Good luck to you this weekend Zim. We definately could use a couple of birds added to our score.

Good luck team members still out there. This is the last weekend in MO and Jr has a tag left. Birds haven't been saying much so he might
get his first taste of tag soup at the ripe ole age of 11. My trip to NE fell through so I guess it's time to put the shotgun away and start counting the days until bow season.

I had unplanned emergency surgery today... but ill be getting another bird this month!

It's over in MO. DTC Jr couldn't get on a bird to fill his 2nd tag. We hunted hard the last 2 days and never heard a gobble. He told me today he would shoot a jake if he got a chance, I knew then he was desperate because he has passed several jakes over his short hunting career. At 1:45 I looked out the window and saw 5 jakes.lol I guess that's some 2 year olds to chase next year. Good luck to those still hunting.

Hen pecked!

Hunted hard two days Sat/Sun and was in birds both days. 7 Sat, 5 Sun.......several in range........ALL HENS! Just seen 2 jakes come out of a far woodlot to those hens. What crazy bad luck. Timber behind me both days had the most gobbling that I have heard anywhere anytime, but none came out to my calls/dekes.

I have 2 three day weekends remaining, both at my best WI public land which I know well and have multiple field options. Still expect to take two toms with these 2 tags. Weather forecast looking great for this weekend.

Right now a jake would be in real danger if he crossed paths with me! The last 2 years I harvested birds on the last day of the last Wisconsin season.

"When there's lead in the air, there's always hope."

Back at it again for 3 days in Wisconsin zone 2 . Weather finally cleared out. Looks perfect all 3 days.

Had some close chances last week but they never panned out. Did have about 7 jakes in at about 10 yards but a shot would've taken 5 of em out. So today is perfect weather but its my daughters high school graduation party so today is out. But tomorrow graduation is at 2 so the morning is mine. Anything in range is gonna get it cause I'm tired of comin home empty handed.

Jeez took my 4th weekend trip before getting first legal bird in gun range. Passed on a jake at 30 yards. Sort of skirted my decoys. Got a great setup for the morning hunt. This sandy dusting field loaded with fresh tracks!

What the .... is going on? Only heard a couple gobbles this morning on a perfectly calm, hear for miles set-up. Had 3 hens right at sunrise come into my decoys at 15 yards. They milled around the field for nearly an hour before leaving. And not 1 red head followed them. That was all I seen. From last weekend to this weekend is just totally night and day with the amount of birds.

They were gobbling their heads off by me, but nothing showed in our field. Hunted 5am to 11 am. Relocated blind and will try a new field they have been passing through regularly. Great weather.

One stinkin Jake at 35 yards for almost an hour. Let him walk since I have 2 more weekends to look for another Tom.

Slammer afternoon hunt. Repositioned blind. Hunted from 3 PM to 8 PM. Nonstop action. 6 hens, 5 mature gobblers. 3 of the hens came right in to my decoys. The toms came one at a time, 2 got within 60 yards, 3 came within 50. The last one locked up on my decoys for 45 minutes and only left 10 minutes before sunset. He would not come closer than 52 yards. I am not comfortable at that yardage so I passed. I repositioned our blind to the favored travel lanes and set decoy 25 yards back of where I expect toms to come from. So if one won't come closer than 60 yards, he'll still be in my range. Toms were gobbling all over all evening up to sunset. Looking forward to an electric last morning.

Bet you guys are tired of hearing about my unproductive hunts! Haha. Well that ended at 8:30 am this morning. Put the hammer down on a nice mature double bearded Tom. Took some sleuth work as these over pressured toms kept eyeballing my decoys and avoiding them by 60-70 yards. So I set only one up today, with my blind between the timber edge and the deke. Two mature toms and a jake once again showed and tried to skirt my deke, but I cut one off at 43 yards. Photos and measurements to follow. :)

About time, huh? Will be back at it next weekend. I expect to take another one at this dependable honey hole. One tag left.

Sweet deal Zim! Cant wait to see the pics

Good going Zim. Hurry up and send the pic and measurements. Sounds like a nice bird and a great hunt.

Wisconsin public land has been very good to me! Got his numbers posted on score thread. He was my heaviest bird ever at 25 1/2#. I thought he felt big while toting him back to jeep. Now I know why I previously had always limited my shots to 30 yards.......He got a lot of shot in the breast. :( 43 Yards is too far for me.

The rules look like they state to post photos of spurs & beards but I don't see where anyone does that. I posted all of mine just in case.

Supposed to get very hot next weekend mid 80's, but I'm planning on returning to fill my 6th season tag. Season ends May 27th. I love southern Wisconsin.

