Success starts and ends with a smile (pic heavy Wounded Warrior Hunt and NY long

[TauntoHawk]

Had a great 4 day hunt this past weekend with family, great friends, and met some amazing new individuals. Made my 5th annual turkey trip with my father to New York State, he just finished his treatment for prostate cancer and I value every hunt I get to share with him.. This year I also had the privilege of helping with a Wounded Warrior hunting with the local chapter of the NWTF in Greenville, NY.

These guys were so pumped to get in the woods, some of them for the first time hunting and others a long overdue reconnection with the woods. 3 of the 6 hunters went home with birds, one of them taking a great double beard that scored 72. Everyone was closed and had lots of action in the two days of hunting and everyone left with a smile and some new friends. We also did a bbq both days and trap shoot Saturday afternoon, it was a blast! My hunter Brent missed a slammer bird on Sunday but found redemption only 50 minutes later when he took his first animal ever, a nice Jake with only ten minutes left to hunt.

After his miss we just jumped over to the other side of the farm to spend the final hour of the second day but at 11:30 were laughing and telling miss stories to lighten the mood and  a bird sounded off and within a few minutes there were 3 jakes coming fast and gobbling hard. More than I've ever seen from jakes. I told him they are just jakes but he's more than welcome to shoot one for his first bird. He asked "what's the difference between a Tom", I said "well, they're a young bird with a short beard, and nubs for spurs".... He said "does it have any feathers for that tail plaque thing you guys gave all of us???" "sure does"... click BOOM!!! Happy hunter
We joked the rest of the day about how all he wanted was some tail feathers.

Here is Brent with his first bird ever.

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The whole group with their guides

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Birds hanging on the limb... guess which one was shot with Hevi

the leaky one

[TauntoHawk]

My father shot his biggest bird to date on Sunday as well and ended up taking it to the taxidermist for his first mount. 19.5lbs 10.5in thick rope and 1-5/16in spurs

Not a monster but he's hunted for a while and it was his biggest and a very respectable bird so he thought the man cave could use a new piece of decoration. 

[TauntoHawk]

After taking out 2 youth hunters, a first timer opening day, and the WW hunt I had yet to spend a day hunting for myself so I was ready when Monday it was just me and my buddy James going out with me being the shooter. We were greeted by cool temps, blue bird skies and not a SINGLE GOBBLE, none, we hit 5 properties and couldn't find a turkey. My dad and his buddy had the same problem it was one weirdest days in the woods for sure weather was perfect.

Tuesday was all rain, not a down pour but steady all day. Bird wise Tuesday was the opposite of Wednesday in every way, birds gobbled hard for a rainy day and they seemed to be in every field we looked at. After our roost set up didn't work we made a ¾ mile loop and got back on some birds and I killed, ended up being the subdominant bird as there needed to be a split second decision and he was standing closer and the big guy was hiding behind a few jakes (coward). But it was a long beard and he made us work hard so I'm happy with him, longbeard #10 down. 

[TauntoHawk]

After a quick breakfast sandwich and coffee we were off looking for my dad's second bird. We quickly found one in a location we thought we could get on but by the time we got in on them they were working across a property line and not interested in turning around. On our way out we spotted another bird strutting for 2 hens. There was a creek with steep banks that ran behind the fields and so we hoped in already wet and made our way down using the cover and sound of the creek to hide us. When we got to where we thought we needed to come up over the edge for a look I told dad to be ready because he could be right there and right there he was not more 8yds from where we last saw him only 35yds from the creek bank. I whistled and the bird folded out of strut and stuck his head up and that's about all he did after that. The hevi #6's put all the birds down this weekend hard than I think I've ever seen them hit the dirt just folded up and that was it. No flopping and flapping

Our same day birds together, mostly dried off

[TauntoHawk]

A few more photos from the weekend.. Pastor Dale Quick my dad's best hunting buddy on his first hunt since being diagnosed with late stage Lyme.

[blacky]

That was real nice of you to do this for our HERO warriors. Congratulations on a successful hunt.

[TauntoHawk]

Jamie trying to work up some birds on a weird Monday... Man this kid makes one heck of a double slate

I've got a lot of nice calls from custom call makers but his slates are better than any slate I've ever run

Left with a single and a slate over glass both in cherry and will get 2 slate/slates in paduak and maple when im up again in a few weeks..

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some views

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another

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this is a cool one with the shadows and the mountain in the background

this picture was about 30 seconds before we fired up the jakes that Brent the vetern on the left killed about 20min later... first time on this property but it sure was pretty and full of turkeys it seems

I'll be back