How’s everyone’s season going?

[GobbleNut]

Congrats gobblenut. How much damage to your truck?

Not too bad.  First one I had to speed up before he got across the road,...ended up taking out one headlight.  Second one was flying, so I was lucky to get him.  Caught the upper part of the windshield just as he was about to clear the cab.  Got lucky, though, and he landed in the bed.  In my book I should get extra points for that!   

[leaf shaker]

Quiet on the eastern front. have barley heard a gobble. have had three birds are in the area and have seen them throughout the season just wont say a word though. still have about two weeks here in VA. may try and go out of state for more season but will have to see how the schedule works out. 

[RiverBuck]

This bird came in w 4 hens to a Gooserbat OsS call this morning and I shot him at 15 yards underneath the canopy of a old cedar tree. Solid Virginia bird that's going to score well.

[Sir-diealot]

Spent most of opening day sitting on the toilet, never made it out. Not a great start to the season and my guts still do not feel right.

[RiverBuck]

That stinks

[Sir-diealot]

That stinks

Figuratively and literally!

[avidnwoutdoorsman]

My opener was met sitting on a bird gobbling it's head off on the roost when two no bodies come waltzing down the road 15 min before fly down within 75 yds of the roost half huntched like that would make a difference. Don't worry it gets better. They set up right there. My buddy and I don't let our presents be know and pull some more birds in from up the cut. Next thing we know they are running and flying for their lives cuz the yahoo's thought they can sneak up on them in the cut! Had a few kind words. They are east-sisters that ain't ever hunted Easterns on Weyco.
Slept in day 2, family day 3, hunt day 4. Put all the eggs in my basket to hunt the bottom of the cut. Birds are up high this time. No wait got two across the creek ready to pitch over on que. WHAT THE XYZ!!!! Here's two new yahoo's walking on the road again!!!!
Day 5 move to see friends in the south central part of the state and put on dad duty. Perfect! Go scouting in the little turkey country there is and what do you know put a strutter and 9 hens to bed from over a half mile away across a river. This is open country now. Day 6 up and packing in the dark and set up decoys 75 from the roost I'm sitting 95. Can't see squat. I am set on roost pre-nautical twilight preferably astronomical. Get a gobble sounding weak. Two bird pitch opposite and into a field long ways out. Third way to my right, forth way to my left, forth one flys back up, then valla the rest pitch straight in my decoys including a the JAKE! Not shooting. Move spots play cat games with a 4 Jake's and a gobbler along a private fence line for 2 hours. Actually call there 3 hens past me.
Day 7 time to move to our property (stay at a friends as mine is bare land). Mind you I have my wife and twin girls but two cars doing the visit family and friend and turkey hunt combo. I low key every year try to pick up an instate slam and I know of a good spot I've killed an "Rio" the last two years like same roost but lots of other birds. 15 min south is a new piece of public I roosted birds youth weekend and 15min north is 1200acres a prime time private I just gained access to. I go with what I know. Leave at 2am drive 2 hrs set up in my spot where birds "always" roost. Coyotes start ripping and birds start gobbling. I counted 8 different roost within the mile. My roost... moved up the hill 100yds. I don't move. Birds fly down and then fly back up...coyote? Birds fly down and I admire Tom strutting. Plan to move ahead of them, too slow, go back to my spot. There were 2 more roost sub 400yds maybe they'll come. Calling bird fires off on direction of first bird. Glass he's perched on his cute rock ledge 100yds over the fence 400+ yds away. I move to him sub 150 yds. He moves to me 50 then bloop he's off the bluff and walking up the canyon gobbling his head off. I talk story with him he keeps moving up then hangs up. I'm back at my spot now debating life. I have a phone call at 10am, no service, it's 8:15. I pack up and convince myself if he's still there when I walk back to the truck I'm gonna go to him again. Grab my strutter and up the hill I go. Check my pins and think he's about 150 over the crest. I call he answers or someone else did. I move closer call again he answers where I think he should be. Start to move.... uh-oh red head peaking. I stop hold the strutter in front and call. He's strutting and getting closer. I inch forward to find some dirt amongst all the rocks. Range 40 yds. Struggling to stab decoy. Decoy down. Pulling gun back and up. Blouch! 20yds bird down.
At the friends and the birds are gobbling wife is napping and I'm itching to roost. Be here until Sunday have 1 new hunter coming for sure and like 6 open invites. Rain forecasted this weekend.
Good luck y'all.


