Short barreled fun!
Arrived around 645am, it was showing 2°C with a forecasted high of 13° and calling for rain later in the day so I was eager to see what my new turkey hunting setup would do. I had been using different stuff each year it seemed, from Cabelas Zonz cotton denim shirt and pants to a russian Gorka set.
I decided to invest in a good set of dedicated turkey gear so i picked up a Hardscrabble jacket and pants in Summit Camo from Skre. Underneath I wore merino base layer then a warm Cabelas hoody. For my legs just the baselayers and the Hardscrabble pants. Muck boots and regular cotton socks. And up top the Skre balaclava in Summit and Sitka cap in Open Country (decent match, just darker theme and no green).
I loaded up the Sulun SS211 with some 2.75 Federal #6 shot and wrapped it in some camo wrap. This gun was too small to shoot from a blind, i would basically have to be leaning out the window to have the muzzle clear it. So i was just going to sit in my turkey lounger behind some brush. I patterened it a little while ago and it was giving acceptable patterns out to 30yrds, but 20 and 15 were perfect.
Packed my gear into my turkey vest and carried my chair over one shoulder and my decoys over the other. Going with my Avian X stand up hen, Avian X breeder laydown hen, and the Funky Chicken jake. This combo worked great back in 2020 when i had the tom mounting the hen when i shot him.
Get out to the back field that i have taken turkey and deer before and is usually the most active field on the property. Lots of water along the low spots on the ATV trail, and a good portion of flooded ground right before the opening to the field. The field itself is a small clearing on the outskirts of cedar and hardwood forrest. Total size of the clearing is about 50yrds long by 20yrds wide, with a couple apple trees in the middle (30yrds from my brush blind area)
Set up the decoys 15yrds from my chair that was hiding behind brush and cedars. Set up my tactacam xtreme solo off to the side pointing at the decoys (i use the remote with that one), and snapped in my other tactacam onto the side of the Sulun.
Started calling around 730am, pretty quiet during the walk out and for a while afterwards. I heard some far off gobbles around 830 or so and returned a gobble and some yelps, no answer back to that. Waited and did some yelps and clucks here and there. Pretty quiet for the next half hour.
After a good 20 minutes of drinking coffee, checking emails and cgn, relaxing in the chair (cabelas turkey lounger is comfy enough as is, but i was using my primos turkey vest so the added cushion had me almost falling asleep!), i decided to do a few yelps on my Primos Hook Up.
Low and behold, mid yelp i hear a gobble real close, in the field next to me.
I quickly turn on my cams and get the Sulun up on my shooting stick, safety off and ready to go.
Not 2 minutes later, a big Tom charges in from my right, half puffed up and goes right to the decoys. But he isn't very aggressive once he gets there.
He deflates and looks more cautious. He can't be intimidated by the wimpy funky chicken can he?? He pecks at the laydown hen, then checks out the stand up hen, while giving a few small clucks. Then he starts looking confused and checking out the funky chicken jake. He wanders back to the laydown hen, all the while acting quite skittish.
For his size, he is absolutely not acting like the king of the roost. He has a big beard on him and good sized spurs so possibly there's a bigger, meaner, Tom lurking around?
Hes not at the spread for long before he kinda starts making his way left, not exactly in a hurry but he really doesnt seem like he wants to stick around to figure out what he wants to do with these birds he found.
So as he gets about 2 feet from my decoys he puts his head up and I pull the trigger. This guy is plenty big, if there was another bigger guy in the area (didnt hear a 2nd gobble when this guy was in the field next to me), i can maybe find him later in the season.
He flops down and his head whips back and wings flap a few times while kicking around.
I hop out from behind the brush and go wring his neck. A giant pool of blood had come out of his head and my gloves are soaked in it.
I didnt count how many pellets were in his head but there was clearly half a dozen at quick glance. I was surprised by how much blood came out of the small #6 holes but at 12-15 yrds they made short work of him.
I take some pics and hook him up with a turkey tote and bring him and the gear back to camp to be breasted out. With rain in the forecast i don't want to be caught in it while i am outside dressing him!
Once everything was cleaned up and put away i was able to check out the footage from the cams and while the gun mounted cam flew off with the recoil, the small tripod mounted cam caught everything! Although, it was pointing just slightly low so the toms head isnt quite in view at the moment of impact.
But, hey, for my first self filmed hunt where i actually have some footage of the action, i am very pleased with how it turned out.
I didnt have my scale with me so i can only guess his weight being in the 20lbs ball park. He was definitely the heaviest if not a close 2nd to my 19.5lb but again, not certain. I am so thankful i remembered my tote, having to hold that guy by the legs for the 800m walk back to the camp would've sucked lol
His beard was a shade under 9 and his spurs were just over 1" long.
All in all, everything worked out great. I wasnt cold at all despite it being near zero for the better part of the morning, the turkey showed up, the sulun put it down, and the miller high life kept me hydrated when i got back to camp.
Now to plan the return trip to see if there is a big boss still out there.
