Killer B’s Story Thread

[Yoder409]

Just to clarify.............the farm in the background of those pics is not my place.  My house is 90 degrees left of where the camera is aimed.  And a couple hundred yards closer than the farmhouse and barn, so.........yeah.  And it IS downwind from the house so I might could smell the bacon.  If the Rona wouldn't have screwed my smeller up.   

Get back on that miss horse and ride it, Delmar !!!  They ain't that bright.  That bird could easily be workable again tomorrow.

[Meleagris gallopavo]

Not a great story to tell here, but a true story nonetheless.  I was back at it again this morning on property I've been hunting since Monday.  Seeing and hearing birds everyday, but everything they do is different everyday.  When I heard them gobbling this morning I set up in what I thought was the dominant Tom's strut zone that I had seen him in before.  Had a hard time finding a spot next to the field because the field drops down into the woods on that side of the field all the way around.  Found a high spot and set up, but it was very brushy so I cut myself a little shooting lane.  Hens came and went as I heard gobbling in front and behind me.  The one in front of me I took to be the one I was after.  He never responded to my calls even though I felt he was getting closer a couple of times.  he has a bunch of hens with him so I knew he wouldn't show unless those hens showed, and they didn't.  More hens came out and meandered to an old abandoned house with a grassy yard.  The Tom i was after eventually stopped gobbling and I started thinking about moving to another area to find a responsive bird.  Then I noticed 3 more birds enter the field and when I glassed them they were all longbeards.  They went to the hens in the yard after a furious session of crosstalk between me and the hens they were with.  I couldn't get the hens mad enough to come get me and they eventually left the Toms to go somewhere else.  Toms are responding well to my calling vocally but won't close any distance.  Then 2 hens come out of the woods to my right and walk towards the Toms a bit and the Toms move towards them, resulting in the hens running out of the field.  The Toms meandered within 100 yards and stopped.  They strutted and gobbled at my calls but wouldn't come.  Finally I started rustling the leaves and making pecking and footstep noises in the leaves to see if that would bring them over.  They quickly made a beeline to me and since I had repositioned myself a little I had difficulty getting my gun in position.  Once in position I realized I didn't have a shooting lane and I couldn't get a clear shot.  So they got to within 20 yards of me and started thinking something was up.  I actually had the red dot on a head from time to time but couldn't get what I consider a clear shot.  I think they saw me moving the gun a little trying to reposition and they hurriedly walked off to my right and the brush and small trees were so thick it was impossible to move the gun much.  They disappeared and I was left with a pounding heart and disappointment.  I just hope I didn't spook them enough that they won't come back.  Two of them looked to be really nice gobblers.  Now I'm doing the could have, should have thing in my head all day...

[Yoder409]

That'll happen.

Better letting them walk than taking an iffy, irresponsible shot.  Kudos !!!   

That's a bunch of longbeards that'll be there to die another day.  Keep after them.

[zsully]

Welp, now that I'm back in Pa and settled I might as well fill ya'll in on how my trip to Va finished, and it was bittersweet...... or maybe sweet bitter. Definitely sweet then bitter. Tuesday morning dawned crisp and bright almost like a repeat of Monday. We were set up on a powerline on top of an oak ridge where we could listen down into a swamp that these birds like to roost over. Everything made sense, the sign was there, the roost trees were there, the weather was there......the turkeys were not. We stayed there till 7:30 and decided to walk out to the end of the property just to see what we could see and maybe throw a couple calls out before I had to leave at 9:00. The property ended at a lake, and across the lake was a gobbler, on top of the ridge. He seemed like a willing participant but we were short on time and everyone knows gobblers don't fly over lakes to run to the call. So I told Twyatt, " let's just sit here and listen to him gobble till we have to go." I continued to run the slate and he continued to gobble and it was clear he was coming off his ridge top and down to the waters edge. We continued our conversation and all of the sudden I see a bearded bowling ball with wings floating across the water...
Me: "Son of a b!&@h is flying"
Twyatt: "No way! Holy s&$@, he is"

He lands about 200 yards from where we are standing on a sandy road that borders this lake. We scramble to get set up and then give him a couple minutes to collect his thoughts. I call, he answers. I put the call down. We wait 10 minutes and he doesn't show. I yelp......nothing. I cutt hard, he gobbles further away. I pour it on and he answers half a dozen times. I set the call down......20 minutes still hasn't shown himself. I yelp and he gobbles, less then 100 just around the bend in the road. After what seemed like forever I hear Twyatt whisper the three best words you can ever here in the turkey woods, "I see him." He came around the bend in all his glory, strutting and closing the distance. His beard looked almost long enough to trip on and his fan was perfect. I had the gun leveled on the most open spot on the road which would've been about a 15 yard shot. A perfect first opportunity for the 410 I was carrying. He kept coming and made it to 20 yards and that's where everything went wrong. He came around a small pine tree that had been obscuring my dainty 275 pound fame from his vision during his approach. His eyes locked on mine, he looked straight into my soul and I fell apart. He popped his wing and spun still unsure of what he was looking at. I adjusted quickly rushed the shot and sent $5.70 worth of tss 9.5's flying past his head but he wasn't there anymore. He flew away unscathed and left me in utter ruins. How is it that a 20lb bird can make a grown man loose his mind and every ounce of composure I seemed to ever have? I'm not sure I'll ever know that answer but good Lord I hope it never stops. So there it is.....my sweet-bitter finish to my first ever trip to Va. I promise you though, it won't be the last time I match wits with a Virginia gobbler.

