I am quite sure that this bear is staying in the area. I have seen an old pile of his/her droppings while walking in along side of the old dirt road. As a general rule bears do not mess with people and I am hopeful this will be the case. I am hoping the it does not bother my blind as well. Last year in a different area a bear was in my blind one night/day that I was not there. He did some small amount of damage but nothing I could not repair.. If he shows himself to me I will pack up out of there. But, for now I want to give those birds a try..

Well team I hope this don't let you down after the last one but here is another bird for the board. 2nd bird from Nebraska, eastern with shotgun.
Went down this weekend to take my friends son out and we doubled this morning at 6:50am. I was not planning on taking a bird just had my gun for back up if needed. Wanted to save my remaining tags for out west to shoot merriams. set up on these birds yesterday only to have 80 cow calf pairs mess us up so we moved locations on the birds and had the farmer checking cows mess that up also. So back at it this morning with a new set up and plan. Put out a hen and strutting decoy just over the hill from the roost. they started gobbling so I announced our location to them then went silent for the next 30 min or so. After they finally flew done they landed on the back side of the hill and went north all the way around the hill. once they got site of the fake strutter they ran in and put a good show on for us till I had the young man with me shot his first ever gobbler. I had not even picked my gun up yet but after the remaining bird decided to start stomping on the down bird I went ahead and filled my 2nd neb tag.
SE Neb.
eastern
shotgun
6:50am
22 lbs
10 1/4" beard
right spur 1 3/16"
left spur 1 1/16"
One tag left for a merriams this next weekend.

Congrats again camokenny! Nice turkey and story as well! I am getting ready to post it for you..

camokenny's turkey!! You guys just keep on slamming them while the rest of us are finding the hunting harder this year.. keep up the great work!






Your score is 22 + 11.872 + 10.625 + 20.5 = 64.997

Good Luck to everyone that is out there still hunting!

Some of those other teams has some big guns still trying to up their team scores and hopefully we will stay in the lead and become the 2014 HNI Champs.. Then we all will get to try and stay in the lead to be champs again! That would be great if we can hang on to the lead until this contest is over!! I will be trying every chance I can get out there this week to at least add another bird to our team scores..

Our team has been doing great this year with 18 birds tagged so far! That is really super with the bird count being down in most areas.. So before i forget thank you all for being a team member whether you happened to get a bird or not.. just being out there enjoying the great outdoors is the best part of it! Again good luck to all that is still hunting as well..

Congrats camokenny! Good luck when you get after those merriams

Well, Iowa's season has officially closed. Even though I had tagged out over a week ago I was wanting to get my little brother on a turkey. My dad took him out yesterday for the final morning of season and they were unable to put one down. He still had a blast this year. As did I, it was a great spring for me. Sad that it's over, but the countdown to spring 2015 has begun for me! Good luck to those still hunting, and hopefully we will all be on the same team in 2015.

I am sorry to hear about your little brother's luck jepcho! Hopefully next year he will get on to a nice one.. I as well hope we can keep our team next year! We have a great team right now and I am sure it will be getting tight as the other teams do some more scoring.. Right now I am thinking we are still in the lead! That lead is on everything right now! I hope we can hang on to it!

I went out this morning and just got home around a 1/2 hour ago..
I did not see a bird from my blind how ever they are surely there.. I never saw the bear either so I am ok with that one. I did see a big porcupine, a rabbit, and 3 moose.. On the drive home I saw a total of 6 hens and a bird I am thinking was a tom but to far away to say for sure. The minute I saw it, it ran into the woods..

Anyways at my blind with my decoys out and all. It is raining and foggy and I hear something moving threw the bushes. I look around from inside my blind and see nothing. Now I am getting nervous and wondering if it was that big bear or not. A few minutes later I hear this groaning sound and thought here comes that bear. I look out my blind and 3 moose are walking just in the woods straight across from me.. LOL That was a relief! So my decoys and moose like each other or something.. Anyways here is a pic off my cell phone of 3 moose and my decoys.. lol It was a wet but great time out hunting for those big birds!

Hunted several miles and several hundred feet elevation changes and just couldn't buy a gobble. Our season ended Saturday and I have to eat tag soup. This is the second year running I haven't got a bird. I've lost some prime hunting areas due to owners dying and my BEST location just has been stone cold the past two years. Someone else must be hunting this area as we haven't heard a bird the past two years though we see plenty in the fall. So my ace in the hole has been a dud. I'm working on getting some new land for next year though (something in the flatlands so I don't have to work so hard LOL). These mountain birds are tough. Maybe I should go out and hunt with Camokenny? :)

Good luck to the rest of you guys still going at it.

I will be more then willing to host any one of this teams members on a hunt with me in any of the states that I hunt. Always willing to take a fellow turkey hunter out with me.
ITS NEVER TO EARLY TO START PLANNING FOR NEXT SPRING.

I agree camokenney I am already thinking and planning for next turkey season.

That is a great offer..

