Killer B’s Story Thread

[zsully]

I want to try something new this year and maybe this will be helpful for more then just me. It helps me get to know and remember screen names if I can tie it to a story. I want to use this thread for everyone to tell our hunting stories. Successful or not give a little recap of your trips afield and most importantly help us northern folk live vicariously through you guys hunting the south while we twiddle our thumbs till May. In return we will try to keep that fire burning after those seasons in the south are all in the rear view mirror.

[RossAnderson]

That sounds like a plan right there. Good idea.


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[Yoder409]

Heck of an idea, Zach !!!

Us Yanks can READ about it for 3 months before it finally gets here.

[Mossyguy]

Heard one gobble 5 times while deer hunting this morning...hope that helps!

[zsully]

Heard one gobble 5 times while deer hunting this morning...hope that helps!

I'll call it a spark. Lol. Maybe not enough to light the fire but at least a spark

[POk3s]

I'll pop on this first.

I have "Good Friday" as a holiday for work. Usually it lands in the middle of April making it a great excuse to turkey hunt an extra day. In 2018 it was on March 30th. The only game in town was an archery hunt in Nebraska. Somehow, someway I talked my dad into going to southern nebraska with me. It was a place we had never been but the weather in the south looked too promising to pass up. We had as good of weather as you could hope for, and were running into gobbling birds. Most of them were still in their winter flocks so there was a lot of sorting out who was top dog. After a couple failed attempts getting close to gobblers but not being able to get shots off, we were down to our last evening.

I had sent some calls into a river bottom only to be met with nothing. Dad and I found a place on the map where the roads entered the river bottom from the other side. We knew we'd be able to split up and hopefully find some birds for the next day. Not long after splitting up we both heard gobbling and converged back together. The birds of course were on the other side, where we had just came from! I never could pull one into view On the opposite river bank but I stayed until dark and watched the birds fly up. My dad heard birds fly up on his way back to the truck as well. Two different groups of birds with gobblers in them and one morning left.

The next morning I went in stealth to where I watched the birds fly up. My dad went to the field edge where he knew the other birds were. I went for the stealth approach. No decoys, no blind, no nothing. Just my bow and what was in my vest. My dad took decoys and the blind. I started my walk in the pitch darkness and crept along super slow. I knew I was getting close but was too scared to get my phone out to see, for fear of the birds seeing the light. Finally I spotted a blob on a branch about 60 yards away in the predawn light. I knew that these birds were either going to fly down in this small hole I'd found in the timber below their roost, or all the way across the river where they flew up at. I gambled and put myself on the edge of that hole. It was almost too perfect. I realized I was in the hole I had aimed for, the birds were close, and they were unaware of me. At the edge of this hole it was almost as if I was in a duck blind. The deadfall was stacked so that I could stand and look over the top without needing any other concealment.

I went to settle in and heard a putt. I froze and slowly looked up after a minute or so. Almost straight above me was a hen. She was looking very alert as her head shot around, looking all around her. I've seen this before and thought for sure she was going to bust but after 3 or 4 minutes she calmed down and actually put her head back under her wing!

As slowly as I could I was able to get turned the right way, get an arrow out and knocked, and get comfortable. If there's one thing I learned that morning it's how much longer those birds stay in the tree when it's colder out. Granted I was there very early but it seemed like forever until they woke up. I was treated with quite the show however. After getting comfortable I was able to spot the gobbler about 40 yards away, as well as many other turkeys spread around. The gobbler was first to wake, sending a raspy good morning gobble out. Almost sounding embarrassed, he hurried with another. This one much more crisp! From then on I was able to watch him go in and out of strut while constantly drumming and gobbling.

After about two hours he was the first to take flight. My heart jumped when he headed right for me but veered to land to my right. I had already ranged that spot and knew he was at about 20 yards. I slowly grabbed my bow and raised it up. He was in full strut with his butt to me allowing me to get in perfect position. He turned and walked from right to left. As he got almost behind a tree I flinched to start drawing but he stopped short of his head being hidden. When he started moving again he turned and walked straight back to the right. For whatever reason I rushed my draw right then thinking he was leaving. He saw movement, came out of strut and started walking away. I put my pin on his back and touched my release only to see it hit a small stick and tumble to the birds left. He took flight and landed in a tall pine about 100 yards away putting his discontent while I had a small temper tantrum. He then took flight again and sailed straight away from me. I walked over, picked up my arrow, sat down, and took it all in. It was time to head home.

