How long is your season Phil?

My season runs threw the entire month of May... So hopefully I should be able to get a bird or 2 posted.. I have been pretty lucky the last 2 years by getting 2 birds each year.. Which was 2 Jakes, 3 toms, and 1 bearded hen.. The bearded hen was by accident as it was foggy and light drizzley rain.. I saw a beard coming threw the weeds so I left it have it.. When I went over to pick it up another bird flew. I saw what I shot was a hen and I thought I had messed up and somehow shot the wrong bird.. I then tossed her into some bushes making sure no one was around and decided not to waste her. I went over to her and rolled her over and there was a 7 inch beard looking at me.. You should of seen the look on my face so she was tagged locally as the first ever bearded hen.. They gave her a good looking over as well.

OK guys here is how we stack up to team 6 right now.. They are a head of us buy a score of 32.7 as their team now has a score per hunter of ( 276.825 ) while our team is at 244.125.

So we are not far away from them and it can be done. Also if anyone scores a bigger bird while hunting that score will move ahead of the one already shot and will boost are rating up even more.. So best of luck guys as you get out there hunting for more birds for the team! Stay safe and enjoy the hunting is the main thing.. Getting any birds is a bonus to a day well spent in the great outdoors..

I went out and listened this morning and for the third morning in a row I have heard no gobbles. I don't know what's going on

I am not sure what is going on with them.. Was there a lot of rain last year that may have killed some of the chicks off?? If so they may have moved to another location?? Or it maybe just the messed up weather has them confused on the breeding season.. perhaps a combination of things and they are with the hens? I honestly do not know..

I just posted a thread where parts of Northern Maine has shutdown turkey hunting this year.. Even though I am up into the northeast section my zones of hunting still has the green light. This however maybe a harder to hunt season for me as well.. :confused0024:

We have had several bad hatches in a row. Our turkey population is obviously down. Lets hope that things will pick up

I hope so for all our team members as well. The good thing for me is I have the entire first week off from work.. Then after that is questionable.. Good Luck everyone!!

Alright team!! The team standings have been posted for now and we are currently in second place as was posted earlier.. That is with the scoring of birds per hunter and overall weight of total birds combined! While it is still any teams game we are doing great with those 4 birds! Congrats again guys!! Way to go!!

Also for those that have their season opening up tomorrow Best of Luck out there.. Remember though it is more about enjoying your hunting more than anything else.. So if no one is lucky on opening day so what! Enjoy your time out there while folks like me are itching to go chase a gobbler around! Just think more of you get to go after them while I can only think about going after them.. Again Best of Luck out there and blast a cap on one if you can..

Actually I just read where team 4 picked up another bird. Which brings them very close to us.. They pass us with total weight but not by weight of birds per hunter.. ( Best bird per hunter only 1 bird counted there.) They have 5 birds and are just nudging a head of us in the overall totals. So keep up the good work guys!!

Heading out to the national Forrest in the morning. I am sure it will be crowded. Hope I can hear some birds in the morning. Good luck to every one else who's season starts tomorrow.

Good Luck swampbuster and stay safe out there.. That goes as well for any of you guys out hunting today !! Any and every bird will count now as this contest gets moving along.. We will show the others how it is done!!!

Well it was a beautiful morning to be in the spring turkey woods. I heard several turkey gobble all around me. I got set up on a group of turkeys right after fly down. I set up and called and they would respond. I could hear hens and I think there was three toms. I was probably about 120 yards from them, they were on a knoll and I was just below them. Suddenly two packs of coyotes started howling and they were really close. Every one of those toms started gobbling like crazy. The coyotes were so close I thought that they would run the turkeys over me but I never saw them. I heard gobbles through out the morning but they didn't want anything to do with my calling. It was still just a wonderful morning to be out in Gods creation!

I am sorry to hear they would not come in for you swambuster.. But, I am glad to hear that you had heard some. That almost always gets you blood pumping knowing you are near them. Yes, those dam coyotes are a pain. Last year a guy was setting his decoys out and a coyote ran up and bit his hand as he was letting go of the decoy. Then it ran off with a turkey shot in his but.. They guessed that the coyote never saw the guy and went after his decoy..

