2022 Wild Turkey Thread

[1963beretta]

I’m starting to get excited about the upcoming turkey season. I got out this morning to check my game cam footage and so far it looks like it will be promising season. Birds are regularly roosting on the property. I’ve laid eyes on a handful of toms, but only captured a few on camera. Going through some 9000 pictures, looks like these toms are likely last years jakes. Birds are strutting and trying to position themselves as dominant bird. Hens don’t seem to be giving much attention yet. Last year, they were already laying down at this point. Still very early yet.

With the snow melt taking place, I’ve found some empty pop cans near my blind set-up. Looks like I may have company once again this year. Need to get this straightened out with the landowner prior to the opener.

Anyhow, a few shots from my cam

 

[Mazeofmystery]

It's my first one! Super hyped, and have been working on my calling really hard. Have to give it a go on public land, though haha.

 

[squidxm]

Perfect timing. Had a dream last night that I filled a tag. Sleep poachin' over here.

Throwback to some past hunts:

And since I cant embed more than 2, honourable mention...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=zkwAjVaqDt8

 

[AdamRoby]

I've been waiting for this thread to start up again.
It has been a long and boring winter, can't wait to get into this year's hunt.
Renting out my cottage at the moment, and we get it back on April 1st. I plan on setting up my cams first thing, and start scouting for signs.
Numbers were pretty slim last year, hoping they've gotten better...

 

[1963beretta]

squidxm - Your videos inspired me to try filming my hunts with a couple GoPro camera’s and it was an epic failure. I had birds come in from behind and get hung up, I had batteries die with the beeping spooking birds, I had foggy lenses...you name it, it happened. Then I decided to mount a camera on my hat and that seemed to work great....excepted that when I finally got home to watch the footage, all I filmed was brutal sun exposure and the inside of the blind. Clearly more practice is needed

 

[Jmcc]

Super excited that my WMU (63A) just opened Fall for this year!

2x the chances!!

 

[squidxm]

squidxm - Your videos inspired me to try filming my hunts with a couple GoPro camera’s and it was an epic failure. I had birds come in from behind and get hung up, I had batteries die with the beeping spooking birds, I had foggy lenses...you name it, it happened. Then I decided to mount a camera on my hat and that seemed to work great....excepted that when I finally got home to watch the footage, all I filmed was brutal sun exposure and the inside of the blind. Clearly more practice is needed

Sorry to hear that. Until I settled on my setup, I recorded plenty of crappy gopro footage. I have waterfowl hunting footage where the camera is capturing plain blue sky, and others where I have fanastic footage of the brim of my hat

The limitation on battery life of gopro's sucks. Try running a usb cable to a portable usb battery bank. I run my cameras in "frame" mounts. This is the way to go because you can run the camera plugged in and there is no case blocking audio or blurring the image. You dont have to worry about foggy lense either. Frame mounts can be purchased off alibaba for about $1 shipped from china.

 

[brybenn]

Im planning to actually get out more this year. Ive got some 2.5" shells rolled up with 75grs of black powder under a full oz of #6 shot for my old hammer guns. Ill likely try to take one with my 16ga aya as well

 

[Hollow Point]

we're heading into the second turkey season in nb. 450 tags province wide spread over 4 zones. Fingers crossed I draw a tag. heard of a few people that got birds last spring. They all said the breast meat was really good but everything else was so stringy they could hardly eat it. Do people only eat the breast or is there a good way to cook the bird to avoid the stringyness?

 

[Runningfool]

we're heading into the second turkey season in nb. 450 tags province wide spread over 4 zones. Fingers crossed I draw a tag. heard of a few people that got birds last spring. They all said the breast meat was really good but everything else was so stringy they could hardly eat it. Do people only eat the breast or is there a good way to cook the bird to avoid the stringyness?

I season the legs/thighs and slow cook them - the meat falls off the bone and I use it to make a fantastic chilli. There is a lot of meat on the legs and thighs, shame to waste it.

