Killer B’s Story Thread

[zsully]

Such a great hunt Saturday and today we were back at em again. A_jabbo and I met at a farm we hadn't hunted in 2-3 years. Honestly this was option 3. Option 1 had 2 longbeards but was a no-go because the owners grandson was coming to hunt. Option two had three longbeards that we roosted last night. It's going to be a good spot in a couple days. So we go in to option 3 blind....ish. We had seen birds there scouting before season so we knew they were at least there some times. It's raining so we move to option 3 plan B which means the ground blind came out. We posted up in a field right on the edge of the hay and some plowed dirt. As expected the weather had the birds tight lipped. On top of that our friendly neighborhood well tender showed up and was banging and clanging about 150 yards away. That lasted from 6:00-6:30. Since I had to be at the office by 8 we decided to call the hunt and go scout but first we peeked down over the hill behind us. Boom. Gobbler on the well road about 200 yards away......call and crawl back into the blind. No response but we know we're in the game. Patience is not a strength of mine and when A_jabbo and I get together it's worse. So at 7:00 I figured he must've seen us on the hill and we needed to bail and scout till work. Crack the blind door and Adam yanks me back in. "Bird by the well!" I get my bearing and take a look....longbeard. Game on. A couple yelps and he gobbles and can see the decoys. I shuffle to the right side of the blind and get ready. At about 30 yards he gobbles and it felt like the blind shook. At 15 yards I dropped the hammer of the 410 and......click. I forgot to take the safety off. Luckily the click didn't scare him too bad and I was able to get the hammer back, take the safety off level the dot and touch off. At 25 yards the gobbler dropped in the mud of the plowed field and for the 2nd time in as many hunting days the celebration started. There is no better time than spring in Pa! He weighed 20.24lbs had an 8.5 inch beard and 3/4 spurs on each leg. Not an upgrade so you won't see pics of him in the harvest thread but a dang fine bird and one heck of a hunt!

[POk3s]

Loving all the stories and pics guys!!!

[Yoder409]

Congrats !!  Congrats !!  Congrats !!!

You fellers are layin' em down !!!!

This dude hurt my feelings yesterday.  Worked him and another longbeard from the limb, along with 6 or 7 hens.  Had the boys fired up stiff.  But they wouldn't pull off their strut zone 80 yards out.  I called one of their hens off them and right to me. They watched her and never followed.  Eventually they drifted off with the rest of the hens.  I knew exactly where i wanted to be this morning.  Put my rain gear on and got situated 100 yards uphill from his roost.  He gobbled a few times early.  Then gobbled strong when distant birds got going.  Saw a lone bird..........figured it was a hen......pitch down slightly right of straight in front of me.  Right after that, he dropped into the same place.  I gave a couple 3-yelp series almost too quiet for a rainy day and turned the dot on.  Silence and no turkeys anywhere to be seen.  I can see out through the woods to my right a good ways and knew they hadn't come up over that way.  Can also see decent to the left.  I was sure (??) he was still out over the knoll somewhere.  Looking and looking for a turkey hunter's eternity.  Probably not more than 10 minutes..........but you know what I mean.  Can't take it anymore and give another REAL SOFT 3-4 yelp series and POW !!!!!!!  Right in my face !!!!  Just aa couple yards down over the knoll farther than I can see.  I shift my gun a whisker to the left and can see a turkey's back, walking.  Then a white cap.  He needed to clear a couple trees and he'd hit a good opening.  Which he did.  I gave 2 quick clucks and he stopped and ran his head up.

2 year bird.  Haven't taped or scaled him yet.  But 5/8-ish spurs   Maybe 9 on the beard and not heavy.  Guessing 17-18 

If he ends up being upgrade........which I doubt....... I'll get him all official in the scoring post.

[Mossyguy]

Great job Yoder!

[Meleagris gallopavo]

Way to go Yoder!  This was the highlight of my turkey hunting day, and I went turkey hunting this morning.


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[POk3s]

You guys are killers!!!

[Yoder409]

You guys are killers!!!

We ain't the Killer B's for no reason atall, boys !!!!!     

[zsully]

Congrats Yoder!

Twyatt showed up this afternoon and we took my boys and went scouting. Found 3 lonely longbeards at one property, 1 across the road from a farm we can hunt, 2 at another farm, then 5 longbeards and 2 hens at the last spot. We've got options for the morning. Wish us luck!

[Yoder409]

Sounds like you're in 'em !!!!

Best of luck !!!!!!!