Here's the lake he flew over:

[Delmar ODonnell]

Great story Sully! As my mentor once told me, "you'll remember the misses forever, and that's not a bad thing."

Speaking of misses, I redeemed myself this morning with a fine Alabama double bearded gobbler. He's my first double beard. After missing 2 days ago, and spooking the absolute hell out of that same bird yesterday, and then spooking another bird I struck at 11;00 yesterday, I was feeling pretty low.

I went back to the spot I struck that bird this morning and he dutifully gobbled around 5:55. He was in a fresh burn. I set up in a saddle and tried to call him up, but he didn't seem to interested, so I worked my way down the backside of a finger ridge to get more on his level. I did my series of clucks and WAM. Birds gobbled directly behind me and CLOSE. I spun lighting fast to that direction and within 5 seconds I see the first red head looking over the crest. Another 5 seconds and this birds walks out into the open. I swung the 20 degrees or so quickly, settled on his waddles, and was so relieved when I saw him go down. It's amazing how a successful hunt will make you forget about all your previous "idiot moments"

In total there were 4 longbeards in that group, so I'm excited to get back after them. They are pretty far deep onto the public land, so I'm not too worried about people getting at them this weekend. Alabama has been a grind and has humbled me every day, and I'm so blessed to have gotten this bird.



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[Meleagris gallopavo]

Great story and wonderful gobbler Delmar!

[Yoder409]

Yep !!!!    Another great story........ another great bird !!!!    Diggin' that extra whisker !!!

CONGRATS !!!!!!

[zsully]

Congrats Delmar!!!! Awesome bird and awesome story! Is that bird gonna score or what?

[Delmar ODonnell]

Thank y'all! He won't score as well as my last although he was no slouch in his own right


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[a_jabbo]

Man, Del, what a great bird. I've always hoped to shoot a multiple bearded bird. Congratulations!!

[POk3s]

Sully, that was an awesome story! Like delmar said, you'll remember that one forever! You really did call a bird across a lake.. who cares that he's not dead .

Delmar, another dandy bird and a dandy hunt! I'm leaving a week from today for leg one of my spring journey!! Keep killing it boys!

[Meleagris gallopavo]

Yesterday around 3:00 I decided to see if I could get on a bird in NC.  I had all my gear with me since I had gone hunting in the morning.  As soon as I crossed the state line into NC I saw two birds in the first field next to my nephew's house. I had seen 2 birds there last week that I took to be hens and I immediately assumed the same.  But I started thinking one looked too big to be a hen and it bothered me so I turned around and pulled out the binoculars.  They were both longbeards and headed right to a field that's in the woods.  I pulled up to the path and set up in the field on the side they were coming to.  Sat a bit and called and heard nothing.  Have you ever noticed how slow turkeys can be when they aren't in a hurry?  Called some more and just sat still.  All at once I spotted them right across from me, red heads and wattles and headed my way.  The big one knocked my Jake decoy off the stake with the first hit.  Then he mounted the decoy while the smaller bird stood off to the side.  So I killed the large bird.  It ended up being 19.90 lbs, had a 10.25" beard and both spurs were 1" each.  It didn't score as well as my previous bird so I didn't post it in the kill thread. 

Fast forward to this morning.  Set up in a new spot where I'd seen some birds and did my calling routine, which is very little calling at all.  The second round of calling brought a hen down right in front of me, then another, then a gobbler.  Even a small gobbler beside hens looks big.  So during the fly down stress of looking around and clucking I shot him.  He ended up being a small gobbler at 16.5 lbs, he did have a 9" beard and both spurs were long, black and sharp with both being just over an inch.  Go figure...


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[Yoder409]

CONGRATS !!!!!!!!!!

I finally got my whooped COVID butt outta the house this morning (quarantine was over Thursday) and went to the property to listen.

Birds gobbling EVERYWHERE !!!!!!

In listening and then looking on the short ride home, I bet I heard 15 gobbling birds nd saw at least 6 gobblers in fields with hens.  Not all were on our property.  But the vast majority were in places I can hunt. Looking promising, for now.  Still 2 freakin' weeks til our opener.  The way green-up is going, the woods is going to be a jungle by then   

[Meleagris gallopavo]

CONGRATS !!!!!!!!!!

I finally got my whooped COVID butt outta the house this morning (quarantine was over Thursday) and went to the property to listen.

Birds gobbling EVERYWHERE !!!!!!

In listening and then looking on the short ride home, I bet I heard 15 gobbling birds nd saw at least 6 gobblers in fields with hens.  Not all were on our property.  But the vast majority were in places I can hunt. Looking promising, for now.  Still 2 freakin' weeks til our opener.  The way green-up is going, the woods is going to be a jungle by then   

Glad you're feeling better now Yoder.  Get after them!


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[Mossyguy]

Seems like everyone's been having a great season so far! Can't wait for the rest of y'all's seasons to open!   

Next week I'm going to try and get my dad on his last bird of the season. Unless he's been whacked within the last few days there's one hanging out in the area where I shot my last one. It's a different bird than the one I got pics of a few weeks ago.