Killer B’s Story Thread

[Yoder409]

Sully............   Yessir.   I remembered my scale THIS time !!!   

POK........ Just occurred to me...... Although my 3 days have been spread out over a month...... I'm 3 birds for 3 days, too.  Must be a Killer B's thing !!!   

[twyatt]

Congrats guys!  Way to go!

I should be tagged out, but I have quite the list of dumb things I've done or that's happened to me so far this year.

1. Had a bird coming on a string and out of nowhere 2 random dogs run through the woods and bugger everything up.
2. Sat all morning one day and decided to leave at 11:30, but before I do I decide to walk down and check out the creek bottom below this field I had been hunting since it was a new property.  I hit the call just for fun in this creek bottom and a bird hammers back and is CLOSE.  I move over about 60 yards to where I think I'll have a better shot at him, and of course he comes straight off the ridge and walks just to the left of where I originally was, then finds his way up into the field and finds my decoys I had left out, and proceeds to beat the crap out of them.  I end up belly crawling back out to the field, and up the hill and towards the bird, sit up and shoot and miss and fill my jake decoy slam full of pellets/holes.
3. Had a bird come in as pretty as you could ever dream of, only to miss him at 10 steps.  He's probably deaf now, but certainly not hurt, or didn't seem hurt as he flew a country mile out of my life.
4. Nothing but silence the other day, so I really put on some miles walking logging roads trying to strike a bird.  Call it quits and am back at my truck around 10am after hearing nothing all morning so I can go to work, and a bird gobbles twice as I'm standing at my truck.  He sounded pretty close but I couldn't tell where he was, so I walk out to the asphalt road to call at him and try to pinpoint him, and believe he probably was so close he saw me, as I never heard another peep again.

That's just a handful of the nonsense I've had this year, and I've hunted almost every day of the season so far.  The rest of the days were just silence.  Anyways, congrats to you guys killing birds.  I'm hoping my trip to PA with ZSully and A_jabbo will turn my luck around, and hopefully I don't bring any of my bad luck with me.

[POk3s]

I will try my best to give you guys the readers digest version of this long trip!

Basically the first 3 days were spent in one area. I had birds gobbling at the first high spot I had marked on the map. A great start! I made a move and got in front of a group. Handful of hens, a couple jakes, and a longbeard. I promptly missed him. The first turkey I've missed in quite a few years! I shook it off after a while and thought, "no big deal, there's quite a few birds around". I got close a couple more times but really commenced to get my butt kicked for the next few days and me and my buddy, Brenner, headed for spot two.

The first day I called a handful of gobbling jakes to the gun and passed them all. I then roosted three different gobblers. Two were together, and one by himself but a long ways off and I couldn't get him pinpointed. The next morning i got set up on the two together. You guessed it, two more jakes. This time I couldn't take it anymore. It was morning of day #5 of a 9.5 day trip and I had to get that monkey off my back so I let it fly! He came in half strut and gobbling, so I believe he deserved it ! Took some pictures, video, hung out with my turkey, got back to the truck and figured I'd head over to where I heard that turkey way off to try and fill another tag. Got to a high point, hit the call, crow call, everything. Nothing. I figured I'd just stay in the woods and hope he gobbled as I snuck around. I found a big whitetail shed, and shortly after that a hawk flew over and shreaked. He hammered to it! Hawk again shreaked and he hammered again letting me pinpoint him. I got to the high spot adjacent to him and commenced to call in him, a jake, and a hen. Just like that, two birds in a matter of a couple hours.

Went back to camp and told my buddy all the stories and he tells me his. He called a perfect white tipped merriams to the gun and missed him. He was sick about it but anxious to get back to the woods. We hit a ridge and were going to call our way down it but at the first spot I hit the glass call and a bird hammers. He wasn't enjoying the slow play game so Brenner told me to get on the call. I poured the coals to him and brought him to about 25 yards. He had a great white tip to take back to New York! We tried to find another for him but never could before we splitted ways. Off to spot #3

I went for a walk after some driving and was able to lay my eyes on a longbeard but never could get him to play. I then struck one from the road, and promptly played the game and missed him too! Two misses in the same trip. I wasn't real happy. That night i roosted the bird I missed and the one I laid  eyes on. I elected to go after the one I missed. After setting up wrong in the morning I was able to circle around him and kill him on the high point he was gobbling on. Hung out with that turkey for a while,, watched the sunrise, took more pics, etc and decided I better hit the road for the last spot.

Crossed yet another state line and headed to a small chunk of public that doesn't get much pressure and that I had a lot of confidence in from years past. I spent all through the middle of the day in there, sitting and calling, and prospecting around. Nothing. Just when I was about to pull the plug on it, I finally got a bird to gobble. I knew where they liked to roost so I headed over there hoping to pick their path correctly. They were heading straight away from me last I saw them so I thought it would be much more of a roosting mission. About an hour later I hear birds right in front of me and see them closing fast! It ends up being about 7 jakes and one longbeard. I shot him at about 15 yards. Mission accomplished!!!

