2021 Wild Turkey thread

We’ll today’s hunt was eventful. I was able to get out with VictoryXC who I was hoping would pack some luck in his blind bag. Once we got everything set up and settled in, I noticed hen roosting 15 yards away from my set up. Birds were pretty quiet this morning with the exception of a Tom gobbling on the adjacent property. At about 7:30, a group of birds on the adjacent property made there way in. From what I could see, it was a henned up Tom. They circled the perimeter of the field, with the Tom in full strut, but I could not separate him from the hens. They eventually buggered off. I repositioned my decoy so that birds from the adjacent property could clearly see it if anything should come back. Things got really quiet for the next few hours until at about 10:00, a Tom in the same adjacent field gobbled to VictoryXC’s calling. In short time, there were two other birds gobbling from two other directions. As I focus on the birds behind me, I finally spot a white, red and blue head through a cedar. Game on!! This bird was very cautious and was very slow coming toward me. Again, always in full strut and hoping to draw out the hen he thinks is calling. 30 minutes later, and he doesn’t commit and again turns to leave. Not wanting this opportunity to pass, I reposition myself for a shot through the same cedars and start calling him in again hoping the walks through the same pathway. With the gun mounted and the target location acquired, i wait for him to return. It took about 20 mins, but he came back and walked right in the line of fire. As soon as his head passed the cedar I was anticipated, he dropped in his tracks.

Not an overly impressive bird and not nearly as big as the one I saw earlier in the morning, but this bird will likely be my most memorable. So in a previous post I told a story of a bird I wounded and lost. Well today’s Tom was that same wounded bird that I swore wouldn't make it past the day. When I first retrieved the bird, it was obvious that his tail was shot up and quite a few of its feathers on one wing were damaged with dried blood. I started to wonder if this could actually be the bird I lost on Monday. Well it appears to be the same bird. When I was cleaning it, it had a badly wounded wing and some superficials scars on the skin of it neck. The same side that the tail was shot up, and the same side that was facing me in Monday when I blew the shot.

So when I joked about bringing my lucky charm, VictoryXC, I could not have imagined how much luck he would truly bring

Tale of the tape...
19lbs
1” spurs
9” beard

JL9Z9MJ.jpg
 
1963beretta said:
Tale of the tape...
19lbs
1” spurs
9” beard

JL9Z9MJ.jpg
Click to expand...

I knew you'd get it done, Alvaro... never thought on the same bird... no wonder that Tom was cautious... were you in.the same spot that you were in when you shot him the first time? Did our buddy get a chance at a bird?

When you mess up the fan, you gotta get creative... a few years back, my son and I tagged Tom's at the same time, but I blew a hole through my birds fan... guess where the hole is in this picture? ;)
 
hoytcanon said:
I knew you'd get it done, Alvaro... never thought on the same bird... no wonder that Tom was cautious... were you in.the same spot that you were in when you shot him the first time? Did our buddy get a chance at a bird?

When you mess up the fan, you gotta get creative... a few years back, my son and I tagged Tom's at the same time, but I blew a hole through my birds fan... guess where the hole is in this picture? ;)
Click to expand...

I was in a different blind and Pat was in the blind where the bird was originally shot. The two blinds are not far from each other and the bird came from the same adjacent field. Hard to image that was how I would end up playing out, but things sometimes have an amazing way of working out. Unfortunately Pat was only visited by a hen so he didn't have an opportunity to shoot. Although it was Pat’s calling that help lure this Tom closer to me

I recall that picture you posted and thought about it when I saw the hole in this Tom’s tail. Had Pat dropped a bird, I would have once again copied a Hoyt photo idea
 
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Got my turkey this morning, despite sleeping in. Birds were quite lethargic this morning, they would not respond to any calls. I meandered here and there and finally bumped into a fairly large flock. They were holding tight together, as if frozen in time, I could not tell what they were looking at, hence I could not see their heads. With good old luck on my side, one Tom strayed from the large congregation. Needless to say, my return home was joyful!
https://imgur.com/a/Rnl7L2C
 
track said:
Got my turkey this morning, despite sleeping in. Birds were quite lethargic this morning, they would not respond to any calls. I meandered here and there and finally bumped into a fairly large flock. They were holding tight together, as if frozen in time, I could not tell what they were looking at, hence I could not see their heads. With good old luck on my side, one Tom strayed from the large congregation. Needless to say, my return home was joyful!
https://imgur.com/a/Rnl7L2C
Click to expand...

lolLaugh2
 
Was fortunate to punch my first tag yesterday afternoon on this longbeard - 18.75 lb, 1 inch spurs, 8 inch beard. Part of a group of four strutting longbeards being led around by three hens. I spotted them just after 2:00 PM in an old pasture and spent 20 minutes army crawling, decoy setting, and calling - hens came in to check me out, longbeards behind - too far behind. Birds moved hard right on me (I was set up to shoot to the left) resulting in an agonizingly slow shotgun reposition with two hens within 10 meters of me. Fortunately was able to get the shotgun moved and made the 39 meter shot from a very awkward position. Once again, love my Aimpoint Micro H-1 for turkey hunting in these situations where you can't get a proper set on your shotgun. As long as the red dot is on target, all is well.

9N53VR8.jpg
 
I took my son out this afternoon, we bagged a 23.5 lb Tom at just under 20yards. I never saw him coming but I caught him circling my Jake decoy. this is the second time I've had turkeys attack my "funky chicken". Its a funny looking decoy but in my case, its been incredibly effective.
 
WOW! First turkey hunt for me and so much action. I'm a moose hunter, where when you hear a single twig break in the woods, you get all excited!

I could hear the birds coming down a bit after dawn. The clucks and the yelps all around me.

My FIL had setup my tent the day before and I had only a vague description of where it was. Had a heck of a time finding it in total darkness! Put up my 2 decoys 25 yards away. I had 1 tom yell at me for 20 minutes, which I couldn't see because I had closed the windows in the back of my tent. He came back around 3 hours later and this time, he circled around my jake decoy, strutting his stuff. As soon as his back was towards me (and his tail feathers were obstructing his view of my mouvements), I raised my pardner and waited for him to be sideways. His head was sticking out. 1 shot of federal 3rd degrees (3") is all it took. Not a single shot hit the breasts as far as I can tell. Super happy!

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David
 
Only got a couple of hours in on Saturday due to some work we needed to do at the cottage.
I moved my blind into the woods some, where my game cams were showing more action.
This time I could hear some gobbles but very far away. This was the closest one I could actually see.

L09TGgx.jpg


I tried calling him in, and he seemed to be coming my way but I soon lost him in the rolling terrain.
Waiting a little over an hour but had to leave knowing the contractor was soon showing up.

Got back to the cottage, went inside to warm up and make coffee.
Then I heard a very loud gobble. Looked out my window and there were two turkeys in my driveway.
Illegal to shoot, and I had already put away my weapon.
Grabbed my camera, went out in my sock and leaned on the BBQ, they did not seems too worried about me.


puIUw2j.jpg


Looked like one Gobbler and one hen. I could make out some nice spurs on the male but could not see any beard, so I am not sure if I could have taken him legally anyway.

yYCKbu2.jpg



Just sucks that I can't hunt from my deck. Public nuisance laws forbid any shooting on the land (even though I am on 4 acres of land, safe enough just annoying for neighbors). I setup a couple cameras to see if they have a regular route, and next weekend will bring up the crossbow to see if I can get a shot (neighbors shouldn't hear it going off).
 
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