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Little further update huh? So went roosting that night and missed judged a roost actually and bumped the bird out of it...oops. Good thing though because the kids where not having it; wouldnt sleep in the bunk of the camper, in the crib of the camper, or in bed with us! My alarm started going off at 3:30am and the wife gives me the "you're a dead man if you leave me!" look. So I stay put we half sleep until 7:30 when we emerge and I make breakfast for everyone including our host (staying at a coworker 260 near my 84 acres). Come out for breakfast and missing one of my dogs about 9am and start whistling hard for the dog. Find the dog and get a manage a couple shock gobbles. Knowing the property really well I have a really good idea where this bird is at. So i put the kids in clothes, make sure camp is settled and tell the wife "I'm going after that bird". 9:45am now and I cut straight up the hill at it. Cut the distance about half where he could have been working to about and give him a couple yelps but nothing. So I go about a quarter farther to this bench I know they like and get ready to set up here for a good call session. I lay a few more yelps out and get an instant response not too far away. I start doing that peeping tom thing we all do where it's like did he see me, he's gotta be right there when I catch a hen at the base of some trees and then I catch his white head and him puffed up coming around the hill side. I set my strutter out again in front of me and actually lay under it because I'm on a bit of a ledge. He comes strutting in thinking I'm moving in on his lady and at about 15 steps I end the show with a clean shot to the neck. Walk back to camp and everyone is thinking I forgot something. It's how turkey hunting goes sometimes. Within 20min of leaving camp I was back at camp bird in hand. I honestly debated not taking the shot wanting not to tag out in the area I was in but he was a good bird.

[avidnwoutdoorsman]

An important part for us as hunters is to mentor other hunters. This season I took out a youth hunter for his first and second bird ever. I pin dropped, texted, couched, etc a coworker and his son to the aid of the sons first bird and the coworker having many other chances. Coworker had years and years ago gone with a warden that basically shot birds from the tent! So he was greatful. Helped the cousin-in-law and his three buds into a bird each. Hosted a gent from MS/TX and his brother who tagged two birds each. Finally, I took out my best friend for his second season. As a mentor, once is not enough, but twice can really drive it home. Here is that story:

Prelude: Last year buddy came out and we went to my property and we fanned the first kill ever on my newly acquired 84 acres. A big beautiful bird. I let someone else shoot the first turkey on my property. I will never regret that because they are hooked and it probably brought me more joy then if I had done it myself. It was his first kill bigger than a rabbit with a pellet gun on the island (Whidbey) as a kid. We took my first bird on state land that evening, and the following morning on some timber company land found him his second. I killed my second the following day where I took the first this year. This year he wanted to call in a bird to decoys and shoot two Toms. It was his hunt and that is what we would do (almost  )

Thursday night on his way out I dropped him a pin 40 min south of where we were staying to roost birds across a creek where I'd seen them from the road youth weekend and my way in Wednesday. I scouted the property we were stay at and timberland adjacent. I came up empty on roost birds but he came back with what I expected, a hill loaded with birds. We got up early and set out with a sheet of plywood to cross the creek. Got to the top of the hill where the trees start to thin and it starts to open up. We set the strutter, breeding hen, and look out hen up. Set him up under a tree and me in a dead fall behind him. The song birds started there songs and soon the gobbles followed..... we were in their kitchen. There were birds 50 yards behind us at 5 o clock and birds 100 yds in front of us at 1 o clock. Night turned to dawn and birds started to pitch down. And up the hill from us came two big birds ropes skipping off the ground as they ran for the strutter. They start pecking and sizing the bird up when my buddy rips a shot... then he's running towards the bird....then he's looking at me.... then he's looking at the ground. "I shot over it and it flew down the hill". It happens at 12 yds...new....and excited!

