Yep it looks like its up to yall lol. Down to the wire

NO PRESSURE AT ALL!!!

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There is no pressure to listen to the wood thrushes and orioles sing as the woods awaken...

There is only anxious energy as I slowly raise my gun to settle the crosshairs of my red dot scope squarely on a gobbling longbeard's neck...

Got my pa bird this morning. Should score in the 70s. I'll get it up tonight.
-JaKe

Boom!!! Congrats. 70s is one heck of a bird. Ya know we will need a story with it as well ;)

Sweeeet...that should keep us in the lead, even with Arrow's best bird!

When I connect it will seal the deal...

S&R

Oh ya!!! Love the sound of that!!! Congrats Jake!!!

Nice bird, Eric! And way to go, Jake!

Sorry I wasn't able to connect...getting shut out stinks! I would have liked to have gotten out more, but had plenty of decent chances, just always something that kept the connection from happening. I did get to be behind the call (using one of Eric's, firelt72, copper calls for part of it) on one kill, but that didn't help the team out.

Good luck to anyone still hunting! It was a fun season for me even if I didn't get a bird down...if time and funds allowed, I would head to another state to try and bag a bird...just signed a contract on a new house, though...so there went the funds, and my daughters are getting my time now!

Congrats Bocajnala!!!!! Looking forward to pics and story.

Ok, I'll get a story up and better pictures tomorrow. Trying to do this from a phone... score is

Eastern Turkey
21 lbs 6 oz
1 3/8" spurs for both
11 3/8" beard...

Total is : 71.625.

It was an awesome hunt, I'll write up a good story for it when I get to a normal computer.
-JaKe

Hey Jake - is that a NEF 10 ga leaning against the tree?

Arrows best bird 'only' scored 57 - we're alone in the lead boys!

It's a H&R Model 176. It's a beast and holds a nice pattern farther than I'm even comfortable shooting under hunting conditions. It dropped this bird at 46 yards and it never even flopped, just folded up and laid there. Was stone dead by the time I ran over to it, and I did run, I'm always afraid of losing one.

So I hunted tuesday morning, but the wife had plans for me at nine so I had to be out of the woods by 8 to be home by 830. On tuesday I had a hen out in front of me for a while, and got to listen to her talk. It was a good learning experience, as this is my first year calling myself. I didn't hear or see any gobblers though. On Wednesday morning I headed back to the same area that I saw the hen, but set up a little farther down the field edge near where she spent most of her time. Again, she was out in the field, and again I watched her for about forty minutes. After she left I decided I'd move to a different area of the property. I also wanted to set out a game camera on the way there.

So, I headed across the property, set up my camera and headed over to where my second set up would be. I set my decoy out, and started to call. Immediately I heard a gobble, which is the first gobble I've heard all spring. The bird was at the far corner of the field, and below my line of sight, but I kept calling and he kept gobbling and I could tell he was coming my way. I was a little exposed where I was sitting for the direction he was coming from, so I laid down prone in the grass, so just that long barrel end was sticking out into the field... I really didn't want to shoot that ten gauge from that position, but figured it would hide me better.

I saw the turkey in full strut working towards me, then I heard another gobble from my right. I looked up the hill, and perfectly outlined against the blue sky at the top of the field was three red heads. I called a little more, and they started a quick approach to me. Stopping to strut a few times. Every time they stopped, I'd hit the call and they'd start running again.

They hung up at what I thought was about 40 yards, and I decided if any of them started to leave, I'd take a shot at the closest one. The rear bird turned and started heading over towards the first tom that I had seen, so I shot, jumped up, and started running towards the bird. But he was down. Never even flopped. Paced it off at 46 yards. I shot him right about 830 am.

I had an absolute blast. And for my first real year of hunting turkeys, I think I'm addicted. I don't know much about turkeys, but I know he was a nice one. And I think scoring over 70 makes him a pretty good bird.

Extra bonus because it might help us to win this contest!
-Jake

Great story and hunt!! I have been hunting turkeys for about 10 years or so with maybe 1 year about 10 years before I really started hunting them hard and I have only taken 1 over 70 pts and I have that one mounted lol. Be very proud as that is a great bird.

WTG Bocajnala!!!

Bibleman I am thrilled the call has been used to remove some of the most dangerous animals on the planet- those spurs can cause a mean infection I am sure!

Nice score! 71 at this point in the contest is huge.


I hunted the last two days but had to switch to plan B my swamp spot where nobody else goes. Saw 14 jakes, 2 hens & 1 tom but too far. 3 of the jakes strolled to within 8' of my Ghost Blind. They came in from my calling to the mature tom, who was 80 yards from me. Worst part was both mornings I tripped and fell in ankle deep swamp water. :( Was soaked but hunted anyway. I'm goin early next time so as not to rush. Also found a different drier entry route. I have patterned these birds including the tom, so expect to get on him when I return Wed/Thurs/Fri. Rain is supposed to end. Still got 2 tags until May 30th. I intend to hunt both weekends & weekdays to the end but just good weather days.

