Thread for telling your stories on the birds you shoot.

[Jay]

Please post a story on your hunts in the contest. We all enjoy hearing the hunting stories.

[timbrhuntr]

Not a lot of reponse on this one. I think the Turkeys are kicken butt on this group. 

Seems strangely familiar 

[Jay]

Not a lot of reponse on this one. I think the Turkeys are kicken butt on this group. 

Seems strangely familiar 

You dufus. This is for 2011. If anyone posts in this thread now, I'm calling DNR  

[chatterbox]

Not a lot of reponse on this one. I think the Turkeys are kicken butt on this group. 

Seems strangely familiar 

You dufus. This is for 2011. If anyone posts in this thread now, I'm calling DNR  

[socalturkeyman]

lol soon jay soon. I got 16 more days brother! I hope I get lucky with this bird Ive been watching.

[timbrhuntr]

Not a lot of reponse on this one. I think the Turkeys are kicken butt on this group. 

Seems strangely familiar 

You dufus. This is for 2011. If anyone posts in this thread now, I'm calling DNR  

Guess I missed the part where you said for 2011. OH NO! I didn't because you didn't! 

[Jay]

Not a lot of reponse on this one. I think the Turkeys are kicken butt on this group. 

Seems strangely familiar 

You dufus. This is for 2011. If anyone posts in this thread now, I'm calling DNR  

Guess I missed the part where you said for 2011. OH NO! I didn't because you didn't! 

"Please post stories of your hunts in the contest" was plenty clear for my team, but didn't realize it was going to stump others

[Jay]

I arrived Wednesday night in Florida to hunt Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Thursday was going to be our scout day to line up some birds, but we had about  2 hours out there around 6-8am and got hit by a major storm of an all day rain. We booked out of there well we could. Good news is we got one to Gobble to a hooter, so we planned a morning set up to get that one. I thought it sounded like a Jake, but Doug said the Jakes NEVER gobbled in Florida. So Friday morning saw us set up waiting for daylight in the general area where we heard the gobble. As it turned light out came 2 Jakes moving towards our Dekes and Doug's calling. The lead Jake starts Gobbling his head off, and I turn to look at Doug, and he rolls his eyes So we book out of there to set up in a different area around 300 yards away. On a previous scout out there Doug had observed a lot of Turkeys moving thru a pasture, and figured it was a good place to set up. Doug throws out a Jake/Hen combo and we set up in some woods, kick back in our Gobbler loungers, and get ready for maybe a long wait. Doug starts calling around 7:45 and 10 minutes later he says there's 3 birds coming out of the woods running at us. I look, and one bird breaks over a small hill coming fast. It's a Tom and he looks like he's going to run right by our spread out about 50 yards, but turns and heads for our Jake. At about 25 yards I dropped the hammer on him, and I have my first Osceola Doug and me were like 2 kids celebrating on that one. Pressure is off both of us.

[Jay]

Saturday morning Doug takes me to an area he had seen some birds, and liked a spot that he thought was a strong possibility for a roost area. After a long walk we set up by some cut down trees that had been set up in what looked to me like a place to hunt out of. At 6am with not even the Owls hooting yet, we get a Gobbler hammering from roost less than 200 yards away. Later another one starts hammering closer to 100 yards. I knew that one was a Tom, and looked at Doug and whispered "that ones going to die". Doug starts calling around 6:45 and we've got maybe 3-4 birds Gobbling away. I set up facing roost with my gun facing that way and close to 7am I see a Tom glide past our spread, and land the opposite way from my gun. Crap, I'm screwed because he is walking towards us staring hard. Doug called a little too long and he figured there was a Hen there somewhere. We aren't moving a bit and as he gets out in front of us at about 25 yards he turns towards the Jake, and starts heading for him. As soon as he turned, giving us his back, I did the ultra slowmotion turn of my gun to get in shooting position. As he gets closer to the Jake he goes into a run, and I'm thinking I got busted, but it was just a ploy to bluff the Jake out of there. I'm now in shooting position, positioned in front of the Jake, because I know the Tom is going to head in front of him. Sure enough, he appears in my sights and I've got my second Osceola. Major beating on that one with major head hits. So, I'm tagged out, and we worked that day, and the next morning to get Doug his first Osceola of the year. At 10:30 am Sunday morning he put down a tank compared to my birds, 19 pounds. Then it was time to crank up the airboat.

[socalturkeyman]

 Well I went out for a two day trip in the San Diego mountains Wen. and Thur. On wen. we hunted an area that my buddy hunted on opening day and said there was lots of birds,there was lots of birds up they were all henned up. We sat there all day and nothing happened. The whole time I was thinking of this bird that gave me the slip on opening day. So thursday morning came and we hunted the same henned up gobblers and nothing happened so we go back to camp and break it down. We talk to a local hunter for a few and we take off to my other spot, by this time Im beat up and tired lol. So we take a hike down an old logging road for about 1 to 1.5 miles back and nothing,the whole time my buddy is giving me crap about the area not holding birds. So we turn around and start to walk out of there and head back to the truck. We get about 3/4 to the truck when I hear the bird gobble, I tryed to get my buddy to follow me but he had other plans, so  dump into the area that I thought the bird might have been in but nothing. So I just plain give up and go lay down and wait for my buddy. A few minutes later I heard my buddy calling and the bird hammering,so I decided that I had to kill this bird since I had a good idea where he was.I walk the main road and dump into a listening position........

[socalturkeyman]

And I could hear my buddy calling but not closing the distance on this bird. So I get up and go after him,when I made it to the bottom of this canyon I couldnt hear the bird again and was have flash backs to opening day. But this time,After talking to Jay about where this bird could be, I remembered that I looked at my maps a few days before and found a saddle. So I head for that saddle. Im walking through some thick hill side below the old gobbler and I still couldnt locate him. I look through the trees and See a small opening. I get to the opening and once I crest the hill I just hear this bird hammering, double,Triple and Even Quad Gobblin at my feet crushing in the leaves!!! So I set up on a dead fall standing up, with my gun resting on the dead fall. A few min. pass and that bird was not breaking. So I take a big risk on cuting 80 yards in half. But that ended up being 50 yards, cause after I walked about 20 yards I heard him super close. I sit my butt down in some oak sappling and start to work this bird in. But than the wind changed and Four deer bust me and I thought my hunt was over. But  I was able to calm the gobbler down and get him back to me. I notice that this bird was no breaking, so I put my call away and waited him out. He gobbled about 4 more times and started to head my way. He poked his head out through a small bush and boom I had him. First public land gobbler of the year!!