2013 Spring Turkey!!!

Nice birds. Well went out bright n early a second time. No gobbling this time around until later in the day. Again two toms came in to about 100 yards gobbling to every call then stopped! They wouldn't budge, I have a feeling I overcalled. I went silent to let them plan the next move and they walked away. Any tips on what to do with hung up birds? I am still a noobie...I wont lie :) Anyways a hen came in to 15 yards and inspected our decoy lol, thought she may have changed the tom's minds but they wouldn't budge. Well I m going out in the morning :D Hoping to tag out!
 
Chas said:
Went out in the rain and high wind - heard gobble at 6:12 and 7:23 at the far end of the property we were hunting... f:P:

Eyes getting heavy, close, open, close, decide to give a call and a gobble right behind me. Adrenaline dump...
Couple of more clucks, no response. Then he shows up just inside the bushline at the edge of the field, I get the shotgun up and hit the blind. He keeps moving and I get the fastfire bead on him and pull the trigger. I walk over and there he is lying in the leaves.

Gunner 410 saw him moving along the ridge but was too far away to get a shot.

8" beard, 20mm spurs, guess he weighed 18 - 20 lbs (have to remember to bring a scale next year). Daughter slept in but came out with camera, last day tomorrow, hopefully can get one to come in for Gunner410 or her.


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Congrats man
Looks like a nice tom!
 
Congrats to all of succesfull hunters out there!
This is my first season turkey hunting and went on two first opening days.
My buddy get nice tom 9" beard on second day but none for me o far!!!
 
idunno1987 said:
Nice birds. Well went out bright n early a second time. No gobbling this time around until later in the day. Again two toms came in to about 100 yards gobbling to every call then stopped! They wouldn't budge, I have a feeling I overcalled. I went silent to let them plan the next move and they walked away. Any tips on what to do with hung up birds? I am still a noobie...I wont lie :) Anyways a hen came in to 15 yards and inspected our decoy lol, thought she may have changed the tom's minds but they wouldn't budge. Well I m going out in the morning :D Hoping to tag out!
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If you are going after the same birds... set-up in a different location with NO decoy and try realling laying on the call, lots of loud and soft yelping, lots of purrs mixed with clucks... have your gun in the ready position and keep calling until they are in range... if you stop, they will stop... classic pressured bird behaviour... many believe that subtle is the way to go with these birds... but that has not been our experience... we ran into this alot this year.
 
Got a tom last Saturday, and took a jake this morning. I would have liked to get a second tom but I'llbe working the next few weekends.
 
First time lucky!

Went out near Marmora looking for gobblers.

Saturday in the blind in a small forest meadow at 5:00 am, called - nothing. Stayed until about 9 - nothing. Did some run and gun to see if there was anything out and about, called - nothing. Schooled in the art of enjoying a hunt with no shooting opps.

Setup Saturday night for a Sunday hunt in a farmer's field. Blind has a vantage over two fields with two sets of decoys.

Call at dawn - gobbling galore. At about 6 a group (4 or 5 hens, 2 jakes and a tom) wander out of the forest in our direction. Tom puts on the full show... strutting and spitting. But instead of sending in the young muscle he heads over to the decoys before the ladies get there. Out at about 40 yards he stops behind a blockage - no shot. Wait. Wait. Wait. Finally he sidles towards the decoys again, stops about 35 yards out and sticks up his head.

Buddy's about to have a bird if I don't shoot, but still pretty long for me. But went for it.

One shot, one tom.

Smallish - 8 1/2" beard, 1 1/8" spur, 17 lbs. Lanky but a beautiful fan!

Some jake just got a promotion.

Woo hoo!

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Went out this weekend looking for #2. No turkey but did make a cool find in the freshly turned field. Made me stop and think about how challenging hunting would be without our modern tools!
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Got out again this morning. First setup was no good. Moved into the bush and called a tom out of the field. Came in like he was on a string. I passed on him so my brother could take his first bird, but he must have seen movement cause he started putting and peeled away.

Moved a little more and got a few more gobbles but nothing was coming in. I'll try again tomorrow, but with a blind and some decoys.
 
Jealous ......

I was scouting Saturday before last, no gear except a call, and immediately called in two young toms.

I think, Great! gonna be an easy season.