When does the contest end?

Sounds like you got a good plan Zim. Hopefully the tom cooperates.
-Jake

Great hunt Boca!!!!! I'm with you. I'm relatively new to turkey hunting. I have yet to kill a mature bird. I have shot a few jakes, probably 6 or 7 and my biggest one was this year. Last year with my grandson in youth season, he missed 2 huge gobblers at point blank range. So, I've had some up close and personal experiences with some big boys, just not when it was my turn. A few seasons back I did kill a bearded hen. She had like a 6 inch beard, That was pretty cool. Had her mounted.

I believe it officially ends on June 3, the last day of Maine's Spring season.

99.9% of the scores will likely be posted by June 1, because May 31 is the last day for most of the states still open...

Big bird down!
 

Fat lady is singing our song boys!

I tagged out about 4:30 this afternoon. Heavy 2yr old with a paint brush, should score around 60.

I'll post story and pics later. Somebody go talk some smack!

Nice job, saw your score post! I'll be out a little next week with one more Ohio tag, but I highly doubt I'll top that PA bird. Nice job!
-Jake

For most of this season I've been hunting a relatively large piece of wooded hillside in SW Michigan. In March, the landowner (who doesn't hurt turkeys) counted 8 longbeards, 10 jakes and 30+ hens next to his feeder. My son rolled a big bird in April, unfortunately the 46 yards were too much for his 20ga and the bird got away.

I've passed up at least 3 shots in the past few weeks, my most recent on Monday. Yesterday I pushed a few strutters out of their strut zone, and then we played yoyo for about an hour. I had to leave at prime time (~9am), and then came back yesterday afternoon and proceeded to bump 3 different longbeards from the same strut zone. I went back this morning, where the woods were quiet until about 7:30. I struck up a gobble, did a quick move, and at 9am had two big strutters at 60 yards. Unfortunately I had set up against a blow down with no deke, and the birds hung up and worked themselves around me. I came home to do yardwork, my plan was to head back tonight about 4:30 for an evening hunt.

At ~3:30 my neighbor texts, "Turkeys in field". I asked 'Beards?" He responds, "at least 2". "I'll be right over!"

I literally walk across the street and we talk for a few minutes. He tells me where the birds entered the field and the direction they headed, and that through his binos he could see there were 2 gobblers and 2 hens. He has 10 acres of property, 9.5 of field that he tells me was freshly planted with corn, the birds are working the field for food.

He has absolutely no hedgerow, so head out from his house and work myself down the side. Even though he has no hedgerow for me to work, the neighbors run their woods to the property line, so I'm well concealed when I'm non my knees. I get 25 yards and see a periscope a good 200 yards away, so I drop my strut seat and go prone - I realize I can't see the birds - which means they can't see me. I start to belly crawl...

I get 10 yards and drop my vest. Another 5 and there goes the thermocell. The hen periscope goes down and I see a fan pop up, about 250 yards away in a little dip in the field. His buddy is another 30-40 yards further away, half-strut but mostly working the field for bugs/food. An hour earlier it poured, so the field edge was nice and moist, and there was a stiff 15mph wind right in my face. The birds couldn't hear or see me, so I decided to keep belly crawling until I was within 75 yards, at which point the hill crests and I'll be blown.

I managed to cover the ground pretty quickly, and after reaching my destination pushed it 10 yards further. I let out a series of soft clucks and the non-strutter started his way over, drawing the strutter with him. They worked 25-30 yards towards me and then turned towards the woods, at this point about 25 yards from the trees. The strutter separates himself from the other tom, giving me my chance. The gun and red dot already centered on his head, I let out a loud cluck - he responds on cue, comes out of strut and I drop the hammer. The Longbeard XR dropped him like a stone at 51 steps.

Great hunt and my MI season is over. I hunted those woods for 9-10 days with lots of close calls - I hunted my neighbor's field for literally about 45 mins and filled my tag. It's why you gotta love Spring turkey hunting - you literally never know when it's gonna come together...




For May 20 he was still a pretty big bruiser weighing in at 21.2 pounds. The longest strand of his paintbrush was 9.5, left spur 7/8 right spur 1.0. NWTF score was just shy of 60 at 58.9...

Zim and Jake, good luck on your other tags!

BTW, the 9-12 plan sounds smart - mid morning gobbling has really picked up the last few days in SW Michigan, lots of toms searching for ladies by 8:30ish...

I also want to say great job everyone!