[Mossyguy]

Checked some cams yesterday...got one in full strut with a couple hens. I would be more optimistic getting only a couple hens with him...problem is I know for a fact there are about 15 more in that area. I'll have my work cut out for me. There are at least two more gobblers in the area so we'll see how it goes. Our youth weekend is less that a month away and I'll get to hunt the week after. Right now I'm tracking 7 gobblers on camera so there should be enough opportunities to get on one.

[zsully]

Now that's a hell of a story Trent. Great read and it really gets me jacked up to go out west.

Here's one from last year too.

2019 started off on fire for Adam and I. We both killed birds on opening day and Adam filled his second tag on a hunt before work in the beginning of the second week. I had one tag left but hoped to extend the season so threw out an invite to my cousin who accepted then bailed the night before.  Big mistake.

The morning found us on one of our favorite farms at the top of a hill. This is a relatively small woodlot surrounded on 3 sides by fields. At first light we heard a gobble on the far west side of the farm and closed the distance as much as we could. We set up 20 yards inside the woods and this bird was gobbling hard about 175 yards straight across the field. Our setup is perfect, we're just uphill, sun at our back, comfortable tree and the gobbler is all by his lonesome. It was probably 5:30am and I was already thinking about coffee and celebratory breakfast at Alice's diner. And that bird gobbled..........6:00 we find him in the tree.....gobble......6:30am passes.......he's going to pitch out of that tree any minute..... gobble......gobble........7:00 still in the tree....... gobble...... gobble..... gobble........ 7:30 my butt is numb.......gobble..... we will show him, Adam sneaks back to the top of the hill and walks around calling.......gobble gobble gobble.........7:45 Adam comes back. Birds is still in the tree. 8:15......holy $!!@! he just flew down........8:45 ......did he land in concrete? He hasn't moved more than 20 feet. We have to get him to see the decoy. Adam army crawls to the edge of the field and sets the decoy. I let out a few yelps. That bird who hadn't moved all morning went into full strut and started coming quick. He ended up blowing right past the decoy and came into the woods to my right. With all the brush I could see him but I could hear him walking and he was close. I saw a big red head come around a patch of briars. He was about 3 yards. He putted and turned to run up the hill and I swung and shot killing him at about 15 yards. At the shot there was a gobble. Not far but not real close either. We collected the bird and he was a dandy and there was another gobble. This time it was clear that there was more than 1 bird and they were much closer. We sat down and decided to see what happened. We called a little more and what happened next was one of the most amazing things I've witnessed in the spring woods. Four longbeards strutted, gobbled and drummed their way past us at about 12 yards. Marched right down to the decoy, beat it up then marched right back up the hill past us again where they met up with two hens. The whole time gobbling and carrying on.

Man I can't wait for spring.

[POk3s]

I'm gettin jacked up now! Great story sully!

[Delmar ODonnell]

Love the stories guys. Here's one from my second hunt of the year last year.

March 15th, the MS opener, didn't produce any gobbles. It was windy, the woods were still wide open, and gobblers were roosting with their harem of hens. The next day proved to be calmer.

On the morning of March 16th, I walked through a clearing in the cover of darkness to arrive at my starting point, a high knob on a winding ridge in the hardwoods. I sat down with my back against a big white oak and waited for the woods to come alive. To my surprise, nothing gobbled on the limb. I could hear a long ways in each direction, and still nothing. I owled, and was immediately answered by multiple owls. They began to cause quite a racket, and at least 5 different owls began flying an acrobatic pattern all around me, and a couple lit in the tree above me. Despite all the noise they were making, no turkeys gobbled.

After about an hour and a half of waiting, a gobble sounded off from the bottom to my right. The first gobble of the year, and man it sure sounded good on this crisp morning. I gave a few clucks, but the gobbler did not respond. 5 minutes later, a pair of gobbles rang out, this time to my left. It was not long before I saw 2 longbeards walking in the bottom and up and over a smaller finger ridge to my left roughly 100 yards. They too did not respond to my calling.