I made an entire video series out of this hunt and just published episode 1 from the first few days of grinding through the trip. It can be found here.

https://youtu.be/5zQM-34_kwM

Otherwise I'm working on posting pics now!

[POk3s]

Jake and longbeard

[POk3s]

Longbeard 2 and turkey 3

[POk3s]

Last longbeard of the trip as the sun sets on day #7

[POk3s]

Brenner's perfect white tip. Sorry for the multiple posts everyone. This whole picture thing is hell for me! My phone won't post pics directly and I have to use a website to convert them. And then I'd theyre over 900kb they won't post and say it's over 2000kb. Whatever right!

[Meleagris gallopavo]

Good reads guys.  I have had a challenging 2 weeks since killing 3 birds in the first week.  Henned up gobblers,  hung up gobblers, hens and no gobblers, jakes and hens and no gobblers.  Been hunting almost everyday, but mostly till about 8:00 AM and then I go in for work.  Found a nice one Thursday but couldn't hunt Friday or Saturday.  I wanted to hunt him this morning but a buddy of mine said he was going to hunt there so I told him where I thought the bird would be.  I watched jakes and hens for 2 hours and he sends me these pictures.


He did tell me there were 2 more longbeards there.  He also told me where he saw them and that he was done hunting for the season.


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[Meleagris gallopavo]

Now yesterday was crazy.  I invited someone from out of state to hunt in NC Saturday.  I'm tagged out in NC so I was just taking him hunting where I scouted birds on Friday.  We set up on what I thought was a sure thing (big mistake) and heard about 5 gobblers from different directions, with 2 being just 100-200 yards away.  The closest was the bird I was targeting.  They gobbled and responded to calling but they eventually stopped around 7:00 AM.  We sat another hour and I called it quits.  So we start riding around looking and calling birds and we eventually went to the spot I almost took him to begin with.  Wheat is heading out which makes visibility difficult but I wanted to drive up the path a bit to where I could see down a woods line.  I told him I had also seen them walking down a path to my left and that we may set up there. We got to the path and a redhead jumps up and runs to the woods.  Couldn't tell anything other than he was a male as his head was the only thing we could see above the wheat.  I pull into the path and stop to contemplate the situation.  The bird had run to a small piece of woods with a small field on the other side that I'd killed turkeys in the 2 previous years.  However I was torn because the bird may be really spooked and not respond to calling or he could see us trying to get to the field.  I also wanted to look at another place.  As I was trying to decide what do do another big red head appears above the wheat about 20 yards to my left.  I asked my buddy if he saw it and he excitedly said he did and that the head was huge.  At this point it's important to note that we're sitting in my truck on the edge of the property we can hunt with a posted sign for another hunt club on a tree beside the passenger side window.  Well the ghostly red head sinks slowly back beneath the wheat.  After contemplating what is right and wrong about shooting this bird that's squatting in the wheat, a truck with 2 hunters from the other hunt club slowly drive by as their doing the same thing we're doing, looking for turkeys to set up on. The stress level increases a bit with their presence but there's not much they can do because we're sitting on a path on our property.  They go down the path about 100 more yards and turn around and come back, but just slowly drive by giving us the stink eye.  So I ask my buddy again if he wants to shoot this male bird that's squatting 20 yards from the truck.  We didn't know if it was a Jake or a mature Tom, but the head was really big.  It's not the most traditional way to take a turkey, and there's nothing we're doing that's illegal, it just doesn't feel right.  My buddy said since he drove 4 hours to get there and purchased a non-resident license and tags that he could justify killing this bird in less than ideal circumstances.  So he gets out, takes his gun out of the case and loads it while I'm watching the spot where the head was.  He walked behind and away from my truck while I rolled down my window (I never turned the truck off) and I proceeded to call with my mouth call.  No head.  I start cutting and doing aggressive purrs and couldn't get him to stick his head up.  I opened and closed my door loudly, still no head emerges.  My buddy still has his gun at the ready while I'm thinking about blowing the horn.  Then the big head slowly emerges and my guy immediately shoots it with .410 TSS.  The bird never hardly flopped, but we couldn't see that well due to the wheat.  My buddy runs in through the wheat and I hear the word "Jake" and my heart drops.  As I approach I asked him "did" you say it was a Jake?  He said "I said it's no jake!  Look at those spurs"! https://share.icloud.com/photos/0qswuxE2lqcR9p5udafMo6wZg

[Mossyguy]

Great birds everyone! This team knows how to get it done!

Since tagging out so early I was able to focus on getting garden stuff done and had our first fishing trip of the year yesterday. Even heard a bird across the road from my house after the season closed so I know there's at least one left for next year!

