Killer B’s Story Thread

[POk3s]

This is awesome guys! Getting me pumped and it's not even mid February! Going to be a long couple of months!

[a_jabbo]

Loving all these stories and can't wait to be chasing gobblers. I suppose I should join in on the fun.

My story is a tale of the last 3 youth seasons. Now these aren't your standard stories, because it never seems to happen like this during the regular season.

I met a youngster at my church fish fry. He was 13 years old when we met and had never hunted turkey's before. I helped him get all setup with the appropriate gear and started talking turkey with him every Friday. As April approached, I started taking him out to scout for birds on Saturday mornings. We had several birds located on multiple properties I could hunt. I found this one farm that has a huge field with some timber to the east and south, and another GIANT field to the South. On the days I would scout before work, I continued to see huge flocks of birds, and at one point I counted over 20 gobblers in the field. You read the correctly, over 20 gobblers. I knew where we would be setup for his first hunt.

First Hunt: We get setup in a blind, well before sunrise. As it starts to get lighter out, I start to hear hens, and then the gobbling starts. Gobble after gobble starts echoing through the timber behind us. A short while later, the hens start to pitch out in the field in front of us about 80 yards. Hen after hen. As I'm watching the birds rain down over us, trying to find a gobbler, I look up the hill to our left to see two gobblers doing that mean run right to our decoys that are setup at about 10 yards. They came in and put on a show. They wouldn't separate as they continued to beat the crap out of my Jake decoy. Once they finally broke up, BOOM! Bird down. Solid first bird with a 10" beard and 1" spurs. His first hunt lasted 45 minutes. I told him that all hunts aren't like this.

Second Hunt: Season rolls around again and we find ourselves out scouting birds, to find a pile of birds again on the same farm. Knowing how difficult it was to haul the blind up the massive hill from the previous season, I went out the day before the youth opener and set the blind up all the way at the top. Probably 100 yards from last years setup. The morning of, I go and pick him up, drive out to the spot (which is only about 15 mins from his house), and as we were getting out he said he forgot his license. Beat feet back to his house, grab his license, and get back to the spot. As we were walking up, light was starting to brighten the horizon, and I was worried because I knew the birds weren't roosted far. Get in the blind, and as soon as we got situated, the first gobble lets out about 60 yards. As the lights kissed the sky, he sees birds fly down. He could see 3 gobblers strutting about 50 yards away to our left. I called a few times, and they start making their way to us. One pops out of the woods at about 20 yards, and he shoots and misses. Bird vanishes over the hill, and he thought his hunt was blown. I look out, and sure enough this bird comes back over the hill in full strut at about 40 yards. He gets the gun up and BOOM! Bird down. Couldn't believe it worked out that way. Yet again, the boy is tagged out in about an hour of hunting. I swore to him this isn't how it always goes.

Third Hunt: Last year, youth day again. Same scenario. Scout for birds and find them. This year I wanted to take him somewhere different in hopes of a little more challenging hunt. Picked up permission on a new place where I had consistently been seeing 7 gobblers. Night before season we try to go roost some birds. Get to the spot, and birds are in the field. I wanted to get a good viewing point, so I went to the tower that overlooks where these birds are. Come up over the hill and a flock of turkeys where right there. Birds scattered everywhere, but I happened to see one gobbler head down to the bottom of this pasture. Zach was with me this time. We picked him up opening morning, and headed out. Went to the pasture and got everything setup in the blind. It had just started to get light, and we heard him gobble about 120 yards away, down in the corner of the pasture. Shortly after that first gobble, I saw a hen, and then he flew down. He saw the decoy and strutted the whole 100 yards, right to us, without even making a call. BOOM! Blasted him at about 8 yards. 11" beard with 1 1/2" Hooks.

3 years in a row, and didn't even have 3 hours of hunting Turkeys under his belt. Needless to say, he loves to turkey hunt.

[xbowhuntonly]

Hey guys Alton here really enjoying the stories y'all are sharing and on a positive note I seen 7 strutters the other day


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[zsully]

Here's one that isn't turkey hunting related at all but looking back now is pretty funny. This happened at my residence and the events I'm about to share are not exaggerated.......at all.

The date is February 23, 2020, in Pennsylvania the day dawned (after I had my full quota of coffee and checked OG) at a beautiful 50 degrees. This is completely unheard of in southwest Pa for this time of the year and like any archery/pheasant/deer/grouse/turkey hunter I had completely neglected my yard duties this past fall. With nothing on the schedule for today and that extra cup of coffee boosting my motivation I dawned my favorite pair of work pants and headed outside. These pants are those special pants that have history and every grease stain, paint streak, and thread bare spot has been earned over years of sweat, blood and tears.

