2018 Wild Turkey Season

Turkey hunting for me is always like the first time you get a girl in the back seat of your car, you been catching glimpses of her for months and decide they are the one. Then the day finally comes and your there. Your full of anticipation, you heart is pounding, you run through your head the moves your going to make and how it all going to go. You cluck and purr trying to convince them to come closer, they give you a look and start to come closer but your not sure what their thinking. Your heart pounds faster and then they move away, you try a few different lines and they come back. The next thing you know there they are in front of you with their tail up and bang your done before you really know what happened.
Your excited and proud but think it all happened to quick and you want to do it all over again. Once you calm down a bit you start texting your buddy and telling the story of how you planned it all out, everything went as you knew it would and you were cool the whole time.
Can wait to do it again!
 
300wmxcr2 said:
Turkey hunting for me is always like the first time you get a girl in the back seat of your car, you been catching glimpses of her for months and decide they are the one. Then the day finally comes and your there. Your full of anticipation, you heart is pounding, you run through your head the moves your going to make and how it all going to go. You cluck and purr trying to convince them to come closer, they give you a look and start to come closer but your not sure what their thinking. Your heart pounds faster and then they move away, you try a few different lines and they come back. The next thing you know there they are in front of you with their tail up and bang your done before you really know what happened.
Your excited and proud but think it all happened to quick and you want to do it all over again. Once you calm down a bit you start texting your buddy and telling the story of how you planned it all out, everything went as you knew it would and you were cool the whole time.
Can wait to do it again!
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Hahaha... interesting comparison but as I get older I need the mandatory nap in between,,, for both.
 
Decided to go to work Thursday morning after a great Wednesday hunt and as luck would have it, 3 big ‘ol toms were snooping around at first light looking for those yappy hens from opening day....figures! Sometimes is better not to look at game cam photos.....at least I know 3 long beards make the opening day cut
 
I have been trying to get close to this tom since Thursday and this morning after some extended cat and mouse things came together. After getting cut off by hens at first light and toms doing what they do, a couple well planned moves and a 3 yd shot later a solid tom gives me one of the best b-day presents a guy could ask for. Dinner with the family this afternoon, and livin' large.
10.5" beard
1" spurs
26lbs smack on and yes it has seen a scale. One of the heavier ones in a few years but this bird has been around for at least 3 years and duped me the last 2, on various occasions
Good luck to all and it only gets better from here.
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More snow!! I was out Sunday morning and it was a bloody blizzard. By 7:00am, there was a slight accumulation and it was sure easy to track the birds. By 10:00 it was back to mud. Looking forward to a warm hunt tomorrow
 
CoryTheCowboy said:
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I'm about the furthest thing you can get from a turkey hunter, but if you're lucky enough to have family with good spots, sometimes you get lucky. I think the bird was 22.5lbs with an 11" beard.

Cory
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Nicely done, Cory... nice beard on the tom, and glad to see you starting to grow out your own epic beard again.
 
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Friend on left 18# 10" 7/8"
Mine 24# 10" 1 1/2" !

2 jakes and a hen decoy. 6:45am. I was using #4 2 3/4 shells. We were calling against a group of hens, but then the hens decided to wander over and investigate our decoys and the toms followed. It was almost comical. I shot mine, and then another tom rushed over to 'kick 'em while he's down' , my neighbour friend shot that one , and then a third ran in to beat on that one! What a morning! (just to clarify, #3 lived to see another day as per tag regs)
 

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The one on the right is a dandy bird! Congrats to both of you...

I have had the "kick em when they are down" scenario many times... my son and I took doubles on a few hunts that way.
 
So today, I called in my very first wild turkey using a pot call... I heard it clucking and purring at one point then it went completely silent to my subsequent calls. Decided about 20 minutes later to stretch and possibly change locations... Guess what was less than 5 meters away from my decoys lurking in some grass? :bangHead: :bangHead: :bangHead:

On the flip side, I saw where they were roosting on my entry to the lot... so hopefully the next time out I can find success...
 
