Mossy Oak Forum / Hunting / Wild Turkey

Indiana fall turkey

rodney482 — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 11:58:00 GMT

I took this fall hen at 45 yds using my athens accomplice and my treestand MO camo.

Taxidermy question

dapace — Mon, 11 May 2009 15:59:27 GMT

I want to mount my own turkey feet/spurs. How do I preserve them?

fall turkey hunting in PA?

danielfrancisco — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 18:00:58 GMT

hi guys and girls im going turkey hunting this fall in pa. Im from ontario canada and never fall hunted turkeys before, is there anyone out there that can give some tips on how to hunt these birds up there. thank you

turkey wedding

danielfrancisco — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 13:49:49 GMT

I went to a wedding yesterday and I saw the funniest thing ever. I look on the dance floor and see my good friend in full strut pretending he's a turkey with his hands acting like a turkeys fan and gobbling all over the dance floor. As his mom comes to see him she joins him to, I couldn't resist to join and make a fool of my self as well. I guess we are all excited for the fall hunt.

took 2 turkeys this spring

kyhareraiser — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 17:18:09 GMT

used my dekes this spring anf had the time of my life watchin' those birds

monster bird (ha)

turkeymaster — Fri, 15 May 2009 07:42:16 GMT

i see all the big birds everyone is getting this year so far and congrats to all, i still have a couple of weeks left in the season but i think you guys are going to have a hard time beating this one.

Today was a good day!

85warrior — Sat, 23 May 2009 18:53:31 GMT

These were my first birds ever! They were taken on April 18, 2008. This is a very special date for me because I had a repeat performance on April 18, 2009! Thanks Mickey! Sorry no pics of '09 bird! It was 17.5lbs 11in. beard 1 in. spurs!!

New #2 Nebraska Rio

tntrkyhntr — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 11:46:42 GMT

A buddy of mine killed the pending new #2 Rio in Nebraska last Friday, I thought I would share...It has 5 beards ranging from 9 1/4" to 5" plus.....spurs 1 1/2"......it weighed in a little over 20 pounds....score is a little over 116 NWTF.

I will post pics soon...

2009 Missouri Turkey

Arrowmaster — Sun, 17 May 2009 22:23:06 GMT

Heres my 2009 opening day Missouri turkey. I shot this turkey at 625am on 4/20/09 in Missouri. He was 25lbs, 8 3/4in beard and 7/8in spurs.

http://i58.photobucket.com/albums/g268/Arrowmaster/Kennys125.jpg

Barrel length

patstp — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 12:39:49 GMT

What's the prefered barrel length for hunting wild turkey ?

Pa Opener Longbeard

pabowhunter22 — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 13:42:20 GMT

Well, here is my first bird of the season. It was supposed to be my girlfriends but she couldnt get a shot. The footage we got of these birds is awesome. Here he is. 8.5" beard 1" spurs 20lbs

LAST DAY LONGBEARD!!

BowBo — Sun, 10 May 2009 19:19:15 GMT

Today was the last day of the Spring Turkey season in Indiana.

Me and my buddy Romer, went down to Sullivan County (huntin' and campin') and got on a BUNCH of birds this weekend! I killed this young Tom today, and my buddy wound up missing 2 birds after we had harvested mine. There were GOBBLERS EVERYWHERE first thing this morning, and a LOUD hen roosted up in front of us about 60-70yds. She was NOT happy that we (other hens) were in her spot! LOL

I do want to thank Mike for helping me take this bird of mine! It took great teamwork and determination to draw him in. It was a looong distance he had to come down the edge of this grass/weed field. We called and watched him for about 30mins before he got close enough for a shot!! We also walked off the distance, to where I dropped the bird in his tracks.............. 68yds!!! NO KIDDING! Mossberg 3 1/2" Magnum #4's.

Anyhoo, here is my last day Indiana Spring Turkey for '09.

10" beard ('on the nose')
17mm spurs
17lbs

Tagged out in PA

Fullfan — Thu, 14 May 2009 20:12:20 GMT

Well my season came to an end this morning @ 0620.
The temp was 30 and there was a heavy frost in Mercer Co. this morning. The birds started gobbling at 0520.
I set up as close as I dare with out spooking the gobbling birds and did manage to bump a hen off the roost.

