March 2 Finished off our Grand Slam at 7:30 on opening morning of Florida's south zone season with my good friend Reid. We doubled to complete both our slams. What a awesome way to finish out a slam and more than likely start a single season try. 9.5"beard 1"spurs
March 15 Been working evenings all week so I've been getting up listening every morning and not hearing much. Had my spots all lined out for opening day and was prepared for a little extra company.
So I had a few options. I work off evenings Thursday night at 11:30 and I decide to drive by my spots to see if I've got any hunters camped out on them. One spot had 7 guys camped out, one had 4, another had 2, and my #1 was empty. I decide to get there real early but someone already beat me there so now I'm in trouble with all my other spots close enough to drive to wrapped up so I decided to go blind to a place I ha never been before.
I park my truck off the road a little and get about 150yds away and hear a truck slow down and start blowing their horn. Then another slows down and starts yelling that I won't kill anything. I just shake my head and keep walking.
I walk in about a mile and find an old logging road and sit down on the highest ridge. It was a quiet morning, all I could hear was 2 other hunters as far as I could hear in two directions. Finally around. 7:15 a crow hollers and a bird gobbles in the distance. So I call a little louder with my madhatter 4 track slate. Now I'm set up in some cane and I have a big dirt mound behind me. So about 20min later and a little more calling I hear drumming. Well I couldn't figure out where the drumming was coming from so I ease my safety off and I hear a putt. I turn my head real slow ad I'm looking eye to eye with a gobbler at 6 steps just behind the mound. All I can see is his head looking at me. The two gobbler know something isn't right and hurry down the hill and then over to the next ridge. I let things settle down and I make my move. I go about 300yds down the log road and drop off into the hollow and climb up onto the next ridge. I set up and call twice not expecting much, when all of a sudden a hear a stick break and see a huge white head coming my way. I let them get to 30yds when I was able to see a bird with about an 8" beard and a strutting bird. I settled on the strutter and did some soft purrs and when he cleared a couple more trees I let my Nitro's eat. It was a true Blessing and a great hunt after all was said and done. 9.5"beard 1.25"spurs
March 21 MS Public land The good Lord blessed me with my biggest bird to date. Walked in a new area after i got off mids around 7am called soft and he answered on some private land that joins the forest land. Took me 45min but i got him to step across the line and when he did i couldnt belive what i had taken.
20lbs.
9.5" 6.5" 3.5" beards
1 3/8", 1 7\16" hooks
Reid and myself have never taken a gobbler in MS together, for what reason i have no idea other than we just hit different spots all year. We've killed on the same day just never pulled the trigger together. Its crazy and something were going to have to change. He took 3 birds in MS this season all towards the end of season.
Now here is where the fun began. It was a spur of the moment totally blind and not well thought out trip to say the least. I actually started looking at places to hunt Thursday the day before we left. Had no idea where to stay or where to hunt. But we are both easygoing go with the flow kinda guys. Only plans we had was to hit KS at the first of the week and to hit WY at the end of the week. We figured if we killed in a state we would just hop to another state until time ran out.
Me and Reid talked back and forth trying to get our work schedules and off time to correlate. Finally we decided on the week of the 13th. Things worked out good for us and we were able to leave out on Friday night around 10:30pm. We arrived in KS at a friends house Sat afternoon and we went and looked at the Walk in land we were planning on hunting. It looked real good and we were able to roost a couple birds at dark.
May 12;
Sunday morning we wake up anxious to see what would happen with the roosted birds. We set up next to one of the birds strut zones and just as the world started to come alive 2 birds started gobbling. A couple soft yelps and they hit the ground one B-lining it for his strut zone. When he got to 30yds he had me twisted up and I had to take the shot. At 6:30 I had my first KS Rio coming in at 24lbs 9"beard and freshly broken 1\2" nubs. Made me sick, his head and neck was so big you couldn't reach around it.
As we were walking back to the truck we heard another bird crank up back were we had just come from so I dropped my bird in the shade and we took back off to see if Reid could fill his first KS tag. We found this gobbler in an alfalfa field and he was by himself. We slipped up to an old hay bale and made a soft series of calls. The ol bird cut us off and turned and started our way. He closed the distance fast as those rio's do, I had my back to the bale and was waiting to Reid to shoot. I hear him whisper there he is, and I see him take aim. I jumped up off the ground at the shot, we ran out to check out his first KS bird. At 7:30 he had a real nice bird at 21lb 9.5" beard and 1.25" hooks.
