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Turkey Talk

Turkey hunted the last 3 years and got my first bird this morning. I was clueless the first year, the second year I learned a lot but never connected. Was in the blind for 30 minutes this morning and he was gobbling the whole time, heard him fly down and talked back and forth with for 20 minutes before I could tell he was headed away from me so I took off after him. 2 close encounters with does and about 300yds through the woods later I could tell he started coming back towards me so I setup and saw his tail sticking out from behind a tree at 30yds and called to him. Poked his head out and turned him into supper. 1” Spurs and a 8 1/2” beard.View attachment 47026
Congrats on the first bird
 
Turkey hunted the last 3 years and got my first bird this morning. I was clueless the first year, the second year I learned a lot but never connected. Was in the blind for 30 minutes this morning and he was gobbling the whole time, heard him fly down and talked back and forth with for 20 minutes before I could tell he was headed away from me so I took off after him. 2 close encounters with does and about 300yds through the woods later I could tell he started coming back towards me so I setup and saw his tail sticking out from behind a tree at 30yds and called to him. Poked his head out and turned him into supper. 1” Spurs and a 8 1/2” beard.View attachment 47026
Hell yea! Thats awesome and a good story, sometimes u gotta get aggressive and go after em. It took me a while to figure it out too. Hard to do without an old timer showin you the ropes. Thank god for youtube... Congrats man! i know how good that first bird feels!
 
Put my old man on his first bird this mornin. Called 2 jakes and a hen in at 7am. I told him its a jake but if u want em take the shot. Thought about it for a bit too long then 40 yd shot on a runnin bird. He was pumped. I got him into hunting a couple yrs ago and hes all about it now. Its fun teaching your dad how to hunt haha usually the other way around.

I have a special log i like to take all the pics on right before we get to the truck. Its not the same bird in every pic i swear! :tearsofjoy:Screenshot_20210427-150735_Gallery.jpg
 
Spent most of the day looking for Tommy's at the farm. Had lots of gobbles around me most of the morning. Just couldn't bring them in. Either I don't sound good or they had hens. Saw a few hens. All the ones I saw on the way home were standing out in old cut corn feilds or fresh planted feilds. Lost track of how many deer I saw. At one point I had a group of ten come by. I think it was a bachelor group, as all the bigger ones has some bumps coming out.
Funniest moment came when several came out, and appeared to chase a group of geese off the field. They looked almost like they were doing it for fun. Screenshot_20210428-211849.png
 
Finally got to kill one with the pop gun this morning. Thankful for nice people that just let a stranger hunt their place.

Was moving in as to call the birds up to a field edge and just so happened the hens were already bringing em to me. Belly crawled for ~20 yards to close the distance to 33 yards. Little 410 hits em pretty well.

Already have the legs/thighs in the slow cooker for tacos tomorrow.
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Finally got to kill one with the pop gun this morning. Thankful for nice people that just let a stranger hunt their place.

Was moving in as to call the birds up to a field edge and just so happened the hens were already bringing em to me. Belly crawled for ~20 yards to close the distance to 33 yards. Little 410 hits em pretty well.

Already have the legs/thighs in the slow cooker for tacos tomorrow.
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Congrats! What load/choke combo are you shooting out of your 410? Im looking at getting a 410 barrel for my handi-rifle, but they only come with a factory full not a screw in so I'm curious what kind of luck people are having with a standard full choke vs extra full turkey specific choke
 
Congrats! What load/choke combo are you shooting out of your 410? Im looking at getting a 410 barrel for my handi-rifle, but they only come with a factory full not a screw in so I'm curious what kind of luck people are having with a standard full choke vs extra full turkey specific choke
I'm shooting an Indian creek .385 and hand loaded 7/8 oz #9.5 TSS
Will at Sumtoy customs can thread a barrel but for the price if a stevens 301T its worth the money to just buy the stevens. I payed $185 for mine. How much are handi-rifle barrels?

Seems like .380-.390 exit diameter shoot well out to 40 yards. This is my 40 yard pattern.
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I'm shooting an Indian creek .385 and hand loaded 7/8 oz #9.5 TSS
Will at Sumtoy customs can thread a barrel but for the price if a stevens 301T its worth the money to just buy the stevens. I payed $185 for mine. How much are handi-rifle barrels?

