Two days, two big toms..About 1.5hrs hunting in total...A dumber animal to hunt I have yet to encounter...I use to get all decked out in a ghillie suit, until I found how easy they are to dupe, now I wear minimal camo...Any wonder the were depleted in Ont a century ago...
Any Successful Ontario turkey hunts yet?
- Thread starter jbr87
- Start date
wow! you're amazing!
Agreed, BUT, you need access to property & that's our problem in the Ottawa area. I get pretty envious of you guys with properties to hunt!!!
Cheers
Jay
Wrong Way
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
No he's right.....but he forgot the "around here" that is needed after that statement.
It's all about the area and how educated the birds are....it's very much like Grouse: Around here I can spend two weeks with a dog and a 12 ga and *maybe* get 3-4......but the last time I was in Shining Tree we got 11....in an hour.....most of 'em with a rock and/or stick.
Turkeys around here fall into the "stupidly easy" catagory too.
I've managed to harvest 2 jakes. Saw a couple nice Toms the last 2 daysbut couldn't call them in at all. Decided to put meat in the freezer and took a couple jakes that came in. Not much gobbling at all so had to keep watching as they love to come up from behind. Picked a decent spot with cover from behind and took both from the same location and setup. Not too shabby considering I filled both my tags in the first 2 days. That's good as those were early mornings as the farm I'm hunting is 1.5 hr drive away, but ive been very successful in this farm. Saw 3 does so will go back in the fall for them 
Day Two; The gobbler spot that we saved for this morning panned out perfectly... we were all set-up by 5:30... waited until first light and then gave a soft tree yelp... three gobblers sounded off from different quarters withing 200 yards... we talked back and forth until we heard one flap to the ground and beeline for us... in ten minutes he had circled us and came marching in to the dekes... my son dropped him at 25 yards with a load of 3 1/2" Winny 2 1/4 oz, #5's. Turned out to be a big heavy bird... nine inch beard, 1 1/4" spurs and very heavy (we didn't weigh any of the birds). The next two spots were ruined by being followed by area dogs, that refused to leave, barking all the while... I felt like... well, never mind!
After a Timmy's coffee and sausage breakfast sandwhich... we hit another location... there were three jakes and a big gobbler on a strutting run... I attempted to stalk close enough to get their interest, but got busted by a hen... I waited her out until she stopped clucking and moved off (15 minutes, I was seriously cramping)... I played cat and mouse for an hour and a half... finally called all three jakes in to 10 yards, but waited for the gobbler... he never showed. Moved to another location... there was a light rain and the wind kicked up big time... I was thinking that calling might be pointless, but I had a pretty good bead on where the birds would be, so using the wind as cover I got in close enough for them to hear me... after ten minutes, I was having a yelping contest with a knarly, old hen... a couple minutes later, I saw a flash of white and red... a big beefy gobbler stepped into an open lane in the brush, tight behind him was a jake... they made their way in to fifteen yards...he made a pretty sight standing in a little patch of red osier dogwood... I put the red dot on his melon and touched off... he went down without flapping... I gathered up my gear and walked over to pick up my.... JAKE! What the HECK??? At some point on the way in the jake took the lead and got dusted for his eagerness... I have to admit, I wasn't too disappointed... considering the conditions, tagging out with a jake worked fine for me... I am typing this, a few hours after the last bird went down, while sitting in a Starbucks having a Grande Pike's Place... my son is climbing at a gym he has wanted to visit for a while... the birds are cleaned and on ice in the cooler... Life's good. Pic's below.
After a Timmy's coffee and sausage breakfast sandwhich... we hit another location... there were three jakes and a big gobbler on a strutting run... I attempted to stalk close enough to get their interest, but got busted by a hen... I waited her out until she stopped clucking and moved off (15 minutes, I was seriously cramping)... I played cat and mouse for an hour and a half... finally called all three jakes in to 10 yards, but waited for the gobbler... he never showed. Moved to another location... there was a light rain and the wind kicked up big time... I was thinking that calling might be pointless, but I had a pretty good bead on where the birds would be, so using the wind as cover I got in close enough for them to hear me... after ten minutes, I was having a yelping contest with a knarly, old hen... a couple minutes later, I saw a flash of white and red... a big beefy gobbler stepped into an open lane in the brush, tight behind him was a jake... they made their way in to fifteen yards...he made a pretty sight standing in a little patch of red osier dogwood... I put the red dot on his melon and touched off... he went down without flapping... I gathered up my gear and walked over to pick up my.... JAKE! What the HECK??? At some point on the way in the jake took the lead and got dusted for his eagerness... I have to admit, I wasn't too disappointed... considering the conditions, tagging out with a jake worked fine for me... I am typing this, a few hours after the last bird went down, while sitting in a Starbucks having a Grande Pike's Place... my son is climbing at a gym he has wanted to visit for a while... the birds are cleaned and on ice in the cooler... Life's good. Pic's below.
- Location
- The Conservative part of Ontario
The birds at Shining tree are spruce grouse, way dumber than the ruffed variety in southern Ontario. I used to hunt moose up there. The birds would land in the tree right above the tent, or walk over your feet if you stood still.
Locally, the turkeys are pretty dumb, but I think getting smarter year by year.
I have hunted the Gogama/Shining tree area for more than forty years... and there are both Spruce AND ruff grouse in the area... granted the ratio is around 3:1. Spruce grouse are NOT dumb. They have just developed survival tactics to avoid natural predators that DON'T carry guns... Spruce grouse actually have a higher survival rate than many other species of grouse... just not when confronted by Federal 7 1/2's!
Pics or it didn't happen.... trophy toms in hunted areas are no easy kill....
not very big. he was 18 and change.
sat down after setting up my decoys made 2 calls and he, another jake and a fair size tom came wandering out. (the tom was about 50 yards out) took this guy out at my decoy at about 15 yards.
and before someone starts on me the tag is on it it must be hidden by the shotgun
Wrong Way
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
Nope... Ruff's, trust me
. I don't kill sprucies very often...the kids don't like how they taste.
Well I finally got out this evening. My buddy and I went to our first spot at his uncles. We are the only ones permitted to hunt there. Just before we set up, we heard 3 BOOMS! We figured they were from the next road over. Soon as we got set up, out comes some jacka** carrying a bird. Frustrating. But after being confronted, he continued right on past us and right through the middle of the bush we were hunting. Going to try a different spot tomorrow morning. Hopefully have a little better luck. In the spot we scouted tonight, we could see one tom and an all white hen. Heard lots of gobbles too. Fingers crossed.
not very big. he was 18 and change.
sat down after setting up my decoys made 2 calls and he, another jake and a fair size tom came wandering out. (the tom was about 50 yards out) took this guy out at my decoy at about 15 yards.
and before someone starts on me the tag is on it it must be hidden by the shotgun
Nice.... may not be NWTF bragging rights bird but you and your family are in for some good eats my friend.... congratultations!... let m eknow if you would like a basic recipe.... these birds are solid gold for cooking
tactical870
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Buckhorn, Ontario
I got out this am for the first time this season. I took Redd with me and tried to get her in front of a bird. We set up about 100 yards off of the poplars where the birds were roosted and at 6 am they came down. The whole flock was working their way to my decoys until the wind movements got the lead hen nervous and she turned and led at least 3 good toms and a few jakes away.... Oh well. I should get one over the weekend, then I'll get back to trying to get Redd in front of one next week....