I hunted 5 days since then. Nary a gobble. Nary a sighting. Up until the weekend before last, regular sightings on our property, and lots of gobbling.

It's almost as though the hot weather changed their behaviour and location.

Anyone else run into that?
 
Called in a decent jake for my buddy last weekend and got this guy myself this weekend. 23lb. 15oz., 11 5/16" beard, 1 1/2" & 1 11/16" spurs.

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Well went out for a third time with my gf who just wanted to be there....what a day....3 years of turkey hunting...this year has been my best....first Tom as my first turkey...and now first time being tagged out :D....and another good story :)

Went out bright n early, a wee bit of gobbling off in the distance in the morning but nothing too close....setup in a different spot this time, so that I could connect where they are usually moving.

For my last two hunts I had forgot my binos in the car due to the excitement,this time I brought them...but Left em out by the Decoy! Doh!

Start some calling no responses all morning, a hen walks on in to check out my decoy and walks away. 20 mins later two turkeys walk by, one looks like a hen, one looks to be a jake with a very short beard, but I cant tell due to the way the light is, and I dont have my binos on me, I figure I need to start wearing glasses!.

Anyways daylight is finally in full force and my calling is doing nothing, so I decide I want my binos, I sneak out and grab them as covertly as I can! Get back in the blind and start using the Binos, and there are 3 hens off on another property, and what do ya know...a Nice tom following them....Game time begins!

I keep trying to lure him in but he's attached to these hens, as they're way closer....He keeps looking this way to try and decide what he wants to do...I swear he stared at my decoy from 300 yards for at least 5 minutes, We then start hearing this sound trying to figure out what it is my GF looks around and see a deer running off, Ive never heard a deer Huff at a person...so now I know what it sounds like getting busted :D but all in all my sweet talk won't bring the tom in and he goes off with the other hens....He mustve been the one I scared when I got my first tom...

Do you guys think if I wouldve stayed around he wouldve made his way back in the afternoon?

Anyways, 10:30 comes around and we have to pick up the little one at 1130, so were about to pack it in, when these 3 jakes silently sneak in from behind and start trying to peck at each other and strut around my decoy...they seem really nervous, as if they think big tom is gonna come get them any second. Now the binos come into play...I think I see beard on them all..but I dont want to take a shot unless im positive, so I get the GF to use my recovered binos and look, sure enough all 3 of them have short stubby beards. I didnt even have to make a sound, one of the stretched out his neck at 35 yards and boom...biggest jake of the group down!, the other ran a bit but then started coming back..I had to get out and go finish the jake by stepping on his neck as he was still flopping (I hate this part!)... but he was toasted. So this year...I got my first turkey..a nice tom 9" beard 20 Pounds and 1 1/8" spurs, and then my first jake...which sure tasted yummy deep fried last night :D

Anyways I have a question, If I go to recover my bird in front of other birds, will they be spooked from the area/learn and be more leary in the following years? I relasied both times I shot my birds I ran out in excitement to grab it right in front of the others... Anyways...the pic of my Jake and for those who didn't see the Tom previously Ill include him :)



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We got back from our turkey hunt last night, we saw a lot of birds but they were not responding to the calls. I did manage to tag out yesterday morning on a nice Tom that was busy beating the crap out of the Tom decoy when I shot. It weighed 20 lbs 9 oz, had a 9" beard and 7/8 spurs.

I'm pretty much hooked!
 
smokingun said:
Called in a decent jake for my buddy last weekend and got this guy myself this weekend. 23lb. 15oz., 11 5/16" beard, 1 1/2" & 1 11/16" spurs.

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Post a pic of the spurs and beard please. I assume those are official measurements taken at outdoors store and not a guesstimation considering that would be one of the best scoring birds ever taken in Ontario.

jf
 
I think that many hunters don't know how to properly measure spur length or beard length for that matter and guesstimate weight... I have taken some dandy gobblers and almost always have over estimated their weight... the bubble got burst when they were hung on a calibrated scale... I know a few guys that thought spur measurement was from tip to the "offside" of the leg... the only downside of this really, is making some hunters not fully appreciate their harvest due to comparing it to an improperly measured "online posted" bird.
 
That's a good thing about Maine's system, they are weighed on a calibrated scale at registration.

A pic of our bird, something had chewed up his tail.
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