Geez ZIM, I wonder what that bird would have weighed if you had let him grow up, LOL! Good going! My season has sucked over here and I'm going to have to try real hard in the last ten days not to eat tag soup this year! Did your bird make any noise or come in silent? The birds over here have been ridiculously quiet this season with all the lousy weather we're having.

Topgun,

Good thing I like a challenge, because these late season toms are sooooo wary decoys have actually become a liability. We had many hens come right in on the Zink Avians, but ALL the toms locked up on them, then after 10-15 minutes altered their routes into cover to stay ~50-70 yards away. Even when I did not call. This was not simply coincidence. 8 out of 8 displayed this behavior. In fact Sunday/Monday took the cake. Never had 3 toms, all eyeballing my deke together, without racing each other to get there first. Not this time!

I feel it's gotten to the point where I have no chance for a close head shot unless I go without any decoys. I know where they love to hang out. Seen those 8 in 8 hours in an area about 300 yards x 45 yards. I know I can just stick my blind up there and one will just wander in for a 30 yard or less shot. I may try the jake mounting the hen setup for the hell of it, but otherwise no dekes anymore.

As for gobbling, it has really been hit and miss. Sunday evening they were going nuts all over the timber every direction, up to sunset 8 PM! The following Monday morning the weather was once again gorgeous, but virtually no gobbling anywhere! Mine came in totally silent along with his two buddies. I do believe one of them had gobbled once about a half hour earlier. Overall the gobbling this season has been good. One odd thing though, is I never had any gobblers strut at any of my Zink Avians the entire season, at any of the 3 properties I hunted. One partially fanned twice for just seconds, if you count that, before he moved directly away from me.

Never seen such defensive behavior before. I did observe definitely more hunters this year than last few.

Awesome bird. That's one reason why I very rarely use decoys. Now go get another one.

Guys, I did some averaging. We have killed some really nice birds this season. We may not win this thing, but I think we'll end up doing pretty good. Our best bird per hunter average is 70.720 for 6 birds. That's pretty dang good. Our total average for 14 birds is 65.077. That's also pretty dang good. Congrats to everyone who has taken a bird or birds. Who all is still hunting?

I'm still in it til the 31st

Hmmm. Well thanks to a 5 beard scoring 132 by team 5, we'll need to pull a rabbit out of our hat. Someone will need an 80"er.

Awesome job Zim that a nice turk.

We're counting on Mottz getting a 100" bird.:wink:

Go Mottz go! The weight of the the turkey universe rests firmly on your shoulders. Best hunt 24/7 and don't put the hammer down unless you spot multiple beards! And make sure to wipe out your binocular lenses!

I know you won't disappoint the entire team. We have supreme confidence in you!

Sure guys, leave it all on me:action-smiley-099: I'll try my hardest! I'm even considering going the no decoy approach. I need something to happen. Has anyone heard from the missing members? Arjuna, phish, swafford or buckstalker?

I have 2 more trips planned

I haven't heard a peep from them in a while. I wish they would at least check in and tell us how their seasons went. I'm sure they all went turkey hunting a time or two.

Mottz, Quit diverting attention to inactive hunters, and posting on this thread. You could have spent that time turkey hunting! Now get out there are slay a beast. We're all waiting patiently.

ok... Made it up to my cousins house in Nebraska for an extended weekend (the NE/KS border).

On my way back out to do some fishing but wanted to contribute something from this morning.........

Eastern (NE)
22 pounds
Spurs - EACH 1.25 inches
Beard #1... couldn't lay it out flat with one hand but I'll call it 10.5"
Beard #2 .... 4"

Great bird Donnie. He scores 76.

That brings our total score at 987.087
Best bird per hunter still at 424.325

Just downed my second big Tom at 4:55 pm. Nothing seen all day due to hobby farmer plowing up to the public property line all day! He could have gone faster with a mule instead of grandpas beater! Anyway he finally rolls up at 4 pm, and 30 minutes later a Tom shows. Then another 25 minutes and another one walks right out of the timber from behind my blind. 20 yards. No BBs in this one's breast meat! Hunt ovaaaaa!

Good going Zim, but what about the measurements?

Will fill out tomorrow. He's not as big as first one. About 22#, 10" beard.

Hey Zim when are you going to let your team score your last bird??

Jeep broke down in Beloit before I could return home. $800 so far and it's still in shop, overnight. I'm in a hotel. Got my hands full.

I am very sorry to hear that Zim... No one needs that kind of luck..

OK finally got home and entered my $800 turkey in the scoring thread. My season is officially ova. Hopefully the 1st or 2nd place prize money will offset some of my expenses. Now time to get serious working out for September archery elk hunt in either Oregon or Colorado, depending on draw results.

Great job Zim. You kick some butt this year.