I gave a very light series of yelps and did a fly down with my seat and he came un-glued.
I saw several birds fly down and then a Saw two fullfans. They never made a sound once on the ground.
He came to 28 steps and I talked myself through the shot. ( after two misses that is what it takes)
The show was outstanding and the drumming was unreal.
I sealed the deal and ended my season.
This season has been one of many high and lows. Lessons have been learned and memories have been made. All stored away for another time.
If you are still hunting, I am thinking it is only going to get better.
Keep after em and enjoy every moment in the woods.

Now if I can get the wife to buy my NY tags.....
11 1/4 beard
1 3/8 spurs.
On The Rock...

My first Turkey

GaMeSLaYeR — Sun, 17 May 2009 12:41:28 GMT

Had to show everybody my first Turkey. Got him 7 min into my season. Last year I got skunked so I'm proud of myself, I did it all on my own. 3 months of prep for 7 min of hunting was well worth it. Iwas back at the car before sunrise

over 22 lbs (home bathroom scale me holding bird)
1" left spur 7/8" right spur,
9 1/8 inch beard

2009 Mossy Oak forum turkey success thread

INBowhunter — Mon, 04 May 2009 11:56:33 GMT

Would a mod want to sticky this to the top? We have one for '08, but not for '09 yet.

Killed 4/25/09 in southern Indiana, 25 lbs, 11" beard, 35mm spurs

Newbie From Penna...

Honkers41 — Sun, 03 May 2009 18:33:56 GMT

Hello everyone...i'm Russ aka Honkers41 from Penna...and avid waterfowler and turkey hunter of 30+years...I hope to get to know of a few of you guys in the future and hope to share our hunting stories ..Thanks Honkers41

North Carolina's last minute Gobbler!

NChunter4life — Wed, 13 May 2009 00:59:46 GMT

My buddie and I went hunting the day before the season went out and he had to be back at his house at 8:30 AM, not to mention I had a final exam at 1:00 that afternoon. We set on a grass field on a gobbler that didnt show, then we went walking a calling for a while and found two strutters in the middle of a field. We crawled up to the edge of the field and started some light calling. They hung up at about 150 yards for close to 45 minutes, it was about 8:00 by that time. Without a decoy, we realized that was why the old boys were stopping for, we stopped calling and waited them out, about 10 minutes later they started to head our way. There was a slight dip in the field and we lost sight of the birds until they were right on top of us, my buddie shot first and killed an 18 1/2 pounder with an 11" beard and 1 1/8" spurs(left). And i shot second and killed a 23 pounder with an 11" beard and 1 1/16" spurs(right). needless to say, we were alittle late getting back, but it was well worth it.

2009 Turkey season

TRKYHTR — Tue, 12 May 2009 20:44:57 GMT

Here is a little review of my 2009 turkey season. Killed a MS swamp bottom Eastern in March, killed 3 CA Rios in April, Killed 1 OR Rio in May. It was a great season. Killed 5 turkeys, helped several others kill turkeys. Can't beat that with a stick.

TRKYHTR

Deer Vs Turkey

turkey30 — Sun, 10 May 2009 00:25:20 GMT

I would have to take the big gobblers!!!!

Missed my Rio Hunt

RajunCajun — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 22:05:56 GMT

Had safety and environmental auditors in the plant for three days......... was gonna leave to day for Texas with my buds to chase some rios........

Had to drive to south Texas for work today.......was supposed to work through tomorrow...... canceled my Rio hunt......

Get up early, drive 4.5 hours to SW Texas meet with the other companies reps, work with them on their process design, and finished by 2 PM.............

If I had known that was gonna happen, I would have thrown my gun and gear in the truck and left from Port Neches and drove to central texas and chased some birds!

Guess my season is over for sure now!

new york turkeys are magicians

turkeymaster — Tue, 12 May 2009 09:09:34 GMT

it has been a weird turkey season so far and monday was the weirdest . around 6 am i was working in a tom from about 100 yards and he was coming in fast in front of me about 10 yards away from me was a wood pile . looking through my nocs i could see a beard hanging probably about a 8-10 incher he came in and ran behind the wood pile before i could get a shot so i sat a waited till he came out i could hear him gobbling and as soon a he stuck out his head he looked at me and started to putt so i took the shot and he went down. as i got to the bird i saw a the long beard running back into the field and realized that i had shot a jake , that darn tom used a decoy on me and it worked. but at least i got a bird. the jake was 16 pounds 5 inch beard and 1/2 inch spurs.

