tsaxybabe

Well I've been hunting hard this weekend and the closest we got to birds was about 75 yards away. We've been hunting these 5 toms that we guess to be about 3.5 years old. They have been notoriously hard to hunt the past couple years, and the weird thing is they all stick together and never fight each other. They all roost together every night and all fly down and strut together every day. They are basically uncallable, they gobble once in a while but that's about it. They don't care about decoys (its almost like they know they're fake). They are with 5 hens and we thought if we could separate them then we could call the toms in but they stayed in the grove the entire day gobbling their heads off. No sign of that jake I missed the first day. My fiance (whos hunted turkeys since he was very young) keeps saying "these are not normal birds!" and I'm starting to believe him lol. Any tips you guys have to try and get one of these birds? We don't really have any better places to hunt... The place with the toms is a grove with a field to the east and a pasture to the north, with a river splitting the grove/field from the pasture. There are a bunch of willows across the river from the grove and it seems like every day the toms fly across to the willows, and then walk through those to get to a bean field on the opposite side of the pasture (we can't hunt the bean field, just the pasture and the grove). Sometimes they will fly across the river and strut in the pasture but whenever we set up there they never show up.

Western MA Hunter

hunt them like deer... get into those willows before light and just wait... don't call or anything... if they follow the same routine, you should be able to get in on them and take one's head off...

tsaxybabe

I don't think we have permission to hunt in the willows either A different guy owns the willows and he is a wildlife photographer and, while he hunts turkeys too, I don't think he wants anyone hunting his land. He's in the process of turning the willows into a wetland habitat because he really loves waterfowl hunting. We did get permission to hunt in the field on the other side of the willows where they always go to strut, but only after the landowner has gotten his bird. His season starts tomorrow, so hopefully he will get one the first day and we can get out there Friday.

Western MA Hunter

Tsaxybabe... i would get in that field after the land owner if he doesn't booger the birds... maybe they'll change their pattern after he thumps one and stay on your side of the willows... be patient and it will happen!

Western MA Hunter

Now I'm getting nervous... season starts Monday... my "hotspot" where I was seeing all of the birds is quiet... haven't seen a bird in a week!

jjones

Well it's been a crazy KY season, Sat. I shot a gobbler with my bow 3 times and one of those was a neck shot at 5 yards and still didn't find him. There was a blood trail out of the field where I shot him. Then I decide im done bowhunting turkey's, so sunday I have my shotgun and I missed one at 10 yards. Then my buddies from Mississippi were in monday and tuesday and I got them 3 longbeards. then I had to work a few days and killed this one this morning. I will have the stats for bird number 5 in a little while.

jjones

23.12 lbs, 1 1/4 spurs, 9 5/8 beard

Rory/MO

Well guys got a 2 year old this morning. I'll get exact measurements and put up a pic or 2 later but he was 20 pounds on the dot, look like 3/4" spurs, and about a 10" beard.

left bird.

Western MA Hunter

Nice job Rory and JJones... way to get it done... sorry to hear about the non recovery JJ...
Season FINALLY starts here in MA tomorrow.
Just put a nice gobbler to bed... hope he want to play w/ me in the am...
once you get the stats I will get the team thread score updated... congrats guys..

tsaxybabe

Awesome birds! The landowner we were waiting for shot his bird at 45yds, it got up and started flying and he shot again and knocked it down, but it took off running and he backed out. He returned a few hours later with his two trained bird dogs to try and track it and never found it.... This was on Wednesday. Saturday I was out with my fiance and my dog (a 6year old golden retriever that has never hunted or been around birds at all) when I heard a pheasant cackle pretty close to us. My dog heard it too and loved the sound so we decided to see if he could sniff it out. He starts acting really birdy and we dropped the 20ft rope he was on, and he just took off. He had his nose to the ground and suddenly veered toward those willows (which is kinda swampy, water up to your ankles). Anyway, he gets about 10 feet away from some downed trees and suddenly this HUGE tom busts outta there! He tried to take off but you could tell he was the wounded tom and couldn't fly. My dog was hot on his heels and definitely would have caught the turkey if his rope hadn't gotten hung up a branch. It stopped him just for about two seconds, which was enough for that tom to disappear. MAN were we surprised! Who woulda thought that my clown of a dog would sniff out that turkey. We never did see it again that night, but there's no way he could have made it across the river so he's gotta be holed up in the willows still. We called the landowner and told him his bird is still alive, so he's made it his mission for 3rd and 4th season to get that bird. We all three went out hunting this morning, us set up where the toms go to strut and him in the willows trying to call out that wounded bird. As luck would have it, the wounded bird showed up while the landowner was standing out in the open, and so he froze. As he was trying to stand still with this wounded bird eyeing him, the other 4 toms show up too!! They were all within 20 yards of him, checking him out. After a minute they turned and walked over to some public ground and we didn't see them the rest of the day. They had gone through the willows and behind us, so we didn't even see them. He was true to his word though and didn't shoot another tom when that wounded one is still out there. Maybe he will get him tomorrow.

Shotgun season starts next weekend for me, and I'm not sure if I'll buy a shotgun tag or just keep at it with my bow. I don't really have the money for another tag (school tuition...ugh), but we'll see.