It's Done

[Rick Howard]

Well I passed on several jakes this season but Friday I was not passing. Season being almost over and I was without bird. Also this was my buddies first turkey. Also a friend offered to make me a jake decoy if I killed one providing even more incentive.  Also these were the first birds that I have killed with my own calls.  Also my first bird called and killed myself.  I have called several turkey that died by someone else but a first for me in many ways.     

My buddy and I hunted all weekend but Friday was the day.  Friday morning started out perfect. Gobbling from the limp at 6am and from the ground at 6:15am. We worked him for awhile but he was with hens so we opted to leave and come back later. In route to another spot we found these birds in a freshly planted field. We snuck around the field into the block of woods behind them. We crawled to the edge of the field to see the birds 100 and 150 yards from the field edge. A few clucks and yelps had one gobbling. A few more got them moving our direction.  We crawled like reptiles through the dense undergrowth at the field edge to get into shooting positions. The birds got to 30 yard mark and my buddy shot his.   I rallied to shoot the runner then. He flopped pretty hard causing some pretty severe feather loss (evidence photoed).  We walked away pretty happy.

Saturday was terrible. One lone hen first thing and nothing the rest of the day.

Sunday was quiet till 9am when we worked some birds for 2 hours. They responded to my calling and were making their way closer. One made it close enough for me to hear it drumming but we could not see it. That ended the season.

I hunted 20 of the 31 days in our season and 2 days of the youth season (which was 11 days shy of what I wanted and even that would not have been enough).  About half of the days I had to quit around 8am to make it to work at a reasonable hour.  I saw a lot of birds.  Many came in silent and at awkward angles.  Some came in just close enough for me to get a good look but still shy of shooting.  I covered a lot of ground.  I hunted mostly on public land.  I would hunt more private land but the public lands I enjoy to hunt are large forest.  Finding equal ground privately owned here is tough.  Granted the private lots are likely better turkey hunting.  I will pick up some more private ground closer to home next year for my short morning hunts before work.

In all I was very fortunate and learned a lot about turkey hunting this spring.  I got hooked on this two years ago... I am already trying to extend my season for 2016 and looking into hunting other states.  Calling turkey is just way more fun than anyone should be allowed to have.







Read more: http://barkmoon.proboards.com/thread/9187/#ixzz3buX9TxCP

[jepcho]

Congrats on the birds! Sounds like you got to hunt a quite a bit and had a lot of fun this season. Way to go

[SteelerFan]

Well I passed on several jakes this season but Friday I was not passing. Season being almost over and I was without bird. Also this was my buddies first turkey. Also a friend offered to make me a jake decoy if I killed one providing even more incentive.  Also these were the first birds that I have killed with my own calls.  Also my first bird called and killed myself.  I have called several turkey that died by someone else but a first for me in many ways.     

Sometimes...the "trophy" is in the details! Congrats!

[BABS9]

Congrats Rick! Nice job!

[Rick Howard]

Thank you, thank you, thank you. 

[kyturkeyhunter4]

Congrats! On the birds

[BowBendr]

You done good. Nothing like getting your 1st completely on your own !


Sent by this stupid phone

[beagler]

Congrats!

[Greybeard11]

Congrats..

[Rick Howard]

Thank you fellas.

[born2hunt]

You done good. Nothing like getting your 1st completely on your own !


Sent by this stupid phone

X 2..  I turkey hunted for several years off and on with others calling for me but just never got hooked, I enjoyed the woods as always but really didn't see what all the fuss was about with these old birds, that is until I decided to go at it a loan one season and managed to call in my first gobbler and that connection changed the whole picture. Its been down hill since then.
Congrats on your season.

[KyLongbeardhunter]

congrats; you put in more than your share of effort, you definitely deserve your reward.

[Rick Howard]

congrats; you put in more than your share of effort, you definitely deserve your reward.

It hardly feels like effort when your having that much fun lol.  But you are right.  I log a lot of hours hunting and scouting in general.  Every time I hunt I am scouting for everything.  Be it deer hunting, turkey hunting, coyote hunting, or even whacking wood chucks.  I pay attention to everything.

Thank you fellas.