Last year I set up on a hill and the turkeys stayed at the bottom go figure..( same place a bear got into my blind and i had to sew it back up ) But where I was it was all open with a pile of large rocks I snucked over to for cover. I got my biggest bird of last year by doing that. There was 2 toms there and when 1 of them stuck his head up and looked at me I blasted it.. Anyways enough out of me and hoping you have better luck next time out there..

I am planning going back to the same area, might try to get set up on that knoll. I think that might be one of there strut zones. Hopefully it will be a great Easter morning hunt before church.

I hope you have some great luck this morning and Happy Easter Sunday!

Turkeys were not gobbling very well this morning. I had a hard time getting on them, they would gobble and then go silent for thirty minutes or so and gobble again several hundred yards away. Never really got close to any turkeys.

Happy Easter to every one!!!!

I know what you mean when they do that.. I had it happen to me more than once a year.. Hopefully they will come back to where they were. The place I hunt some times they would come back the next day and other time 3 or 4 days later before they show up again.. One never knows for sure what they are going tod.. I guess that is why we call it hunting.. I also found over calling will scare them away at times.. Good luck on your next outing..

I think they are henned up pretty good right now. Our spring is about three weeks to a month behind.

Ours is around a month behind up here as well. The snow pack has just about left us now with only a few areas in the woods holding the snow. I am hoping the green grass will have started during that first week of our season to help draw the hens out.. I did see 5 turkeys on the way home from work today going threw a field here in town..

How is everyone else doing with there season?

I am hoping they will Chime in and give us some sort of update.. I am wondering the same thing..

Will get to hunt some more the end of the week. My nephew and I have a 3 day drawing hunt that we'll hunt some of. I had said I would not hunt this weekend and the weather has been horrible so that made the sting less.

I have 1 more NC tag and a couple of out of state tags that I hope to fill end of April/beginning of May.

Good luck to you and your nephew blackheel hopefully y'all would be able to double up on some birds.

I hope you do as well blackheel!

I hope everyone has some success to share with us.. Even if you do not have any success come in and pull up a chair and lend an ear we are all interested in how the turkeys are acting. We are all in this together and would really like to hear from everyone.. Now if anyone gets fortunate enough to blast another bird!! That will put even more pressure on me to get it done.. Beleive me I will be wanting to add to the team score as well.

Ok guys I am getting itchy fingered now!! Exactly 1 week from today and my turn comes up!! I can hardly wait for that special moment to be out in the turkey woods trying to call one in. I have opening week off for a vacation and will be hunting hard! I am planning on scouting tomorrow morning and taking my blind up to where I plan on hunting for that longbeard.. I will be only dropping my blind off and not setting it up until I am ready to start hunting.. After all I do not want to have another bear find it's way into it if I can help it any..

Well I gave in a shot a jake this weekend. 3 came in and was tearing up my new decoys lol. One had a double 5 inch beards but I let it walk hoping to get a shot next year. The one I took was 14 lbs 4.5 inch beard and 1/2 inch spurs for a score of 33. I'll try to get pics up maybe later today

I did find a little time to run 3 hours to Miami, OK for a little spoonbill snaggin. They weren't runing either but I'll try to get a pic up of the little male I snagged

Congrats kellyguinn sounds like a great hunt and encounter!!

Congrats kellyquinn! That still will count and if you happen to get a bigger one along the line it will replace it.. But, it will still go with the number of birds taken either way.. That makes it a win/ win situation.. Congrats again..

How is everyone else doing out there??

Plan on going back out tomorrow. It is suppose to rain and storm tonight but clear off in the morning and the lows will be mid to high50s. Don't know how the turkeys will respond, but you can't kill them at work.

Good luck!! Up here I normally see turkeys coming out during and right after a rain.. So hopefull with some luck they will come around...

Kellyquinn if you can get some pictures up and a little info like the state it was shot in the day and time as well as weapon of choice I can get that turkey posted up for us..