As the gobblers to my left disappeared behind the crest of the finger ridge to my left, me ears were met with a "sphttt, vroom, sphtt, vrooooom." The turkey to my right was drumming, and it was deafening. After 10 minutes of listening to this, the other 2 turkeys to my left gobbled in the bottom on the other side of the finger ridge. I had a decision to make, stay put and hope the strutting turkey to my right comes in, or make a move on the 2 gobbling turkeys to my left? I chose the latter and quickly dropped off the ridge to my left and moved 80 yards, positioning myself where I could shoot as soon as the gobblers crested the finger ridge they had earlier walked over.

My first cluck and yelps were met with a thundering gobble from the strutting turkey that was now directly behind me, in the bottom on the other side of the large ridge I had just descended. He did not like his hen going to meet up with the competition. 30 seconds later, he gobbled on his own again, this time on top of the ridge, directly beside the tree where I had started the morning.

I was facing directly away from this turkey, and my heart was pounding as I heard the rattle of his chest. I let out a few clucks and immediately heard the "crunch, crunch, crunch" of a 2 legged animal walking down the ridge through the crisp leaves. I thought he was going to come on the right side of the tree, and turned my head to face 3:00. He stopped and gobbled at less than 10 yards away, with nothing between him and myself except the tree between us. The gobble about blew my hat off.

I heard his footsteps, along with 2 other pair of footsteps, and they were going to my left. My head was still turned to my right in the 3:00 position. I remained motionless as the footsteps walked less the 5 yards to the left of me. I slowly began turning my head when the footsteps were in front of me at the 11:00 position. So slowly I turned my head, and finally could see a sight to behold. 2 subordinate gobblers, heads void of noticeable color, going about their business, and 10 yards away, in the admirable periscope position, stood the boss of the group.

He was standing in a beam of sunlight, his head as vibrant red as I have ever seen. It was only a fraction of a second, but that moment will forever be engrained in my memory. He caught my movement, putted, and tucked his wings and turned tail to leave me. I quickly shouldered my gun and shot him through a small opening at 30 yards. It felt odd shooting at the back of a turkey's head, but he fell forward, stone dead, as if he had tripped and landed face first.

It was a picture perfect start to the season. I saw 5 different gobblers, and was lucky enough to carry one out. I eventually caught up to one of his brothers on April 16th, but that's a story for a different day.

[Mossyguy]

April 15, 2016. It was my last season hunting on Fort Benning, Georgia before I retired from the military. Here's the story on the day I wrote it....


This past week here on Fort Benning has been tough. Not many areas have been open due to training, and most of the ones that have been open were bow only. The area where I shot one awhile back was one of the bow only spots, and I really wanted to get back in there. I figured if nothing else maybe I could hear one and try him with a gun next week if it was open.

This morning I was greeted with clouds and a strong wind. I almost stayed home but since I was up anyway I grabbed my bow and headed out the door. I parked my truck and walked to the food plot, found a spot, and set up my stake blind. I took a few limbs and filled in the holes so I could hide a little better, even though I didn't think it would do me any good. I placed a lone hen decoy (yea yea...I know) 19 yards from me. Since the ground was wet from the rain yesterday I unbuckled the seat from my vest, nocked an arrow, plopped down and set my bow at my feet. I figured if I heard one I would go ahead and raise to my knees and get ready.

As daylight approached the woods came alive, but no gobbles. After about 15 minutes I looked to my right and 30 yards away in the food plot I see this bird walking towards me. The grass on this plot is about knee high, but since I'm sitting down all I can see is his head. He looked like a mature bird from his head, and when he went into full strut his fan confirmed it. Unfortunately for me I'm stuck sitting on my butt and bow out of reach. How in the world am I going to pull this off?

He stayed in full strut and got to 15 yards. He spun away from me, covering his head. I leaned forward and grabbed my bow off the ground, only to have him turn back to face me. So here I am, bent over with my bow barely off the ground, and I can't move. He moves in to 9 yards, and I'm peering through the holes in the netting trying to keep an eye on him. His drumming is so loud is sounds like a cannon going off. He finally eases towards the decoy...