The Fullfan's season so far

Fullfan — Sun, 10 May 2009 10:46:31 GMT

Spent 10 great days in SE Missouri with my 15 year old son. The weather and soooo many other hunters made things tough this year. We were on birds everyday and were both able to fill all our tags. But like I said we were bumped by guys every day.

Then I came home to Pa to find the birds have been pounded from day one which is the norm for Pa. I scored in the rain on Thurs and shot and missed one on Fri. The remington is now put away and it is all with the bow and no blind. I will keep you posted.
I have attached a few pic's of the Mo trip.

The waiting game

The reward

After a 2 mile haul

A lill Mo shed

Final score card

# 1 Pa bird

Scored on a Nice MN Gobbler Last Night!

turkey30 — Fri, 08 May 2009 10:28:41 GMT

Hey guys! I shot my biggest tom last night and 7:35 in the evening! I knew the exact tree the bird roosted in and i got right underneath it and here he came! He snuck in behind me and i looked back and spooked him but i got a quick shot off on the run and mowed him down. He was 24 pounds and had a 12 inch paintbrush beard and one spur was 1 5/8 inches! He was an old turkey. The thing that made this bird special was he got away from me three times last year and almost shot him 3 times. This year my bad luck with him ended. My Mossberg 835 with Federal 3 1/2 s did the trick big time. Im getting a fan mount of my bird. I would love to post the pics but i dont know how! So if anyone can help i can try putting the pics on! Thanks!

Virginia Gobbler

RUPiKapp462 — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 15:02:42 GMT

Shot this big boy 6:45am. First shot with my new Benelli Supernova.

21 LBS
11 1/8th inch beard
1 1/8th inch spurs

Custom Calls

Capt_B — Thu, 07 May 2009 11:55:08 GMT

How many of you guy out there are using custom calls? I took my first bird this year with a custom call from Hoosier Hunter Custom Calls and it worked great!

NY Boss Tom down

Squirrelhunter91 — Sat, 02 May 2009 12:20:03 GMT

Yesterday, May 1st was opening day here in NY. My buddy Mike had to work and so did my dad so I couldn't skip school like originally planned. Besides the weather was crappy anyway.

So we decided last night that we would head out this morning and see what we could do. We went to a place he has access to in Orange County, only about a 30min drive from where we live here in Rockland County.

It was pouring rain this morning so on the ride upstate we were debating on wheter or not we made the right decision, but we quickly agreed that a rained out morning turkey hunting sounds better than sleeping and thinking about what could've been. He said he knew where the birds were roosted and sure enough, he did. We got there around 5:00 am as the rain slowed down and eventually stopped and went for a little hike. At about 5:15 we look up in the trees and there was a turkey sitting on the limb about 75 yards away. We get set up real slowly as the turkey is waking up, I throw some soft tree yelps out there the bird stands up on the limb, shakes off the rain from the night and turns around looking our way. All we saw was the sillhouette of a beard on the bird. I throw some more yelps out there and the bird pitches down 15 minutes later about 10 yards in front of the decoys. He took a few steps closer towards the dekes and at that point I didn't have a shot because there were trees in my way and I was facing differently. I told Mike I had no shot so he took the shot. He shot and down the bird went. When we got up to him we had no idea how big of a bird it was. 11 1/4" beard, one spur was 1 3/8" and the other spur was 3/4". The one spur was broken and missing probably a half an inch.We later weighed him at 22lb. So basically, Mike had his bird down at roughly 5:30am.

We worked a few more birds the rest of the morning, only one coming close, about 55 yards according to Mike. I didn't see this other gobbler either. I certainly heard him though. This bird pitched down off the roost towards the hens that were yelping behind us. He had another gobbler with him too. We're gonna see if we can get back on them tomorrow morning.

