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2023 Turkey Hunting Thread

Had a great first few days of the season in south Alabama. One on saturday the 25 and one on monday the 27. Only two days I have hunted. Thankful to be able to kill them and feed my family a great meal.
 

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Went and listened at a few spots Saturday morning. Heard plenty of birds gobbling on the roost and found some scratching/sign on the way back to the trucks. Pulled a camera off of one of my deer hunting spots and found a few pictures of about a dozen jennys and jakes. Very good to see!

Saw a quite rare occurrence for NE oklahoma. 14 sandhill cranes out in a cattle pasture. First I've ever seen them in this part of the state.
 
10essee said:
It was a pretty anticlimactic hunt honestly. I have been watching these birds for a good while and was humbled by them last weekend. I made my mind up that it was one of these birds or bust. No other birds would do.

I hunted them Saturday morning and heard them on the roost but they hit the ground silent and never came my direction. Last weekend they gobbled every breathe but wouldn’t come. Stand out at 80-90 and strut for hours but never break. This weekend they came in silent.

I hunted a power line in the morning and knew the birds would be there sometime in the day. I went home for lunch and came back at 2 in the afternoon. Soon as I got there this bird and a hen was in the field. I slipped up to the edge and hit 3 soft calls and just sit back. Took about an hour but the hen pulled him right to me. She made it to 6 yards and he was 20 yards behind her. When he cleared the dog fennels the tss took him out.

Fun hunt just not the quintessential turkey hunt.
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Sounds pretty quintessential to me. see a bird....Kill it....PERFECT hunt haha
 
10essee said:
It was a pretty anticlimactic hunt honestly. I have been watching these birds for a good while and was humbled by them last weekend. I made my mind up that it was one of these birds or bust. No other birds would do.

I hunted them Saturday morning and heard them on the roost but they hit the ground silent and never came my direction. Last weekend they gobbled every breathe but wouldn’t come. Stand out at 80-90 and strut for hours but never break. This weekend they came in silent.

I hunted a power line in the morning and knew the birds would be there sometime in the day. I went home for lunch and came back at 2 in the afternoon. Soon as I got there this bird and a hen was in the field. I slipped up to the edge and hit 3 soft calls and just sit back. Took about an hour but the hen pulled him right to me. She made it to 6 yards and he was 20 yards behind her. When he cleared the dog fennels the tss took him out.

Fun hunt just not the quintessential turkey hunt.
Click to expand...

More than not my hunts are this way. Out of all the birds I've killed maybe 5 have been like a textbook big timber hunt of yelping up a lone gobbler.
Usually I find myself belly crawling and using terrain to get within shotgun range of a bird.
 
Micneador said:
More than not my hunts are this way. Out of all the birds I've killed maybe 5 have been like a textbook big timber hunt of yelping up a lone gobbler.
Usually I find myself belly crawling and using terrain to get within shotgun range of a bird.
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Don’t get me wrong I’ll take them anyway they come but it’s easier to want to tell the story when it’s couple hours of cat and mouse. Playing out all the tricks and then it all ends in a bang and flopping. I had one of each this year and loved them both just the one memory gets the heart beating again when it’s told. That’s all I was getting at.
 
10essee said:
Don’t get me wrong I’ll take them anyway they come but it’s easier to want to tell the story when it’s couple hours of cat and mouse. Playing out all the tricks and then it all ends in a bang and flopping. I had one of each this year and loved them both just the one memory gets the heart beating again when it’s told. That’s all I was getting at.
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Oh I 100% understand. I enjoy them any way, shape, or form (except reaping, that's a hard no) but I enjoy talking to turkeys and playing the game, because that's what turkey hunting is.(TO ME)

Thank you btw, still 12 days away in Oklahoma. Might make a quick run this weekend to Kansas to try and kill one with a bow cause I'm chomping at the bit to call at a gobbler!
 
