Spring 2021 (updated 5/9)

[Hobbes]

Spring 2021

I'm going to try not to write a lot of detail but instead make the commentary short and sweet and this mostly a running photo essay.

Scouting before the season:




The day before the opener was beautiful.




Opening day was a nasty one, but the morning wasn't too bad.  I hunted with a friend from Spokane that I've not hunted with before.  We had one bird going around 10 AM but an unwelcome guest (hunter) tried calling and sneaking his way into the bird and bumped the whole flock.





The next day, April 11, was cold (19 degrees) but a lot nicer day.  John had a bird called in by about 7:30 or so while I ran his camera.




We tried to find me a bird but couldn't find anything that wanted to do anything more than give us a courtesy gobble or two.





I had to head home that afternoon but left the birds from my previous scouting mission in good hands.  John had sent me a text by mid morning the next day, April 12.



I got out and did a little scouting on April 15, but nothing too serious.  My granddaughter and I managed to see a couple hens and a black bear.








I hunted with my youngest son on Friday, the 16th.  We worked a bird for better than a half hour off the roost before he decided to follow some hens.  We had someone cut us off while trying to follow so we backed out and went looking for another bird.



We found a bird around 8:30 and had him killed by 8:50.






I hunted the next morning, Saturday April 17th, with my oldest son and we were again on turkeys at daylight, but quickly had company in the way of another hunter that was moving in on the birds yelping as they gobbled at me.  We hung with them for a little while but finally decided that it was getting dangerous.  We backed out and went looking for another bird.  We heard the guy shoot before we got to the truck.

We had a bird found by about 9:15 and had him killed at 9:30.







I planned on hunting Sunday morning before going to church but decided to sleep in and not hunt.  I'll be hunting Thursday - Saturday this week with another buddy.  The weather definitely changed again last night and this morning.

[Crghss]

Very nice, beautiful country.

[Cowboy]

Best of luck to you. Enjoy the beautiful scenery  in your pics.

[Yoteduster]

Your starting the season off pretty good congrats!

[Ozarks Hillbilly]

Congrats, and thanks for sharing really enjoyed the pictures. 

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[bigriverbum]

awesome! thanks for the great pictures

my only real desire to travel to hunt turkeys is to go out west and get into the mountains

[JeffC]

Great pictures, beautiful scenery, truly "gods country". Thank you for sharing. Look forward to more pictures.   

[NCL]

Very nice photo series

[GobbleNut]

Fine pictures and narrative as always, Hobbes.  Note: If I am not mistaken, I recognize your buddy John from this YouTube channel,....Northwest Spur Chasers as I recall.  Seems like a good fellow...

[Hobbes]

Fine pictures and narrative as always, Hobbes.  Note: If I am not mistaken, I recognize your buddy John from this YouTube channel,....Northwest Spur Chasers as I recall.  Seems like a good fellow...

Yes, that's the Northwest Spur Chaser himself.  That was the first time I've hunted with him and his first time in MT.  He's a good guy.  We have quite a bit in common, mostly be the love of hunting turkeys.  We probably differ a little on some things related to turkeys but nothing out of the ordinary and surely nothing that I'd consider any issue.  I suspect that I'll hunt with him again sometime. 

[RutnNStrutn]

Great pictures and stories as always!! Thanks for sharing!!

Sent from deep in the woods where the critters roam.

[tomstopper]

Great pictures and congrats on some nice gobblers

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[Hobbes]

We were supposed to drive out on Wednesday, hunt Thursday through Saturday morning, then drive back on Saturday afternoon.  Friday looked like very questionable weather so we knew we better hit it hard on Thursday while the weather was nice.

I found a decent set of whitetail sheds from last year laying 20 feet apart on Thursday morning.


We got into this country around 10:30.


I killed this guy at 11:30 AM.




My buddy killed this guy at 3:30 PM.




We drove 20 miles to a new location really just hoping to locate birds for Friday, but we found these two strutters with two hens at around 6 and had doubled by 6:30 PM.  They came in drumming like crazy and never gobbled again after we first located them. 






Heck of a closeout to a full day of hunting on Thursday.


Good thing we got it done so quick because Friday got cold, windy, and snowy.  We drove home Friday instead of Saturday.

[Ozarks Hillbilly]

Looks like you had a very productive day.
Enjoyed the pictures

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[Yoteduster]

Congrats on a couple more nice gobblers