 

[vpsalin]

Confit the legs in duck fat. 4 hours at 275 in the oven. Yummm

 

[canadian hunter312]

we're heading into the second turkey season in nb. 450 tags province wide spread over 4 zones. Fingers crossed I draw a tag. heard of a few people that got birds last spring. They all said the breast meat was really good but everything else was so stringy they could hardly eat it. Do people only eat the breast or is there a good way to cook the bird to avoid the stringyness?

The legs are tough due to all of the collagen in the meat. This needs to be broken down by slow cooking which turns it into that delicious tender "silky" meat. It really is great when cooked properly.


I'm watching 2 toms with 7 hens as I type this. One is average with a 6-7" beard. The other? That's "Tank" as the kids have named him. Over 3 years I have tried many times, but that huge old tom seemingly has a hunter radar and will not make a mistake. Even at 250 yards in a field he will nervously walk into the bush while the rest of the flock doesn't care. Calling? You might as well blow an air horn because he's somehow much smarter than the other birds who will respond to calling.

Easily over 25 lbs with a 10"+ beard that drags on the ground as he waddles around. Easily the fattest bird with the biggest beard I have ever seen.

Any tips? I have tried everything from going silent, using different types of calls, setting up near his roost, no decoys, multiple decoy arrangements, reaping, setting up on travel routes, etc. That one bird will not fall for anything.

He'll die of old age or an owl attack before a hunter gets him....

 

[mikeyb]

we're heading into the second turkey season in nb. 450 tags province wide spread over 4 zones. Fingers crossed I draw a tag. heard of a few people that got birds last spring. They all said the breast meat was really good but everything else was so stringy they could hardly eat it. Do people only eat the breast or is there a good way to cook the bird to avoid the stringyness?

Breast meat I use as-is. Anything else needs to be cooked down to break down the collagen. In the past I've done both a slow cook then into turkey salad sandwiches or ground up with a bit of bacon for sausages, both methods have worked out well. But you don't get a ton of sausage off a single turkey, especially if you are using the breast meat for something else. Runningfool's chili idea is a good one as well to cook it down slowly. Stews or soups are also a great use for that meat.

For this year, I'm planning the usual, take a couple days to head into the bush and blow some calls to see what's out there. Some seasons it is hit-and-miss, especially as turkey hunting grows. Will be me, my Supernova, and a dozen or so Winchester Long Beard shells. I've got a stock of 3" #5 that pattern nicely at 40 yards and I'll see what I can find out there. Should be fun.

 

[53Izzy744]

I season the legs/thighs and slow cook them - the meat falls off the bone and I use it to make a fantastic chilli. There is a lot of meat on the legs and thighs, shame to waste it.

I have them in a soup with rice and vegetables, really nice

 

[cantgetright]

The legs are tough due to all of the collagen in the meat. This needs to be broken down by slow cooking which turns it into that delicious tender "silky" meat. It really is great when cooked properly.


I'm watching 2 toms with 7 hens as I type this. One is average with a 6-7" beard. The other? That's "Tank" as the kids have named him. Over 3 years I have tried many times, but that huge old tom seemingly has a hunter radar and will not make a mistake. Even at 250 yards in a field he will nervously walk into the bush while the rest of the flock doesn't care. Calling? You might as well blow an air horn because he's somehow much smarter than the other birds who will respond to calling.

Easily over 25 lbs with a 10"+ beard that drags on the ground as he waddles around. Easily the fattest bird with the biggest beard I have ever seen.

Any tips? I have tried everything from going silent, using different types of calls, setting up near his roost, no decoys, multiple decoy arrangements, reaping, setting up on travel routes, etc. That one bird will not fall for anything.

He'll die of old age or an owl attack before a hunter gets him....

Not sure what else you can do. I've moved 100yds or more when stubborn birds won't come in and once I moved they come right in but sounds like you tried that. Have you tried different times of the day? Also had success calling in birds later in the morning or early afternoon when they didn't want anything to do with me first thing in the morning.

