Killer B’s Story Thread

[a_jabbo]

Had a great morning yesterday with Zsully to fill my second Pa tag. A week ago I hunted a property I gained permission to for the first time. I ended up calling in two gobblers that morning and I ended up missing one. Yesterday, Zsully and I decided to return to the same property for some redemption. I wanted to setup on this gas line that splits the property, but knew I needed to be lower than where I was last week. So we setup about 70 yards down from where I was. I assumed the birds would be roosted in a tree line that butts up to a good sized stream. As expected we were met with an early gobble at 5:25. Bird sounded hot as he woke up the woods. Then another bird gobbled a little further down from him. Then two more started going off around the bend in the pipeline. I was feeling confident in the setup. I saw a bird fly off the roost, but it went away from us, and all the gobbling sounded like it was coming from across the stream on the neighboring property. I thought the hunt was over, because I felt there was no way we would pull those birds back. About 6:25 I could see a bird about 175 yards out that was coming around the bend in the pipeline. As it slowly got closer, I could tell it was a hen. Then I noticed two more birds behind her. Game On!! As I was paying attention to them, I caught movement below me by the tree line, about 100 yards out. A gobbler appears and comes right out in full strut. He Struts across the pipeline and hits the 4 wheeler path that runs along the tree line that we are setup on. We had a Jake and a feeder hen setup and he strutted the whole way up the road into 10 yards. BOOM!!!! Tagged out. He sported a 10 3/4" beard. 1 1/4 spurs and weighed 20.54 lbs. Heck of bird. He had some dark wings for an Eastern. He probably could have passed for an Osceola haha.  He scored 67.05 for our points system, but not an upgrade from the 70.66 for my first.

[twyatt]

Awesome pictures, and congrats again guys! Not use to seeing Z with no warpaint in kill pics, what's up with that

[twyatt]

Had an awesome morning today.   Had decided I was going to hit a new logging road this morning on a property I've hunted several times this year, and just ease my way down it in hopes of hearing a bird I could chase.  This road is probably 3/4 of a mile long, and ends on a long gas line.   It's one of the few places I hadn't tried on this property this year, but honestly I didn't have very high hopes. I've never seen any sign or heard anything on this long road before.
  The gas line was my goal of where I had planned to set up, and I ALMOST decided to drive my truck most of the way down this dirt road this morning vs walking 3/4 of a mile to get to the gas line, thankfully I didn't.   As I'm easing my way down the road at gray light, I don't get 3-400 yards from my truck, a bird gobbles right in front of me, and he's close.  Closer than I want to be.   The road turns almost 90 degrees in front of me, and he's just off the 90.  I scramble backwards about 20 yards, set my lone feeding hen decoy in the road, and quickly find a tree.  He had gobbled once more as I was getting set up, and I thought I might be in the clear but still very uncomfortable that he might have seen me.  A few minutes go by and no more gobbles.  I'm thinking surely I busted this bird.  Then a hen pitches out of a tree from behind me and lands in the road near my decoy.  Hmm, ok, if she didn't bust me setting up, maybe he didn't.  She fools around feeding and staring at my decoy for a little while, and as she's working off, she starts yelping and a bird gobbles about 300 yards behind me.  Whew, well even if I busted the first one, now I've got another one close by, now I'm gaining confidence that this might work on bird 2 even if the first is gone.   As she works off out of sight, I hit my pot call and the 300 yard bird gobbles again twice. I put the call down, and a few minutes later I see a bird running down the road towards the decoy - another hen.  She mills around for a minute or two, checks out the decoy, and walks off the same direction as the first hen.   Now I'm thinking I'm between the gobbler behind me and have 2 hens out in front of me now.  Then silence, few minutes go by, more silence, few more minutes, and then I hear what I think is spitting, but it's off to my right, and I've got my head sorta tilted to the right to keep the sun that's starting to peek through the trees from blinding me with the brim of my hat.  I don't move, still not sure exactly what I'm hearing, but it doesn't stop, over and over, so I ease my head up slightly to see where my hat had been blocking my view of the road to the right, and there he is, standing in full strut at 15 yards with 2 hens in front of him.  My heart rate goes through the roof, and I ease my head back down to block my view of him and his view of my face.  He's got to come around the 90 before I have a shot, and right now he's at my 2 o'clock.  He is steadily spitting and doing his little dance, and these 2 hens are just slowly feeding around.  If they take the route that the first 2 hens took, I won't have a shot, I need them to come around the 90 closer to my decoy.  After what seemed like an eternity, the hens start easing around the corner and making their way towards the decoy, dragging him along in full strut.  The 2 hens come on by, and he makes it into my clearing and boom!  Dropped him at 19 steps, and done before 7am.   Never did I expect to just walk up into a flock this morning, but fortunately everything worked out and seeing him come up that road in full strut with the sun hitting him was absolutely beautiful.  Still not sure if he was bird 1 that had shut up, or bird 2 that I had heard behind me.  Regardless, awesome morning, and he's a little bit of an upgrade for me.   1 more tag left, and 3 days left to hunt!