We decided after that great morning and visisting with my friends that we would head north and hit NE but wanted to stop at a spot I had seen on a map that looked to good to pass up. We made it up there around 3:30 that afternoon and Reid looked at me and laughed and said If we can kill 2 by 6pm then we can get to NE and roost some birds for the morning. I said sounds good to me. We rode around the land kinda getting a feel for the way it laid out. And decided what the heck lets do some walking. Well we could see where there had been a good many people using the grounds but gave it a try anyway. We hadn't made it out of sight of the vehicle when Reid made a call on his Slate call and a gobbler cut him off. We made a couple moves on this ol bird because he wouldn't move from one spot. He wound up being on the other side of a big draw and we made a move to get on the same side as he was. This worked out great, as we came up out of the draw I called on my box call and the bird hammered about 200yds away. I told Reid to go and I would stay back and call, he had a thicket in-between him and the bird and he was able to make it to a tree about 80yds from me. I started calling and the bird started gobbling and slowly coming our way. I worked him for a while then he stepped out to where we could see him. He strutted and gobbled and would take a step then strut again. Seemed like forever to get him to close the distance, but he finally made it to Reid's zone and that was it. Couple high fives and then we looked at anther fine KS bird. 21.5lbs 9" beard and 1.25" hooks at 4:30pm He told me to hunt on that he was going to take his bird back to the vehicle and he would catch back up with me or he would pick me up at the other end of the place if I decided to walk it all the way out. So I took off.
It was only about 3/4mile in when I got a bird to answer my Madhatter 4 track slate. It was a stutter, 2 other gobblers, and 7 hens in a field off of the creek. I eased up to a small cedar tree and called a few more times and he would gobble and look but follow the hens. I decided to make a move and ran the creek bottom around and got a better angle on them, but as always I looked up and they were headed to where I was at earlier. I made a couple soft calls and the strutter eased my way enough for me to let my new 20ga project have a try at a KS longbeard. After the shot I think I will probably retire my 12 and start carrying my 20 its BAD!!! Thanks to a friend out of TX that sent me a couple shells to try out. I was thanking the good Lord for another awesome hunt at 5:30pm and a 20lb 9.5" beard 1 1/8" spured bird. I got back to the vehicle and said lets go roost one in NE. So we hit the road. We actually saw a few that we could have roosted but we were 3\4 the way through our slam and it was Sunday so we made a decision to head to NW Nebraska to some public land that a conservation officer up there had told me to look at (talked to him Friday) in hopes that we would find some Merriam's.
We got to the hotel around 2am and decided to sleep in and hit the woods later that morning, so that's what we did. I was told that there had been some bad wild fires last year in the area and that it look pretty bad but I had no idea that it would look the way it did.
We rode and check different places all morning seeing lots of hens but no gobblers. We did this until almost dark and decided to go up on a big hill overlooking a valley of private land where we had seen some birds earlier, hoping we could catch them going to roost on the forest land and a gobbler would be with them. We saw one gobbler in that bunch and I happened to look behind us though the pines and spotted another bird strutting on the opposite hill side. We were able to roost 3 birds that afternoon so things starting looking up. Got up early on Tuesday morning excided about the roosted birds and we got set up where the gobbler had been the day before. Go figure the winds kick up to 30mph and we never hear a bird all morning. Reid decides to move to see if he can find another bird and as soon as he takes a couple steps over the opposite side of the ridge we are set up on he's looking at 8 hens and a huge gobbler. They spook and he was unable to connect on the bird. We were afraid we had missed our chance because of the lack of birds we had seen. The birds came from the shear cliff to the right not the wood draw where they had roosted, crazy birds.
May 14;
We went to another place and walked up a draw for 2.3 miles and never saw a bird. So we decided to go look for some more land. We went to a new spot that looked great and had a creek running down the side of the road and that's where I spotted a hen and Reid thought he saw a gobbler with her. We got in front of them and set up in the bottom just waiting on them to make it our way, after about 30 min or so and no sight of them Reid decided to make a loop to see what was up with them. As he was reaching the edge of the ridge he saw the hens and the gobblers head for a split second. He waited trying not to spook them hoping either of us would connect on the bird. As he eased up to look again the gobbler raised his head up out of a brush pile and Reid had his first NE longbeard and that completed his single season SLAM!!!!
