Wow! Pope. Tough distance's and high jumping too! Good luck! Do you set up starting blocks in the blind? It would be awesome if you and your Dad could double.
He'll be with you , rt?

Dan

Well I got all my stuff together last night so I am ready to head out tomorrow. Do some scouting and roosting on Friday and then Saturday its turkey time. The next time I am on I hope to have pics of a nice Tom to show ya all. Hammer Down and good luck to us all...

Pope good luck this weekend in the field and on the track. Still have 11 more days to go here in MA. Seeing plenty of birds can't wait. keep us posted

Sirtoby

Haha nah, the blocks stay on the track.

My dad went with me yeterday and then he'll be going with me again in a couple weeks when his season is over. Im bowhunting so I go all the seasons. He only goes second season.

We had our first meet last night. I was on the 4x800 and I ran the 400 leg in the distance medley. I got a personal record in the 400. I ran a 58.21. Coach said some of the times weren't right because he was talking to someone at the time but he figured it to be around 57.something. Thats pretty good for a freshman. ;)

I got one more meet today at oskaloosa than im out for turkey hunting.

Man, you can motor Pope!! WTG. Good luck with the meet today and then get out there and shoot us a big un.

Dan

Hi guys! I've been off hunting the last several days. Took me a little bit but I finally scored on an Iowa longbeard this morning! I will get the details and picture posted tonight or tomorrow. This bird I had to work for. The hardest I've had to hunt for one in a long time. Makes it more rewarding though. I will get the exact measurements and post a pic soon. He weighed 22 lbs, that I know for sure.

Hello All! I'm sorry I haven't been on here in a while but I transfered to Special Operations and work has been ridiculous. Doesn't help that the weather is warming up and so is the crime. I hope I'm still on the team. I'm going to go out tomorrow morning and will let y'all know how things go. Good Luck To All and Safe Hunting!

hey Rockby. Glad you made it. We need the help.

WTG!!!! Jepcho. Man, I love how much those butterballs in the Midwest weigh. Can't wait to see the pic's and the "rest" of the story.

You Midwest guys have the ball now that your seasons are open. I'm heading back to Ga. on Th. and will be there through the wk. end. I'm trying to get some footage for my website. It'll still be a while before I get it up and running but here's the link
www.secretweapongamecalls.com I hope to have it up and running by the middle of May.

Give em hell!!!!

Dan

Dan, so far I see nothing on the site. Just the godaddy webpage. If you ever need any help with your website, im pretty experienced in that department. I've been messing with websites since I was 11. Also, im doing some of my own filming this year so ill have some footage I could lend you and we could get together as a "HNI Team Film" See if anybody else has any too..

I got out saturday night and didn't see anything but a hen.. Pretty disappointed. Then sunday morning I heard probably 11 or 12 differant toms gobbling all around me. But I only saw one of them. He was walking away from me then I did some calling and chirping and he got all fanned out and gobbled some... then he started running to me. But once he got about 75 yards out where the bean fields hits the taller grass he just stopped and strutted around a little. Then he went back in to where his roost was... Not sure what happend there. Then sunday evening we went out. My dad went hunting with me but I had him bring his gun and he went and sat about 300 yards down the crick. About 7:45ish I just glimpsed over towards him and saw a tom running all the crick that seperated the two fields and he was running for my dad. Then he disappeared behind some trees and I heard a big boom... then about 30 seconds later my dad comes running through the field hollering for me telling me he got one. I've never see him so excited in my life. There was still a little daylight left for my to get one but im sure he scared most of the turkeys away with his shot and his yelling but i dont care. Im really happy to see him get one.
Heres his story...
He said he called some and heard nothing.. and it was around 7:45 and he was getting ready to go and just got done smokin a cigarette when he saw a turkey running straight towards him. He got his gun up then when the turkey got close enough he saw it didn't have a beard. The hen walked right past him, never took notice to him. He said he was kind of bummed because its his last night and that was the last bird he was probably going to see. Then the next thing he knows there is a tom running straight for him, same place that hen went. So he got his gun ready again and he said the tom never stopped... just kept running straight at him. He said he fired at him while he was still running and he said if he didn't shoot that turkey would have ran right into him.
It was a pretty decent bird. Great for a first bird! I figured it was a 2 or 2.5 year old because of the spurs. They were maybe half an inch. If that. But he had a 9 inch beard on him.

