LMAO, Al be careful with your invites, next spring class is over by May 14th, and I am ALWAYS lookin for some turkey hunting......:evil: Got damn close again today, with the bow this time. Pouring here now, but I am heading out anyway because this bird is far too predictable on his path to roost to pass up on hunting him while he is there. Taking a shotgun for ease this afternoon in the rain, won't have to mess with cleaning and waxing my bow or the DB. But thats what two tags are for right?
Turns out I was only half right, he was predictable for the general area but it still took some sweet talkin to coax him in, even at 715pm. Got there late, we got out and got our gear on and headed down the ridge. It is a long narrow holler with a field in the bottom and both ridges are wooded. He ALWAYS roosts on the far side, which is where we were off to. Get halfway across the field, and I look down in the faaaar end and see the turkey emerging from the neighbors land, BINGO they are coming. We had to crawl the rest of the way to the woods, but made it unseen. Sprinted halfway up the hill and set down against a huge cedar. I just KNEW they were headin down the ridge right at us, which is why I was shocked to hear him sound off on the OPPOSITE ridge where we parked. Pulled out the slate/glass call and got to purring, clucking, yelping, and generally just causing a ruckus. Got one of his hens riled up, and it was game on from there. In no time she had the whole crew steamin our way. They dissapeared into the woods, and I heard them cirle up around us, now closing the distance from above. The next time I hear a turkey sound off, it is less than 30 yards, JUST out of sight. Few quick clucks and I dropped the call and raised the gun. I next see a thin line move in the woods, and it puzzled the **** out of me on what it was until it turns sideways and reveals a full fan in full strut! I click off the safety and wait, both guns at the ready. 4 hens come storming over to see the intruder, only to find a vacant ridge side. They begin getting nervous as the tom is still just over the ridge where there is no clear head shot. The hens start retreating back, but finally the tom couldnt take it anymore. He broke strut and came to peep over while in half strut. To our surprise another gobbler head poked up to the left. We fired on 3 and both birds fell. Got over the hill to find my two year old tom as expected, but Dads turned out to be a jake. fine by him, he couldnt give a crap about killing turkey anyway, just goes to spend time with me. Anyway, I had a bird dead within 5 minutes of shutting the truck door, and couldnt be happier. Gun kill so it dont count for this contest, but I still have another tag to burn with plenty of time. Here are some pics, enjoy! 9.75" beard, only 5/8" spurs, and 21 lb 11 oz. Decent tom, barring the tiny spurs. Too bad my cameraman backed out last second and this hunt wasn't on film, he was kicking himself after I called him, but too little too late. Pictures turned out halfass as well, my camera is in TN at the moment, so I was stuck soaking wet with a less than willing Dad to get good pics, so these will have to do for now. Turned out JUST under this in all actuality. And our badass team photo for the mag ads for the new show we are filming for. Wish us luck, and vote for us next year when the time comes!
Trevor, thats awesome loved the story, It dont get much better than that with pops!! congrats bud, great looking bird!!
Good work trev! Thats one nice bird! No luck for me this morning, it was a wash big time, raining and windy, not much you can do to kill a turk on days like today. Good news is on my way home I saw a gobbler with 2 hens out in an alfalfa field. Im thinking that i'll get the blind out tonight all set up hoping that they will come back out to that field in the morning. It seems like if I see them out in a field later in the day theres always a good chance they will be back out in that field in the morning. We will see what happens. BTW to hunt turks in NY you only need a non-res small game and non-res turkey permit, total of $85. Im not sure but I think NY is the cheapest state to hunt non-res in, too bad im a resident .
Al, rain and wind is good... Was like that for 2 days then BAM sunny and clear and I got to shoot one. It works out in the end. Al, that is SUPER cheap. The gas out there, not so much:D Trev is made of money, I'm sure he'll take you up on that offer:evil:
Trev, did you get a pic of your Dads to?? or both together?? I love pics, I want more:d AL, Mid day is a great time to hunt. If you start seeing a pattern on the same bird or birds in that same spot mid day, then by all means get in there for a mid day hunt if the morning dont pan out. three out of my last four birds have been killed when most people are back home eating breakfast :d There at least in my area, seems to be a point of no action at all after the early birds have quit sounding off until around 10:00 Then it seems everything changes and the late morning birds become active again. Just trying to help a brother out!! Good luck guys, I wish you the best in everything!