Really struggling with life’s tough decisions today. Hunt Virginia this weekend, or scout kentucky for a buddy and mine hunting trip?!? Anyone here hunt Virginia? I was looking into Jefferson national forest but it looks straight mountains. Idk much about mountain birds!
 
Bowtie747 said:
Really struggling with life’s tough decisions today. Hunt Virginia this weekend, or scout kentucky for a buddy and mine hunting trip?!? Anyone here hunt Virginia? I was looking into Jefferson national forest but it looks straight mountains. Idk much about mountain birds!
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Yes sir for the last 20 years but not in the mountains.
 
Micneador said:
Oh I 100% understand. I enjoy them any way, shape, or form (except reaping, that's a hard no) but I enjoy talking to turkeys and playing the game, because that's what turkey hunting is.(TO ME)

Thank you btw, still 12 days away in Oklahoma. Might make a quick run this weekend to Kansas to try and kill one with a bow cause I'm chomping at the bit to call at a gobbler!
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I’m looking to start a certified slam next year. What’s the hunting like in Oklahoma. Public or private. That’s one of the places I’m looking for the Rio.
 
Gator said:
Yes sir for the last 20 years but not in the mountains.
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Are they in the mountains that you know of? Any recommendations of national or state land to check out that doesn’t mess with your spots?? Any tips are appreciated!
 
10essee said:
I’m looking to start a certified slam next year. What’s the hunting like in Oklahoma. Public or private. That’s one of the places I’m looking for the Rio.
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I hunt private here around the house, (tulsa area) but there is a lot of public in the state plus some OLAP (like walk in hunting areas in kansas) The wester part of the state has gone down hill dramatically since the drought. The SE mountains have suffered as well since before the west did. It can be tough but they're rios so they're :sweatsmile: pretty dumb at times.
 
Micneador said:
I hunt private here around the house, (tulsa area) but there is a lot of public in the state plus some OLAP (like walk in hunting areas in kansas) The wester part of the state has gone down hill dramatically since the drought. The SE mountains have suffered as well since before the west did. It can be tough but they're rios so they're :sweatsmile: pretty dumb at times.
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Thanks for the reply. I may end up in Tx for the Rio. I’m cost me but hey can’t take it with me
 
Micneador said:
More than not my hunts are this way. Out of all the birds I've killed maybe 5 have been like a textbook big timber hunt of yelping up a lone gobbler.
Usually I find myself belly crawling and using terrain to get within shotgun range of a bird.
Click to expand...
I agree, here in NY they try to time it (May1st) so most of the hens have been bred before the season starts in earnest so we are usually starting our season in between the two major peaks of spring gobbling activity. 85% of the time you hear roost gobbling then nothing much after fly down. As the hens begin to want to sneak off to lay, it gets better and later morning gobbling picks up. I’m more of a purist and rely on patience and intermittent calling to bring them in. I may pick up my run and gun game on public more this spring though or if I pop over the border for a few hunts.
 
My most “classic” hunt was an early season two year old roost gobbler that started early and would not shut up. I was concerned every hunter in the world was coursing to this bird. Learning the hard way over the years to never go directly too a gobbler I veered off a few degrees to my left (he was up the ridge more to my right) as I headed east along a side hill until I came to a flat just before a ditch drainage. Typically, I like to get above them but he was hot and I wanted to send a few tree calls his way and quick. Huffing and puffing up the hill I sat down facing southeast the bird was in the same azimuth as I was looking. The flat was probably 20 yards in diameter at the most in a hardwood ridge area so semi open terrain. I did a soft “yerp, yerp, yerp” on my pot and even before I could set the slate down I saw a flash in front of me and then his blue head! He flew right down in front of me. He started walking to me and luckily there were a couple of saplings his eye went behind to enable me to get the gun up. Boom! It was over. I remember thinking…. Wow it was still pretty dark and I panicked “was I before 1/2 hour before sunrise?” Luckily it was minutes into the season!!!
 
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