First off, congrats to those of you who put a bird down..Second, well where to start, we got up to the property on Friday and found all kind of sign around where we where planning on setting up. Saturday we are out and hear very little gobblling, but I ended up seeing 6 toms, 5 jakes and 5 hens. The first 2 toms I saw I was sure they where going to come into the decoys but they decided to cut across and jump the fence about 75 yards out. The other 4 toms where about 40 yards behind me but on the other property..big bummer. So it was a good day for bird watching. On Sunday morn the toms where sounding off like crazy, including one that was around 50 yards behind me. It was going to be a great day, then they shut down and I only saw 6 hens all day. The thing that bugged us the most was we saw 0 birds strutting or displaying all weekend any where we looked all the fields ect. So now the long wait til next weekend and hoping the weatherman is wrong as they are predicting rain...

It's just a matter of time Mark. Dang property lines!! lol

Dan

Well we are off first thing tomorrow morning, plan on hunting Thursday and Friday, Then that will just about rap up our turkey time for this year. (I really need to save more vacation time). Hoping the birds are a little more active and getting in the mood to be put in the crosshairs. Time will tell. They are predicting heavy rains over the weekend so I hope the birds are looking at the same forecast as I am...LOL

Im going out in about an hour. Hopefully I can get one to come in!

How'd it go Andy??

Good luck Mark. Hope you put the smackdown on one.

I'm headed back to Ga. in the morning to hunt with a good friend and hopefully catch it on video. We're also supposed to video us calling on the different models of calls I make to put on my upcoming website. This could prove to be embarassing. lol I may have to hire a stunt double to call for me. I'll keep you guys posted on what happens and who knows we might get lucky.

Keep after em!

Dan

my turkey season opened today so i'm trying to talk my parents into letting me take school off on friday. if not i'll be heading out saturday and sunday.

WRH- tell your parents your studying biology and your supposed to dissect a turkey but first you need to get one. lol

Well, if that doesn't work good luck this wk. end.

Dan

We were walking to the blind and saw three toms that were already in the field take off. I kind of got discouraged. I knew we should have gotten out earlier because of the storm coming in. I was just getting ready to put my decoys out when I decided that Im gonna take my bow and go sit somewhere with no blind. So me and my dad sat by this fallen down tree. We had some pretty good cover. Well we sat there till around 7:10 when I saw a HUGE gobbler come out about 75 yards down the crick. He went into the field and started eating. Then right behind him came 6 jakes. They all were playing around in the field and chasing eachother and all. Then around 7:30 the big ol' tom got mad or somethin and scared all the jakes away. Then he slowly walked back out of the field about 50 yards out. Just a little out of shootin distance. He never wanted to come into my calling or decoys. I would chirp some and pur some at him and he would just stop, raise his head then keep on going.
Ill be going back out saturday morning. Its suppose to rain friday night and saturday morning but im gonna try the morning hunt any way.

i did that last year for reading class. we were reading a book about nature and we were supposed to show the class how to survive if you get stuck in the woods. i went turkey hunting that morning and brought back my turkey to school and showed them how to cut it up and the best way to cook it. it was a pretty good excuse to skip half the day

:party0005:Just got home from our quick 2 day hunt and I had a great hunt. I put down A tom on each day at 7:30am. These our my 2nd and 3rd turkey kills.
On Thursday, the morning started out good as I had a couple hens hanging around, About 7 a nice gobbler comes out of the corner and starts displaying around 100 yards from where I am sitting. After about 10 minutes he turns and heads back into the tree line. At 7:30 I spot 5 hens coming out of the same corner and they head right into the decoys with a real nice tom hot on thier trail strutting his stuff. I waited until he cleared some shrubs and put the hammer down at around 20 yards.
On Friday I decided to set up down in the corner where I was seeing most of the birds come out of. At around 6;30 I spotted a tom on the other side on the fence but he just would not come out in the field. Then the magic hour of 7:30 rolls around and I spot a nice tom in the field behind me with 3 hens, after some manuvering around to get in position to get a shot,I was able to drop him at about 30 yards.
So it was a good 2 days in the field, the birds are starting to turn on and the hunting was good...Will post the pics later after I can get them downloaded...