LOL. I have a large trip looming over my head, that I am only 1/3 the way saving up for. I can't mess around with anything else in the meantime. Crick, nope, no more pics. It was raining, and dad isn't much for photos anyway. I barely talked him into snapping my pics, let alone gettin some of his. If this darn rain will ever slack up even just slightly, I think I can get one down for the team. I slept in today for the first time in over a week. Probably will hunt every morning from here on out except for Wednesday.
Well took the girlfriend out today with cameraman in tow. I packed a bow and a 20 gauge for her. I ended up leavin the bow in the truck, as I thought it would influence my decisions on how to setup and what not...I didn't want to be selfish, I wanted to get her her first bird. I put her on two jakes Saturday AM which she missed one of them, no big deal the first time jitters right? Go out on a HOT tom this morning....Tried callin him down into the field off the wooded bluff he was on, but no dice...he paced back and forth gobbling for 30+ minutes...After some fighting purrs, cackling, and some aggressive yelps, I left him with silence. Not soon after we figured it was game set and match. I told Jarrod to get some cut away footage of me calling, so I pull out the glass call and throw out some yelps to try and get a gobble for the camera (gobbled well over 150+ times this morning) and as I stop to listen, I hear a WHOOOOSH. The bird finally couldnt take it and took flight from his ridge top and pitched out into the field 30 yards out from me! He gobbled and strutted back and forth at 40 yards for 5+ minutes before he realizes the seductive hen is nowhere to be found. He begins to putt, but then GOBBLES at his own putting. He was tore up. PUTT, GOBBLE, PUTT, GOBBLE GOBBLE...it was hilarious...he finally stepped into the clear about 30 yards out and I tell her to take him when ready....Game over, so I thought. BOOM, he jumps back a bit but just stands there and begins trotting off, I tell her to shoot again and BOOM swing and a miss again. VERY VERY nice bird, and a VERY VERY slamdunk hunt had I of been hunting with the bow instead..I try not and say that often, but that was the picture perfect scenario to get drawn back in the setup we had....and on a HUGE tom at that. Easily a 10-11" beard, very big bird as well grass was to tall to see spurs. Get back, footage is blurry to top it all off. I did my part, just didnt pan out on either other end this morning. I am going to have her switch up to my 12 gauge and shoot on paper again to see what she is doing wrong, and who knows from there....that is several occasions to finish the season that I passed trying to get her a bird...which I will continue to do, but I have to admit it is trying my patience. I will be out Thursday AM with bow in hand on same farm hopefully working one of the other hot birds. Once I upload the footage, I will show you guys some of the cutaways of these toms that got away so far this season, it is ridiculous! LOL
Still hunting...here. Its been a rough one so far fellas. Between the crappy weather and the henned up gobblers I havn't had a tom anywheres near in range/sight. Gotta stay positive though, things will turn around and they should start working here pretty soon!
Well season ended a few hours ago today guys, with no archery bird under my belt. This season certainly didnt pan out the way I had planned. It started out good, with a few birds dieing to friends or being shot by neighbors on their way in, then it began raining..like 9 out of 10 days in a row. Then after I killed a shotgun bird on a wet afternoon, my focus shifted to getting my gf a bird. I put her on a jake that she missed, and then a gobbler she missed twice. Finally got one more morning to hunt that just didnt pan out. Then disaster hit my family this past Thursday night and I havent hunted since. My grandad went in for elective hip replacement surgery at age 75, and in the second day of recovery had went into massive cardiac arrest, and after a few battles has been stabilized but all but gone. He went without oxygen for over 20 minutes, which means he is all but braindead at this point. Living on a machine is no way to live either...the past few days have been hell for the family. My only thankful memory of this is that I got to eat lunch with him Thursday before it happened, and it was a good spell during his meds where he was his normal self. Its been hard and is only going to get harder, but he has led a wonderfully long life and this may be his time to go...I just pray for it to end soon for him, whether that mean passing on or recovering. Some things are far worse than death, and being hooked up to all these machines basically running his body for him in a hospital bed would count as one of them.