After we got his bird cooled off we set off to hopefully find me one. As luck would have it we wound up right back at the ridge where we had seen the other birds the afternoon before hoping to roost another one for the next morning since we only had about an hour of hunting left. As we glassed the valley Reid said "there he is" strutting 500yds down from us and was stalkable. So I grabbed my gun and 1 call and took off. I made a big loop and dropped off in to a ravine in the side of the hill. You can't imagine how much sign was in that ravine, I had found a super highway of travel for these birds. I eased on down the ravine and slid up next to a huge dirt mound hoping at the least I could roost him. I called on my 4 track slate a couple times and heard a bird gobble in the distance and though that he must have slipped my me while I was down in the hole. Well about this time a bad thunderstorm rolls in and every time lightning hits a couple birds gobble. As I turn to make a move to hopefully see the bird roost I turn to look head on with the gobbler and 8 hens at about 100yds they had crossed the ravine and walked the hillside behind me. They got a little nervous so I made some soft calls and he went back to strutting and the hens kept going towards the roost. As soon as I got a chance I jumped forward and slid down the ravine 30' down. When I hit the bottom I was running towards the other end, when I eased up I was looking at Reid on top of the hill(he had ran over to try to roost the birds also) One of the hens saw me as I eased up and got nervous, as they started easing off when the gobbler cleared all the hens and I squeezed off a shot a little to soon and smoked the tree he was walking behind (big poof of charcoal of the burnt tree) but his head was out behind the tree enough and my lil 20ga did the job again. That completed my SLAM!!! It was awesome and when we got both birds out to take a pic as the rain let up this is the view we had. Im gonna get this one blown up and framed. The good Lord really blessed us on this hunt.
May 16
We slept in Thursday morning and decided to head to SD this is what makes these forums so great. As we rode through SD Reid was texting a guy from one of the forums were on back home and he told up were he had done real good on the birds the past 2 years. So we felt good about going to the area. We looked at Mt Rushmore and Crazy horse, both awesome works of art. Then we had to figure out how to get a lic which turned out to be a pain but a nice lady with the SD game and fish helped us out. Well we scouted till dark and walked a many a mile and rode 100miles of dirt roads and we never saw so much as a turkey track anywhere. Not looking good. We woke up the next morning and did the same thing all over again, NOTHING couldn't figure it out. So we decide to make a move. I emailed a couple forum members out of desperation and couldn't believe the responses I got. One gave us some info on some WY public land so we headed up that way and check one spot I had found on a map in SD before crossing over into WY. We found a good many birds so at least we might be able to do something in SD before we call it quits and head to WY. We had time so we rode over to Devils tower another cool spot.
This is when I got an email that was unreal. I've helped people out and told them areas to hunt and I've had people tell me a genera area to look. But this guy went above and beyond this he told me what ridge to sit on. I told Reid that we had to go check it out, so we set out. There was some pressure there from locals and we almost left but decided to give it till dark after all we were told this place is real good. Well at dark things came alive and we roosted a few birds. I was texting my new friend thanking him that at least we heard some birds, and made a joke that if we could hear one we could take care of the rest in the morning(very much joking) Well we got the usual 3-4hrs of sleep and headed to the woods well before light.