 

[jlovie]

we're heading into the second turkey season in nb. 450 tags province wide spread over 4 zones. Fingers crossed I draw a tag. heard of a few people that got birds last spring. They all said the breast meat was really good but everything else was so stringy they could hardly eat it. Do people only eat the breast or is there a good way to cook the bird to avoid the stringyness?

Breakfast sausage patties is how I use everything but the breast. Coarse grind then fine grind. Maybe a 3rd fine grind if needed. Sometimes I add apples, sometimes just seasoning.

 

[DVXDUDE]

I have a few old educated Tom's around here as I have hunters on all sides of me.

He will go quiet when any bird calls to him, He only Gobbles on the roost and runs the other way when he sees turkeys that stand in one spot for more than a minute(decoys)

After watching his travel route for a few weeks and not understanding how this damn pea brain bird was outsmarting me, I tried something different.

We would cross a gap in the fence line almost same spot, So I put my decoys 100 yards on other side of the gap (so he defintely won't go that way) yelped at him all morning in the dark to pinpoint where he was

Soon as he flew out of the tree to the other side of the small bushlot( away from me calling) I moved down to where he crosses the gap in a few hours.

Waited, Didn't call once, had bunch of Jake's check out the decoys 100 yards away. Finally watched that Tom walk towards the gap for his afternoon strut just starring at my decoys 150 yards away from him. Let him walk to about 30 yards from and I couldn't take it anymore and shot him.

Not how I like to kill turkeys, But I had to kill that educated bird before he taught any buddies his tactics lol

 

[Hollow Point]

Good to know there are some options for cooking them that use the entire bird. Just have to get drawn for a tag.

 

[brybenn]

The legs are tough due to all of the collagen in the meat. This needs to be broken down by slow cooking which turns it into that delicious tender "silky" meat. It really is great when cooked properly.


I'm watching 2 toms with 7 hens as I type this. One is average with a 6-7" beard. The other? That's "Tank" as the kids have named him. Over 3 years I have tried many times, but that huge old tom seemingly has a hunter radar and will not make a mistake. Even at 250 yards in a field he will nervously walk into the bush while the rest of the flock doesn't care. Calling? You might as well blow an air horn because he's somehow much smarter than the other birds who will respond to calling.

Easily over 25 lbs with a 10"+ beard that drags on the ground as he waddles around. Easily the fattest bird with the biggest beard I have ever seen.

Any tips? I have tried everything from going silent, using different types of calls, setting up near his roost, no decoys, multiple decoy arrangements, reaping, setting up on travel routes, etc. That one bird will not fall for anything.

He'll die of old age or an owl attack before a hunter gets him....

Hunt mid day

 

[53Izzy744]

The legs are tough due to all of the collagen in the meat. This needs to be broken down by slow cooking which turns it into that delicious tender "silky" meat. It really is great when cooked properly.


I'm watching 2 toms with 7 hens as I type this. One is average with a 6-7" beard. The other? That's "Tank" as the kids have named him. Over 3 years I have tried many times, but that huge old tom seemingly has a hunter radar and will not make a mistake. Even at 250 yards in a field he will nervously walk into the bush while the rest of the flock doesn't care. Calling? You might as well blow an air horn because he's somehow much smarter than the other birds who will respond to calling.

Easily over 25 lbs with a 10"+ beard that drags on the ground as he waddles around. Easily the fattest bird with the biggest beard I have ever seen.

Any tips? I have tried everything from going silent, using different types of calls, setting up near his roost, no decoys, multiple decoy arrangements, reaping, setting up on travel routes, etc. That one bird will not fall for anything.

He'll die of old age or an owl attack before a hunter gets him....

Maybe try the injured turkey decoy that you can flop around via string?

Have you tried the funky chicken decoy? It is super puny and i painted the top of mine white to simulate when they are ready for breeding. Had a good tom run right up and mount the hen decoy i had near him lol like he was teaching the puny runt a lesson