Cheers!
Arrived around 645am, it was showing 2°C with a forecasted high of 13° and calling for rain later in the day so I was eager to see what my new turkey hunting setup would do. I had been using different stuff each year it seemed, from Cabelas Zonz cotton denim shirt and pants to a russian Gorka set.
I decided to invest in a good set of dedicated turkey gear so i picked up a Hardscrabble jacket and pants in Summit Camo from Skre. Underneath I wore merino base layer then a warm Cabelas hoody. For my legs just the baselayers and the Hardscrabble pants. Muck boots and regular cotton socks. And up top the Skre balaclava in Summit and Sitka cap in Open Country (decent match, just darker theme and no green).
I loaded up the Sulun SS211 with some 2.75 Federal #6 shot and wrapped it in some camo wrap. This gun was too small to shoot from a blind, i would basically have to be leaning out the window to have the muzzle clear it. So i was just going to sit in my turkey lounger behind some brush. I patterened it a little while ago and it was giving acceptable patterns out to 30yrds, but 20 and 15 were perfect.
Packed my gear into my turkey vest and carried my chair over one shoulder and my decoys over the other. Going with my Avian X stand up hen, Avian X breeder laydown hen, and the Funky Chicken jake. This combo worked great back in 2020 when i had the tom mounting the hen when i shot him.
Get out to the back field that i have taken turkey and deer before and is usually the most active field on the property. Lots of water along the low spots on the ATV trail, and a good portion of flooded ground right before the opening to the field. The field itself is a small clearing on the outskirts of cedar and hardwood forrest. Total size of the clearing is about 50yrds long by 20yrds wide, with a couple apple trees in the middle (30yrds from my brush blind area)
Set up the decoys 15yrds from my chair that was hiding behind brush and cedars. Set up my tactacam xtreme solo off to the side pointing at the decoys (i use the remote with that one), and snapped in my other tactacam onto the side of the Sulun.
Started calling around 730am, pretty quiet during the walk out and for a while afterwards. I heard some far off gobbles around 830 or so and returned a gobble and some yelps, no answer back to that. Waited and did some yelps and clucks here and there. Pretty quiet for the next half hour.
After a good 20 minutes of drinking coffee, checking emails and cgn, relaxing in the chair (cabelas turkey lounger is comfy enough as is, but i was using my primos turkey vest so the added cushion had me almost falling asleep!), i decided to do a few yelps on my Primos Hook Up.
Low and behold, mid yelp i hear a gobble real close, in the field next to me.
I quickly turn on my cams and get the Sulun up on my shooting stick, safety off and ready to go.
Not 2 minutes later, a big Tom charges in from my right, half puffed up and goes right to the decoys. But he isn't very aggressive once he gets there.
He deflates and looks more cautious. He can't be intimidated by the wimpy funky chicken can he?? He pecks at the laydown hen, then checks out the stand up hen, while giving a few small clucks. Then he starts looking confused and checking out the funky chicken jake. He wanders back to the laydown hen, all the while acting quite skittish.
For his size, he is absolutely not acting like the king of the roost. He has a big beard on him and good sized spurs so possibly there's a bigger, meaner, Tom lurking around?
Hes not at the spread for long before he kinda starts making his way left, not exactly in a hurry but he really doesnt seem like he wants to stick around to figure out what he wants to do with these birds he found.
So as he gets about 2 feet from my decoys he puts his head up and I pull the trigger. This guy is plenty big, if there was another bigger guy in the area (didnt hear a 2nd gobble when this guy was in the field next to me), i can maybe find him later in the season.
He flops down and his head whips back and wings flap a few times while kicking around.
I hop out from behind the brush and go wring his neck. A giant pool of blood had come out of his head and my gloves are soaked in it.
I didnt count how many pellets were in his head but there was clearly half a dozen at quick glance. I was surprised by how much blood came out of the small #6 holes but at 12-15 yrds they made short work of him.
I take some pics and hook him up with a turkey tote and bring him and the gear back to camp to be breasted out. With rain in the forecast i don't want to be caught in it while i am outside dressing him!
Once everything was cleaned up and put away i was able to check out the footage from the cams and while the gun mounted cam flew off with the recoil, the small tripod mounted cam caught everything! Although, it was pointing just slightly low so the toms head isnt quite in view at the moment of impact.
But, hey, for my first self filmed hunt where i actually have some footage of the action, i am very pleased with how it turned out.
I didnt have my scale with me so i can only guess his weight being in the 20lbs ball park. He was definitely the heaviest if not a close 2nd to my 19.5lb but again, not certain. I am so thankful i remembered my tote, having to hold that guy by the legs for the 800m walk back to the camp would've sucked lol
His beard was a shade under 9 and his spurs were just over 1" long.
All in all, everything worked out great. I wasnt cold at all despite it being near zero for the better part of the morning, the turkey showed up, the sulun put it down, and the miller high life kept me hydrated when i got back to camp.
Now to plan the return trip to see if there is a big boss still out there.
Cheers!
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