Killer B’s Story Thread

[Mossyguy]

Awesome!

[Yoder409]

More points on the ground for the B's .

Not a monster...........but a hard-fought buzzer beater from outside the 3-point circle.

Details to follow.

[Mossyguy]

Good deal Yoder...I think we should keep this team from here on out

[Yoder409]

So.......... I was in the woods and set up tight on a group of 7 gobblers (2 longbeards and 5 jakes) shortly after 5 AM this morning.  Long story short, I spent the next 5 1/2 hours playing cat and mouse with them.  Twice I had the hammer back and a longbeard 1-2 steps from dying, only to be picked off BOTH TIMES.  I still have no idea how..............

Anyways.........at 10:30 I headed back out the ridge to where they roost.  Wanted to do some recon on tomorrow morning's setup.  Got almost there and I hear somebody calling out in front of me.  It was coming from very near the property line.  So I put the stalk on......taking a step.......glassing for 5 minutes......repeat.  Got to the point where I thought I should be able to see the guy.  The calling was coming from a little ways off our property........from a big tree line at the end of the neighbor's field where it drops into our woods.  Lots of overhanging limbs along the edge but I can't see the guy.  Then I glass a little past where he's at and there's a mature bird in full strut !!!  He was in a roll in the field terrain.  That's when the lightbulb went on.  It wasn't a hunter.  It was a hen.  And I knew which one !!!   She and I had quite a discussion Saturday morning.  We had a real shouting match for a while.  Then she settled down as did I and called her and 6 other hens right to me.  Wasn't a gobbler within 500 yards.........  But that was Saturday.  I know she's mouthy.  So I started to work on her.  Copy-catted her every sound.........plus threw some purrs, whines and even a couple kee-kees in because she did that to me Saturday.  She started coming.  But she swung a semi-circle into the woods and around below me.  The hill slopes off pretty hard.  So sitting down, you don't see very far very well.  But I could follow the gobbler by his fan tips and occasionally his big, fat white head.  She was headed to a small gas pipeline that went down over the hill between us.  I figured when the tom got to the pipeline he might strut right up the hill to pick me up.  I was sitting just yards off the pipeline.  Then the hen started coming at me.  Straight up the pipeline.  She popped up about 25-30 yards from me.  But she didn't see what she thought she would, apparently, and queered a bit.  Not spooked, per se.  But not all cozy either.  She turned and started back down the pipeline.  I just kept calling reassuringly to her.  Now, I'm thinking this tom HAS to be RIGHT HERE.  But I can't see him.  I decide to slide my back up the tree I was against..... into a standing position ever so slowly to see where he was.  Initially as I came up, I was looking across the pipeline where I had last seen him.  But oops !!!  He's straight down slope from me !!!  He's in full strut !!  He's behind some stuff.............  A step and a half in front of me there's a small maple I can get a finger wrap on.  He goes behind a huge triple maple and I step up and brace my gun on the maple.  He comes out from behind the tree clump in full strut.  He comes out of strut but his head.......all but the very top.......is behind a log.  Slow as slow can be, strutting again, he takes a couple steps in the right direction.  Comes out of strut......still the stupid log.    Back into a strut.......takes a step or two..........starts to drop strut and his head came clear.  Bang.  It is done.  11:59 AM.  We gotta quit at noon.

[zsully]

Congrats Yoder! I have some good news on today's episode of "Zach & Adam's turkey adventures" as well. Spoiler alert.......It's a double feature. We woke up early and hit a farm that Jabbo got us permission to hunt last year before deer season. It was clear this past fall that there was a good population of turkeys on the property as well. We knew we had to at least give it a shot this spring even though it is a little further then our normal spots. We took one trip early in April to listen and were rewarded with a hillside full of gobblers greeting the morning. Fast forward to this morning. We slipped through some thick brush toward the more open woods where we thought they would be roosted and settled in just before gobbling light. As the first gobbles rang out a couple things were clear: 1. were on the outskirts of the darn turkey coop, 2. We should've set up 15 yards further forward. 3: That hen above us on the hill is going to prevent us from gaining that extra yardage.