But anyway, here's the pics:

a funny story for the first weeken of the season

turkeymaster — Tue, 05 May 2009 09:38:35 GMT

here is a funny story for the first weekend of the new york turkey season. sunday morning i set up having no idea where the birds were about 5:30 i started hearing hens in the trees above me. about ten minutes later 8 hens fly down about 10 yards in front of me praying i would not be seen i slowly look to the right and see a red head peeking out of the wood line. he comes out and he is a monster tom . i watch him for about ten min. he gets about 35 yards away and is about to cross into posted property so i take the shot , he falls down rolls around makes it back to his feet looks around and flys away. i searched the area for hours looking for the bird nothing not even a feather. the next morning the hunting buddy and slowly walk into the woods at 5 and hear all sorts of gobbles we make it to a field and hear a hen well we make her mad and the woods come alive and about 20 min later a tom comes in and my buddy lets him have it. our first bird down this year and he is big 24 lbs, 10 inch beard , 1 inch spurs. the funny part of this story is while de feathering the bird we found about 30 size 6 shot bb's in his feathers my buddy shoots number 5's, but i shoot number 6's. he shot my bird.

Last day Turkey

chalka123 — Tue, 05 May 2009 14:30:48 GMT

Finally I shot my turkey on the last day of my 5 day season.I wasn't sure if I was going to get one or not in the 5 days I hunted 3 of them it rained and the other two there were 20 to 30 mile an hour winds. Well the day started out great no wind and no rain.I had roosted a Tom on the neighboring property and thought that I should be able to call him over.Well that probably would have worked if he wasn't already madly in love with the hen he spent the night with.So I packed up my stuff and headed back to the truck,on my way back to the truck it started to rain again, so I decided to go for a drive and see if anything was moving around well needless to say that in the rain I didn't see anything.So I headed home and waited for the rain to stop well the rain didn't stop so I decided that the only way that I was going to get a turkey was to go set up where I had been seeing them in the past couple of days.So I sat there in the rain in a natural ground blind for about 4 hours.Soaking wet and starting to get disappointed I laid back on the tree that I had built the blind around and all of a sudden a turkey gobbled about 20 yards behind me,scared the crap out of me.I'm sure that I shot up over the blind a good 3 feet,but he was in to much of a hurry to get over to the Jake and the hen I had set out.The tom came in on a rope stopping short to get his strut on.Finally, I got a chance to pull my bow back and I did without him seeing me.He did his little turkey dance to the left then to the right and when he turned straight away from me I let him have it.Well when I let him have it he did some kind of new kids on the block dance move and the arrow hit him in the wing bone breaking his wing.Well if you have ever seen a turkey with a broken wing they can run like hell.Luckily were I shot him was on top of a hill where I could see for a couple miles in either direction.So I picked up my binoculars and glassed the bird as he was running down the hill like a 16 year old at a nude beach.It just so happened, that right by the road there was a big slew with lots of cattails and that is where he buried himself into.So I picked up all my stuff walked back to my truck and drove around to the other side of the section (now where I am hunting we can hunt with a bow or shotgun).Well I didn't figure It would be smart of me to bring my bow So I dug my shotgun out from behind the seat and away I went.I got down to where I had marked the spot from on top of the hill and I went in after him, now have you ever heard a turkey trying to run thru cattails well needless to say it caught me a little of guard.Well instead of running back out of the cattails he decides to try and run on water,and in all the confusion I shoot him as he is running on water like the road runner with Wile E. coyote chasing him,now I have a turkey flopping around out in the middle of the slew,and of course while he is flopping it is carrying him farther out.So I did the first thing any right minded individual would have done I jumped in after him.I really wish I would have thought that thru a little bit because the water was right up to my chin.Well after I David hasselhoffed him back to shore I finally got to see what I had just shot.After all that trouble it was worth it he was huge, biggest turkey I had ever seen.Not until I got home did I realize how big he really was. He weighed in at 27lbs 3 ounces with a 10 1/4 inch beard and 1 3/8 inch spurs. So I guess after all that it was worth it!!!!