We make our way down the hill and sit for a little to see what the rest of the birds are doing with no luck and decide to work back to the truck. Knowing the birds out front came off the roost this direction we were working slowly when we found them but they had found us. I got down behind my strutter decoy and talked to them trying to calm them down. It worked. Three birds where headed straight at us. As I was sizing them up and realizing they were jakes and mumbling "They're jakes!" his gun barks and his first bird falls. Young, young bird but legal and buddy was happy. Humbled but happy. Should take a second to say this guy shoots two turkeys in two days last year, gets a buck in our Modern season, then goes out to the Missouri Breaks of MT and shoots a 5x7 muley. So in one year he's done what most would hope to do in 5 or 10 years starting out and to miss a big tom in the decoys then shoot a jake he was back to reality.

We stop at another area and find the mother of all roost trees. I've heard of this but there was legit 6 or more trees with turkey poop piled up over a foot up the trunk in a mound. We moved to a scenic spot where birds were talking and got set up but got spoiled by some tree thinning that picked up at the same time. Talked to birds here and there but had to get back to camp for my family responsibilities. Oh and to take some Covid test for my return to work. Which we drove to town to drop off and hunted our way back. I wanted to try the top road through timberland into my property and we got a gobble up high but he didnt want to play and the current mission was a hot bird. Went to another high spot where we got a couple birds talking but way off. Moved around a drainage and located the birds again. One was about a halfmile further down and the other(s) where across the way from us halfway up a big big hill. Lucky for us there was a logging road that would get us above them. So we backed out and made the big drive around and parked 500 yds out. Stealthily we made our way down the road to where we were right above them by about 150yds. A little farther down was a small meadow to set up on and we pitched the decoys. Told my buddy to just lay on the road looking over the edge (again it was steep) and use the grass edge to cover him. I sat on a tree and begin to call. Gobbles but no movement. I tell my buddy we are going to sit here for at least 20-30min to see if they will budge. I call after 5 min. Could be closer but now we know there is the one where we think and another below. 5min and I call again and he answers. Maybe closer but hard to tell. 18min in and buddy ask if we should close the distance. I tell him to be patient. 20min I call again and he answers but his time he is way closer. Its go time. Minutes later he emerges at 40yds and is gobbling his head off now seeing the decoys. I'm exposed and had the diaphragm still on my cap. He struts and gobbles his way across the hillside, 30yds. I'm thinking SHOOT. He keeps walking straight across the hill below us in plain site (to me) and begins to walk out the other side of the clearing. I can get back to the pot and try to bring him back but he doesn't like it. Doesnt hate it but it doesnt turn him. He slips in the trees. I tell buddy to turn on the road because he should pop out right there. Instead he pops out like 80yds down the road sees us and bolts. Buddy was sitting too far back on the edge, was trigger shy, and only saw the birds head for seconds he said. Where I had watched it for 15min from the knees up. We continue down to my property where a gobbler and hen are ready for the 7pm dinner bell of my deer feeder which we pass for obvious legal reasons and head back to camp. Weather is coming in and again everywhere we could hunt was silent around camp.

The next morning we go back to our hill where we missed the big boys. I'm skeptic but there were a lot of birds and we didnt make too much of a ruckus? This time though we set up even higher on the hill now knowing the two roost trees. This time we are set up with the upper roost 50yds away at 8 o clock and the lower roost 80 yds away at 12 o clock. Everyone is home, changed to a 3/4 strutter but no one played with the incoming weather. It was higher open hills or lower open field for them. Go to another piece that is loaded with sign but no birds as it begins to rain. Run to my property and the abundant timberland above it that is still dry but no one is talking. The bottom fell out of the barometer now and they were tight lipped. Eager for brownie points we rested and spent time with the family. Buddy did a loop and got a gobble. Tried to head off a flock but a dead fall pushed the birds off his path. Then like clock work the weather eased and it was time to try to roost some birds near again. Now we had been hearing a bird on the limb on some state land a distance off and I told my buddy we should go roost that bird. (This is the same state land too where I took my bird with him last year) I put a kid on my shoulders and off we went. There he was talking his head off. I had to get back to put the kid to bed but I told my buddy where I thought the bird was right then and told him to go verify that was where he was. After putting the kids down he showed me a pin and said there is no question the bird is in these trees right here.

