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Gameskeeper
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Last Login: 3/6/2009 5:26:02 PM
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I finally killed one yesterday. It was an awesome day of hunting. I'm pretty busy at work and with school here today but will get some pics up this evening. I got to figure out how to get the pic off of my phone, plus I'll take some pics later of the beard and fan, etc.
Beautiful bird. It ended up being a jake with a 7 inch beard that is probably 3-4 inches thick though. It's crazy how thick it is for a jake. He's gonna fry up nicely.
I ran into a buddy of mine Saturday night that is a serious turkey hunter as well so I invited him out to my lease on Sunday. We went out at 0600 Sunday morning and EVERY bird in the territory was QUIET… WTF??? I’ve heard them gobble every morning in this area since September pretty much. We saw a hen and heard her but no gobbles so were trying to work her in thinking maybe one would follow her. We heard a noise about 0830 and look over the fence and there was the biggest friggin' Florida Panther I’ve ever seen!!!! It was definitely a panther as the tail and head were unmistakeable but it was huge! Now we knew why the birds were on lockdown too so we decided to move and went to another honey hole of mine and setup. A hen came out to our dekes and she busted me as I didn’t see her and she saw me move. So we decided we should move locations again and went and hunted a few more spots. They were all active with hens responding but no gobblers. WTF? About 11:30 we’re walking back through to the field we were at before and turn the corner and there HE was… A big ole Satellite bird strutting right in front of the oak tree I had just been setup on in the field!!!! He ran off into the woods and we tried to sneak up on him but he wasn’t having it, so we eased out and decided to go get some lunch. On our way to the restaurant, my buddy told me to pull into this management area that he’s been hunting lately and that he missed a big bird on a few days earlier. It was 12:20 and you're not allowed to hunt on State land after 1pm. He’s had a few birds patterned in there and has seen them around that time everyday. So we ease on in there and get setup in the swamp. Basically we left all our dekes and vests and just took a slate call and our guns. Within 2 minutes of setting up, we got a double gobble and then another from 200 yards away. Man did we ever get fired up!!!!!!!! We decided to sneak up a little closer and get down in the swamp. There was two gobblers and they were coming in on a string basically. We'd hit the slate for a cluck and they would go nuts!!! We were trying to coordinate a double but we had a little miscommunication. The birds came in and were looking right at us at about 25 yards. He was gonna take the big Tom and I was gonna take the smaller one. Then I had my bird at 20 yards and it was staring right at me and my gun barrel looking like it was about to make like a tree and leave. Neil said something and all I heard was SHOOT….so I pulled the trigger and laid mine down. Neil was kinda pissed at first, but hell, he waited too damn long and I had a shot so I took it before we missed out on both of them. He jumped up and shot at his bird but it flew off. Mine folded right over and ended up being a Jake with a 7 inch beard, but it was probably 3 or 4 inches thick. I’ll send y’all pics later. The hooks are nothing special. Still a good first bird of the season though, so I’m happy with it. It’ll be some damn good eating too. The breasts were perfectly in tact. Solid head shot. These swamp gobblin’ Osceolas are tricky bastids. They aren’t as easy as them Easterns from my experience. I’m glad to have one in the cooler though. We went back out but it was too windy and the birds were on lockdown. We hunted all damn day though and probably covered around 5-6 miles of territory walking and what not and got on a bunch of different birds. It was truly a great day in the field for sure. When both of them birds gobbled back at us we were so pumped up, it made the whole season. In total, we saw 5 gobblers yesterday throughout the day, two of which were in shooting range. Plus, it's always awesome to hunt turkeys with someone else, as you usually by yourself while deer hunting.
I got Friday through Sunday off this weekend so I'm sure we're gonna get back on some good ones here before too long.
Cell phone pic:
More Pics to come later...I'll have to get a close up of the beard for y'all.
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Smoke EM if you got EM...
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Gameskeeper
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Last Login: 6/25/2009 11:48:48 AM
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Congrats Rob!!! Can't wait to see the pictures!
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Trophy Buck
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Last Login: 6/29/2009 2:18:11 PM
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Congrats on the kill! I'm looking forward to seeing a picture or two. To bad you guys missed out on the double but when someone says shoot in a situatiion like that you don't think twice about it!
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Gameskeeper
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Last Login: 3/6/2009 5:26:02 PM
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I got the pic off of my phone. Not the best pic but it'll have to do for now.
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Smoke EM if you got EM...
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Marksman
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Very Nice Rob Congrats
cant wait to see some pics
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Marksman
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oooops i was posting at the same time i guess didnt see the pic
Very nice bird congrats again
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Trophy Buck
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Last Login: 6/29/2009 2:18:11 PM
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Pretty good picture for a cell phone. He'll frey up nicely!
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Marksman
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Last Login: 6/11/2009 11:24:15 AM
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AWESOME! CONGRATS BRO!
Jis' keepin' it rural in the S-IL...
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Trophy Buck
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Last Login: 6/29/2009 10:28:32 PM
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Way to go Rob! That is a very nice bird!!!
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"Welcome to Tennessee, the patron state of shootin' stuff."
ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ
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Marksman
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Last Login: Today @ 8:02:16 AM
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Congrats bud!
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As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.
1 cross + 3 nails = 4given
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