Western MA Hunter

less than a week!
going to call and video for a young man on his first turkey hunt tomorrow am

Matchbook454

Another one down for matchbook. Pic and stats to follow.

Western MA Hunter

nice work!

Matchbook454

Here it is - 9-15/16" beard, 3/4" & 3/4" spurs, 19 lb. 7 oz. Just an avg. 2 yr. old but a Tom none the less. Shot him this morning at 6:00 a.m. sharp in Warren cty. IL. Opening day of our 3rd season. This was one of the best hunts I have ever had. This is new property about 3 1/2 hrs. south of me. I scouted it in the beginning of March and couldn't believe the turkey sign. I talked to the land owner and he said there were a lot of turkeys, that's all. Well, there are a LOT of turkeys on this property. I had AT LEAST 12 mature Toms roosted on the creek bottom less than 100 yards below the field I was hunting. When they started gobbling around 5:30 I said to myself - this is going to get really exciting shortly. All the Toms dropped down in the bottom but some of the hens flew into the field in front of and behind my blind. I seriously lost track of how many birds were in the field. Most of the Toms came out of the timber/bottom about 75 yards south of me. I wasn't worried as There were plenty more all around me still in the creek bottom. I just sat tight and did what I needed to do calling wise and worked 2 toms in. They came out of the bottom about 40 yards from me which was close enough for me but they were too close together to ethically shoot as I only had 1 tag for this county and time period. I waited for them to separate and when they did they were about 30 yards now. I hammered the strutter after he stuck his head up for me. It was an exciting hunt and one of the best parts was witnessing a Tom breed either 3 hens or 1 hen 3 times or WHATEVER! Seen it on tv but never in person after years and years of hunting.
Anyway, he scored 54.3125". 19 lbs. 7 oz, 9-15/16" beard, 3/4" and 3/4" spurs.

Teebugg

Congrats again! Nice bird! Thursday cant come soon enough for me. Went out this morning to listen and of course heard a gobbler. Across the road where i cant hunt!

jmedenf

Hunters Name: jmedenf
State the bird was harvested: OH
Date of Kill: 4/26/14
Time: 0645 AM
Method of Take Shotgun (Marlin Model 55 Goosegun 36" barrel)
Species: Eastern
Sex: Male
Lbs 24 Oz: 0
Rt Spur Length 7/8"
Lft Spur length 1 1/8"
No of Beards: 1
Length 11 1/2"

Your score is 24 + 8.75 + 11.25 + 23 = 67

jmedenf

Shot the dominant tom. Been watching him all week trying to make him a couple of guys' first turkey, but he finally came to me. Sat along a woodline along a field. Turkeys were roosted right above and behind me. A dominant hen started up from the roost and I hammered back at her. She flew out and down the field to my right where I couldn't see her. Several other hens and a few young toms then flew out and went with her. A hen flew out and landed in the middle of the field. I heard another gobbler back and to my left. A hen came walking back from my right and I could hear the others not far behind her. Then two hens walked out to my left. Soon after the big tom stepped out about 50 yards to my left strutting. He walked up to my jake decoy and acted like he wanted to flog it, but just pecked at it and walked past toward my hen. Then I dropped him.

It was rough taking this old dominant tom since I was putting other hunters in my hot seats and couldn't seal the deal all week. Figured I'd go ahead and take him before we edumicate him too much.

turkey harvester

Smoked one Saturday. 22 lbs, 9" beard, 3/4"- 7/8" spurs. Story and pics when I get home and get everything loaded.

Western MA Hunter

Nice job guys! you guys are getting it done!
called in this 22lb tom for this young man over the weekend... first bird.
3/4" spur and 9.5" bear.
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turkey harvester

Here is the bird I got Saturday morning with my best friend. This bird gobbled not 100 yards from where we sat down. We didn't put him to roost it was just luck I guess. He gobbled his fool head off on the roost and by 6 am he was on the ground. I could hear him spit and drum from distance and then he just started running towards my decoy. He stops just shy of it and puts on a show. Meanwhile we have 5 jakes that are gobbling to his every spit. We have had these jakes ruin a hunt before when trying to get a longbeard. They are a band of bullies. The gobbler is about 35 yards and wont commit because he's focused on the jakes. They weren't going to ruin another hunt so I let him have it with the Mossberg. After I shot him all the jakes came running up and attacked my down flopping bird. They put on quite a show. Some of my pictures are a little fuzzy but we made do with what we had.

Eastern 22 lbs, 7/8", 3/4" spurs and 9" beard.