Any Ontario turkeys yet?

wheelin_ca said:
actually I didn't think people did that with turkeys... ducks and geese yes, but not upland...
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I was introduced to this by a European chap I worked with when I lived in Cambridge years back. He did it with all game including rabbits.He told me it was necessary on older game.

This advice all came back to me last year after I got an old tom that was chewy. Did it on my second Tom that season, and that bird was was a far better eat.



wheelin_ca said:
So does hanging the bird change the taste? and how long do you hang it for?
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Taste is different, and very tender. I hang 4-5 days in my friends meat cooler.

If you deside to try this remember they will be stiff at first due to rigor and that will subside after about 24 hours of more. After this is where the aging process starts.
 
Doug said:
OK, here is my take on turkey hunting after quite a few years at it:

You get up in the middle of the night to go stumbling around in the dark, with sharp sticks poking you in the eyes, then you sit down shivering in the damp and the cold waiting for the sun to come up, then you are tormented by black flies crawling into your ears and nose while you cannot move for fear of spooking a turkey, all the while every muscle in your butt and legs are screaming at you to get up and move around, but you CAN'T. And all this trying to outwit a bird with a brain the size of a pea, and he generally outwits you.

Did I miss anything? :p


Doug
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Yeah, you missed the part where you decide after 3 or 4 hours of this fun that you need to change locations, or take a piss, or maybe just walk a bit. You crane your head carefully in all directions, see nothing, stand up slowly, look around again, then take one step and hear "PUTT! PUTT!"

On the really great days you actually get to see the dirty bird racing away from you through the trees.:p:redface:

John
 
GOT ONE !!! Had two gobblers roosted about 50 feet behind me before sun up, they flew down the wrong way but I could still here them gobble once every ten minutes or so. They went deeper into the bush but by 7:20am I could hear that they were coming back my way, I turned from facing the field to facing into the bush and was able to watch two beautiful gobblers make their way through the bush towards me... Got the bead on the bigger one and put him down at about 15 yards..

just shy of 24 pounds, 11 inch beard, 1 inch spurs

If you don't hunt turkeys yet, don't start. It's all consuming
 
My buddy got a triple bearded tom!
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Well this year was kind to me. Opening day the 4 of us all had birds down within the first 2 hrs of opening and were all hunting the same farm within .6kms of each other. One week later the buddy and I shot two from the same tent.

1st Turkey: 21lbs, 9.5" beard, 1.25" spurs - shot at 29yds
2nd Turkey:19.4lbs, 8.5" beard, .75" spurs - shot at 10yds

Gun used: Mossberg 935 Ultra Mag shooting Winchester Supreme 3.5" #5

How do i upload pics to this post of mine? i have read the faq's but i only see a way to insert links to pictures and not the picture themselves. I do NOT get the attachment icon that they speak of.

Thx
 
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Reply: 1187 cantilever barrel ported Remington turkey choke,far from a Jake,strutting tom has a 9.5" beard,died in full strut!
 
Shot a 16lb jake this afternoon. Nothing special, but a bird. Hoping for a nice tom friday when I head out again.

Dave.
 
I've only ever shot one turkey, two years ago my very fist time out hunting after only 3 hours one afternoon. So naturally, two years since I have not been able to get another. Been out twice this week and I'm putting all the blame on the weather :D


Yesterday at CT I dumped $75 into another call and a decoy, and my wife was like HOW MUCH is a turkey worth to you?? Small game tag, turkey tag $50. Camo, calls, decoys.

We're all nuts.
 
phishstik said:
I've only ever shot one turkey, two years ago my very fist time out hunting after only 3 hours one afternoon. So naturally, two years since I have not been able to get another. Been out twice this week and I'm putting all the blame on the weather :D


Yesterday at CT I dumped $75 into another call and a decoy, and my wife was like HOW MUCH is a turkey worth to you?? Small game tag, turkey tag $50. Camo, calls, decoys.

We're all nuts.
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YUP

That doesnt include gas money.. Gas is going down tonight, so i will be out tomorrow morning..... dumb reasoning, but it works
 
If hunting was just about the meat we'd just go to a butcher, it's way cheaper. You just can't explain the experience and high you get from being out in the bush, watching the sun rise, taking in all nature has to offer, and hearing that gobble in a distance. Then to be able to call that Tom in to range and harvest that bird. It just doesn't get better than that. Can't wait to introduce my 2 boys to this experience.
 
phishstik said:
I've only ever shot one turkey, two years ago my very fist time out hunting after only 3 hours one afternoon. So naturally, two years since I have not been able to get another. Been out twice this week and I'm putting all the blame on the weather :D


Yesterday at CT I dumped $75 into another call and a decoy, and my wife was like HOW MUCH is a turkey worth to you?? Small game tag, turkey tag $50. Camo, calls, decoys.

We're all nuts.
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So, just as an example you might share with your wife, if you went to an NHL hockey game you would spend (how much?) Say a hundred bucks for your ticket and a couple beers or whatever, so thirty bucks an hour or so.

If you decided to visit a hooker, well the price per hour goes up a long ways, I am told. I have no personal experience in this field of endeavour, but let's say it is a hundred bucks an hour.

And so on. After the hockey game you have a little buzz from the beers and a full bladder. After the visit with the hooker you have who knows what, including perhaps the gift that keeps on giving. :eek:

BUT!!!! After your turkey hunting, where the more time you spend, the less it costs per hour, you still have your dekes, calls, gun, etc and MEMORIES!!! And possibly perhaps even some turkey meat. And for a few bucks per hour.

Now what wife could argue with that!

Doug
 
mpsmyth said:
If hunting was just about the meat we'd just go to a butcher, it's way cheaper. You just can't explain the experience and high you get from being out in the bush, watching the sun rise, taking in all nature has to offer, and hearing that gobble in a distance. Then to be able to call that Tom in to range and harvest that bird. It just doesn't get better than that. Can't wait to introduce my 2 boys to this experience.
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Turkeys have got to be the easiest game i have ever hunted. I have called in numerous birds this season, just pissin around. The experience is great as you say, but is a very easy hunt..
 
Here is my Jake from Tuesday morning. I don't agree that killing a turkey is easy. It depends on knowledge of the area you hunt, numbers of birds available, number of other hunters and coyotes competing with you and the experience level of the hunter. I agree that lots of birds, a good area and knowing how to hunt it and a skilled/experienced turkey hunter put together make it easier. My first time hunting turkeys 5 years ago I called a turkey in in the first hour, overcalled it, it ran (like the roadrunner) right past me from behind way into the bush and I didnt get the shotgun up for a shot. This year I am hunting in a hilly fairly thick hardwood forest with lots of coyotes, makes it more challenging. So far I've shot one coyote and called one in 3 of 4 times out. One thing I learned this year is always look up, I spooked 2 birds off the roost walking in one morning. Both were silent and didnt respond to my locator call.

For me hunting is rarely a cost effective way of getting food. Its about the experience and the hunt.


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If you want a great hunt target a specific mature tom and try to kill him!That is a challenging hunt that might take you all season and you may not win!
 
Got my first bird of my turkey career yesterday. Third time I was out, 0700 hrs, near North Augusta (near Spencerville), Eastern Ontario. It was a smaller Jake, with a modest beard and hardly any spurs, but running and gunning with a local guide, and a new shotgun, made for an awesome day. In the end I got 5-6 pounds of breast meat, and learned some new turkey tactics. As for the new gun, a Benelli Super-Nova, awesome !
 
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