[zsully]

Well gents we had to earn it today. We rode the turkey hunters emotional roller coaster this morning. It started by going to the farm we saw three gobblers last night. To get there we have to cross a creek. Not a big deal because there was a bridge last year from where the pipeline company was doing some work. I wanted to check yesterday but with the birds so close I didn't want to risk spooking them. We get there this morning and the bridge isn't there and the stream is ripping from all the rain we got. Decided it wasn't safe to cross in the dark so we bail to the farm where we put 5 gobblers to bed the night before. We get there and set up by 20 after 5. The first gobbler greeted the morning at 5:33 and the rest of the crew joined in shortly after. As we sit there listening to 6 gobblers serenade us we catch movement at the top of the hill and two guys are trying to sneak in on us......at 6:00. A_jabbo used his flashlight to wave them off but apparently 6 gobbling birds is too much to resist for these guys and we watch them make a move to get around us. As the birds start pitching out of the tree a hen lands about 10 yards behind me. The gobblers pitched further down the hill and started working up to us gobbling, spitting, drumming the whole works and the three of us are pinned. That's when for the first time of the morning we got to hear the putting of a wild turkey. It's been a while since I heard it and let me tell you it is still an absolutely awful sound. So 5 gobblers drop behind us to the left and one heads to the right. We let things settle and they start getting fired up again so we join the conversation again. The group of five are drifting off but the single on the right breaks and comes in. He changed course at the very end and popped out at 30 yards in a spot where there was no shot and for the second time we hear the putting of the wild turkey.......ughhhhh. The bird goes back to the right in an adjacent field and after some time gets fired up again. This time we make a move around him and try to call him in from another location in the timber. Again he doesn't do what we think he's going to do and for the third time he's within 30 yards with no shot and we get the pleasure of hearing the putting of a wild turkey for the third time. At this point we decide we've probably boogered these turkeys enough for one day and at 9:50 we bail. A_jabbo had a previous commitment so Twyatt and I strike out by ourselves to a property we have never hunted before. As we pull in to the landowners driveway we see a strutter across the road with a single hen. After a brief conversation with the landowner we went right behind the house and tried to check the temp of the bird across the road. We were answered by a pair of birds about 250 yards away. They seemed like very willing participants so we left the single bird and made a mad dash to the back side of a pond and set up. A couple calls and man did they get fired up and they came in just screaming! At 10:30 and at about 30 yards Twyatt couldn't take it anymore and dropped the lead bird and the celebration was on!! The bird had a 9 & 1/4 inch beard, 3/4 inch spurs and weighed in at 17.5lbs. Not an upgrade for Twyatt but a dang nice bird and a super fun way to cap off the emotional roller coaster. After the shot we found out the bird had definitely had a rough go and was  a little beat up. Regardless, it was a fantastic hunt with some fantastic friends and I'm convinced there isn't a whole lot in this world better than a fired up 2 year old turkey in the Pennsylvania timber mid-morning.

[Meleagris gallopavo]

Sounds like a great time!  Congratulations Travis!


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[Meleagris gallopavo]

So I got my 4th one this morning at 8:00 AM.  This one was 18.9 lbs, had 2 beards (4.75 and 11.25")  and had spurs just over an inch.  Scored just barely under my bird in the kill thread.  This bird is one of three I had been after since last Monday.  These birds are wary, but they've been hunted on both sides of this property since the first day of the season and they have been hunted a good bit by me and another guy that killed one there last weekend.  Yesterday afternoon late I bumped all three out of a field at 7:00 PM and I sat there and watched to see if they'd try and move before I left, they didn't.  So I sat up close to where I thought they roosted this morning.  I felt like my jake decoy was keeping them from coming in so I placed a feeding hen out in the field towards the woods where they were roosted.  Picked my hiding spot and cleared a hole in the weeds to my left in case they tried to go that way around me.  I thought I'd hear more gobbling this morning but gobbling was few and far between and not close.  I checked the barometer reading and it was over 30 so I knew that was not the cause (been reading about barometric pressure and gobbling).  So early on a hen comes out as hens do and she clucked and cutt a bit at my hen decoy and I thought at one point she'd attack it but she kept her distance.  Eventually she walked off.  I watched her a while and I'd call every 20 minutes or so with at least 2 different pot calls or a pot call and a diaphragm.  I had to leave at 8:30 to get ready for church and it was getting close to 8:00 and I was getting that sinking feeling. I heard a gobble not to far in front of me and felt like it was one of the ones I was after.  The hen went towards the gobble and I wondered if I was done.  I let out a few more calls and sat.  This bird comes out in front of me along the woods line and he's moving to my left in an agitated gate.  He sees the hen and gets real agitated and he looked to be getting out of Dodge.  But instead of going the other way he starts cutting across the field to my left to get to the woods behind me which is where he came from yesterday.  He's walking pretty fast with his head up but he's not putting.  I have to move the gun to point 90^o to my left to get to the hole I made, so he's starting to gains speed because I think he's seen me.  But when he gets to the hole I already had my red dot ready and I nailed him.  I'm done with decoys there the rest of the year.  One of the 2 left there are nice birds as well and one of them has a monster beard.  I hope I get one tomorrow and tag out so I can relax some.

[a_jabbo]

Heck yeah!! Congrats Yoder and Mel!!

[zsully]

Congrats Mel!!!! Nice bird!

[Yoder409]

CONGRATS, boys !!!!!!!!!!!!

Da killerz is doin' what killerz do !!!!!