Welp, let's work with what we got. We listened to the birds fly down and while the the gobblers would answer every once in a while they would jump all over our little hen friend just uphill from us. So we picked a fight and boy the commotion we caused!!!!! I'm on a pot call (Twyatt walnut/ceramic - I highly recommend it) and Adam's working the ninja hammer. The hen's screaming at us, were screaming back at her and screaming at each other all while this group of gobblers is hammering so hard and so often that I'm really not sure how they had any air left in their lungs. Both the hen and the gobblers are closing fast but the hen got there first and walked right down my gun barrel to about 10 yards. At that point she decided she didn't like the fat camo blob at the bottom of the tree in front of her. She putted and removed herself from the conversation and walked back towards the gobblers. At that point things got quiet and we thought the morning was probably over.

We were sitting back licking our wounds when there was a gobble. Multiple gobbles from the exact spot those birds were at when we had our episode with the hen. Back in the game baby! These birds are about 60-70 yards at this point. We start some soft calling and scratching in the leaves. Our boys are warming up again when all the sudden there's a putt from Jabbo's tree. My first thought was WTF was that dude! Then out of the corner of my eye I see a Jake jump backwards from the back side of his tree. The Jake was 2 yards from his hand when he raked the leaves. So more putting and another stretch of silence.

15 minutes have gone by without a peep when I hear Jabbo trying to get my attention. I look over and he whispered, "I see one". I'm searching and I can't see this bird for the life of me. So I told him to take the shot if he had it. He whispered back he could see multiple full fans working our way. He told me he was on the lead bird and to call the shot when I had it. Two birds stepped out from behind the tree and I took aim at the one on the left. 1.......2......3. BOOM BOOM. The left bird fell and much to my surprise the right bird took off. As we both jumped up I looked at Jabbo anticipating the follow up shot. What I saw was a grown man celebrating like his bird was dead. That's when I realized there was a third gobbler that had made it past me without me seeing it. When we went over there were two more longbeards not sure if they wanted to beat on their fallen comrades or get out of dodge. They finally did decide to leave but I know where we will be tomorrow. It was another awesome hunt to remember.

[Yoder409]

CONGRATS, boys !!!!!

Well done !!!!!

[POk3s]

Heck yes! Awesome job guys! Love the stories and pics!

[Delmar ODonnell]

Way to go guys! Great birds and well written stories! I've been off the grid camping in the black hills in Wyoming since Saturday. Sunday morning was the first morning to hunt, and I had the most heartbreaking miss of my life. Beautiful white tipped merriam in full strut, at 40 yards, on top of the most scenic mountain you've ever seen. And I blew it. Just absolutely whiffed. I was devastated to say the least.

Been hunting hard since then, but these merriams are the damndest things I've ever hunted. It seems like they run everywhere, often in the opposite direction and up unclimbable slopes.

This morning things swung in my favor. Roosted a bird last night, the same one I was on yesterday morning, where he flew down opposite of me and was 1/2 mile away before I could blink. Well, this morning was windy, and I was met with silence from 4:35 (when they have started gobbling) to about 5:15. 5:15 I hit the call hard and he hammered back, but was roosted 100 yards further than I thought. I close the distance and am set up on the flat top of a ridge and the flock was roosted on the side.

They were all very vocal, and he started gobbling at his flock mates and my calls continuosly. The lead hen flew down first and walked to 10 yards in front of me, cutting up. At this point I was liking how things were turning out. As I'm looking at this hen, I see other turkeys start pitching down to the side of the ridge behind her in the distance. Within 30 seconds he crested and was at 30 yard in full strut. I had a narrow window but took the first shot opportunity I had, and this time I didn't miss. He's a beautiful bird, and I'm very humbled to have taken him. Redemption after a miss is oh so sweet.





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[POk3s]

Great stuff Delmar! Glad my home state finally gave up that bounty!!

[POk3s]

Just returned home after a fun filled few days chasing more merriams. I met up with a buddy in a neighboring state for what was supposed to be the better part of 4 days. I woke up at 2 AM Monday and was hunting by 10:30. I immediately went for a walk in an area that has consistently produced gobblers for our hunting party the last few years. Nothing. I didn't hear or see a single turkey in a 6.5 mile loop. I also didn't see any fresh sign. It was pretty disheartening and after the early morning and windshield time I was pretty whipped. I wanted a nap but decided I NEEDED to find turkeys. I went for a drive and hit all the high points on my way sending out calls. I finally got a gobble only for him to be moving the other way when I got in on him. Luckily I saw it was a gobbling jake so my feelings weren't hurt too bad. My buddy arrived in camp during all of my driving around and went on a walk of his own to also see and hear nothing. I decided to drive below where I walked earlier in the day to REALLY make sure there were no turkeys around. As I got below my "loop" I spotted a longbeard in full strut following a few hens. I circled above where they were headed and about the time I was thinking what my next move should be I saw a hen heading right towards me at about 50 yards. The longbeard appeared shortly after. He got to about 40 yards and looked like he was going to circle back the way he came but instead he turned halfway back, then turned right at me and walked straight toward me another 15 yards. He stretched his neck out and that was it! It was great to have a turkey in camp after really not seeing anything for turkey sign. Make sure you zoom in on this picture to see the bags under my eyes!!