The first goal was to get rid of those pesky dead decorative grasses that my wife likes so much. These things suck. They're big tall and only look half decent for about two days in the spring. Now they're 6 foot tall, brown and super dead. So down they come but now I need to burn all the stems and the root balls. First victim is standing in the mulch bed all by himself, badly wounded from a recent battle with a weed whacker. It shouldn't take much to finish him off. I put the 8 inch stick lighter in my teeth and began my approach. There was no need to be stealthy, so I jumped into action and ran over there (more like a slow walk), lifted the lighter high and plunged it deep into the heart of the decorative grasses flesh. With a click the spark ignited the grass. Like most men, I enjoy stepping back and admiring my handy work and for some reason lighting fire is one of those things I always feel the need to step back and admire even if it's just a second.

Wow that's burning fast......and hot. Dang it's hot. Then it happened. A slight gust of wind sent some embers skipping across the mulch and into the yard.. The yards pretty dead but there's not much to burn. Better grab the rake anyways. This time I walked with a quickness to the garage and grab the rake. When I got back the fire had just barely started in the yard. I went to stomp and rake the grass that was on fire. One swift flick of the rake and it breaks in two. All the sudden I'm dancing around surrounded by fire. Shoot I need the hose. Back to the garage.....I come out with the hose over my shoulder doing my best impression of a fireman. It had only been thirty seconds maybe a minute. My front yard was blazing!!!!!!!! I ran to the top of my sidewalk closest to the house, lifted the nozzle and pressed the trigger. I was met with a loud snap and a jet stream of water smacking me in the face. I get the nozzle off and used my thumb to control the water and start fighting the blaze. In about 30 seconds everything was under control.

That's when I felt it.......a cool breeze not unlike what you feel wearing a pair of shorts in the summer. But I have my favorite jeans on. One look down confirmed it. At some point during the battle I blew the crotch clean out of my favorite jeans. There's no saving them. So in the first 30 minutes outside today I broke a rake, caught my yard on fire, destroyed a hose nozzle and blew out the crotch of my favorite jeans. I think There are two morals to this story. 1. Never drink that extra cup of motivational coffee and 2. Yard work is overrated and I should stick to turkey hunting.

[RossAnderson]

Here's one that isn't turkey hunting related at all but looking back now is pretty funny. This happened at my residence and the events I'm about to share are not exaggerated.......at all.

The date is February 23, 2020, in Pennsylvania the day dawned (after I had my full quota of coffee and checked OG) at a beautiful 50 degrees. This is completely unheard of in southwest Pa for this time of the year and like any archery/pheasant/deer/grouse/turkey hunter I had completely neglected my yard duties this past fall. With nothing on the schedule for today and that extra cup of coffee boosting my motivation I dawned my favorite pair of work pants and headed outside. These pants are those special pants that have history and every grease stain, paint streak, and thread bare spot has been earned over years of sweat, blood and tears.

The first goal was to get rid of those pesky dead decorative grasses that my wife likes so much. These things suck. They're big tall and only look half decent for about two days in the spring. Now they're 6 foot tall, brown and super dead. So down they come but now I need to burn all the stems and the root balls. First victim is standing in the mulch bed all by himself, badly wounded from a recent battle with a weed whacker. It shouldn't take much to finish him off. I put the 8 inch stick lighter in my teeth and began my approach. There was no need to be stealthy, so I jumped into action and ran over there (more like a slow walk), lifted the lighter high and plunged it deep into the heart of the decorative grasses flesh. With a click the spark ignited the grass. Like most men, I enjoy stepping back and admiring my handy work and for some reason lighting fire is one of those things I always feel the need to step back and admire even if it's just a second.

Wow that's burning fast......and hot. Dang it's hot. Then it happened. A slight gust of wind sent some embers skipping across the mulch and into the yard.. The yards pretty dead but there's not much to burn. Better grab the rake anyways. This time I walked with a quickness to the garage and grab the rake. When I got back the fire had just barely started in the yard. I went to stomp and rake the grass that was on fire. One swift flick of the rake and it breaks in two. All the sudden I'm dancing around surrounded by fire. Shoot I need the hose. Back to the garage.....I come out with the hose over my shoulder doing my best impression of a fireman. It had only been thirty seconds maybe a minute. My front yard was blazing!!!!!!!! I ran to the top of my sidewalk closest to the house, lifted the nozzle and pressed the trigger. I was met with a loud snap and a jet stream of water smacking me in the face. I get the nozzle off and used my thumb to control the water and start fighting the blaze. In about 30 seconds everything was under control.