Still No Luck

Krt3716 — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 08:35:55 GMT

I just spent my fifth morning in the woods and it seems like things are getting worse. My first morning out I took a buddy of mine who is back from Iraq out in hopes of getting him a bird before he was about to leave town to head back to Hawaii. We heard a couple gobblers each off in different directions and no luck bringing them in and then out of nowhere a hen shows up not even 15 yards from us and just walked around scratching all around us that was the excitement for that day. Next time I decided to take my dad since its been years since we have gone together. We heard 2 gobblers together across a field that was recently logged that borders our property. We just couldnt get them to cross the field prob because the mess that was left behind. Two days later me and buddy hit the same spot only to hear 5-6 gobblers spread out on the other side of that same field and they were going crazy I could tell that obviously that field poses a major problem because they were walking from one end to the other and back for a good 2 and half to 3 hours before i called it quits. The fourth morning was very quiet I heard a gobble or two off in the distance and called back a few times and got nothing. They would gobble every once in awhile own there own but wouldnt respond so i kept quiet for a good 30 minutes waiting to hear one again and about 150 yards away i hear one and immediately take off towards him. I got in close prob about 80 yards while he was in the field and started to call and he came running to the tree line. Just my luck that he wouldnt walk a little further closer. He was atleast a good 30 yards but a shot through some close timber I didn't feel comfortable that I had a clean shot to take him down. He wouldnt come any closer and started to walk away and I was left empty handed again. And for todays adventure I heard nothing but woodpeckers I didnt hear a single bird at all. I sat calling every 15 mins or so atleast hoping one would sneak up on me and it didnt happen so being impatient after 3 hours I walked out. And sure enough im walkin down the road all pissed off and just tryin to get to my car and it was like catching a robber in my house we both looked right at each other maybe 10 yards from a big ol tom and right as i pulled my gun up he took right off into the trees and the only thing i walked out with was the 15 tics i pulled off myself when i got home. Its been a rough season. Hope everyone is having much better luck than me!

Wingbone Call

turkey30 — Mon, 04 May 2009 09:55:40 GMT

If any of you have never used a wingbone call i think you should get one! The other day i was out and the birds were tight lipped and not gobbling at anything my box, diaphram, tube, slate, Nothing! But i took out the old wingbone and yelped a few times and five gobbled. You just gotta find what they like and the wingbone can be key sometimes! Just thought id share!!

NY Youth Hunt Success!!!

Squirrelhunter91 — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 13:48:40 GMT

So this past weekend was the 6th annual Youth Turkey Hunt here in NY. I have been fortunate enough to participated in each one since it started. My dad and I took my little brother out trying to get him his first turkey. And man did we have a blast.
We got up to the property Friday afternoon and seen a gobbler cross into our place around 4:30. AT 6:50pm I go out to my food plot to set the trail camera up. I get off the quad, stop and look around because I thought I heard something in the brush. My brother then goes right there! Right there! I look up and theres a huge tom in the brush not 30 yards away. He doesn't get spooked too bad. He just walks away looking over his back nervously. So I figure that he can't go too far for the next morning.
Saturday morning we get set up in there but about 50 yards further to the south from where we saw him the night before. I hit the owl hooter and no gobbles. I hit the crow call, the same tom gobbled less than 75 yards away. We get set up and call. Sit til about 8:00, and nothing. We heard 2 other gobblers. The tom that was roosted on top of us flew down and went away from us, but circled wide. We did this totally accidentally. Had no idea he was going to be roosted that close to where he was spotted the night before with an hour of light left. We went back to the house, ate, took a nap and went back out at 9:30. Got one bird to gobble mid morning but that was it. It just seemed like the birds weren't responding to hen calls on Saturday, just to eachother.
So Saturday evening at about 7:40pm after dinner, we went to go and roost some birds. We drove down the road and 2 jakes ran across the road. This just told me where to set up come morning.
Sunday morning rolls around and we were up bright and early. We went and set up the ridge above where I figured those jakes roosted and man did we have an awesome hunt. One bird was gobbling on the roost and after me working the calls well past flydown time, that one bird turned into 3 then probably about 7 or 8. The woods exploded with gobbles and to make a long story short, it took me and hour and a half to break away 2 gobblers from the flock, but I did it. 2 jakes ended up circling behind us and I had to get my brother to turn around and shoot from his knees, because it was a hilly field behind us. It all worked out. 2 jakes stood there at 20 yards looking for the hen they had been hearing all morning. They started to putt and get nervous but a couple more purrs, clucks and low pitch yelps made them gobble right there in front of us. Surprisingly, my brother held it together and made an awesome shot. I told him to take whichever one he wanted as long as it was clear of the other. I told him take him and BOOM! My Mossberg 500 20 ga laid this jake out. No flopping. Just DRT. This gun is deadly with the factory full choke and Federal #5's. We set up on these birds at 5:40am and he shot at 7:06am. It really didn't feel like almost an hour and a half. They were so much more responsive Sunday than Saturday. It was an awesome hunt. Probably the best turkey hunt I've ever been on. Oh and I forgot to mention, this was my brothers first turkey.

