Official 2019 Wild Turkey Thread

Well done gentlemen!

Opening day was a bust. I passed on two jakes at first light as there were near a dozen birds gobbling off the roost. The wait paid off as I eventually had 3 henned up Toms come in to about 50 yards. Eventually one dominate Tom started breeding a hen while me and two other Toms watched. Turkey #### lasted about 30 mins and I was unable to pull away any of the long beards. All in all, I bird watched until 5:00 until that group finally decided to leave. Too much action that I didnt even have a chance to take a nap
 
I'm impressed with all the guys willing to sit tight on opening day for a trophy bird. With two tags I always planned to take the first legal bird I see and get choosey with the second...
 
Cameron SS said:
I'm impressed with all the guys willing to sit tight on opening day for a trophy bird. With two tags I always planned to take the first legal bird I see and get choosey with the second...
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That was my plan as well.....but I just couldnt bring myself to do it this morning. When I saw the game cam footage, feelings changed. There is a bit of regret as I make this drive home...
 
Cameron SS said:
I'm impressed with all the guys willing to sit tight on opening day for a trophy bird. With two tags I always planned to take the first legal bird I see and get choosey with the second...
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Never pass up on the first day what you'd be happy to have on the last.
 
tar21 said:
This was my first turkey so I didn’t really care if it was a jake or a tom just glad i got one good luck to you guys
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Hope that worked. Cant seem to remove the attachment tho

Congrats to everyone so far!!
 

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In 2016, one of the first years in which hunters were allowed to purchase two tags, I filled my second tag on my final hunt on a bearded hen. I took the shot mostly because I had my nephew out on one of his first hunts and he hadn't seen a bird taken at that point. Once I got my hands on the bird, I immediately regretted shooting it. Time was winding down and it was the only bird that presented an opportunity. I felt worse filling that tag then anything else. So if the adrenaline rush doesnt come when I see the bird, then it just doesnt feel right to take it
 
I left Ontario in 2011, and I know that I had two tags every spring for years before that. That was province-wide, no? I know that I was taking two birds per year at least as far back as 2002.
 
jjohnwm said:
I left Ontario in 2011, and I know that I had two tags every spring for years before that. That was province-wide, no? I know that I was taking two birds per year at least as far back as 2002.
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You may have been taking two birds in 2002, but you werent allowed too. I think the two spring tags started in 2013 or 2014 if I recall correctly. In 2002, the hunt ended at 12:00 and a harvested bird was suppose to be taken to a check station before 5:00. 1 tag for the spring hunt

Edit: Cant find the old regs and my memory is failing miserably. I cant recall when the hunt expanded to two birds a season, but I dont recall it going as far back as 2011. Maybe it did in some WMU’s??..maybe someone else who remembers or has old Regs can chime in
 
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1963beretta said:
You may have been taking two birds in 2002, but you werent allowed too. I think the two spring tags started in 2013 or 2014 if I recall correctly. In 2002, the hunt ended at 12:00 and a harvested bird was suppose to be taken to a check station before 5:00. 1 tag for the spring hunt
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I think the two tags/spring season started earlier than that... there were two tags when my son started hunting turkeys on a full licence (not an apprentice), that would have been 2010 or 2011 (ish)...
 
1963beretta said:
In 2016, one of the first years in which hunters were allowed to purchase two tags, I filled my second tag on my final hunt on a bearded hen. I took the shot mostly because I had my nephew out on one of his first hunts and he hadn't seen a bird taken at that point. Once I got my hands on the bird, I immediately regretted shooting it. Time was winding down and it was the only bird that presented an opportunity. I felt worse filling that tag then anything else. So if the adrenaline rush doesnt come when I see the bird, then it just doesnt feel right to take it
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I'm not asking this to be smug, but why the guilt?
 
I'm looking at my old hat with my OFAH pins, with numerous years represented by two pins. I assure you I rigorously followed the legal restrictions, but thanks for assuming I was poaching. You couldn't take 2 birds on the same day, and yes, the early years the hunt ended at noon, and yes, the birds had to be checked in...and that's when the pins were commissioned. I don't recall if you could actually buy both tags at the same time, but two birds per spring season were absolutely legal at least as far back as 2002. Surely there must be others who recall that.
 
You guys are right...I found a 2008 reg book and it has 2 spring tags. Maybe Im thinking when they started with fall tags...or maybe not thinking at all since I’ve awake for 27 hours....either way, scary how fast time flies by...seems like yesterday
 
jjohnwm- I’m sure you the followed regs...my apologies. Just seemed surreal that its been that long....I mean I wasnt off by a year or two....more like a decade and a half....scary that I actually have no recollection at the moment. Time to go through the photo album and take a walk down memory lane...
 
1963beretta said:
She had a belly full of eggs....just made me think of what could have been. At that moment, it just didnt seem necessary to take the bird. Either way, was good for the youngster who I had clean the bird so he could learn
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If I may, I have a follow up question.

Did you eat the egg?
 
rkm456 said:
If I may, I have a follow up question.

Did you eat the egg?
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:rey2

The eggs were still in their early stages...they resembled sacks of jello...very soft. Some were half the size of an egg they would lay...others smaller. I cant remember how many she had exactly, but I seem to recall there being about a dozen
 
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Managed to harvest my first compound bow turkey opening morning! Had gobbles in the bush behind me at 6am and by 6:30 they were down and moving away from me...oh well, beautiful opening day, can’t complain.

About 7am I spot a lone hen about 400yds away, slowly heading towards the bush I’m sitting in but a few hundred yards down from me. Shortly after that I spotted a big bird in the field next to the one I was hunting but it was too far to tell with the binos whether it was a Tom or a hen. I set the binos down, gave a yelp, and by the time I brought the binos back up it was gone. Wtf? I scan to the left and there are 3 coyotes standing just a dozen yards or so from where the turkey was. They looked in my direction but cut into the nearby fence row and I never saw them again.

The lone hen is still taking her sweet time at this point but still making her way towards the bush I’m on the edge of. About 8am I hear a gobble pretty distant behind me. I call and that hen yelps back at me. Then a closer gobble...she yelps...gobble is even closer and it sounds like there may be more than one.

There really is nothing quite like the excitement of a gobble followed by a 3-4 minute pause and then another gobble that you know has closed a fair bit of distance.

Things go quiet for about 10 minutes and by now the hen is almost at the bush but still a few hundred yards down from me. Then I hear the gobbles way down where she is and I figure the gig is up. But instead of going into the woods to meet the boys she starts heading straight down the edge of the field towards my decoys (feeder, breeder, and funky chicken Jake). The gobbling stops and I stop calling, knowing my only chance is if she lures them down my way - she’s coming so calling now might only serve to spook her.

All is quiet for another ten minutes and by then she has made it to my decoys. I barely have time to wonder if anything is following her when 3 jakes appear, all puffed up and looking like they are joined at the hip! They mill around my decoys, hen wanders off, I wait until they are nicely separated so I can take a shot and WHAP! Did it! Got it on the GoPro as well. The two jakes hung around for over 45 minutes. I finally had to leave the blind so I could get to work and had no choice but to spook them.

An awesome opening day for sure.
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Am i they only guy out today?
Rain was supposted to hold off till 10 but started just after sunrise.
Setting a blind so not too bad. Lets see how it goes.
 
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