That's when I felt it.......a cool breeze not unlike what you feel wearing a pair of shorts in the summer. But I have my favorite jeans on. One look down confirmed it. At some point during the battle I blew the crotch clean out of my favorite jeans. There's no saving them. So in the first 30 minutes outside today I broke a rake, caught my yard on fire, destroyed a hose nozzle and blew out the crotch of my favorite jeans. I think There are two morals to this story. 1. Never drink that extra cup of motivational coffee and 2. Yard work is overrated and I should stick to turkey hunting.

Haha what a day.


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[POk3s]

Hahaha!!!!! That is great! Glad everything turned out alright so we can laugh about it now!

[POk3s]

Since I'm sitting at a computer and not trying to type this out on my phone, I figured I'd type up another story. It's the meat and potatoes of my Iowa trip last year. A trip I'd been wanting to take for a long time, trying to match wits with a public land eastern gobbler. For those that don't remember, I live in Wyoming and up until last year, all my hunts were western states merriams and rios.

I had 10 days blocked off for this trip. Before I left, I told everybody that killing one on day 3 or 4 would be perfect. Let me go figure some stuff out, struggle, and then be successful with plans on hunting my way back across Nebraska. I was in birds right away....literally. When i got to the big block of public I'd be hunting it was raining so I just decided to drive around and familiarize myself with the place, the roads, etc. My #1 spot on the map had a gobbler out on a field edge. The field was private but the woods behind him were public. It was great to immediately see birds doing nothing but internet scouting. I made a play on him and actually blew him out of the tree that evening. There was still an hour of daylight left and I never looked in the tree as I didn't think he'd be in it. But he was. With that hour left I beat feet to a ridge I had marked that was not far away where I knew would be a great listening point. It was and I heard one bird I thought was on public, and I either heard the bird I just blew out of the tree, or one that was very close to him.

Regardless, on the first morning I had birds all around me. I had way too much indecisiveness as there were 5 or so birds gobbling and I didn't know my way around the woods in the dark. It costed me as one gobbler pitched down across the field, and the others kept to the woods. I was below all of the birds in the woods and across the field from the only one working the edge. After blowing the first round, I scrambled to get close to a bird that was still on the roost and got to within 80 yards or so of him when he flew down. I lost track of him after he pitched down and picked my way through the woods not hearing anything but eventually spotted another (or maybe the same one) gobbler on a different field edge, just off public land. I snuck up to the edge and clucked at him and he hammered right back. I cut and called some more and he hammered again. I quickly gave him one more series to which he gobbled to and I snuck back into the woods waiting for him to cut the distance. He never did. After 45 minutes or so I snuck back up to that field edge and he was gone. Hungry, I started back to the truck and busted at least 2 more quiet gobblers. Chalk it up to a just a plain screw up, being in a new area, rookie mistake, or any of the sorts, I just busted at least 3 gobblers off of one ridge.

Driving around mid day I did spot one other public land gobbler, along with another gobbler a shed hunter told me about that I never did see, and a private land gobbler that was between 2 pieces of public. The other public land bird busted at the site of my truck so I never did get a good bead on him and that evening I snuck in from another direction trying to get those birds from the morning roosted. I never did hear any gobbling that evening but regardless, I did have options. None of them, however, seemed any better than what I experienced that morning and I knew they were still in the area.

The next morning I did the same thing, but knowing the land a little better I set up at a funnel point where I saw the only field bird cross the day before. I don't believe I heard any gobbling that morning but I sat for a couple hours. Another hunter snuck up behind me so we chatted about what our plans were and I decided it was time to move. He went to my right (south) and I headed straight ahead for the ridge I busted all the longbeards off the day before. Creeping up the spine of the ridge I was extra careful that morning. As soon as I could see over the knob of the hill I stopped and scanned the timber. In front of me I saw a tail fan come to full strut about 40 yards out. I could not believe my eyes and KNEW this was my chance. His head was behind a big oak tree and he was completely oblivious to me. I snuck up another 5 yards (maybe) and knelt down at the ready for when he moved from that spot. I was caught between trying to call to move him, moving for a better angle, or just being patient. As bad as I wanted to act I just stayed patient, knowing that when he moved he was mine unless he went straight away. Maybe 2 minutes into this waiting game 2 more gobblers came over a small rise right towards my bird that was in full strut. This caused him to take a few steps forward. In doing so I saw for the first time that he was 100% a longbeard. I settled my bead, pulled the trigger, he flopped and the others started flogging him. I let that go for about 5 seconds before I had to go see my FIRST hard earned eastern.

I was tagged out on day 3 with 7 days left of hunting and traveling ahead of me. Those stories will have to wait for another day!

[zsully]

That's a great story. I hope we have similar success when we head west to Nebraska and Kansas this spring.

[Yoder409]

Here's one that isn't turkey hunting related at all but looking back now is pretty funny. This happened at my residence and the events I'm about to share are not exaggerated.......at all.

