Strut Stopper StoryThread

[bornagain64]

Nice job dmason3. I think photos are only needed for official scores, so I think you do not need them if it is not an upgrade.

    John

[birdman67]

I limited out this weekend. I only heard one turkey that was over a mile away and in the middle of nowhere. The only way to him was on foot. So I struck out after him. After several changes in setup and several creek crossings, he made a mistake. Not quite an upgrade, 8 1/2 beard, 7/8 spurs, 19 lb 3 oz.

[turkey harvester]

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=797266727308531&set=pcb.797266777308526&type=3&__tn__=HH-R&eid=ARBWKbjn89Bj6t0PlOck9K77FFDdNh48qKV8fgPgGWxHyiAc22WyM9h6_UGZG4UUJrLStXGD5ibrEXhh

Its almost like reoccurring nightmare lol. Rain nonstop for days, river at flood stage, worst turkey season ive ever experienced. The flood of 17 wiped out our turkey hatch and we are seeing the results of it this year. then I seen this on facebook, absolutely makes sense cause the spots we know there are birds, nothing. Last week and a half Ive  talked to countless people who are good turkey hunters that cant make anything happen or even find any. I'm in that same boat. My honey hole was a very popular spot last Friday. Only bird that really wanted to play the game and some shat for brains shot it somewhere in between. He must have run to his truck, cause I went to go check out the kill spot and I heard his truck very rapidly exiting the woods. he parked bout 60 yards from me on bout 81,000 acres of Mark Twain lol. I'm going to go every chance I get I recon rain or shine to help contribute to the team. Half of that Mark twain they burned right before season and theres not a green speck to be seen to miles. I don't know, got till sunday. Maybe history will repeat itself from the last 2 years.

[birdman67]

Hang in there turkey harvester! I've been down to the last minute of the last day and pulled it off. Got my fingers crossed for ya buddy!

[bornagain64]

Keep at it. Turkey usually like a freshly burned area.
I shot a nice bird in Kansas, I will get pics and score up when I get
Back to Florida. It was the last morning of our hunt in Kansas.
We had fun, it was a totally different experience. Wide open, glassing fields and
Moving on birds. The guy we hunted with said it was the worst year he has had in a while.
Not seeing many birds and birds are just not working.

[bornagain64]

I shot a bird in Kansas on our last day there. The #s have been down and birds are not responding to
Calling, reaping or decoys.
We set up on a property, birds gobbling in every direction. Birds flew down and we watched them For about an hour. We had a Jake walk towards our set up but he would not come in, we watched a couple strutters and hens about 80yds down.
We decided they where not gonna come in, we would have to have someone crawl back in the creek bottom and down the tree line to get close enough for a shot. I crawled what felt like 100 yds but was only about 30 yds. I shot him at about 50 steps, I thought he was closer. Mossberg 500 20gauge with #9 TSS, Carlsons choke and a Burris ff3 did the job on him.

[turkey harvester]

Finally found a gobbling bird but gosh it's hard to compete with the real thing. Ohhh so close. One day left, gonna try to get tight on him in the morning. Our low numbers and seemingly increased hunter population hasn't helped either. Oh ya, towns bout flooded again. I'm liable to buy me a freakin out of state tag somewhere just to help contribute to the team. I don't think I can remember numbers this low and I'm 50 lol

[turkey harvester]

Well by far the worst season I can remember in a very long time. Temps were low, rained nonstop, bird numbers incredibly low, and hog numbers way up. Guys I didn't contribute anything this year to the team and I apologize for that. Had a chip shot Saturday, but that little guy on my shoulder said hey buddy its not worth it. I'm not taking a chance on crippling one just to say I killed one. My granddaughter spent second weekend in the hospital and the  wife stayed with her. Its been just a screwed up spring here. Anyway you guys stacked em up like cord wood this year. Awesome. MDC needs to pull their heads out of their ars and start worrying about the turkey population and leave the stupid elk alone, and let hunters start killing the pigs that are ruining our woods. They're doing a crappy job of it. Anyway.... sorry folks for not helping our team out.

[bornagain64]

Sounds like you tried your best turkey harvester, that is all you can do. It happened to me last year( no bird) and is very aggravating, but that is turkey hunting: especially on public land.
I hope everything goes well with your family,  I am praying for your grand daughter.

Anyone else still at it? Should have a couple guys still going.

[MDTOM84]

We go until the 23rd, I have 1 tag left and I'm saving it for a bird that is living on my farm. He is a big bird (I have trail cam pictures of him) and has out smarted the last 2 weekends. So we will see what happens this weekend.

[bornagain64]

I have dealt with a bird like that. You already have 1 down, so the pressure of getting a bird is off.
Looking back, I probably should have given up on him and gone and looked for a bird that wanted to play. Before you know it, the bird will have a name like Einstein and you will hunt him for multiple years. It would have been great to have killed Einstein, but it never happened. Some of Those birds  have to be deer hunted, no calling and no decoy, just set up between where they roost and where they want to be.

Good luck, I hope you get him, if not he is gonna need to be named: and you can get after him next year.

[MDTOM84]

Pics of the bird on my farm

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[valerio024]

Well guys it finally all came together.  Our season has been open for 3 weeks now and I have really been putting in my time, but it just wasn't coming together.  I had been seeing gobblers every time out, but they had been unusually tight lipped and with hens every time.  I had been regularly seeing the birds transition through a portion of the field that in prior years was pretty devoid of activity.  Last Friday I saw three gobblers move through this section and I moved my blind after that hunt so that I was within 20 yards of where they had been crossing.  I hunted that location this morning for the first time.  I didn't hear any gobbling off the roost (which is unusual), but at about 6:45am a solo hen came into my decoy spread (I had a DSD jake positioned over a DSD lay down hen with another feeder hen off to the side).  Shortly after she arrived, two birds started gobbling, one to my east and one to my west.  I responded with some yelps and soft purrs from my Halloran Cherry Slate over Glass.  I could tell the bird from the east was starting to close the distance.  The hen began to move in his direction and eventually moved out of sight, so I gave a few soft purrs to let him know that she wasn't the bird responding.  After a few minutes he appeared over my right shoulder about 20 yards away.  I grabbed the shotgun which was leaned against the blind and it caused the blind to "shift back into position" slightly.  He saw that slight movement of the blind and turned around and disappeared behind me!  I was so disappointed in myself, but he didn't seem seriously spooked so I made a few purrs.  Two minutes later a gobbler appeared over my left shoulder.  He ran in and kicked the crap out my my DSD jake before I shot him at 20 yards.  What a fun hunt, but a trying and frustrating season.  It felt really good to get one down and he turned out to be a really good bird: 1.5 inch spurs, 10.5 inch beard, and 21 pounds.

[Dmason3]

Nice! That's a solid bird!


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[MDTOM84]

Congratulations