The bird weighed 17lb, had a 4" beard with 1/4" spurs.

Also, this is the 4th gobbler in 3 years on this particular slate call I have. This was also the 3rd gobbler I've called in with that call in the exact same spot where he shot this bird.

Gobble Call

SCTrky — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 12:41:51 GMT

Any one use Gobble calls? What kind of success have you had doing that? I've seen it used one time on a video but thats all. None of the "seasoned" hunters I've talked with in my area have ever used them either. I used a Primos Gobble Shaker earlier this week and the woods went silent. I did not see or hear anything else from that point on.

Off to Georgia!

Flintlock1776 — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 17:16:39 GMT

I'll be heading down on Friday to hunt some good ol Georgia Birds.

Nice to have my resident LifeTime Sportsman License, I'll just drive down, no tags to but and 600 acres to myself.

It may be a bit warm so I might stick a fishing pole in my gear too. Nice to get back and visit with some folks.

Take care!

1st Jersey Tom; 1st Day

Flintlock1776 — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 15:18:59 GMT

Well, I have gotten plenty of Toms in Georgia and Missouri but none here in New Jersey, that is, until today!

The day begins.

The alarm went off at 3am. I had gotten back late last night at 10PM from the FD, so I was a really bushed and hit the sack right away. Suddenly, the alarm goes off and I hit the snooze button because I just laid down, didn't I?

Again the alarm goes goes off, again I hit the snooze button. Finally, at 3:30 when the snooze goes off for the 3rd time I realized today is the 1st day of the season for me! What am I doing? I can't sleep in even as the bed seem to beckon me to stay there.

I push through the sleep to wake up. I get up knowing I have lost some time!

Good thing last week I had organized my hunting clothes and gear and it was in my "hunting room' in the basement!

I had also preloaded up all the pockets and such of my Cabelas Tactical Tat'r Vest. I then go through my inventory in the vest quickly to make sure I did not forget anything. License attached to the vest, check. Primos Heart Breaker Box call and Cody Drop Dead slate call, check. Face mask, hat and gloves, check. SureFire Flashlight, check. Hevi Shot 12 ga 3 1/2" ammo, check.

Then onto my other gear. Primos B-Mobile decoy, check. Hen decoy, check. Mossberg 835 Ulti Mag 12 Ga with Bushnell Holo Sight with fresh batteries, check. Hunters Specialty Backpacker blind, check.

Then for the food and refreshments: Diet coke, check. Beef Jerky, check. Little Debbie cakes, check.

Pack all the gear into the truck ASAP. Oh my goodness, it is 4:30am and I got to get going! I looks at the temperature reading in my read view mirror, it is 43 Degrees, So I hit the road!

Into the woods.

I arrive at my hunting land at 5:30 am. The Temperature is 53 degrees. Looks like a clear sky, waning crescent moon above and a light to steady breeze. A bit too steady of a breeze if you ask me. The tops of all the trees were swaying petty good and I look up hoping to see some roosted birds in the blue night sky but there was nothing. I walk into a spot without needed to use my flashlight. I set up my bind.

This was the first time I used the Cabelas Tactical Tat'r Vest for this season and was I happy I got this one. The cushion was excellent. I did not feel the tree digging into my back as it would have with my other vests. I settle in very comfortably hoping something would show up soon.

Not a gobble, not a cluck. Nothing. I see a flash of action to my right but it winds up a herd of deer trotting through the woods and going away from me. Oh well, at least it was something. Other than that the woods was quiet.

I sat there until 8:30am am and I realized that last year I had hunted further into the woods off to my right. There are a lot of low rock walls from the 1700's that used to mark some old boundaries all over the land. Last year, I had a Tom answer my calls and he got close but would not come over the rock wall between us. I heard him continue on his way without ever getting to see him. So, this year I though maybe I should move to that spot but get on the other side of the rock wall. Up and off I go! The sun was up, the wind had died down and it was warming up a bit.

