The cape looks great Phil! And it a gona be great being able to keep the team together another year!

Thank you Arrowmaster...

Thanks jepcho! and yes it is going to be great to be able to keep the team together...

Thanks Arrowmaster!

Congrats Team 5!

Hey guys I have been busy the past few days coaching my daughters softball team somebody fill me in on what has transpired the past few days!!!

Apparently we were always in the lead, Team 1 had just miss added their points somehow and when the final scoring came up, we had the most points. So, we are the champs!

Correct, we get to remain as a turkey killing team for next years contest.
I think that is so great.

I think its great as well. Well throughout the season I havent had much chance to tell you guys about myself other than what I've been doing as far as turkey hunting. I happen to be getting married this coming saturday. Then next week we head to Florida for our honeymoon. Thats partly why I had to cut down on my turkey season this year and just mostly hunt around home.

I can't believe it imagine my surprise when I checked back in today that's great!!

Congrats jepcho!! My wife and I have been married for ten years, and we have three great kids. I hope you and mrs. Jepcho have a blessed marriage and a great start to your new family! While your down there scout out some Osceolas for me

Hey Phil looks great, is that pretty easy to do?

Congrats jepcho! I hope you and yours have a great honeymoon and many years together..

Yes it was fairly easy to do.. It was just a little time consuming skinning the cape off it.. Then I just used thumb tacks to stretch it with and hold it down. Then I sprinkled it with Borax to let it dry. I used screws like it the sticky above to spread and hold the fan in place. I think that a small nail would work better for the tail where the cape feathers meet and then the screws in the other places maybe better. But, I am happy with it..

Just like the others have stated an addition problem is what kept us in first place!! I am glad to have the team together for another year as well.. Congrats again guys on a job well done!!!

Wow, got busy at work and missed all the drama! Congrats! It was kinda fun seeing the compressed version of the high-to low-back to high rollercoaster ride everyone went through in just a one minute reading rather than having to live through all the disappointment personally. LOL. Congrats to Jepcho on the upcoming nuptials as well. I honeymooned in FL as well. (just a bit longer ago)

Well, now that we are Champions what's the plan to keep the title? I'm working on a multi-beard breeding program.

I will be heading back into my normal hunting area and trying for that big bird I wised the last 2 years again.. He has been in that place now for 3 years that I know of.. So I will be hoping he is still around there and I can connect the next time he shows himself to me..

Hey from Team #1, wanted to come over and congratulate you guys on a great season. Enjoy being the team to beat next year!!! Congrats again!!!

Thank you onetohunt !!! For most of us on this team if not all of us it is our first time of being on any team that has won.. We look forward to the challenge next spring..

Thanks onetohunt!

I like it talondale!

I like it as well..

Calm my butt we are the champs. I'm still celebrating. LOL


That is pretty neat.

CamoKenny, been meaning to ask you. Have you hunted Loess Hills much/ever? I've contemplated going down the the last few years. I've just heard they are so heavily hunted down there. And it's hard for me to go down there and spend precious hunting time in such a huge area I've never been without doing some scouting first. It hasn't been till recently I've felt the need to hunt public. I have access to a big chunk of land in south central Iowa that used to be just crazy thick with turkeys. But the population has dropped tremendously there and we aren't sure why. The deer are still there, but the turkeys are all but gone. We killed three out of there this spring between me, my dad, and a family relative to the owner, but I almost hate to keep shooting them. Maybe give them a few years to recover. I've shot my 4th season birds up north here on small public places each of the last two years, but I'm thinking about trying something like that. So I was just curious if you'd done much hunting down there and how well you know the land. You can PM me if you want as well.

jepcho, I try to stay away from public land here in Iowa due to the pressure that is put on them and as you know we are not blessed with much public land here in Iowa. I hunt south of the public area of the loess hills. Basicly I hunt in the southwest corner of Iowa, page and fremont counties. If I hunt any public land in my area it is first season when its all during the work week. I do have several small pieces of private land that all have birds just not a bunch of them.
If I can help you or any one else on the team please asked.

Yeah I have not liked having to hunt public land more. Actually I had very rarely turkey hunted public land until the last two years. Both of the ones I killed were during the week, but were 4th season. It made the birds tough to hunt and I had to think about outsmarting other hunters as well as the birds. I would be interested in hunting Nebraska or Missouri if you're serious about getting together and hunting.

