off one of the hens. Neither of which happened. They started off answering every call I made but were getting harder and harder to make gobble. Being that it was a group of gobblers like that I decided to gobble at them which they answered immediately and then shut up for several minutes. The next time they gobbled they were down in the creek bottom closer to me. I made a few soft yelps and gobbled at them again. At this point I got my gun ready just to be safe. 10 minutes go by and they haven't made a peep. I figure if they're coming I need to know so I yelped a couple times and they gobble a lot closer and straight down my barrel. I'm expecting to see a them any second but a couple minutes go by and I haven't seen anything. I can't call at this point because the woods are pretty open and I don't want them walking in there knowing exactly where to look for me. Luckily they gobble on their own and they're about 40 yards away just over a slight roll. The gobble allowed me to get my gun pointed at the right spot seconds before I saw the tip of a fan coming over the hill. As soon as I saw the fan a bird stuck his head up right beside it, knowing there were jakes in the group I wasn't about to shoot unless I saw a beard or a full fan. Seconds later, the bird strutting ran the jake that stuck his head up about 10 yards. Giving me a clear shot but making me have to move my gun fairly far to the right. I made my move and he saw me just enough to come out of strut and seal his fate. He was basically identical to my Indiana bird in every category. Sorry for the long story


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[Kygobblergetter]

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[dzsmith]

Nice going man. I've got to get up to that part of the country one of these years. I'm still off work, just trying to catch up around the house before going back to work next week indefinitely. Well done .

[Kygobblergetter]

Thank ya. Unfortunately I'm back to work tomorrow night. My next 3 days off I might try to take a swing at West Virginia but I'm not sure about that


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[turkey harvester]

Wat to go bud!! stacking em up like cord wood.

[bornagain64]

Nice job everyone that's killed a bird. I am feeling a  lot better and finally
Went back to work. Thanks for the thoughts and prayers. Sad day Monday, I had to was all my hunting close and put my calls away
For another long off season. You guys that are hitting multiple states are lucky, enjoy it.
I am down in Central Fl, so it is a lot further of a drive to hit another state: and I can only go North to do it.

Sucks about the other hunters that will do whatever it takes to try and kill a bird, we have more than our share down here too. You did the right thing Turkeyharvester, its just not worth it dealing with knuckle heads.

Keep at it guys, I will be living thru your stories on here.

[Dmason3]

On the board...I'll update when I can sit down and have time


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[turkey harvester]

Awesome Dmason3!!! Get it posted and I'll get it up. I'm goin be out of town this weekend hunting but I'll get it posted when I get service or Monday at work. Congrats!!

[birdman67]

Congrats to all who have taken a bird! Way to get it done guys! I can't stand the way that some people have no respect for other hunters. It eats at me. Around where I hunt, I deal with that stuff all the time. It is frustrating to say the least. The only thing that makes it better is those days that I walk out with a turkey that they have been trying to steal away. The look on their face is priceless when they see one over your shoulder. ?

It's the last day here in MS for me. I plan on going all in and trying to close on a good note. Gobbling has been tailing off so I just hope for a good hunt. Good luck to everyone out this weekend!

[aclawrence]

Congrats guys. Yesterday was my last day in Alabama and I killed a bird with about 30 minutes left until closing time. To make a long story short I saw two birds 500yds away on a ridgetop in a cutover. I looked through the binos and saw a red head with a beard hanging down and a hen. I think they saw me as I was walking across the opposite ridge and they eased over the hill. I made a steep descent down my hill and a steep climb up their hill. I got set up in the edge of the woods and clear cut and made a few soft calls. I thought I was hearing drumming but wasn't sure. I decided I needed to get up and sneak through the edge of the woods down the hill. I came to the edge and saw a turkey stepping into the firebreak. It had a red head so I raised my gun and smoked him. I obviously thought he was the gobbler I had seen with the hen since he had a red head, but once I got to him I realized it was a Jake.  I was grateful to get a last minute turkey but I would have given him a pass if I had known. I'm not sure what happened. It must have been a gobbler and a Jake I saw because I was confident I saw a beard through the binos. I also didn't see any other turkeys run or fly off when I shot this bird. Oh well, he'll be good eating and make a good wing bone call. 2021 was a great season for me. I had so many close encounters. I killed two birds and several other gobblers don't know how close they came to getting shot. They will keep me fired up until next season. I have my Tennessee license also so I'm hoping to do one or two hunts there also.


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[aclawrence]

Oh and I found this during my hunt!


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