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That evening we were able to roost two birds but the next morning gambled wrong setting up under another gobbling jake. We decided to go for a drive and explore some country we had been wanting to see for years. We did and ended up striking up 2 gobblers. Circling around them a mile or more we finally spotted their hens. We waited and waited and waited and the gobblers never showed. I tried calling and it seemed they had just disappeared. As we got up to leave the gobblers spooked about 90 yards straight to our right. 2 big longbeards. That one stung. We were really in a good position but as the hens fed by from right to left and completely disappesred from site, we thought we had somehow spooked the gobblers on the way in. Nevertheless we at least knew where 2 longbeards were hanging out. We backed out of the area to check other places which didn't turn up anything. At roosting time we headed back to where we spooked the longbeards and ran right into 4 jakes with a hen. We climbed a high point and were treated with 5 different birds gobbling as they got into their beds for the night.

The next morning me and Preston decided we'd split up. We had originally planned to stay one more day but with a half inch of rain in the forecast for that night and into the next morning, we realized today was our day! I gave Preston the option of where he wanted to be and id head for other birds. I climbed a high point as we didn't have any of the gobblers pinpointed in my location. I was within 400 yards of 2 different birds and one bird appeared to have a "jakey" gobble. I headed for the other one. He was roosted just below a point that extended Into a creek bottom. That point had a circular knob at the head of it and then another secondary ridge that wrapped around toward the East. I figured if he was alone he'd be heading to that knob. If he had hens then i'd be close enough to him that I could figure out where he was heading. He was gobbling well as I dropped down off my listening point but I knew I wouldn't be able hear him when I got low into the bottom. Going up the other side I could start hearing him and as I approached the knob it appeared he was more towards that secondary ridge than the point I thought he was on. He then gobbled again and I could tell he was already on the ground! It wasn't quite 5:30 yet and sunrise is 5:36. I took a few steps toward a downed log and he gobbled again and about blew my hat off. It was obvious I wasn't going to make it to that log. I just sat down where I was and hoped it would work. He popped up right at the top of the knob I had been trying to get to, and a little bit to the left of my downed log. He saw me and stuck his head up to study me so I let him have it. I believe he was fired up and coming to the sound of me walking. Either that or I was exactly right and he wanted to be on that knob. Whichever the case, it worked out perfect!




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[Yoder409]

CONGRATS, fellers on some GORGEOUS birds !!!!

Only thing more beautiful than a Merriam's tom is the country you hunt em in...........

[zsully]

Congrats Delmar and POK! Seems like this team is a straight up force to be reckon with in the month of May. More good news today. AJabbo and I were at it again.

I wasn't planning on hunting this morning since I have this recurring team meeting at 8:30 every Thursday since we started working remotely from this Covid stuff. Last night I slept like crap though. After tossing and turning and sleeping for crap I decided to go hunting. So at 4:00 I texted Jabbo and said I'm going hunting. The text was more so I wouldn't feel guilty while I was out there by myself. To my shock he responded and told me to swing past and pick him up in 20 minutes. So off we went on an impromptu hunt back to the same farm we doubled up back on Tuesday. There were two more longbeards on that hill that we knew of anyway so why not. Off the roost they gobbled some but there was another just absolutely ripping on the next ridge over. I knew we should've asked permission over there. Oh well let's play the hand we're dealt. Listened to the morning dawn and the heard the birds fly down. Couple yelps and a response then silence. I check my phone 6:35......plenty of time. Little more calling with no response. Another time check 6:50. This probably isn't going to work. GOBBLE......shoot we're still in the game. Yelp yelp......GOBBLE. He's gotta be about 80 yards. Just over the toll in the hill. It's dejavu from Tuesday all over again. Couple yelp.......GOBBLE. It's clear this bird has his feet in cement. We give him the silent treatment but we don't have a ton of time for this......7:15. Gosh I gotta leave......GOBBLE!!!! Crap he's right there. I can give it 15 more minutes. GOBBLE!!!! I feel like that was closer. Stay quiet. I can hear him walking....GOBBLE. There he is 60 yards out. Strutting.....spinning.....taunting. This is where I'm so glad jabbo was with me. Two flicks of the wrist and a little scratching in the leaves was all it took. GOBBLE.......GOBBLE and he broke. At about 25 yards the shot rang out......quick time check 7:42. WE GOTTA GO! I grab the bird and off we go. Here is where I'm embarrassed to say I never took a picture of that bird. He was gorgeous 9 inch beard and 1 inch spurs. So now we're tagged out in PA. Might try to sneak back down to WV for a day early next week.