Yeah, I've had to hunt more and more public land as the landowners I had access with have died one by one. It SUCKS! I've had some success but I've been spoiled with private land. Night and day difference. The problem I'm having is my last big private land chunk has been acting like public land lately. >(

What I hunt up here is private land that is open to the public.. That is because of it being large tracks of timber land and a public relations type of thing.. It also has a long field that runs for 83 miles from just about 3 miles down the road from me. So access is easy and I tend to go out farther where some do not bother with. But, at times it is like the interstate with hunters and others going fishing. So I try to find an area that you have to walk into or a side road where there is turkey activity. Most of these guys just ride around looking for a turkey to shoot. I like calling them myself and do not mind the walk in trying to get a decent tom.. But in these pressured areas I will move back from the openings around 150 yards or so.. I try to find a skidder trail that is fairly open where a turkey might strut and hope for the best..

One of my birds this year was taken off public land. My first public land bird. I only saw one other person while in the woods the whole season. Out of six or seven days of hunting. I also would launch my boat and go across the lake to areas where the closest roads was two and a half miles over mountains and valleys. I know that helped me get away from a lot of people

CamoK, out of all the places you hunt are any of them public?

Just one small area here in southwest iowa that is public that I have and will hunt. Only during the week when all the pressure is down.
As far as any of the other states that I hunt it is all private land. Just a few of those allow other hunters. It might take some road work and gas but I go every year and check on the places I hunt and look for more in the area. Well worth it in most cases.

Congratulations fellas!!!

Thanks BDB!!

Thank You BDB.... It has been another fun contest!

Haven't been around in a while too much work.

We were the winners despite my big goose egg this year.:bash:

So congrats to the whole team!!!!!!

Maybe next year I can do better and get on the board. I haven't gone back to back years without bagging at least one, thanks for carrying me this season folks my hat is off to ya:hail:!!!! Maybe I can do the same for someone else next year.

I hope every had a safe season that was free of injury of any kind!!!

Thanks bigc870,

We had a whole lot of fun this year whether we had won or not.. The main thing you were able to get out there some and hopefully enjoyed your time out there..

We All can have off years and we are aware of that. This year the turkeys were difficult for most all of us. Maybe the crazy weather we all have had? None the less any of us can come up short at any time out hunting those long beards...

Do not worry any about carrying you we are a team and will be at it again come next spring! We hope to hear more from you next year as it is all part of the fun...

Don't worry about it bigc870. We have all been there.

Phil, Don't get me wrong I had one of if not the funnest spring turkey season of my life this year and I didn't even get a chance to take a shot. I had a blast, yes I kicked myself from time to time and had my down moments but they did last long, basically I just keep my head up and keep after 'em and they keep me guessing which is part of the hunt. They just outwitted me this year and I learned a lot from it too.

Next year after the first couple of days and I don't score I am going to try a couple of new places and see how it goes, I can always go back to the other spots if they don't work out.

Ya see I am ready planning next year!!!!

I meant nothing wrong with my post bigc870... I know that getting a bird is only a bonus to a great day out there away from it all. Also we all like hearing the stories going with a day's hunting whether successful or not. We can try to offer some ideas and perhaps help others out whether they are wanted or not.. But, by hearing other's stories they could very well help others that are having a hard time as well. We enjoy hearing from everyone..

Enjoying the outdoors and staying safe is what this whole contest is about.. Now that we are the winning team we will all be on the same team again come next spring.. That is the only reward we really get for winning and yes we have a great team this year.

But, I have really not been on a bad team in these contests either as it is purely for the fun of it. I also enjoy stirring things up a little just to get everyone worked up over the hunt.. It has always been the way I enjoy the team participation which is a big part of it to me..

Phil, I know you didn't mean anything with your post and I didn't take it that way.

I just wanted to let everyone know I had a great year despite not taking a turkey or 2, thats just how it goes sometimes.

I was hunting birds that were extremely call and decoy shy, they would also either fly down off roost for a few hours first thing in the morning then fly back up on roost around 10am or they just weren't flying down off roost until late in the day. I think they where down for a few hours first thing in the morning and then back up on roost. I bumped a lot of birds off roost from 10am until the 1pm cut off.

So I am going to ask what is the best way to hunt educated turkeys that are call and decoy shy? Just set and hope one walks by or stalk at a very slow pace? I don't really have an answer so I might as well ask now to get an idea.

I would try to watch them from a good distance for a few days and see where they are headed. maybe find a water hole that they are going to mid morning and set up by it and just wait them out. The public I hunted last year they were like that . I ended up taking a nap and waking up to a jake yelping at my decoys but the closest he would get to them was about 60 yards so I set them only a few yards to the side of me and the next day same thing only he was 30 yrds closer to me. This year thanks to the drought I seen turkeys at every water hole I'd pass about mid day.