The Tom!

Around 9am am I gave out some calls, nothing responded. At 9:30 am I tried again and got an gobbler to answer!! I called again and got an answer! Again I called, another answer! Then, suddenly there he was about 200 yards off to my right. I remembered a hunting TV show that said to stop calling once you see them so I did stop. He didn't. He flared himself into a strut a few times and kept coming closer and gobbled again. I had the turkey decoys straight ahead facing towards me at 30 yards. That Tom was looking right at them. he started to move with more caution and I was blocked by the trees. I saw him poke his head out from behind the trees but I did not want to take a shot like that.

Finally, he moved out from the tree, I raised my shotgun and got a good bead on his head.

BOOM!

He's down!!!

Off I run to the spot, he was flopping a bit but not too long!

It was 9:50am. Moving and knowing what I learned last year helped put me in the right spot to intercept my very first New Jersey Tom.

[U]
The Check Station.[/U]

Details were are follows:

9 1/2" Beard
1 " Spurs
20 Pounds

The final steps

One of the Captains from my FD house was off and he came out to see my bird. Like any FD brother we went from talking about the morning details to the two of use breasting out the bird and getting the wing bones to make some home made calls. Never had to ask him he just jumped right in and we made quick work of that bird!

My first 'Jerzey 'Tom and I got him to come in all a strutting! What a way to remember my first 'Jerzey' successful hunt!! Well, that's how they pronounce it up here, go figure!!

:biggrin2:

tomorrows opening day

turkeymaster — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 07:10:04 GMT

tomorrow is opening day and it is going to rain all day nothing better then sitting in the rain for nine hours wait for a bird

My four beard limb hanger

RajunCajun — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 22:08:49 GMT

Mark and I hunted his place saturday and had three birds gobbling, but after they collected their harram. they left with tight beaks.

I hunted the upper property that evening and did not even see one turkey track! I set up and worked on them till dark with to no avail.

This morning I left out way before dark and walked to the very back left corner of our other property and sat on a small ridge awaiting daylight.

Before good light a bird gobbled on a ridge about 200 yards away, across a clear cut on another mans property.

The hens pitched down, I heard about six of them fly down. Mr. Goobler..... gobbled a few times, hit the ground, called his ladies to him and got really quiet.

I had called but I knew it was to no avail becuase when I yelped, one hen would get mad and yelp back.

They headed along the bottom of that ridge which runs parralell to our back proeprty line. I would sneak up on the ridge then head about 200 yards down the line and set up again, calling softly. When I yelped, the hen would sqwawk back at me, mad.

I did this till I was at the back right property line. The birds had followed the ridge through the clear cut, then followed it through some big timber on another guys property.

As luck would have it, once they cleared the corner of our place, they made a right turn into the clear cut from last year and follwed the right side of our property line.

I would move 150 yards at a time, sneaking down to the property line and call. Doing this I was able to keep up with them as they meandered and fed.

Finally I was ready to move again, retreived my decoy, then sat down to drink some water. I was pretty tired by now. I hit my Holland glass call and yelped softly when I heard wings take air! DARN I must have spooked them!

Well four hens flew up the ridge to the bench I was on and landed about 30 yards from me! They "pocked" for awhile then fed on. I waited almost an hour for Mr. Big to show up and he did not.

This clued me that the hens were leaving him for a nest somewhere in the area.

I got up and made another 150 yard jump along the ridge and stopped on a high knoll of a hill and did some loud raspy yelps. That is when HE fired it up and gobbled twice!

I set up on the side of the four wheeler trail with my decoy about 15 yards away, I was tucked up in a cedar tree.

I did a couple of purrs ending in a very soft yelp. I waited 15 minutes and did a raspy yelp sequence......all this in a drizzling rain..... the only call that would work semi wet was my Holland glass call.

I then put the call in my bag and waited.

The trail dropped off on either side steeply and I knew he would come up one side or the other.

In about 15 minutes he popped up about 15 feet from me and walked straight to me..... I could not move. When he hit the trail, he was about eight feet from my boots, he took three steps past me, looking at the decoy!