He walks behind a tree and I know this is my only shot. I raise to my knees and begin to draw my bow. The gobbler hears me move and comes out of his strut. He takes two steps to the right of the tree and faces away from me. I put my pin at the base of his tail feathers and let it go. The arrow smacks him, and he runs 10 yards before falling over like a whitetail! I couldn't believe it..I half heartedly expected to miss and watch the bird fly off to parts unknown. But there he lay no more than 30 yards from my blind.

This morning's hunt is one I will never forget. This is my first time to even attempt to shoot at a turkey with a bow, much less being able to take one home with me. His beards were 10 3/4", 8 5/8", and 6 3/4". His spurs were 7/8" with one being really curved and he weighed 20 lbs. He's my first multi bearded bird as well. I honestly don't know if I'll be able to top this one!

[POk3s]

Great stories guys!

[RossAnderson]

I'm tellin ya, yalls stories sound like they came straight from a book. I enjoy readin em. I can tell you one about a bird from last year that I'll never forget but it ain't gonna sound nothin like yalls.

April 30th of last year goin for the last bird for GA's season. I was in the same battle with the same bird as I have been for this was 4 years now. In the 4 years I've hunted him, I've seen him 5 times and shot and missed him once left handed (came around my bad side and couldn't get turned around) I just couldn't ever seem to get the advantage on him. Ole boy was smart, a lot smarter than me. This is honestly the hardest bird I've ever hunted and the hardest that I hope I'll ever do hunt. I called him the Ole Chattahoochee Legend.

I climbed up to a ridge top around the area he always roosted at before dark that mornin just to listen, just hoping another bird besides him would gobble. Hoping I could get on a fresher bird and that didn't already know my tactics haha. On this ridge top you can see forever and hear everything for a long ways. Well...he was the only bird that gobbled that mornin and he was gobblin like crazy, I always knew it was the same bird because he had a rattle almost like a cough at the end of his gobble. So here I go makin my way back down to where he was at, just already in disappointment because I already knew how this was gonna go. Or thought I did anyways.

I get snuck on down to where he's at and I can see him, he's still in the tree with 3 hens around him to his left and their tree yelpin real soft and I'm to his right. I'm maybe within 80-90 yards from him at this point. I made a few tree yelps just to let him know there's another hen around him and he gobbles back, I didn't make a sound after that. The hens fly down about 120 yards away from him without a cackle and don't say anything when they hit the ground. He didn't gobble as they flew down or when they hit the ground. I pulled out an old wing and did a fly down, with no cackle. As it sounded like I hit the ground I made a few soft yelps and he gobbled back. The leaves are green on the trees this time of year so i just started walkin off away from him slowly as if the hen had already lost interest or she has better places to be. I thought to myself, I hadn't tried this yet so we'll see, it ain't gonna hurt. I made it half way up a ridge away from him and made a few soft calls and he gobbles back and I can hear him fly down. He flew down towards me. I make it to the top of the ridge and call again well he gobbles and daggum he's on me. $h!t I gotta sit down somewhere, I can't believe this. I crest on over the top of this ridge and scratch the leaves out from under a big oak as I sit down. He gobbles again and he ain't 50 yards from me but just on over the crest of that top I was on. I can hear him walkin, then I see his white head then his  white waddles then his whole body and he's in full strut. He gobbles again right on me and spits and drums. He's maybe 38-40 yards now. I send it and he goes to floppin. Now why couldn't it have been like this all along? Thank you Lord.

Ole boy had a 12 3/8 beard and 1 1/8 spurs and almost solid black in color.


