Fall Turkey Hunting

[Dougas]

Thanks. it's fun to take turkey pictures.

[crow]

Nice pic and turkeys, good job

[Will]

I see 4 good wing bone calls coming from those girls

[Dtrkyman]

I have shot a few while bowhunting deer, too many other things to hunt in the fall for me, fall is about archery big game!

On my last leese in Illionois I would pass shots on toms, would rather they were still around come spring!

[Dougas]

I see 4 good wing bone calls coming from those girls

So do I!

[Cut N Run]

There's no Fall turkey season in North Carolina.  About 20 years ago they had an experimental "Fall" season in winter in 5 northern counties that bordered Virginia, where hens, jakes, or gobblers were legal.  Tagging a Fall bird would cost you a spring Gobbler tag (we get 2 tags, period).  I hunted the lease in Granville County, had hens come in under 20 yards, had a pair of jakes just about get in my lap, but saw no longbeards.  My grandfather always taught me that it was counterproductive to kill your egg layers and killing jakes was just stealing longbeard gobblers from your own future.  I never even took the safety off.  I love hunting spring gobblers enough that I'd feel like I was screwing myself to spend a tag on small or immature birds.  I just love hunting the spring gobble too much.  Plus, if I was going to half freeze my @$$ off, why not just deer hunt instead?  N.C. did away with the experimental Fall season and we went back to spring gobbler (& bearded hen) only.  I don't mind a bit.

Jim

[Dougas]

The turkey population has absolutely been exploding in my state and my area in particular, for the last 15 years. You can not go more than a few miles and not see turkeys. My front yard has 4 to 20 turkeys of all sizes, toms and hens. I drove 4 miles to my parents house out in the country today and saw 7 large flocks on the way. They have 10 to 40 turkeys in their back yard at any given time on their country property. The fish and game encourages the taking of hens near towns and agricultural areas as they really tear things up and leave a big mess behind. I hunted a private property where the owner would allow me to hunt spring gobblers, but only if I killed two hens in the fall. If I killed a fall gobbler or a jake on his property, then no spring gobblers for me on that property. We have a few hunting units that you can purchase 9 addition beardless tags. So, that's your over the counter fall tags (2) and 9 additional tags for beardless only for a total of 11 fall turkey tags and with the 3 spring tags you can get 14 turkeys in one year. I killed 3 toms in the spring and the 2 hens this fall. I won't hunt my parents property because they enjoy watching the turkeys and they stay away from the house for the most part. In states where turkeys aren't so plentiful, hunting hens and multiple gobblers make little sense. Similar to killing does and cow elk. Here, the deer and elk populations are very low. So, hunting does and cows makes little sense, however, in states where deer have over run the state, it makes more sense.

[YoungGobbler]

Sounds like turkey paradise, isn't it.

[Dougas]

Yes it is. There are times when I can't find a turkey, but those are very few and far between. When I was young, I would see 50 to 100 black tailed deer in a day during hunting season and 3 to 6 herds of elk in a day of hunting and maybe 1 turkey in a year.
Now, I see about 20 deer in a season and 1 to 5 elk in a year, but, tons of turkeys. So, the tables have switched. For a guy who loves to hunt, at this point, turkeys fit bill.

[Bwhntr68]

Went up to Missouri with my brother in law, him for deer, me for my first fall turkey. Hunted hard for a week without much luck until the last day, he called while I was hunting a different area saying he had seen some turkeys crossing the road in a far corner of public. Made my way across the conservation area, got close to where I thought the birds would be hanging out in a large field. Stripped my shoes off and waded the creek and sure enough, a group of birds was 200 yards away feeding calmly. I had left my calls across the creek so I did my best version of a keekee run with my mouth and they started running straight down an access path towards me. I didn't have good cover so I drew my bow and waited for them to pop up on my side of this knob. Next thing I know I have 6 turkeys 3 steps from me, I picked out the largest one and released. Watched her fall 10 steps away. First fall bird, first bird with my bow, and first (probably last) hen. Wingbones in the making!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Dougas]

Congrats on your firsts! This is a first for me too. First time I have seen a turkey hunting success photo barefooted. Job well done!

[crow]

Nice job and congrats on your first fall turkey, good hunting

[YoungGobbler]

Good job buddy! You did what you had to do to get it!