M16LR.50 said:
So today, I called in my very first wild turkey using a pot call... I heard it clucking and purring at one point then it went completely silent to my subsequent calls. Decided about 20 minutes later to stretch and possibly change locations... Guess what was less than 5 meters away from my decoys lurking in some grass? :bangHead: :bangHead: :bangHead:

On the flip side, I saw where they were roosting on my entry to the lot... so hopefully the next time out I can find success...
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Not the first time that has happened....likely wont be the last time you experience it as well. I had the same thing happen to me a few days ago. I got out of my blind to cut off a bird that I believed to be coming from my left...when I realized it wasnt coming and started to head back to my blind, I found a nice Tom standing in front if my blind watching everything I was doing. F@ck!
 
I shot a nice coyote. Took both barrels drom my old husqvarna 20b hammer gun to bring him down. First oz of copper plated 6s hit him square in the face and the other oz hit broadside as he rolled. About 40 yard shot. He ran across the field and dropped. He was absolutely covered in ticks
 
brybenn said:
I shot a nice coyote. Took both barrels drom my old husqvarna 20b hammer gun to bring him down. First oz of copper plated 6s hit him square in the face and the other oz hit broadside as he rolled. About 40 yard shot. He ran across the field and dropped. He was absolutely covered in ticks
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Lots of yotes around. Was out yesterday and could have shot 3 different dogs at different times... birds were vocal so I didn't want so spook them.
Never did shoot a bird.
 
Wd113, I love the look on your buddy’s face (the one with the adidas sweater)...it’s a look that says, “I got up at an ungodly hour to bag this bird!”. Makes me laugh every time I look at that picture!
 
1963beretta said:
Not the first time that has happened....likely wont be the last time you experience it as well. I had the same thing happen to me a few days ago. I got out of my blind to cut off a bird that I believed to be coming from my left...when I realized it wasnt coming and started to head back to my blind, I found a nice Tom standing in front if my blind watching everything I was doing. F@ck!
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Right about now, my decoys are starting to look more and more delicious every time I set them out... :(
 
M16LR.50 said:
Right about now, my decoys are starting to look more and more delicious every time I set them out... :(
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Remember the hunting gets better as the season goes on. I will point out that in my area in SW ONT I have never seen the bush more open in 21 years of doing this. Very little green until the last day or so and you can still see further through the bush than ever for May.

I have noticed the birds are not coming to the fields as much but staying 30-40 yds back in the edges as they are able to see out. Further had 4 hang up the other day and went to look after they had buggered off. They had been strutting on a open ridge 70 yds inside the bush that was covered in beech and hickory nuts with the obvious signs present the birds had been spending a lot of time there. Out of the wind and cold and sunny as a beach in June. This will begin to change in the next week or so as things green up and they are forced to come out and have a look for that sweet hen music at dawn!! Good luck to all
 
hunter148 said:
Remember the hunting gets better as the season goes on. I will point out that in my area in SW ONT I have never seen the bush more open in 21 years of doing this. Very little green until the last day or so and you can still see further through the bush than ever for May.

I have noticed the birds are not coming to the fields as much but staying 30-40 yds back in the edges as they are able to see out. Further had 4 hang up the other day and went to look after they had buggered off. They had been strutting on a open ridge 70 yds inside the bush that was covered in beech and hickory nuts with the obvious signs present the birds had been spending a lot of time there. Out of the wind and cold and sunny as a beach in June. This will begin to change in the next week or so as things green up and they are forced to come out and have a look for that sweet hen music at dawn!! Good luck to all
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I surely hope so. To be fair, I have noticed that I do not see the large flocks that I used to see around anymore. The last time I went out there was a single Tom on the field and while trying to reposition, I got within 80 meters without being noticed. However, I got too excited and tried to inch closer - I have no idea at what point the bird saw me and ran away but when I came around some brush all I saw was open field.

Whether I bag a turkey or not, I can say without reservation that this experience has been fun, humbling and addictive!
 
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