May 17
We split up trying to cover as much ground as we could and because we had roosted multiple birds in different directions. The bird I was on was roosted on some private land about 300yds from the line, I sat up back up the road where he had walked the evening before. I figured he might come back that way and it was the only chance I had without crossing the fence. No luck with that a hen took him deeper off into the private land, the forest paralleled the private land on both sides and as it turns out Reid was chasing the same bird too but from the other side. There was a big field that was full of deer and a couple hens but I never saw the gobbler but could hear him from a good 400-500yds away. I finally got to a decent spot across from where I thought he was and started cutting as loud as I could, he would cut me off and keep gobbling. This goes on for hours, while doing this I fire up another bird on the mountain behind me but he would only come in to about 60yds just out of sight and then leave again. They had me turning like a top on the side of that hill. The bird across the field made his way around the mountain and was now almost out f hearing and way to far into the private land for Reid to chase him any more. So Reid set out after another bird that he had heard that morning. At this point I figure its all or nothing so I pull out my box and my Madhatter Slate and start cranking on those two plus my mouth call. In the distance I hear a faint gobble I keep calling then a little louder gobble, granted it's a good 1\3 mile away. I thought to myself seems he moving back this way and kept pouring to him. Well at this point I had cranked 2 more birds up in the bottom and the one behind me was back at it again but for whatever reason I was only focused on that one bird. Once I saw he was on the move I jumped up and ran over 5 ridge tops back to the original spot I had started out the morning at. I couldn't breathe and my mouth was dry as a bone but I knew I had 2 more ridges to cross to actually get close. As I was running up the first ridge I cut on my box and the 3 birds gobbled on the next ridge, I was too late. I crawled up to a downed log on the top 2\3's or the ridge just hoping to see what it was I was chasing. Well I called again and all 3 lit it up again. I had stopped them so we had a chess match for another 30min, I finally got the big bird to break strut and come my way after I threw everything I had at him. Now I'm on one knee with one leg out straight keeping me from sliding down the mountain side bracing my gun on the downed log, the bird starts down the ridge to go below me so I reposition when he goes out of sight. After 5 min or so I don't see or hear anything so I give a light soft yelp and he gobbles at the same height as me about 5yds away just over the ridge top, it about knocked my hat off. I ease my gun back up to position and get ready for a real close encounter. The next thing I hear is drumming and its close then a gobble, I cut my eyes basically straight up to see a beautiful bird in full strut at the very crest of the ridge top. He was looking in the bottom where I had come from and another bird was gobbling, so I was somehow able to pivot around on him and when my red dot on my lil 20 lined up with his red white and blue head I touched it off. He went straight down and then did that one death kick and down the mountain side he went for about 100yds. I stayed put because the other gobblers were going nuts. I text Reid trying to get him over there but he was just to far away. I kept them on me for about 15 min then they eased off. It was an exhausting but very rewarding hunt. I can't thank my new friend enough for helping us out on this spot. 9.5" thick beard 1 1\16" spurs 4hrs, 5 ridge\mtn tops, 1 awesome hunt.
Reid chased a couple birds for a few more hours and would have connected that morning but we didn't know that one of the so called hunters had actually just parked his truck at a spot and would change out vehicles throughout the day. When the bird crossed the road up from his truck Reid backed off thinking there was another hunter in the area. Guess he was to nice, but that's just the way we are.
We left that area and went back over to where we had found some other birds earlier the day before, we got set up on a bird out in one of the fields and was able to work the bird in, I got it all on video. It was a real cool hunt. It even had a couple black primary wing feathers. 9" thick beard and 1" spurs
Worn out from SD we headed over to meet up with a friend of mine in NW Wyoming he had been hunting a few birds on some walk in land he had found. He was able to roost a few birds Friday afternoon.
May 18
We get up at 3 something again and head out we make our way to where we want to be and all I can say is this was that one magical most perfect day you could ask for in the turkey woods. As the day started to break we could hear a lot of birds gobbling and when they hit the ground they came in on a string to us. There was 4 strutters and when they got to 25yds I counted down and me and Reid finished our WY season at 5:10 that morning on two fine Merriam's, my other buddy couldn't get a shot but said not to worry about it he knew another place we could go check out, he was just glad we had gotten our birds since we traveled so far. Both real heavy birds mine had an 8" broken beard with busted and broken 3\4" spurs, Reids was a real nice bird with a 9" thick matted up beard and some real nice spurs from the area 1 1\16" sharp hooks.
We left that area and rode around looking at some other places that my buddy wanted to show us. We hit some public land and worked a couple birds but couldn't get them to come across the private land that bordered it. If we would have been serious I think we could have gotten one to cross the line but we let them go. We then went to a small creek bottom Walk in area that he had said had a bird in it earlier in the season, figured it was worth a try. We walking in the bottom a little ways and called once and a bird hammered, me and Reid stayed back to watch the show and my other buddy tried to get set up on downed tree. He never made it there and had to lay down on the side of the hill behind the log. We worked the bird for a few min then he came strutting in from a thicket to our left. He strutted right infront of that log my buddy was laying behind and when he cleared the log m buddy rolled him. We all jumped up an high fived because that was the third bird that morning and then we saw it. Its an unbelievable bird that is already at the taxidermist. It has so many different colors its unreal.
What a way to end an awesome week. On the way out we stopped and called in another bird and just videoed him. The hens had left the gobblers and they were right. It was one heck of a week. Our three from this morning and Reid's SD bird from the afternoon before.
6000 miles traveled
6 states hunted
18 birds harvested.
Great friends and beautiful country made for a season of hunting that I will never forget