[Yoder409]

Way to go, Zach !!!

I had to leave a group of gobbling birds at noon yesterday.  Thought maybe another buzzer-beatsr, but, no.......

This morning was very quiet.  Only gobbling birds were on another property and FAR.  Then the rain started.  Currently sitting in a blind staying dry.   This ain't my cup of tea.   But it does beat sitting the couch looking out the window.  Hard to believe there's been this little activity today.

[POk3s]

Great job sully!!! Gotta love hunts like that!

I just returned from getting my butt royally kicked in Colorado. Went down to hunt with some of my girlfriend's cousins. They are new at turkey hunting, had founds some birds, and I thought so would go down there, teach them some things and we'd have a good hunt. I was wrong lol. Heard one gobbler in 3 days. Roosted him on the night of day 1, called him into 20 yards the morning of day two, and my girlfriend's cousin promptly missed him. I then missed him as he was getting out of dodge. It was fun, but boy was it tough! Only turkey I laid my eyes on.

[twyatt]

Just got back from a 3 day hunt in PA with Zsully and A_Jabbo, and had an absolute blast!  It would probably take me an entire day to type out the entire 3 days of hunting, but these guys are flat out turkey killers.  You'd be hard pressed to ever find 2 nicer, harder working guys, that I swear are part turkey.   They were both tagged out when I got there, and still worked harder than anything I've ever seen to put me on birds.  My little flat-lander legs still hurt from walking those PA hills, lol.
Day one's setup literally had us right under birds - they pitched out of the trees and into the decoys and bird #1 was down and day one in the books within the opening minutes of daylight. I think we were back eating breakfast by about 6am.  We had seen these birds the evening before, and thought we'd be set up close, but I sure didn't expect them to pitch down into my lap.
Day 2 had us in and around birds all morning, but couldn't quite get any to cooperate, and I think we walked from one side of PA to the other.
Day 3's morning sit had us right under some hens, but no gobblers around.  Moved to another spot about 9am and the plan was to just wait out some birds that had been frequenting this property.  With not much going on, my fat, worn out self fell asleep around 10:45 against a tree, and was woken by gobbles, and they were close, and getting closer!  These 2 toms gobbled their brains out as they're coming in, and Adam casts a few yelps up in my direction and turned these birds right up the path and into my lap.  Another beautiful PA bird down and a phenomenal ending to the best trip I've ever been on.  These guys put 2 birds in my lap in 3 days!
I don't know what more anyone could ask for.  The hospitality, meals, hard work they put in, their calling, and just pure turkey killing ability was second to none.  I felt like I was at a 5 star lodge, lol.
Hard to top a great time with new friends, and some phenomenal turkey hunting!  Big time thank you to them, great memories made, friendships made, and a couple great birds down.  Definitely a trip I won't soon forget.  These guys can flat out turkey hunt.   Heck I make turkey calls, and was mesmerized by their calling ability.
Hopefully they'll chime in with some more of the details (bloopers), but I can still barely walk or hold my eyes open long enough to type much more.  Between the possum trying to "get me" from behind one morning, and me doing a barrel roll out away from the tree at first light, with hens right above us,  to the chipmunk crawling up the tree by my face, or whatever it was, there was definitely some laughs during the trip - not when it happened, but we can laugh about it now.  Now me accidentally shooting half the beard off of the first bird, NOT FUNNY.
Anyways, on to the good stuff - - - - pictures!