Post by Gungnir on May 8, 2013 13:38:42 GMT -5
I'm way late in getting around to posting these but my turkey season was an early success and my two birds were down after around a week.
Me and a friend went out opening day and setup in his blind. We had a jake, hen and tom fan decoy set out. That morning we had two toms and 4 hens come into the field. However they wanted nothing to do with the decoys and stayed out 80 yards out and went into the woods after about 20 min. I guess they were more into loving than fighting. After that a bearded hen came in and hung out for about 3 hours around 40 yards out. I thought she was on drugs. lol. I later spooked this hen and the two toms on my way back to the car.
Bird one - April 20th: I set back up in the same pop up we were in on opening day. This time I'm going solo. The same birds come into the field right around sunrise. This time I put out two hen decoys. The toms start doing their dance and these birds slowly make their way over. I gave a couple soft clucks and a couple hens come running over. Then the toms get over in front of the pop up and they're about 10-13 yards out. In my rush I forgot my chair. So I am literally squatting in the pop up with just the tip of my barrel out of a shooting hole in the mesh. The make it worse I am kinda far back in the blind and don't want to move a muscle at this point. So I lean right and the gun barrel is turned almost on its side like some gangster video. I am watching the toms and waiting for em to come a little further in front of the front screen (they're still a little in the blind spot). Well the toms looked like they figured out the decoys because they started to turn back. the second one had turned around and this guy that I shot started to turn towards me. So I said now or never and put the bead on his head and shot. Well as you can see the shot went a little high and took his tail feathers out. He flew straight up and landed about 35 - 40 yards away. As he is flying I am thinking "oh shit" and re-adjust. He lands, puts his head up and i shot through the left screen and took him down. That was a crazy day. 3/4" spurs and 9 inch beard. 19 lbs.
Second bird - April 28th: This time I setup in my pop up blind in another field further down the road from my first bird. I set my blind up in this second field after I shot my first bird and just let it sit. So I get in there that morning. Around sunrise a hen comes out of the woods about 10 yards down. I had one hen decoy set out about 15 yards. This time I did not call at all. She is hanging out when I moved in the blind. I guess she saw a shadow from the sun coming in the side, cause she starts yelping and runs off. So i adjust the windows on the blind to only leave a couple peep slits at the top of the side windows. I'm just waiting and playing with my phone (smartphones in a blind are a bad idea...too much angry birds lol). The hen comes back and this time she is just eating, clucking, and walking around for an hour or so. Then she walks off to the right of the blind and goes in the woods. Within a minute of her leaving this tom comes out of the woods 10 yards down where she first came out. He sees my decoy and immediately struts it up and starts doing his dance. He is shaking his feathers and slowly strutting his way along the tree line to my decoy. Here is where the "pucker factor" increases because he is not headin to the decoy but instead walks right in front of my screen. He is not more than 6 FEET from the window! He is still in full strut and turning his back to me. I thought I was gonna have to change my pants. Finally he decides to turn broadside at full strut. I thought about calling to get him out of strut but said screw it he's right there. So I pulled the trigger and the shot nearly took his head off. He was so close that the wad went through his neck along with the shot. His head was held on by two pieces of skin and everything else was gone. I got out of the blind and took three strides to this bird. He is by far my biggest bird to date!!! 1 1/4'' spurs, double bearded 10 inchs on top and 8 inches below. 21 lbs. It was ridiculous!!!
This was definitely an awesome season...especially since I got skunked everytime last year. I made about 3 calls the whole time and it ended with a bang. I hope everyone else fills their tags and has a great time doing it!
I'm taking a couple buddies out this weekend to try and get it done on some public land. They've never been turkey hunting before in their life...so i'll be bringing the decoys and calling. hopefully they can get some success.
Me and a friend went out opening day and setup in his blind. We had a jake, hen and tom fan decoy set out. That morning we had two toms and 4 hens come into the field. However they wanted nothing to do with the decoys and stayed out 80 yards out and went into the woods after about 20 min. I guess they were more into loving than fighting. After that a bearded hen came in and hung out for about 3 hours around 40 yards out. I thought she was on drugs. lol. I later spooked this hen and the two toms on my way back to the car.
Bird one - April 20th: I set back up in the same pop up we were in on opening day. This time I'm going solo. The same birds come into the field right around sunrise. This time I put out two hen decoys. The toms start doing their dance and these birds slowly make their way over. I gave a couple soft clucks and a couple hens come running over. Then the toms get over in front of the pop up and they're about 10-13 yards out. In my rush I forgot my chair. So I am literally squatting in the pop up with just the tip of my barrel out of a shooting hole in the mesh. The make it worse I am kinda far back in the blind and don't want to move a muscle at this point. So I lean right and the gun barrel is turned almost on its side like some gangster video. I am watching the toms and waiting for em to come a little further in front of the front screen (they're still a little in the blind spot). Well the toms looked like they figured out the decoys because they started to turn back. the second one had turned around and this guy that I shot started to turn towards me. So I said now or never and put the bead on his head and shot. Well as you can see the shot went a little high and took his tail feathers out. He flew straight up and landed about 35 - 40 yards away. As he is flying I am thinking "oh shit" and re-adjust. He lands, puts his head up and i shot through the left screen and took him down. That was a crazy day. 3/4" spurs and 9 inch beard. 19 lbs.
Second bird - April 28th: This time I setup in my pop up blind in another field further down the road from my first bird. I set my blind up in this second field after I shot my first bird and just let it sit. So I get in there that morning. Around sunrise a hen comes out of the woods about 10 yards down. I had one hen decoy set out about 15 yards. This time I did not call at all. She is hanging out when I moved in the blind. I guess she saw a shadow from the sun coming in the side, cause she starts yelping and runs off. So i adjust the windows on the blind to only leave a couple peep slits at the top of the side windows. I'm just waiting and playing with my phone (smartphones in a blind are a bad idea...too much angry birds lol). The hen comes back and this time she is just eating, clucking, and walking around for an hour or so. Then she walks off to the right of the blind and goes in the woods. Within a minute of her leaving this tom comes out of the woods 10 yards down where she first came out. He sees my decoy and immediately struts it up and starts doing his dance. He is shaking his feathers and slowly strutting his way along the tree line to my decoy. Here is where the "pucker factor" increases because he is not headin to the decoy but instead walks right in front of my screen. He is not more than 6 FEET from the window! He is still in full strut and turning his back to me. I thought I was gonna have to change my pants. Finally he decides to turn broadside at full strut. I thought about calling to get him out of strut but said screw it he's right there. So I pulled the trigger and the shot nearly took his head off. He was so close that the wad went through his neck along with the shot. His head was held on by two pieces of skin and everything else was gone. I got out of the blind and took three strides to this bird. He is by far my biggest bird to date!!! 1 1/4'' spurs, double bearded 10 inchs on top and 8 inches below. 21 lbs. It was ridiculous!!!
This was definitely an awesome season...especially since I got skunked everytime last year. I made about 3 calls the whole time and it ended with a bang. I hope everyone else fills their tags and has a great time doing it!
I'm taking a couple buddies out this weekend to try and get it done on some public land. They've never been turkey hunting before in their life...so i'll be bringing the decoys and calling. hopefully they can get some success.