This may be the most successful team I've been on or seen on this site. We're sitting at an 82% success rate, 9/11 of us bagged bearded birds. That, boys, is absolutely phenomenal.

I don't personally recall seeing that level of team success ever on HN. Perhaps Arrow or JW can comment if there's been a more successful team in the past...

Congrats Strut!!!!! Great story and great bird.

A pleasure
 

Guys
Had a great season, and being on a Team like the Rejects made it sweeter. Ended the season with a tag in my vest but 2 longbeards in the freezer. Not a big deal, the sanity and serenity I get in the Carolina woods every spring is my best reward. I've been doing this contest for about the last 6 years, and this might be my first on a winning team. Hope you all have a blessed year and your gun always goes boom instead of click. And for those of you who still have tags knock 'em down.
Dan Mickelson

Thanks for the congrats y'all.

Superstrutter updated the scores - we're up by 65.7 points. This is going to be really tight if SwampSlayer ever posts his scores for Team 1...

S&R

Congrats Strut&Rut. Great job on widening the gap. Team 1 still has a couple folks hunting so we are not in the clear yet. It well for sure be a close contest which is what makes this fun

Very nice job to all! Some good birds being knocked down! Jake, that bird is seriously a bird of a lifetime! Congrats!

If you plan to do a mount, check your freezer to make sure it's working! I killed a bird that scored 76.75 several years ago, and had plans to mount it. I breasted it out, put it in the freezer and wasn't in that deep freeze for almost a month...when a smell that would knock down a buzzard started coming from it! Obviously, my bird was gone. That bird to be mounted, and about 100 pounds of elk meat wasted...terrible day.

Anyway, some really nice birds have been taken by some really nice folks. Glad to be a part of the team, even though I didn't get to kill a bird for myself this year. Next year, since we'll all be on the same team after winning this year, I'll plan to produce!

I still expect my score will bump up this week. I got a big public tom patterned very well. Just hoping nobody else slips in on my spot. I did see some boot prints last time there, but weather has been horrible. I plan to hit this spot hard Wed/Th/Fri before the last weekend warriors get a chance.

My target tom showed up this morning but headed straight out into the field instead of his usual tree line route. This afternoon I'll set up my Ghost Blind where he came out. Maybe he will head for the same roost this evening.

Good Luck ZIM!!!

Good luck Zim, whack that longspur!

Thank you, I'm pretty new to this turkey hunting stuff, but after I shot it I called my dad up and said " I think I shot a big one, I don't know how big, but probably like shooting a 14pt buck" lol. No mount for me, took some pictures, and got the meat in the freezer. I did save the beard and spurs though. I knew it was a nice one when it started working it's way in. Thankfully it gave me a good shot opportunity.


Good luck Zim!
-Jake

Congrats to everyone that killed a bird or even had the opportunity to hunt. Always look forward to spring turkey season and the contest. It would be great to win this contest just so I could rub it in to my son (DTC Jr) It's been another memorable year for us with some ups and downs. Looking forward to next spring chasing easterns in MO, I get to hunt rios in TX which I haven't done in several years. I also hope to draw that goulds tag in AZ to complete my Royal Slam. I will have 10 points going into the draw so hoping this is my year. Congrats again and good luck to those still hunting!

No luck this week. I'm done. Great season ya'll.
-Jake

Guiding for my wife on her first ever hunt tomorrow morning. I hope the birds cooperate!

Strategy worked this morning at 9 AM and I got us ~10 points insurance. I actually got there early and set up my Ghost Blind at 4:30 AM where they have been roosting lately. However, the gobbling was far deeper in the timber. But I stayed there until the gobbling seemed to be moving more to my south, so at 8:30 AM I picked up and relocated closer by about 200 yards. That proved to be key. Three mature toms peeked out of the wood line to my left and cautiously moved out into the cut corn field. I had a while to look them over and chose the third one, as he seemed a bit larger. Shot at 40 yards - 23.75#, 10" beard, 1 1/16 spurs = 65.00. Tail feathers and beard were soaked from the rain so he ain't so pretty.


I'm so glad to be done with the mosquito infested swamp. I got poison ivy on both arms. :( Every step walking the trail my boot felt like it would be sucked off my foot. But this is where I was seeing the tom action. Weekend warriors wanted nothing to do with this poison ivy and mosquito nightmare swamp. Instead they pounded my plan A upland piney woods spot so I had to look elsewhere. These guys basically exterminated all the toms in the pines. That was a newly added public section that was great for the first 2 years. Then the warriors found it. On my first hunt there this year a group of four of them all came together! That was the writing on the wall.


I'm definitely going to have to be more careful next year if I return to this area.

Nice job ZIm, sounds like a great hunt!
-Jake