Please welcome your new team member Mastevt

24 lbs, 11.25 inch beard, both spurs at 1 inch, taken on 4/22/10. NWTF score of 66.5

21 lbs, 10.5 inch beard, both spurs at 1.125 inches taken on 4/23/10. NWTF score of 64.5.

Hi guys! sorry for the late bloomer here. I had signed up, but forgot to check in. JW was kind enough to find me a spot with you guys. So here I am, checking in with a bird.

20lbs
11inch beard
1 1/8 spur 1 3/16 spur

Mastevt, welcome to the team, nothing to be sorry for, after all tou showed up with a nice bird...congrats...

Thanks, I took off today and tomorrow to take my son Brandon out, and this morning we had 2 toms, and 12 hens at flydown. Unable to get them close for a shot. Moved to some lower ground on a bird that was sounding off, and we got busted, LOL. Was an awesome day!

Mastevt- Welcome aboard! and congratulations on a great bird!! Nothing like coming in with a bang. lol

Mark- Awesome!! Man, you did it and in a BIG way!! Congratulations.

Things are a little slow here in Ga. with a front moving through. I've got a few more days so we'll see what happens.

Keep after em Pope and WRH. (and whomever is out there).

Team 7 is doing good!

Dan

Awesome guys!! Got 3 more birds to add to the score now. I've been on here everyday making sure to keep us updated, havent said much though. Anyways here is my bird from last weekend. I'll post the story later this evening. Just giving my 13 month old a bath and have time to post his stats and pictures from the laptop.
22 lbs, 7/8" right spur, 13/16" left spur, and 10" beard
22 + 8.75 + 8.125 + 20 = 58.875
Attachment 9290

If you click on the pic you can see it. I dont know why it shows up so small on there. I'm not used to the new format yet. lol.

I am told the contest stickers are on the way. Anybody who wants one needs to PM me their address and I will send one out as soon as I get them in. Also, make sure to post your bird scores here and I will take care of posting them on the main score page. Thanks alot. This has been a fun team to be on this year. Sorry I havent posted as much as I would like. I got our scores all updated. Who is still hunting? I have one more tag and my next season opens on wednesday. Hopefully I can get one more for us.

i smoked a big gobbler this afternoon around 2:30. me and my old set up on the edge of a hay and corn field around 1 after we got done with lunch. around 2 a group of 8 toms and 5 hens stepped out around 200 yards away. around 2:15 they wouldn't come any closer than 150 yards so i decided to get up and circle through the woods and try to sneak up on them. i got within 100 feet of them and i had to get on my hands and knees and crawl within 20 yards of him. as i pulled up he took off running and i just pulled the trigger and BANG. he did a back flip and flopped around for a little bit before he expired. it was a crappy day of hunting. it was raining hard off and on and the turkeys were not gobbling at all. i called and called and none of them would gobble. when it thundered they still wouldn't gobble so i didn't know what was going on. hes not bad for a first turkey i don't think. NWTF score-24 + 12.5 + 12.5 + 20 = 69

Awesome job! You did what any experienced hunter would do, You did what you had to do to close the deal. I did something similar on my bird this year. Doing what it takes, and going after that bird is the differance of going home with some spurs, or going home empty handed! Good Job!!!!

Jeeze, everybody is putting them down except me. Good job everyone! I just checked the contest results (updated the 22nd of april) and with only one bird we were sittin in 11th place. We're gonna shoot right up there with all these new ones.

I went out this weekend and it sucked! I only hunted one night and I hunted for about 45 minutes-1 hour. It was pouring down rain the whole time. Woke up at 4:15 sunday morning and it was still raining and the wind was really blowing. I have a dentist appointment at midday monday so Im gonna try and skip the morning part of school and try going out. The weather is suppose to be a little better but not a whole lot..

WRH!!! Are you kidding me!! "Not bad for a first bird"!!! That's one heck of a turkey!! lol You did an awesome job getting him. Man, we're on a roll! Keep after em Pope. Your time is coming.

Lousy weather here too. (Ga.) Couldn't hunt Sat or Sun. Maybe tomorrow. I've got one tag left and would like to fill it with another mature bird. We'll see.

