darn short Iowa season #1

[Tennessee Lead]

Congrats!


Sent from my iPhone that I ain't smart enough to use with tapatalker

[2eagles]

Congrats! Do you have tags for any of the other Iowa seasons?

I've got a tag for season 4 too.

[ElkTurkMan]

Congrats! Do you have tags for any of the other Iowa seasons?

I've got a tag for season 4 too.

That is what I used to do when I lived up there.  I would always hunt first and fourth.  First season was always good, it just was a gamble due to the weather being so hit or miss.

[stinkpickle]

First season is weird this year for me.  The weather has been nearly perfect, but the birds have been the exact opposite.  It makes me want to drink. 

[Big Guy]

I get 2 4th season tags so the weather doesn't become too much of a factor.  Unfortunately I have a couple weeks yet to wait

[taylorjones20]

Congrats!  Good luck on the next season!

[ncturkey]

Congrats.

[kyturkeyhunter4]

I filled my season 1 tag 20 minutes in on opening morning. I've waited almost a year for this and it was over before it started. I listened to quite a few scattered gobbles early, but nothing very close to me. I called occasionally, but nothing too loud. Had two gobbles behind me close enough to excite me. I went silent for a while. Saw him at 300 yards across the field I was hunting and sang to him once. He sounded off and strutted. I was silent. He started coming my way sometimes slowly, sometimes running. At 30 yards, he stood facing me gobbling several times. Those gobbles were so loud, I could feel them vibrating my chest. He turned towards my decoys and he died at 25 yards. I kept thinking about waterfowl hunting and tips here at OG about not over calling and I believe that helped me bag my Tom.

Very nice bird, Congrats

[RutnNStrutn]

Sounds like an awesome hunt!! Congrats!!

[2eagles]

  That is what I used to do when I lived up there.  I would always hunt first and fourth.  First season was always good, it just was a gamble due to the weather being so hit or miss.
[/quote]

That's the truth! Opening morning 2014.

[captpete]

First season is weird this year for me.  The weather has been nearly perfect, but the birds have been the exact opposite.  It makes me want to drink. 

Same here.....only the 2nd time in 18yrs that I haven't filled my 1st season tag. I saw & heard more hens than I did gobblers(only saw one and my buddy shot him). Yesterday I had one hen come into the decoy and hang out for about 30 minutes. Heck, I heard more rooster Pheasants cackling this year than I heard gobbles. I hunted 6 different places(private & public) from 2hr south to 1 1/2 hrs. north of me.

[stinkpickle]

First season is weird this year for me.  The weather has been nearly perfect, but the birds have been the exact opposite.  It makes me want to drink. 

Same here.....only the 2nd time in 18yrs that I haven't filled my 1st season tag. I saw & heard more hens than I did gobblers(only saw one and my buddy shot him). Yesterday I had one hen come into the decoy and hang out for about 30 minutes. Heck, I heard more rooster Pheasants cackling this year than I heard gobbles. I hunted 6 different places(private & public) from 2hr south to 1 1/2 hrs. north of me.

Yes...lots of pheasant cackling (good news) and TONS of hens everywhere.  I lost count of how many I called in.  None had gobblers in tow, though.  The roost sites were inconsistent, and the few toms that were gobbling were only doing it just before flydown when it was no longer dark enough to sneak in close.  There are definitely fewer suicidal two-year-olds running around, which have been my favorite players of 1st season. 

BTW, I finally got a bird yesterday, but I had to crawl across a corn field to get into range.  I tried one short series of yelps after flydown and immediately got cut by the boss hen.  We argued for quite a while, and she decided to take her ball (the entire team, actually - 2 longbeards and 14 other hens) and leave.  I found just enough contour in the field to follow them.  I was just about to force a scatter, and one of toms poked his head up at 35 yards. 

[chatterbox]

Congrat on a fine gobbler!

[Timmer]

Fine job.  My son and I are in Iowa and gave it a shot this morning.  2 birds were gobbling on the roost across the road on private land, and 2 more were on the same public land but across a river.  I couldn't get any to come to our side. 

[captpete]

First season is weird this year for me.  The weather has been nearly perfect, but the birds have been the exact opposite.  It makes me want to drink. 

Same here.....only the 2nd time in 18yrs that I haven't filled my 1st season tag. I saw & heard more hens than I did gobblers(only saw one and my buddy shot him). Yesterday I had one hen come into the decoy and hang out for about 30 minutes. Heck, I heard more rooster Pheasants cackling this year than I heard gobbles. I hunted 6 different places(private & public) from 2hr south to 1 1/2 hrs. north of me.

Yes...lots of pheasant cackling (good news) and TONS of hens everywhere.  I lost count of how many I called in.  None had gobblers in tow, though.  The roost sites were inconsistent, and the few toms that were gobbling were only doing it just before flydown when it was no longer dark enough to sneak in close.  There are definitely fewer suicidal two-year-olds running around, which have been my favorite players of 1st season. 

BTW, I finally got a bird yesterday, but I had to crawl across a corn field to get into range.  I tried one short series of yelps after flydown and immediately got cut by the boss hen.  We argued for quite a while, and she decided to take her ball (the entire team, actually - 2 longbeards and 14 other hens) and leave.  I found just enough contour in the field to follow them.  I was just about to force a scatter, and one of toms poked his head up at 35 yards. 

Congrats on the bird!!! It sounds like we could have been hunting the same places....lots of hens and VERY few gobbles. It was really neat to hear all the roosters cackling...haven't heard that in a few years.