[a_jabbo]

twyatt, he had to stay pretty for work call after.

Congrats on a great bird my man!!

[twyatt]

Ahh, makes sense.  Thanks again!

[zsully]

Congrats guys!!!!! Great stories!

I've been told the war paint makes my co-workers uncomfortable. I'll tell you this, I think my dang nose still hasn't regained its shape after wearing that face mask. If I had to do it for a whole season I might end up looking like a pug dog. I hate that thing. Back to the paint for Saturday!!!!

[Meleagris gallopavo]

So today I was back on the property where I killed the gobbler last Sunday.  I'd been hunting some new property for a few days and the only gobbles I heard were far off.  Also, during the week I stop hunting early so I can be at work by 8:00 AM, so I'm not out there terribly long.  So before light I go to the spot close to where the birds are known to roost.  Didn't hear a peep anywhere.  I leave that spot at 7:30 and head to another place down the road where I'd been trying to pull birds off the neighboring property.  So I sit there for an hour and a half and I hear nothing, although I'm testing the water every 20 minutes or so with pot calls.  I've got this older friend that loves to text me when I'm hunting to get a play by play, which I seldom give him.  He asks me around 9:30 if I'd heard any gobbling and I answered him that they rarely gobble after 7 or 8 o'clock, but if one does it's on!  Maybe a second or two had elapsed after I hit send when I heard a gobble out of the blue behind me and to my right, about 4-500 yards away.  So it's on!  I reposition to face his way and he's hammering when I strike the pot call.  Very responsive bird, which makes me more excited.  What doesn't make me excited is that a private air strip is between me and him and the property I hunt picks up on the other side where he's at.  At first I try to see if he will come all the way, and after about 30 minutes I decide I need to do something.  I can tell he's moving back and forth a bit but not coming out of that zone.  I don't want to walk across the airstrip property so I decide to hop in my truck and get on him where he's at.  So I walk briskly to my truck which is 200 yards away.  Jump in and pull off the road at the gate entrance and listen.  He gobbled and gave me his position, which is about 300 yards away in the woods straight ahead.  I grab my stuff and go straight to where I hear him.  I stop about 100 yards from him and set up and start calling.  He's hammering away, but after awhile I realize he's not coming my direction, he's just going back and forth between the high ground and the low ground.  I decide to move towards the high ground while he's gobbling his way down.  I leave my vest, decoy and binocs at that spot and just take the pot call and striker I've been using, my chair and my gun.  I move closer and set up, but still not close enough.  I move again while he's gobbling down the hill.  I got about as close as I was comfortable with and it sounds like he's directly below me.  He still doesn't charge in, but walks and gobbles and takes his time.  I had time too.  So we're conversing and he seems to be getting closer and I catch movement to my left and it's a deer silently browsing and coming directly between me and the gobbler.  So I watch the deer and hope it doesn't spook the turkey and then 2 more deer come so there's 3 between me and the turkey.  But the turkey is still gobbling and coming up the hill.  I'm facing the hill a 2 o'clock to the slope so he's kinda been to my left the whole time, which I like because I'm right-handed.  All of a sudden I catch movement out of my right eye and he's coming at my 4 o'clock.  He's about 30 yards away and he's coming in hot.  He must have gone around the deer?  It would be really hard for me to shoot at that he's approaching from.  Fortunately he stops right beside a big tree and goes into full strut and walks behind the tree and turns the other way.  He wants to die.  I reposition to my right and put the red dot where I think he's going.  He does his part and game over.  Funnest hunt all year!  I look at my phone and it's noon.  Time flies...


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[Meleagris gallopavo]

Forgot to say this bird tagged me out in Virginia, on the last day of the season.  He was 18.85 lbs, beard was 9.5", and both spurs were 1".  Good luck to the rest of you this season!


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[twyatt]

Awesome David! Congrats!