The next morning we got up and after much debated set up at one of the five spots we thought this bird would fly down or walk by. Boy were we on the money. Sitting roughly 50yds from the roost he was hammering. He also had a gaggle of hens with him that made this fun. I gave the common tree yelp. Did a fly down. Ground yelp. And shut up. Birds were flying over us and into us, pitching just yards away on the ground. And then there he was. That oh so beautiful spit drum as he came down the hill to meet his hens from behind us straight into our spread. Now I couldnt see this but I could here him closer and closer. Likely not to please to see a strutter decoy approaching a breeding hen decoy. AND THEN "Put put put put put put" he caught my buddy and was walking away.... but the 6 hens below me to my right some 15yds away werent scared.... so I yelped and they yelped and we talked. But he was smart and backed all the way around us to be sitting 50+ yds dead right and not too far from his hens that were now 30yds from me and still eating without a care in the world. It was time to get creative/aggressive so I started to purr at him which he liked and answered with a gobble and another and another but what was one hen when he had his whole flock of 8 jennies now. They stayed there and ate and life was good for everyone. I talked with the hens and they talked with me but he didnt want to come closer. So then I started to purr some more and some more and some more. If what you are doing is working keep doing it. That can mean be quite but that can also mean to keep calling. I had to have purred 5-10times and with each one I got a couple steps and a gobble out of him until finally he was in a brisk walk to get some action for himself. From what you'd hope to see in a movie he left his girls and came over to the spread and was ready to fight for some love. Then blauch! My buddies aim was true this time and on the last morning of the last day he had his second bird. A tom that was roosted, spooked, called, and decoyed. Everything he wanted.

[avidnwoutdoorsman]

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[Dr Juice]

Spent most of opening day sitting on the toilet, never made it out. Not a great start to the season and my guts still do not feel right.

You didn't miss anything in NY Sir. The winds were howling like never seen before. My worst opener in 30-years. Best of luck

[notsure]

My buddies and I are heading for WI tomorrow. Season C starts on Wednesday, so I've got one more chance to "upgrade" my score. Regardless, it'll be a great time hanging out with the guys, drinking WI craft beer, and stuffing our faces with fried fish on Friday night!

[Happy]

Enjoy your trip.

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[Sir-diealot]

Congratulations to those of you that have taken turkey, have a safe trip notsure.

Spent most of opening day sitting on the toilet, never made it out. Not a great start to the season and my guts still do not feel right.

You didn't miss anything in NY Sir. The winds were howling like never seen before. My worst opener in 30-years. Best of luck

Second year in a row I am not hearing a single gobble, I do not understand what is going on with the property, every year I have hunted it there have been gobbles galore. Granted the weather has been wet but still I am surprised. I have to drive for the Mennonite tomorrow so no hunting then, I will be out Thursday but not sure about Friday.

[leaf shaker]

Bet y'all can guess how my season is going now. Going to college close to home has really helped me get my little brother out more often. We woke 3:00 am, headed out with blind, chairs, decoys and the rest of what we were going to need and headed out. Got out in a last years cut over and waited. At about 6:30 we heard a few gobbles. I called, but nothing responded. Then at 7:00 sharp one started its way across the top of a finger, then another and another. The three gobblers worked their way towards the decoys. I got him in place and made sure he was on the right bird. Then I tried to lean out one window and found I couldn't get on my gun that way. I pulled my gun out of the one window and put it out the other then and I counted down and we both shot at the same time. Two of the birds went down and we busted out of the blind. This was a really special hunt as my brother and I are really close, and to double up with the end of turkey season in sight is really something special.

[ManfromGreenSwamp]

Bet y'all can guess how my season is going now. Going to college close to home has really helped me get my little brother out more often. We woke 3:00 am, headed out with blind, chairs, decoys and the rest of what we were going to need and headed out. Got out in a last years cut over and waited. At about 6:30 we heard a few gobbles. I called, but nothing responded. Then at 7:00 sharp one started its way across the top of a finger, then another and another. The three gobblers worked their way towards the decoys. I got him in place and made sure he was on the right bird. Then I tried to lean out one window and found I couldn't get on my gun that way. I pulled my gun out of the one window and put it out the other then and I counted down and we both shot at the same time. Two of the birds went down and we busted out of the blind. This was a really special hunt as my brother and I are really close, and to double up with the end of turkey season in sight is really something special.

This is awesome! Best thing I've saw here yet!
Congratulations to yall:)


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