[Hoosier2]

Well it's high time I write about some success finally. Went out Sunday am and it was a beautiful morning. Crystal clear skies calm winds pressure on the rise. Get out of my pickup at 540. As I'm getting dressed and sipping coffee before a short 200 yard walk to the spot I originally planned on hunting. As I'm sitting there a bird hammers in a spot that sounded about 100 yards away. My cousin was hunting due south about 300 yards of the bird and there was a mowed lane about 100 yards north of him so I figured why not he either comes north to me or moves south to my cousin. Birds were HOT that morning. Heard 7-9 different birds. So I'm foolin with this bird and I know the place like the back of my hand the bird was facing and gave me the wrong impression of his proximity. Turned out to be on top of the next ridge. After 8 o clock the bird finally goes silent and that was the end of my morning hunt.

I decide to push north thru the timber to strike a lone bird. After 300 yards and the north property line not a peep. Decide to stop by my truck to regroup. Decided I would go to where I originally planned on setting up which is about a 5 acre mowed pasture that was a failed vineyard experiment and I've been convinced it's a great strut zone for those sunny days. The kicker is the half mile driveway runs along the east side so there's a risk that a neighbor, homeowner, Amazon, etc don't randomly come down and blow the whole show.

From 8-940 I set up in the back corner where I had harvested my bird last year. Beautiful setup under large cedar tree don't need a hub blind Bc you're so hidden. It was a perfect sunny Indiana morning. I'm near convinced my birds react completely different on those blue sky bright sunny days. As I'm drifting in and out on a dull mid morning sit. A crow hammers out south of me 100 yards. GOBBLE GOBBLE! In a state of disbelief that I had dreamt of what I heard. Bird hammers again. Hit gooserbats bacon with a some yelps and cuts.  Bird cuts me off and I hear a second gobble. I made 2 call sequence to them and went silent. This vineyard was an old ridge with timber the birds came from a saddle in the vineyard and the next time they gobbled was 50 yards just over the rise in the hillside and I knew they were right there! 2 beautiful birds came to my dsd jake and hen. One bird stayed in full strut and he was the target. The other bird was a way better scoring bird but something about those ones that come in full strut get me all worked up. My 3.5" Winchester longbeard 6 found its mark at 27 yards and that was the completion of my Indiana season.

After the shot the second bird stuck around and proceeded to assault my turkey and my jake. Love when they stick around like that. Put on an awesome show that I was able to pull my phone and record for 2 min. I finally grew impatient and the Tom was still out by my spread so I got up and started walking to my bird I got within 7 steps of that Tom before he knew I was there. Stupid Indiana only gives us 1 tag. It was another perfect morning to be a turkey hunter. Pretty 2 yr old. 7/8" 9 1/4" beard 23.5 lbs. Enjoy boys





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[twyatt]

Congrats Hoosier! 

[Meleagris gallopavo]

Love the stories and pics Hoosier!  Great bird!


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[a_jabbo]

So Saturday morning Zsully and I went to a spot where just a few days earlier we heard, for sure, 3 gobblers on the roost. It was a spot that we had success last year, so we were hoping history repeated itself. We get setup and wait for the sun to start lighting things up. Bout that time for gobbling to get going and we hear nothing real close to us. We heard several gobbles across the road, and then we heard one go off behind us clear on the other side of the property, which is  probably close to 500+ yards away. We sit tight to see what happens. Start to throw out some light calls and a jake let out a terrible choking gobble. The bird that is on the other side of the property is hammering. We sit for a short period and can't take the silence where we are, so we make the decision to try and go after the bird screamin his head off. We cut through the timber to an old logging road that leads us to a path we cut last summer. As we're walking up the hill a different bird goes off. We stop and call to him and he responds as well as a hen that is in between us and that gobbler. We assess the situation and felt that there are too many obstacles between us and that bird to setup on him. Back after the bird on the other side of the property. We cut to a gas line and walk to a spot where we felt we could get above him and yelp him up. We get to that spot and realize it's too thick. Get back to the trail we were walking to go into another spot where we would still be above him. As we're walking, we realized we passed where we needed to go in, so we back track, find our entrance, and press on. We get to about where we felt we needed to be and the bird gobbles about 80 yards below us. Mind you, that we passed where we needed to cut into the woods and had we kept going, we most definitely would have boogered that bird. I yelp, and the bird gobbles 5 times in a row. So now I'm in scramble mood to get to the more open woods that is about 15 yards from where I stood. I find a tree and im basically tangled in thorns as I try to get in position to sit down. The bird gobbles again and he's freakin close, so Zach silently yells at me "just @#$%#@! stand against the tree". I let out a yelp away from the gobbler and a hen answers, which then he gobbles at about 30 yards below me on the other side of some thick stuff. I can hear him spitting and then I see him. He's walking up the hill into this oak flat, and as the sun beams are coming through, they hit him. Talk about a beautiful sight!!! His head was shining the brightest red, white, and blue i've ever seen. He clears some trees that are in between he and I, and BOOM!!!! Toasted at about 25 yards. Then the celebration began. I was so pumped about this hunt, because I was toting my grandfather's Remington 11-87, which hasn't killed a turkey since he held it in probably over 25 years. Such a great first day in PA.

[Meleagris gallopavo]

Hell of a bird there!  Congratulations!


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