I have been talking to a few guys that are pretty successful turkey hunters. And they have all been saying that they thought this spring was a weird one.
What do you guys think?
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"public land will make a turkey hunter out of ya"
I think that the prolonged coldwet spring before the season- delayed the mating up here in northern New York. The gobblers were all " henned up" and I' m STILL seeing gobblers with a few hens.
I was VERY lucky and VERY grateful for the two toms I got. One of them is at the taxidermist' s!
As for gobbling, I hunted almost every morning (except for days of steady downpours) and heard gobbling every morning. I did hunt very hard though and I put on a LOT of miles!!!
My son laughs at me for always finishing my entries in my turkey hunting diary with: " Best season yet!"
I was feeling pretty dejected until I was hearing that a lot of hunters were having problems... I love the whole spring experience. But my main goal is to go upside a turkeys head with a load of 5' s...
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"public land will make a turkey hunter out of ya"
I felt that it was a weird season, after a fashion, as well. Early on (mid-April), I was hunting with birds that were barely ready to mate/interested in mating, traveling mostly in large flocks of mixed company. Then there was a lull where I called in turkeys, but they were all silent toms. That was almost spooky, to me. Never heard a gobble, just sitting there occasionally calling and Boom!!, in walks a tom. Then, in Missouri, the first few days the birds were as hot as I' ve ever heard, then a couple weeks later, were the most shut-mouthed I' ve ever experienced. So that, to me, was weird. But last year, in Minnesota, I had the most active gobbling I' d heard the very last weekend of all the Minnesota 5-day seasons (which is when I got my permit), the weekend of May 25th!!! So I keep wondering if the breeding cycle isn' t moving later and later each spring.
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Peace.
"Always do the right thing- this will gratify some and astonish the rest."-- Mark Twain
It seemed different here in Ont. aswell , The birds where Hen' d all season aswell. I normally here Gobblers Gobbling by them selves over the season, but not this one , they just seemed to be with the hens and didn' t need to look for others...BT
A good year because I got a buddy hooked and he shot two birds. He did shoot the nice one I had been hunting behind my place though . I killed one and that was a great hunt.
A OK year because I missed two others...[:' (]
Never had before. There is a first time for everything.
I called in a good amount of birds and we saw a lot of action. The toms were henned though .
Is there ever a bad time hunting ?
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" I want to see you shoot the way you shout "
Theodore Roosevelt
Well, if you' re going to regard the season based on things like hooking another hunter, then mine was likely the best season (and the worst season) ever, because I absolutely hooked my wife, big time, on turkey hunting. [][8D] (Of course, that' s bad, [:@]because now I have to spend twice as much on permits and gear, etc., to feed the cravings of the two of us!!)
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Peace.
"Always do the right thing- this will gratify some and astonish the rest."-- Mark Twain
Ken, I agree with ya, very tuff season this spring. Like TomC, I lucked out at the very beginning and end of our season here in NY, it was the " Inbetween" that was the worst that I ever seen!!! Either nothing or " maybe" one gobble from the roost then that was it, and I hunted from before light to at least 11:00-11:30am when I was in the woods. Sure made for a very long frustrating day!! The last two years the birds were henned up real bad, even right to the very last day, but at least they would answer you from the roost and from the ground, they just wouldn' t come in due to the amount of hens!! But then this season, I never even seen or heard any hens??????? Very strange season indeed!! I sure hope and pray that next spring will be different!!
Best I' ve seen in SC yet.
They gobbled all season where as other years the hot weather made the late season rough.
Wish they were all like this.
Other years the first two weeks are a must.
Good or bad year
because I absolutely hooked my wife, big time, on turkey hunting. [
][8D] (Of course, that' s bad, [:@]because now I have to spend twice as much on permits and gear, etc., to feed the cravings of the two of us!!)