The date is February 23, 2020, in Pennsylvania the day dawned (after I had my full quota of coffee and checked OG) at a beautiful 50 degrees. This is completely unheard of in southwest Pa for this time of the year and like any archery/pheasant/deer/grouse/turkey hunter I had completely neglected my yard duties this past fall. With nothing on the schedule for today and that extra cup of coffee boosting my motivation I dawned my favorite pair of work pants and headed outside. These pants are those special pants that have history and every grease stain, paint streak, and thread bare spot has been earned over years of sweat, blood and tears.

The first goal was to get rid of those pesky dead decorative grasses that my wife likes so much. These things suck. They're big tall and only look half decent for about two days in the spring. Now they're 6 foot tall, brown and super dead. So down they come but now I need to burn all the stems and the root balls. First victim is standing in the mulch bed all by himself, badly wounded from a recent battle with a weed whacker. It shouldn't take much to finish him off. I put the 8 inch stick lighter in my teeth and began my approach. There was no need to be stealthy, so I jumped into action and ran over there (more like a slow walk), lifted the lighter high and plunged it deep into the heart of the decorative grasses flesh. With a click the spark ignited the grass. Like most men, I enjoy stepping back and admiring my handy work and for some reason lighting fire is one of those things I always feel the need to step back and admire even if it's just a second.

Wow that's burning fast......and hot. Dang it's hot. Then it happened. A slight gust of wind sent some embers skipping across the mulch and into the yard.. The yards pretty dead but there's not much to burn. Better grab the rake anyways. This time I walked with a quickness to the garage and grab the rake. When I got back the fire had just barely started in the yard. I went to stomp and rake the grass that was on fire. One swift flick of the rake and it breaks in two. All the sudden I'm dancing around surrounded by fire. Shoot I need the hose. Back to the garage.....I come out with the hose over my shoulder doing my best impression of a fireman. It had only been thirty seconds maybe a minute. My front yard was blazing!!!!!!!! I ran to the top of my sidewalk closest to the house, lifted the nozzle and pressed the trigger. I was met with a loud snap and a jet stream of water smacking me in the face. I get the nozzle off and used my thumb to control the water and start fighting the blaze. In about 30 seconds everything was under control.

That's when I felt it.......a cool breeze not unlike what you feel wearing a pair of shorts in the summer. But I have my favorite jeans on. One look down confirmed it. At some point during the battle I blew the crotch clean out of my favorite jeans. There's no saving them. So in the first 30 minutes outside today I broke a rake, caught my yard on fire, destroyed a hose nozzle and blew out the crotch of my favorite jeans. I think There are two morals to this story. 1. Never drink that extra cup of motivational coffee and 2. Yard work is overrated and I should stick to turkey hunting.

They say that controlled burns are good for turkeys...............  So, I would assume a SEMI-controlled burn would be SEMI-good for them.   Maybe try hunting in your yard this year.   Hahahaha !!!!!

[Yoder409]

More of a photo essay than a story............but there's a moral to it all.

If you were a Killer B member last year, you may be familiar with my best turkey huntin' buddy in the world............my daughter, Shawnee...........better known as Pickle.

She started going listening pre-season with me pretty young.  Here is a scouting trip from early April, 2014.  She was 9 years old.





Youth Day 2016.......... Our first serious try at turkey hunting.  11 years old.







Youth Day 2017............





Youth Day 2018............







Youth Day 2019...............







Boys................... Where DO the time go ??   

If you have kids and they take ANY sort of interest in your passion for the turkey woods............get 'em out there NOW !!!   Treasure EVERY second !!!   Take LOTS of pics of ALL your times afield.  It won't last forever, as much as any of us wish it would..........

[zsully]

Dang Don, I feel like I just watched your daughter grow up. That's fantastic. My oldest (5) is really starting to get into hunting and my youngest (2) wants to do everything his brother does. I'm hoping it leads to two lifetime hunting buddies for me.

[a_jabbo]

Awesome story POk3's!!! As Zsully said, hopefully we have a similar experience out west.

That's great Yoder! Appears you have a lifetime hunting buddy, and she clearly a good shot. Those are all great birds.

[POk3s]

Thank you guys. Been trying to add pics and forgot how big of a pain that is! Mine are never the right format so I went and formatted some and still a no go.

I remember all the pickle stories from years past! Great stuff!

[Mossyguy]

She's a turkey killer for sure! My boy is 20 now and doesn't hunt as much as he used to so you better enjoy it while you can!

[Yoder409]

Dang Don, I feel like I just watched your daughter grow up.

Yeah...........

I'm pretty well known for being about as emotionless as they come.   I started getting a lump in my throat as I posted those pics........