Just then he turned his head left and looked at me...... when he turned his head right I knew he was gone! By the time I got my gun up and pulled the trigger he was 30 feet away......BOOM..he goes to flopping on the ground and before I could squeeze the trigger the second time, he fell over the bluff!

I was on the move and he was about 50 feet below, unable to get up but still flopping his wings......BOOM......no more movement!

I had an almost vertical climb down to him but it was worth it!

Started at daylight on this bird and killed him at 11:15!

He weighed 16.9 pounds

Both spurs 1 1/4 inch

Four beards: 1) 11.5 2) 8.75 3) 8.75 4) 5.75

Total score 111.4

The bird of my life!

Another Indiana success story

INBowhunter — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 11:52:02 GMT

Yesterday morning started off well....I had a bird gobbling on the roost on the north end of the field I was going to sit next to, so I snuck up the edge of the field and found a place to sit near him. I was afraid that he may have seen me, because the best place I found to sit was within 50 yards of where he was. He gobbled like mad on the roost and finally pitched down at 7:15 EST. I heard him flying and thought "ok, this is going to be over quickly, he'll land in the field and I'll be heading home in a few minutes." He had other plans however. He flew into the woods instead of the field. This had me worried again that he had seen me sneak in. He gobbled in the woods for most of the morning, never getting real far away. I heard yelping in the woods, and was afraid that another hunter had come in from the neighbor's property. I was expecting to hear a gun go off at any time. After calling to him all morning, and after having another longbeard walk by in the field out of range, I heard my wife's uncle begin working on the south end of the farm. I knew that if his work brought him to my end that nothing would be coming out into the field, so I decided to try to make my own luck. The wind was blowing fairly steadily, so I decided to sneak toward where I had heard him gobbling. I had snuck about 50 yards and up over a knoll when I caught a glimpse of him through the brush. He was strutting for a hen while she fed. By waiting for him to have his back turned I was able to sneak to within about 40 yards where I could rest the gun steadily against a tree. I waited a few minutes for him to turn and offer a good shot, then sent the lead from a 3 1/2 inch Winchester shell in his direction. I then ran down to claim my prize. The time of kill was 9:20.

Stats on the bird are: 25 lbs, 11" beard, 35mm spurs. Definitely a boss bird. The spurs were needle sharp.

In the field

Spur next to a 3 1/2 inch shell

At the check station with my little man

Indiana bird down

noobi — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 18:32:56 GMT

Friday morning at 9:15 I harvested my first turkey. After bumping 3 birds while trying to sneak in on a bird that was eluding me the last two mornings I scrambled to a second spot that was seven miles away before daybreak. That spot turned out to be uneventful so about 8:00 I decided to try some run & gun'n. I headed to a different spot that had alot of rows of crp fields divided w/ small rows of pine trees. I spotted a bird moving in the middle of field so I ran up to the next row of pine trees and ran down to where I thought he would come through and set up my hen decoy. I waited about 10 minutes and nothing. I looked around and had no idea where he went. So I gathered my stuff back up and started looking again. About 10 minutes later I spot a jake make his way through a crp field so I waited til he got into some tall dry grass at the edge of a pine row then sprinted across the same field then peeked down the row to make he didn't make it through yet and sprinted across the next field and made it to the other side of the row of pine trees and made my way down to where I thought he would out. Like last time I set my hen out and sat on the other side of small truck path that the DNR use. About 10 minutes later I could see him through the row of pine tree heading my way. He made his way through the rows of pine trees and got to the last row and stopped, just 5 yards away from the decoy starring at my primos hen. He noticed something wasn't right so he turned around so I let out a soft yelp as he moved into a clearing and that was enough to get him to stop and lift his head for an easy 25 yard shot. He dropped down and slapped the ground a few times w/ his wings and then stopped. I very tickled w/ it despite being a jake but it's my first and was on public land. This was my second year of turkey hunting, last year I tried it w/ a bow and blind but didn't see anything so I decided I was using a shotgun this year.

Indiana turkey down, shot with my new Athens Accomplice

rodney482 — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 09:08:15 GMT

Took this jake this morning, I just received my Athens Accomplice from Athens Archery on friday night.

Took it down to Bass and Bucks yesterday and got it all set up.

it got the job done this morning.

Strangler chokes

gobble — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 17:28:42 GMT

Seen the ad on the main page.. Just curious if anyone's ever tried one