The area I am in has the birds.. They just are not talking right now?? But they are there that is for sure. I saw where a tom left his dropping in the road when I was walking out from my blind yesterday. Maybe the moose kept him away? I do not know and will be heading out for another morning hunt as I worked last night..

Thats a heck of an offer Kenny. If we win this thing it would be cool to have a champion team hunt somewhere. The public I hunt is loaded with birds for the person that knows what they are doing and has 30k acres so plenty of room. I can point to the units that I know have birds just don't ask me to call for ya lol...still tryin to figure that out my self ;)

I saw nothing at my blind this morning.. I only saw a couple of hens when traveling to and from as the wind picked up with the rain. It is still overcast and I am hoping it will hurry up and break.. Anyways I will be back at it in the morning again.. Good Luck to everyone still out there hunting..

Phil, how are we looking? Have any other teams closed the gap?

Thanks for the offer CamoKenny. Of course, I was just joking. I'm just more frustrated with why my honeyhole isn't producing anymore. It's 400+ acres of private family land that has produced multiple doubles. It's always been hot with an occasional off day due to weather changes but it has been stone cold the past two years. My cousin, who controls most of the property, allows a few other people to hunt it but that's never had an impact before. Someone has the turkeys there lock-lipped. I'm not sure if it's poachers or coyotes. We hunted there the second day of the season and hunting pressure shouldn't have been so much that they were silent. I have found baiting piles in the fall (illegal here) and reported that but I'm not sure my cousin did anything about it. In the 30 years I've been hunting it I've never seen it as bad as the past two. Yet, we see lots of turkey in the fall. Wish I lived closer so I could put more time on the property and see who else is there or whatever. Oh well.

I am sorry to hear about you luck Talondale.. The birds here have been very tight lipped as well. But they do show themselves to me at times. So I know they are there and it keeps me going back for another try at them..

Right now swampbuster we are still in the lead in every aspect of it. But, that is still subject to change. I am thinking team 6 is behind us by around 80 score points right now on the best bird per hunter catagory and still handy to 200 score points behind on overall bird weight. I am still thinking we will be the winners. But as all know you can not count on it yet.. But like Talondale there is a lot that are having a hard time scoring any birds at all. The weather this year has messed a lot of hunters up..

I am also hoping to be able to score another bird for the team.. I have seen a few of them so hopefully it will come together soon for me. I still have until May 31 to get it done with..

Ok guys here is the run down on where we actually stand right now.. ( providing I did not make any errors.. )

Our Team.. Good ol number 5 ..
Best bird per hunter ( 7 birds ) 504.1875
Total score ( 19 birds ) 1204.25
Team # 6
Best bird per hunter ( 6 birds ) 424.325
Total score ( 14 birds ) 911.0875

Team # 1
Best bird per hunter ( 7 birds ) 417.25
Total score ( 14 birds ) 701.375

Team # 3
Best bird per hunter ( 6 birds ) 370.3125
Total score ( 10 birds ) 646.25


These are the top three teams that are following us.. I am expecting a team or 2 to add a few more birds as of yet.. But, we all know no one knows for sure.. I do believe we will be the winners this year though. I am guessing that a lot of seasons are winding down now. We may end up loosing the total score, but, I am predicting a best bird per hunter victory!! That is where this contest counts! Also if I can get another bird we could very easily take it all with us! Thanks guys It has and is very enjoyable to have each of you on the team!!

I did mess up a bit on Team # 3 so I corrected it.. I also messed up a bit on camokenny's bird #4 score which dropped the overall score by almost 2 and a 1/2 points. Sorry camokenny..

Thanks for updating us on what's going on Phil. Good luck to all who are still hunting

That is not a problem!! Whether we win this contest or not I am thinking we need to make sure we give a big thank you to camo for getting turkzilla for us!! That surely was a big boost to the team! Even though we can not say we have this thing won yet as any team can get a big bird and up grade their scores.. We can not even think about letting our guard down. So any members still hunting good Luck to you all! We will get this contest won!!

I will soon be getting home work here and heading back out for a few more hours. It is supposed to be overcast and light wind this morning and then more rain this afternoon. So hopefully the birds will be out to play this morning..

Ok guys I have some bad news... I never made it to my blind this morning.. I was stopped up by a Tom and 2 hens.. I quickly dodged into some small pine trees and gave a few calls off my pot call and in they came.. The good news is I am tagging out! I am not sure if this one is an upgrade or not yet.. It has a 9 1/2 inch beard and I am going with a 7/8 inch right spur and a 13/16 left spur. I am going to wait for the weight as I weigh them at the tagging station. It does not open until 8 am .. I shot him at 6:15 this morning.. So if it is not an upgrade we will still win part of this contest for sure! I am some glad I passed on those jakes! I hope we will be the winners all the way threw it! Good Luck to anyone that is still hunting.

Sorry guys but this one will not give me any sort of upgrade as it only weighed 17 lbs. 11 ozs.

Congrats Phil! Do know you've been hunting hard and I'm glad to hear you tagged out. Can't wait for pictures man!

Sorry guys but, it will not be any upgrade for me. But, it will add to our overall score..

