Turkey season in Ontario
- Thread starter DMcG
- Start date
I'm inspired by all these great pictures. I'll be back out agian in the rain on Wednesday. Hopefully I'll have a better report.
Any one using shot other then lead? I've been gifted some Kent Penatrator "tungsten matrix" which patterns well for my Win model 12 3" factory full choke.
Thanks much,
DMcG
Any one using shot other then lead? I've been gifted some Kent Penatrator "tungsten matrix" which patterns well for my Win model 12 3" factory full choke.
Thanks much,
DMcG
Well NO blood on my Hoyt...
This was a tough year for turkeys... in our experience the numbers were way down in our area... only 4 out of eight properties had birds... and these are excellent properties that have ALL had numbers of birds annually for the past eight years... On our commuting we generally see hundreds of birds over the 3-4 days of hunting... we saw less than twenty... in locations where we ALWAYS see birds there were... ZERO. The ones we saw were in unexpected locations. Pics are below of the opening morning birds... we then hunted hard for three more days, with only a couple of jakes in... we did work birds three or four times a day... but the gobblers would not leave the hens, they stopped calling shortly after leaving the roost and were cold to our calling... we tried many techniques and many locations and hunted from start of legal light to 7 pm every day... I worked one property that had six big adult gobblers and about 20-30 hens... but they were always a step ahead of me... or I was a step behind. I ate a big slice of "humble pie" this year... which is probably a good thing... I was starting to think I had this all figured out... these are the first unfilled tags in ten years... but I'm all ready thinking about next year...
This was a tough year for turkeys... in our experience the numbers were way down in our area... only 4 out of eight properties had birds... and these are excellent properties that have ALL had numbers of birds annually for the past eight years... On our commuting we generally see hundreds of birds over the 3-4 days of hunting... we saw less than twenty... in locations where we ALWAYS see birds there were... ZERO. The ones we saw were in unexpected locations. Pics are below of the opening morning birds... we then hunted hard for three more days, with only a couple of jakes in... we did work birds three or four times a day... but the gobblers would not leave the hens, they stopped calling shortly after leaving the roost and were cold to our calling... we tried many techniques and many locations and hunted from start of legal light to 7 pm every day... I worked one property that had six big adult gobblers and about 20-30 hens... but they were always a step ahead of me... or I was a step behind. I ate a big slice of "humble pie" this year... which is probably a good thing... I was starting to think I had this all figured out... these are the first unfilled tags in ten years... but I'm all ready thinking about next year...
Friday morning heard some gobbles at first light then quiet. Around 7am had a hen hung up on a fence line yelping away at us for about 45 min. 8:30 Three toms came in without a sound next thing I know they're 35 yards to my side I can barely see them through my ground blind. My partner calls to them and we get a gobble in response they fan out their feathers a little but keep moving and go behind me, gobble one more time and slip away. Seemingly no interest in our calls and the decoy set up. Like we were just in their travel route and they were passing by going "hey ladies come this way". In the afternoon I hear nothing but briefly saw a red head slip through the bush about 60 yards in front of me. No response to any calls. Saturday morning we get no response to our calls yet again. This time 3 hens sneak up from behind me going towards the decoys and pause 15 yards in front of me, perfect if they only had a beard! My partner calls and they cluck a few times looking at the decoys, preening, scratching the ground, then slowly saunter off back away from me.
Two of our buddies got a nice tom each on another property on the Friday morning, their birds were responsive to calls and gobbled. Not sure what was going on with the birds on the property I hunted, owner says that's the first time they behaved that way since turkey hunting became legal in Ontario.
Two of our buddies got a nice tom each on another property on the Friday morning, their birds were responsive to calls and gobbled. Not sure what was going on with the birds on the property I hunted, owner says that's the first time they behaved that way since turkey hunting became legal in Ontario.
Im in the same boat, heard them early, seen them moving along the route they like to take in the middle of the field and then gone, still too early for bringing them in together i think. I got a lonely hen walk down the side and within 20 yards, but no beird. I will try again tomorrow i guess, also had a deer come in 35 yards. Might just need to cut them off and pick one off this year since they arent quite mating and roosting yet.
Huh??....
- Location
- Kawartha Lakes, Ontario
Numbers seem way down locally.
Our vet is an avid turkey hunter and being a large animal vet, he gets around a lot. He says that this year he has seen far fewer birds/flocks than in many years.
Same on our property. We've usually seen small flocks with regularity this time of year. This year, I have actually only spotted one tom, and heard gobbling on two occasions since the season started. I have had no response to several session of calling.
I wonder if the long cold winter and deep snow caused significant mortality around here ......
Our vet is an avid turkey hunter and being a large animal vet, he gets around a lot. He says that this year he has seen far fewer birds/flocks than in many years.
Same on our property. We've usually seen small flocks with regularity this time of year. This year, I have actually only spotted one tom, and heard gobbling on two occasions since the season started. I have had no response to several session of calling.
I wonder if the long cold winter and deep snow caused significant mortality around here ......
When my brother and I got to our blind today, some guy was walking along the bush in camo. We hunt on a family members land and we're the only ones with permission to hunt on it. We kept yelling at the guy but he pretended not to hear us and took off into the woods. He went in right where we've been hearing turkey's all week. Didn't hear or see any today. Was pretty pissed off. In hind sight I wish we would have ran over to him to see what his deal was. I even yelled this is private land. He was only about 40-50 yards away so I know he heard us yelling.
turkey hunting today for the first time ever. 5am in the woods, watched a big tom fly down from his rooster tree just out of shotgun range. The wind was wrong so even though he answered my calling, he would come closer. Tomorrow morning he's mine! Something really cool about watching a turkey strut and fan his tail feathers out.
Standby for pictures tomorrow if I'm lucky.
Standby for pictures tomorrow if I'm lucky.
Quite the adrenaline rush wasn't it?? Heart rate increase. Start to get the shakes. .. then talked yourself to calm down and be ready.
I had to get to my spot and set up about 5:00am while it was still dark.
Remember. .. No pictures. .. it never happened.
Where abouts are you in Kingston? Bagged mine near Verona.
I have one more tag in my wallet. Planing to head out again in about two to three weeks
