• The SH Membership has gone live. Only SH Members have access to post in the classifieds. All members can view the classifieds. Starting in 2020 only SH Members will be admitted to the annual hunting contest. Current members will need to follow these steps to upgrade: 1. Click on your username 2. Click on Account upgrades 3. Choose SH Member and purchase.
  • We've been working hard the past few weeks to come up with some big changes to our vendor policies to meet the changing needs of our community. Please see the new vendor rules here: Vendor Access Area Rules

TURKEY TURKEY TURKEY

Opening day , 1st bird ever and on public . 3 years chasing them in the same area with a few encounters. Yesterday was great. Got in early and didn't make a sound ,he flew down over me and landed 25-30yards making a b line to my decoy, puffed up , spit and drummed for a little then he turned away and boom. Good luck out there y'all IMG_6937.PNG
 
IMG_4397.jpg

This bird was hammering back to my owl call yesterday evening. After it got dark I moved a ground blind to very small field less than 100 yards from him. He was gobbling early and when he hit the ground I started calling. Eventually he came strutting in. I stuck him at 7 or 8 yards. Second bird.. first bird I’ve called in and killed. Both bow kills


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
I used to hunt 350 acres that fronted on 29 and it was loaded. Still is loaded, but the old man died and the new owner ain’t given in to my charm yet. Yet.

I live just off 29
 
Listened for gobbling here on Friday but none heard. Saw 5 stutters in one field and several others in another early this morning. Birds here are still in big flocks.
 
Our season opened Wednesday. I’ve seen 8 gobblers in the 3 days I’ve hunted. The three I posted a pic of earlier in this thread. 3 more Friday morning and 2 yesterday. They may very well have been the same birds, but I have only heard a grand total of 3 gobbles. The two above came in silent. If they would have separated I would have only shot one and been plenty happy about it, but they wouldn’t get away from each other so 2 died. 1 shot.

We can kill 2 a day (for now at least) and I guess it makes me quite the hypocrite because I’m definitely in favor of a 1 bird/day rule.
 
CarolinaDog said:
View attachment 11077

This bird was hammering back to my owl call yesterday evening. After it got dark I moved a ground blind to very small field less than 100 yards from him. He was gobbling early and when he hit the ground I started calling. Eventually he came strutting in. I stuck him at 7 or 8 yards. Second bird.. first bird I’ve called in and killed. Both bow kills


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
That thing has some sweet spurs! Nice bird!
 
31d6ec086528320227a6353098ed3cc6.jpg


Thank you


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
dalton916 said:
Those three birds were no where near as close as they look in the first pic. I had to leave at 1500 and I hadn’t heard anything so I got up from the corner of the field right behind the birds in the first pic. I went to make a prospecting loop back to the truck and as soon as I passed the bend in the road beyond that field I called and the fools gobbled right in front of where I had just left....

I moved back as close to the field as I dared, but they crossed the field diagonally and didn’t come down the road to me like I had hoped.

This is how far it really is....

54db926de57be4f582a1297a93978d22.jpg
Click to expand...
Tuff break, they hardly ever do what we think they will.
Between work and umpiring high school baseball, I've only been able to go 3x. Heard birds every time. Got on 2 this morning and someone got between me and the birds and he killed one of them. Not sure if he knew I was there or he just thought he got between the gobbler and the hens. Oh well, congrats to whoever that person was.
 
Last edited:
Congrats guys..I pulled cards today and Wow I got some great video of birds a couple of long beards and a bunch of hen with a group of Jakes.. I can't seem to get my videos to show here. Even my husband who doesn't turkey hunt yelled, Holy ****e!..lol It was on a trail plot between brush pile fencing 100 yrds of turkey..
May 1 just cant get here fast enough He got me a miss perfect hen decoy for my birthday,too bad the shipper never boxed it, Ooopps
 
Question for you all: I’ve never hunted turkeys before but looking to this spring. I’ve got them kind of sporadically on camera but only hens and only 11am and later. Mostly sometime in the afternoon. How would you all use that information? I’m on a pretty small piece of land and can’t roam too much. The cameras I’m catching them on are along field edges


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
hokiehunter373 said:
Question for you all: I’ve never hunted turkeys before but looking to this spring. I’ve got them kind of sporadically on camera but only hens and only 11am and later. Mostly sometime in the afternoon. How would you all use that information? I’m on a pretty small piece of land and can’t roam too much. The cameras I’m catching them on are along field edges


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
I would get out as much as you can now in the mornings and listen for gobbling to see if they are roosting on or near your property and figure out where they go from there. If the hens are in your fields, the gobblers will be there eventually too. I have a property that I almost never see or hear a bird in the mornings, but is covered from midday to about 6pm. I have taken birds there by being there when they come in the afternoons. Makes it easier to not have to be up early too!
 
IMG_6985.PNGIMG_6984.PNG
Today was a wild one. A few gobbles in the early morning to total silence. An hour later a flock of toms and jakes fly down directly where I'm at and have me surrounded ,. They stayed huddled up , so no shots and they eventually go up the hill. A minute later another flies down,I hesitate to shoot because he seemed like a smaller bird , he puffed up and I missed! I sat there wondering about what just happened then went for a walk using my calls to see if I could get them to come back . I circle back to where I was , ate my lunch and dozed off for a few. Next thing I know I hear some scratching and wake up look over and this guy is beating up my decoy with a few birds on their way . I popped up , took a shot and turned my day around.

I have a question for those that have encountered a tight group of birds. How do you get them to split up so you can make a shot?

And do any of y'all climb up and saddle hunt them ?
 
Congrats to all getting birds. Now they are just teasing me one more month to wait and this morning we watched 41 in the fields next door at the same time we had a group of 12 on our land across the street. ( I pulled video). Then just now 2 mins after I said to hubby , " there is a slew more toms/ jakes this year than last.", 6 Jakes walked past the kitchen window and walked along the drive to cross over into our land across the street. We had an inch of snow last night and cool weather in the forcast, hoping it slows down the breeding. Right now there is a bunch of pecking order chasing going on and jake groups breaking out. The 12 had 3 big long beards and a couple of jakes with the rest being big hens
 
Three weeks out from opening day and this thread isn't helping... Has anyone tried to the new tungsten loads out of a 410? I'm intrigued but skeptical.
 
We tried it in an old single barrel fixed full choke 410 last year. In that gun, I would not use it past 25-30 yds, but was still better than any other load available. With a real turkey choke, it will make a 40-45 yd gun with no problems.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top