Congrats! I'll take a fortunate encounter over a good plan any day. Who do we have still hunting?

Phil from Maine - OUT
Jepcho - OUT
camokenny - OUT
Talondale - OUT
bigc870 - OUT
swampbuster - OUT
kellyguinn - OUT
blackheel -OUT
SouthernStrut56 -?
mmorgan9812 - ?
dano111 - ?

Thanks guys! I am not sure who we have left hunting right now.. I will have to check as most are either done or soon will be..

While I am not 100 % sure.. I do think that SouthernStrut56 is out as well.

That leaves a question on whether mmorgan9812 or dano111 is still out there hunting or not.

I just checked the threads for Teams 3 and 6 and they both have a couple hunters hunting to the end of May. This could be close!

I know I have been watching them.. I am more concerned about team 6 though. But, any team can capture the title if any of them posts a big bird like camo's. I still think we will have it as it goes by the best bird per hunter and not the total score.. I hope so as we have a great team going this year and would love to keep it all together..

I still have one tag in neb till the end of may. It will only help our all bird score more then likely. Probably won't beat the 5 beard bird. I will be headed west on Friday.

Nonsense camokenney you have to think positive! You could get the world record merriam! Good luck to you

Good Luck to you camokenny! I hope you can get another nice bird to go with our standings.. Team 6 needs at least another hunter bagging a bird with at least a 80 score or better.. We all know it can happen! I am just trying to think positive that no team can beat us! Good Luck to all that maybe out there hunting! We are all routing for you to get a bird up on the scoring posts.. Even a nice jake can be the winning bird! So good luck to any of you out there hunting..

That is not to mention Team one is right up there withn them as well..

I will try and pm the last 2 guys to see when their season ends.. I hope one of them can help us and get another bird up.. If they can that would surely win the contest for us..

Congrats Phil on tagging out!

Thanks swampbuster! I really hope we can keep the lead and end up winning this contest! We have a great team working here and would love to have our team try it again next year as well..

I did send a pm to the last 2 guys to see if they are still hunting or not.. I am hoping at least one of them are and gets to post a jake as it would surely win this contest for us.. This team has worked great together! Lets see if we can keep it that way for another year!!

Ok guys, most of our seasons are winding down here, and all we can do is wait for the final standings in another 10 days or so... So while we wait, I'd like to hear some wild turkey recipes. How do you guys cook them and what has worked best for you all? That is one thing I havent ever gotten a knack for out of all the birds I've killed over the years. I am a good cook, just havent spent the time to come up with a good wild turkey recipe. I always just filet the breast out of the birds and usually crock pot them, most of the time shredding them and using BBQ sauce to make sandwiches. I'd love to try and grill some this year. I have 6 breast halves to experiment with this year.

I cut mine up in nugget size pieces then tenderize them with a meat hammer. Dip in a egg and milk mixture then coat them with batter and deep fat fry them until golden brown. I make my own batter but about any name brand batter will work. I like to have hot sauce or some sort of dipping sauce for them.
This is how I have fixed all my wild turkeys for the past 15 years or so. Makes a great cookout food when having a get together with family or friends or just a guy party.
You all try it I think you will like it. Since I started cooking turkey this way I get invited to a lot of cook outs if I bring turkey or cook it there. Enjoy your harvest.

CONGRATES CAPTIAN ON YOUR HARVEST

Thanks camokenny!

As your captain I was trying hard not to let us down any. I do wish it would of been an upgrade though. Also when I shot him his beard was wet from the wet grass. It looked like it was a double from the angle I first saw him at. But it really did not matter as I wanted to make sure I got another tag filled..

I normally just slice them and fry them up.. Nothing specail, but, I like your ideas.. I also roasted a whole one before that came out great. I put bacon over it to keep it from drying out and then spiced it all up..

I am also thinking for any team to beat us they will need at least a double bearded bird or better from one that has not scored as of yet!! Or have 2 members that have not scored get 2 more birds posted. They can be a decent Tom and a Jake which could move them into the winners circle..

Good Luck camokenny on your next hunt!

While I have not heard from any of the guys in question.. I did check my notes and Dano111 season ends with May 25th being the last day.. I sure hope that he can put a bird down.. That would surely put us in the win! So if he is still out hunting we wish you the best of luck! The same goes for anyone on the team out there hunting!!

I fillet the breast out and either fry like camokenny or soak it in a brine mix for a day then smoke it. both turn out great. I'll try to find my brine mix ingredients when I get home from work.. Good luck to all still out there. I'm already counting down to next year. lol

Here is a brine that has great reviews. I might give it a shot this year then lay bacon over the top of the breast while smoking.

Slaughterhouse Poultry Brine By Tip Piper of Hillbilly Vittles
1 ½ Gal Water
½ C Salt - Kosher
½ C Dark Brown Sugar
2 tsp Garlic Powder
2 tsp Onion Powder
2 tsp Cajun Spice (Louisiana Cajun Seasoning)
2 tsp Celery Seed

I like to inject mine with Cajun injector. Cut into strips and fry it in olive oil. Make some gravy and go to town