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[twyatt]

Horrible at telling stories, but 2 years ago I was set up well before light at a spot I'd taken a bird the prior 2 years very early, shortly off the roost.   Couple light calls and they've come right in - picture perfect.  It's a little cul-de-sac looking clearing in the back of this property, bordering a big swamp.
    This time, as in the past, as the woods wake up and the sun starts to break, I hear gobbling.  I'm thinking, this is going to be another cake walk.  I make a couple very light purrs and he answers me right back with a gobble.  I put the call down and just wait, I'm already thinking about breakfast back at home. 
Probably about 30 minutes go by and I'm assuming the birds are on the ground by now, and then I hear a hen start yelping between me and the gobbler - now I'm thinking "CRAP", she's going to take him away.  I hit the call again hoping I can bring her in, and sure enough shortly after here come 2 hens.  The hens make their way into my decoys and are just feeding around my jake and hen.  I've yet to hear the gobbler again, but out of the corner of my eye I see him down in the woods at about 70 yards, full strut, just walking back and forth, back and forth, in full strut.  This goes on for about an HOUR.   He's not coming any closer, and after the hens feed around for a while, they start to make their way back the other direction where they came from, and the gobbler follows.   I'm running through my mind what I can do, or could have done, as I watch this huge bird walk out of my life.   As they leave and I can barely even see them anymore down through the woods, I start cutting like crazy on my call, what do I have to lose now.   As I finish doing this, I hear footsteps to my right, CLOSE, and coming closer.  I set the call down slowly on my leg, and start to turn my head to the right as slow as I possibly can, and to my surprise there are 2 longbeards walking in towards my decoys at about 10 STEPS.   They were at about my 4 o'clock when I saw them, and I'm thinking now, how the heck am I going to pull this off??? (I'm right handed).  I spot a close tree that they're going to walk behind, and as they do, I start to switch my gun to try to shoulder it left handed, and my calls falls off my leg, hits another call on the ground as it falls, and my heart sinks, but somehow the birds didn't seem to see or hear it.  I get my gun up left handed finally, and as the first one pops out from behind this tree, I shoot and drop him! Not having my gun fully shouldered, and left handed, it almost knocked me out of my turkey chair and dropped me too, but I didn't care at the time.
Anyways, I'm assuming these were subordinate birds sneaking in, and there was nothing special or crazy about this bird, typical 2yr old, but it was a crazy hunt, the closest bird I've ever shot (9 steps), and the latest I've ever shot a bird - 10:30am, and the biggest roller coaster I've had in the turkey woods, going from watching a bird all morning, then watching him walk off, as I turn around and watch 2 more walk in.  I also blew a 2" sapling in half, so I'm still not sure how I even hit the bird, lol.

[twyatt]

Here's one from just this past December.   I picked up a brand new place to deer hunt in October, RIGHT before bow season started.  I put boots on the ground quick and threw up a few trail cameras to see what was around. 
  To my surprise, aside from several nice bucks, I had several nice gobblers continuously on my cameras as well.  Throughout deer season, I kept seeing these gobblers, I'd see them in the field as I was walking in, they'd pop out in the field while I was in my treestand, they were very visible throughout October and November as I was deer hunting. 
  After killing a couple nice bucks at this place, I decided to try to see if I could kill one of these birds once our fall season came back in in December.    I've never hunted turkeys in the fall, knew they weren't going to respond to typical calling, but I thought I'd try to see if I could possibly piss one off enough to come in to my jake decoy.
  The afternoon of December 2nd I climbed up into my same deer stand overlooking this cut bean field, the same stand I'd already taken 2 nice bucks out of, and put my jake decoy out in the field about 20 yards away.   The tree I'm in is huge, and is facing the field with my back to the woods - fortunately, because I forgot my camo jacket, AND we're required to wear blaze orange in the fall.  I'm hoping that since my back is to where they'd come from, and up in the air, that this huge tree would hide me well enough.
  3:30 I let out a few gobbles on my gobble shaker tube - nothing.   4 o'clock - same thing, nothing.  4:30 or so if I remember correctly, I gobbled again, thinking this is ridiculous and will never work.  Then I hear what sounds like elephants running through the woods, coming RIGHT towards me from behind.  I could tell exactly what it was, and grabbed my gun off the hook and aimed it under me right at the field edge.   To my amazement, out RUNS THREE longbeads heading directly towards my decoy.  Here is where I wish'd I had more patience to see what kind of show they would have put on, but instead I picked the lead bird and shot him on the run as they headed towards my decoy.   After picking my jaw up off the ground, I climbed down and recovered my first fall bird, that I gobbled in, lol.