Well team a couple of weeks & I'll be hittin it. Hopefully I can get out next week and get an idea where those thunder chickens hang out. How bout everyone else?
We'll guys, I messed up on a bird this morning. Mid morning I found two jakes gobbleing on the edge off a clear cut in a swamp edge. The swamp had a steep bank so I was able to get within 50-75 yards undetected. All I had to hide in were rows of about 3 foot pine trees, called them in to about 25 yards. Didn't take any decoy so they hung up, got nervous so i had to take the only shot I had. Ended up squeezing one through the brush taking off some breast feathers! Maybe next time, I'll have to say, turkeys with a bow without a blind is a lot of fun! Lets get after them guys!
Hey Team! Paul, sounds like an amazing hunt. Being able to get that close to those turkeys on the ground is impressive. Keep at it. Like I said before my season doesn't start until May 6th. I was able to get out for 3 hunts this weekend to film my hunting buddy. Friday night we setup the blind and were hoping to catch a Tom heading back to the roost. We saw nothing, heard nothing, and didn't even get a shock gobble with the owl hoot as we left. The next morning was quiet at sunrise also, no morning gobbles. At about 10:30am we were going to call it in a morning when I scratched the slate call one more time...GOBBLE!!! This bird ended up coming within 50 yards behind us which we cant see cause I have my rear windows in the blind closed so we are blacked out. What this bird did was do a 75 yard circle right around the decoys. My friend said it looked like he only had a 6 inch beard or so. We never saw him strut once and he never gobbled again as he slowly walked a 75 yard circle and back to where he came from. I am using a Avian Jake decoy positioned right behind a hen, and one other hen close by feeding. Do you guys think this turkey was spookish or just young and didn't want anything to do with that Jake decoy? This morning was quiet off the roost as well. At about 9:00am we had a hen come in all fired up. She walked 5 yards next to the blind and when she looked at the decoys she turned right around very slowly and hung up about 20 yards out talking like crazy with us. At about 9:30am we had two jakes come in completely silent, they never looked at the decoys and didn't seem interested at all. I'll have to get some of this footage up for you all to check out. So what do you think? Do you think we just didn't have a dominant enough bird to want to come into the decoy setup? Or do you think maybe I should drop the decoys. Mike, did you have any luck? Good luck to the rest of you Sparrowhawk
Saw nothing short of 50 birds all weekend. Gobbling all day, every day. The only birds that came close enough for a shot were all hens. Frustrating, but great. I have never seen this many birds in one weekend before. The hens are in total control of the toms right now. The toms are extremely call/decoy shy. I have another tag for this weekend and I will probably by another one.
Sounds like everyone's seasons are going well! My Wisconsin season starts Wednesday, with work on the slow side right now I'm hoping to put in 5 days of hunting. Hope to get us on the board. I'll keep everyone posted and probably throw out some questions!
good luck pbh! my season is next week. this weather is nuts 80 today, 50 on Thur & rain. hopefully it'll stay a little cool next week. it would suck sitting in a blind in the 80s. I've got some decoys coming my way. I'll have to find my slate call somewhere in the basement. good luck mike with your hunt.
Hi Sparrow Hawk, I use all avian x deeks, strutted, jake and 2 hens. There are times when deeks hurt you and they pay off. Depends on mood of the gobbler and/or hen. I have had 9 stay just out of bow range here in Ohio so far because of my gobbler deeks. Usually when this happens there is a dominant bird around so they are a bit shy of getting their butt kicked. Timing is everything when using deeks and when the birds are ready it will be time to fling some arrows.
Calling for anywhere from 6-12 inches of snow, tonight through Friday morning and then rain the rest of the weekend. Sucks for turkey hunting but that is why we use a blind. I just bought another tag for the last period here in Wisconsin, late May.
As if getting a bird isn’t hard enough, the weather decides to do this today……4 inches of snow at 7:00 a.m. and still counting. Good thing I put the snow blower away for the year, huh?
That sucks Mike! No snow here in central Wisconsin, yet. Maybe a bit tonight. This morning I set up on some roosted birds, was able to watch two toms gobble off the roost at about 150 yards. Flew down and hens everywhere, they gobbled just over the ridge for about two hours but I couldn't coax them over. Set up now closer the the crest, hope one lost its hens and still lookin for love!
Coolin down this weekend. countin down the time to the 15th. Just hope it isn't hot out. Any pointers there people. Never been bowhuntin for turks, and how bout placement of decoys? how far? how many? what positions? thx team.
Snow storm destroyed my 1 month old blind. 14 of 20 carbon rods snapped. Time to regroup and get another blind. Note to self: Don't leave blind out over night when there is a 12" May snow storm coming.
Mike, I always cut a stick to support the center of my blinds in case of snow, has worked so far! I put an arrow in a turkey today, on the board with my first turkey!! I'll get some pics up!
Another close encounter yesterday am as a hot tom was talking but wouldnt commit...I think he was henned up. In the blind now.
HEY congrats! that's awesome! put some pics up and gives us the details. now we got some more pts on the board. another week for me. give some pointers people as this will be my first time out.
The bird I got is nothing to write home about, a young Jake, but you've got to start somewhere right? I was playing cat and mouse with two big hened up toms, I had them between 40-50 yards three different times but refused to come closer. I think I needed to get my ground blind out earlier, they seemed spooked by it, even the hens. I was setup on a hardwood ridge they'd roost on, when I shot my Jake I was setup on the ridge watching the two toms strutting for their dozen plus hens. I knew there were jakes behind me because I had them coming in a few hours prior but then they shut up. I heard leave russel and there were five jakes at 20 yards. I shot the first one, hitting him just below the wing butt. Watched him fly away and thought great, blew that. I searched and searched and finally found him about 80 yards away.