Don't forget there's actually 2 contests going on. The best bird from each of us and the most birds from a team. We should be moving rt. along with these latest kills.
We just need to get em posted. Jepcho is gonna be busy!! lol

Dan

AHH!! SOOOoooooooo close! Today I have a dentist appointment to get a compression made for a retainer since im getting my braces off next wednesday and well the appointment is at 11:30 and if I went to school I would have to leave around 10:30 just to get to the dentist place so I asked my mom and dad nicely if I could skip school in the morning and go turkey hunting. :D I got everything ready sunday night and went to bed around 10:30 pm. I was up just about all night thinking of turkeys and waiting for that alarm to go off at 4:15 so I could go out turkey hunting. I got up, got my dad up, and off we went to our hunting spot. The only way of getting to our spot is on a dirt road... imagine a dirt road after 3 straight days of hard rain... yeah, not the best driving conditions for a truck, so we had to walk to the spot. It was only accross a couple looong fields and over a few hills but we got there on good time because about 10 minutes after we got settled in the blind there was a tom gobbling right behind us. He was gobbling constantly in his roost and then around 6 my dad spotted 4 turkeys fly down off the side of us. Probably 85-90 yards away. There was two nice toms and a couple jakes. They all worked there way into the field then I called a couple times and that dominant tom puffed out and started showing off for the ladies. They all stayed out about 75-80 yards out and never came a inch closer. The two jakes wandered off into the tall weeds and then finally appeared into the cornfield where they met with a hen or two and another jake. Then behind them was that nondominant bird with the big boy behind him struttin. So they were about 200 yards away gobbling and what not... Then the hens and went one direction and for some odd reason the toms and one of the jakes never followed... They just stayed in the field. After about an hour of watching them and talking back and forth with that dominant bird, they finally came back to us. This time they got 55 yards out in front of us and then they saw our decoys and the nondominant bird started puffing up too.. They walked about 5 more steps and froze.... Then just stood there not wanting to come in. Then next thing I know they take off running still in half strut. Im thinking what the heck... I didn't scare them. Then I look over and out comes two more toms in half strut. They all meet up and start chasing eachother around. Then they went back into the woods and saw or heard of them again...

No bird.... but.. I did get alot of AWESOME videos.
You all are gonna have to wait till the end of the season to see the video because im making a 2010 hunting video with deer and turkey and all that good stuff..
I will get some pictures from the videos and show you guys..
Wait about another 20-30 minutes and ill get some posted up.

Keep after them Pope, With our flurry of taking birds down over the past week, we moved into second place including 4 birds in the top 13 largest list.

I'm done for the season here in Ga. Just killed number 3.

I didn't hear a peep this morning so I set up down in the swamp and called sporadically until around 8:45 when i heard a distant gobble rt. after i had kee kee'd. I just kept it up and wound up calling in 6 longbeard's. I shot what I think was the dominant bird of the group. He was the only one strutting and gobbling. I bet it took him 20 min. to close from 50 to 30 yds. and the whole time the rest of the crew just kind of hung behind him. At 30 yds. he got a case of lead poisoning (actually Hevi 13 7's- lol) and went to flopping. Man is he a mess. The rain we had over the wk. end left a lot of puddles in the swamp and he wound up flopping rt. in one of em. He's a nice bird as are all of the birds we've shot lately. Here's the stats.

22 lbs. 14 oz.
11" beard
spurs 1 1/16" and 1 1/8"


I'll post pic's later. What a mess!! lol

NWTF score- 66.75

Keep after em Pope. It'll happen.

Dan

Good job Dan!

I told you I would get the pictures uploaded within 20-30 minutes... well I lied, I had to leave for my dentist appointment and the computer was being slow after uploading 45 minutes worth of videos from this morning so I couldn't get any on here. :D

I got some pictures now... enjoy.























My favorite pic... along with being my new computer background. :D






Now is when the two other toms come out..

Hey Pope, those are some awesome pics:party0007: now you just need to seal the deal and put one of them bad boys down....

Hey guys, we are doing great! 2nd place as of now, lets keep them rolling. Pope, you are getting really close hope you get one! What part of Iowa you hunting? If you aren't too far away, maybe we can get together for a late season hunt. I plan on hunting 4th season.