I decided to take a drive this morning and take my blind up with me to stash in the woods near the area I will be hunting in.. I can hardly wait now for the 6 more days to get here.. It has been a long wait for me as well as others that are still waiting for their turn to give them a try.. I will let you know if any signs of them are there.. Good luck everyone that is out hunting right now!!

Hey all....I hope everyone had a great Easter!
Congrats on the great birds taken so far. it is great to hear we are in 2nd place...that is awesome!
I'm finally going to be able to get out there this weekend so wish me luck. Going scouting on thurs afternoon/evening to hopefully find a good spot for sat morning.
hopefully I will come back with good news...

Dano

I got one this morning. I will send pics and details to you Phil when I get home. It was a great hunt and a beautiful morning!!

That is great news... Congrats again!

I did some scouting today and saw 7 different groups/flocks of turkeys as well I wish it was hunting season today as I have a feeling I could of filled both tags.. It was a great day of scouting as well.. I made a small posts with 3 pistures in it.. Hope you all check it out..

Congrats!!!

My little one was Shot in Oklahoma with shotgun
Rio
14lbs
4.5 " beard
1/2" spurs
18 april 2014
0700

I was huntin by myself so the pic isn't that great. Headed back out Thursday so hopefully can find a better one

I flipped your picture up and posted it with your score kellyquinn.. Congrats on a job well done!!


Good Luck everyone out hunting! I missed your post somehow Dano! I wish you the best of luck out there as well as everyone!

We can still take this contest! Mine turn starts this coming Monday.. It will be a long first day of hunting as I will be working nights Sunday night.. Oh well I will have my blind to take a nap in if I feel I need to.. LOL I have a very itchy trigger finger right now! I did post a few birds I saw today while taking my blind up where I will soon be hunting.. We will get it done guys so keep at em!!

We are doing quite well with 5 hunters getting birds! Congrats guys!! I hope we can improve it as the other teams will be as well.. The main thing is to enjoy your hunting!!

I went to the same area I have been hunting this year. I heard a group gobbling and they were a ways off so I headed straight to them at a fast pace. This part of the national Forrest was burned off so I could move fast and not make any sound. I was getting closer and I could tell that two were going straight ahead and one was heading to the top of the mountain. At first I went after the two, but they flew across a deep creek and decided to head up the mountain. I could hear this turkey hammering up there. I got as close as I dare set up and started calling. Once he responded I shut up. He just stayed there and gobbled his brains out. I decided to move on him and get above him. As I was going around the back side he decided to move towards my original position. I put my decoy out and started calling he answered and he was very close 60yards or so. There was a little knob in front of me and I could not see him. He would gobble and gobble and gobble some more but wouldn't move. I would call about every twenty gobbles or so. He did that for about twenty plus minutes or longer. At this point my arms and legs are going numb. He gobbles again and I could tell that he had moved twenty yards down the hill, and the whole thing starts again. He would gobble but not move, he was waiting for me to come to him. He finally sounded like he was getting a little closer and I turned away from him and yelped and cut hard. Next thing I see his head popping up the hill. He got to thirty yards and stuck his head up( the woods were so open I didn't want to take the chance of him seeing me) so
I shot him. I walked up to him said a prayer thanking The Lord for this moment.
James 1:17 For every good and perfect gift comes from above.

Sounds like a quite a bit of work trying to get him to come in.. Keeping at him had paid off.. Nice job! Congrats on another bird for our team!!

Here is Swampbuster's number 2 bird!! Way to go my friend !! I am not sure about the spurs.. I am guessing 7/8 inches for now.. anything different let me know.. I am using your home state as...

This what I have for a score on this one.. Your score is 18.625 + 8.75 + 8.75 + 19 = 55.125

Alright guys!!
We are doing great right now with 6 birds and 5 hunter filling their tags!! Way to go guys..

I am hoping to have one for us as well next week!! I can hardly wait and I scouted some out today that I hope will hang around there come Monday!! Anyway guys good luck and safe hunting!!