Seems like .380-.390 exit diameter shoot well out to 40 yards. This is my 40 yard pattern.
2bcb6ea2414395719921a84ec9a0b582.jpg


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A factory full comes in at .398 so I imagine that will keep least half those pellets in the circle, plus I can put an adjustable stock on my H&R making it easier for my kids to shoot it. Thanks for the info, looks like I'm going to have to track down a barrel

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First Gobbler of the season taken around 6:25am this morning. Left my driveway late... around 5:18am it was getting light in the eastern sky already. I was sputtering about my time management. I got out of the truck and they were already gobbling. I couldn't get to my usual spot higher up on the ridge as other birds would have been working by that location before I got set up. This property is long and mostly all fields except until you get to the ridgeline. I was about half the way up on the edge of a cut cornfield. I put the blind up against an old bramble choked fence line and set my decoys out about 10 yards from the shooting portal in the blind. While I'm setting up the birds are gobbling in back of me its getting lighter and lighter. There's a lane through this fenceline about 25 yards to my right. I'm hoping they'll hear my calls and head my way and see the decoys once they pop through the lane. The first turkey that showed up was a hen (from a completely different spot than the Toms.) I set up just below a diversion ditch so they have to come right in to see anything, which this hen did. As she came over the ditch "hump" she went into a half strut then went over to my standing hen and went into full strut... walking all around it just like a boss gobbler would to jake decoy. I only had the one shooting hole opened on the blind but seconds after she came in I heard the "tick-hmmmmmmvv" of the strutters. They came from my right to my left right to the jake and squatting hen decoys. But they started to get nervous and jerky and I could tell they weren't going to stay long. As they worked away from my blind I put the red dot on the middle of the back of the bird that was walking directly away from me. The tom sped up and flapped its wings and about thirty yards away flattened out and flapped its nerve cycles out of it. The other tom and the strutter hen immediately started to peck at its head and neck, picking it up, dropping it. The Tom mounted the dead tom I shot several times. This went on several times at least for another half hour 45 minutes. What a show. To add to my original story... I've read about that hens strut sometimes and maybe I've even seen a picture of it, but never on full display in the wild.
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Wifey tagged out for the season. We could have doubled up but i didnt want to move n spook both birds. We were prone looking over the creek bank and called 2 nice ones away from some hens. 11in beard 1 ⅛ in spurs. Screenshot_20210501-160342_Gallery.jpgScreenshot_20210501-160327_Gallery.jpg
 
Warm sunny windy day in Southern Mi. Took my 6yr old out. He wanted to go hunting. We bumped some in the woods just as we were getting to the blind.. hope they come back.
 

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Got out first light. Walked up the power lines. Heard a few gobbling. Called a little bit. Didn't sound like they were moving. Moved up towards the end of public. Went in about 30 yards back into the woods. Called a few more times. Then i heard it. He's coming. I'm scrambling trying to find a good set up. But I'm almost in a bowl. No big tree in a good spot. So I hunker in to some brush and sapplings. He's close. He's spitting. Then I see the white head. He's close. Don't think I have much time. He sees me know and I don't feel good about my back drop. So I try to squeeze one in. I probably sailed it high. He books it. I'm sad.... :rage:
But on the flip side. My first public land turkey hunt experience. First public encounter shooting at an animal. So thankful for that. I almost didn't go. But like they say. Can't kill em in bed. Glade for the encounter.
 
Got out first light. Walked up the power lines. Heard a few gobbling. Called a little bit. Didn't sound like they were moving. Moved up towards the end of public. Went in about 30 yards back into the woods. Called a few more times. Then i heard it. He's coming. I'm scrambling trying to find a good set up. But I'm almost in a bowl. No big tree in a good spot. So I hunker in to some brush and sapplings. He's close. He's spitting. Then I see the white head. He's close. Don't think I have much time. He sees me know and I don't feel good about my back drop. So I try to squeeze one in. I probably sailed it high. He books it. I'm sad.... :rage:
But on the flip side. My first public land turkey hunt experience. First public encounter shooting at an animal. So thankful for that. I almost didn't go. But like they say. Can't kill em in bed. Glade for the encounter.
Awesome man! Congrats.
 
Got out first light. Walked up the power lines. Heard a few gobbling. Called a little bit. Didn't sound like they were moving. Moved up towards the end of public. Went in about 30 yards back into the woods. Called a few more times. Then i heard it. He's coming. I'm scrambling trying to find a good set up. But I'm almost in a bowl. No big tree in a good spot. So I hunker in to some brush and sapplings. He's close. He's spitting. Then I see the white head. He's close. Don't think I have much time. He sees me know and I don't feel good about my back drop. So I try to squeeze one in. I probably sailed it high. He books it. I'm sad.... :rage:
But on the flip side. My first public land turkey hunt experience. First public encounter shooting at an animal. So thankful for that. I almost didn't go. But like they say. Can't kill em in bed. Glade for the encounter.
Only takes having that experience once (or it should, anyway) before you’ll instinctively look for a good setup tree before your first call each time. :tearsofjoy: It’s a great lesson to learn, and one you won’t know until you have one of those “oh crap” all-out scrambles with a close tom. Haha
 
Shot this gobbler with my 50th Anniversary Bear Kodiak TD recurve yesterday morning......6 steps from the blind...This was my 12th hunt of the season...This season I've called in one other gobbler without getting a shot, had gobblers respond to my calls on about half the hunts, and enjoyed the season more than any other prolly mainly due to being able to hunt with trad bows again after 4 years of not shooting trad due to shoulder issues...19.5 lb bird, 10.25" beard with almost 1.25" spurs....
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