**Another Down - 5/20** Let the air out of one this morning.....
 

Got a bit lucky this morning.....[8D]

My dad and I always hunt together for PA's opening day. His birthday is the 29th of April so we always try to get together for the weekend to turkey hunt and relax, it's one of the few times we have time to sit next to each other and hunt like we used to when I was a kid.

This morning we met up at 5:15am, and hiked to our listening spot to hopefully hear birds. As luck would have it, one of the most popular roosting spots on the property had 2x birds gobbling back and forth by 5:30. They quieted down as we hiked in, and little did I know until after we sat down, but they were only 50 yards away from where we sat. A few minutes after sitting down one gobbled again and when I looked up I could actually see both of them. The two gobbled back and forth probably 100 times and flew down in the perfectly wrong direction and headed away from us, couldn't be coaxed to come our way.

After this encounter we decided to get up and head to another well known strutting area on the property in a somewhat secluded patch of field. We setup the blind and 3x decoys and just as I was setting up the decoys I heard one sound off a good 300+ yards away on the other side of a stream on property that wasn't ours. I didn't think he would come in the whole way but figured we would give it a shot. I had a buckwing breeding pair, single hen, and single jake decoys setup from 5-15 yards in front of the blind. Sure enough, he started closing the distance and I could hear him headed our way. I called sparingly just to hear if he was still headed our way and he responded 5-6 times over about 45 minutes or so. Finally his last response was only about 125 yards or so, and he hung up a bit, instead of the heated yelps and cutts, I decided to hit him with some gentle clucking and purring on the slate, only a few minutes later I saw the head appear about 80 yards or so and then I shut up and let the decoys do their magic. He came in on a string and covered 50 yards towards us in less than 30 seconds. At 35 yards he stopped, went to full strut, double gobbled, and then went on a beeline straight towards my jake decoy ready for a fight. I let him get to about 15 yards or so, drew back the bow, and let one fly. My arrow proceeded to hit the side of the blind, open up (rage 2 blade), and still head towards and hit the bird pretty good..........lol. We couldn't believe it, he made it to about 30 yards out and I told my dad to anchor him with the Mossberg, and he sent a load of #5's the birds way to put him down for the count.

So I am not sure if I should call this my first bow bird, or my bird, or our bird, but here he is nonetheless. To be honest we both got a piece of him and it is the most memorable hunt we have had together to this day. I have called in and killed probably 6-7 birds between 18-19lbs as well as countless jakes but haven't been able to get one over 20lbs until today. He is my biggest bird to date, as well as my first with a bow, so I am quite proud.

We had 8 seperate birds gobbling and responding to us today in 2x different setups and managed to hear well over 100 gobbles total for the morning. I still have 2x tags for NY and one more for PA with several days ahead of me off for hunting, hopefully I will have another thread like this one to share before the weeks over.

What a beautiful day in the woods with my Dad...........

22.5lbs
10.5" beard
1 1/8" right side - 1 1/4 left side

RE: Let the air out of one this morning.....
 

And one more of my Dad with the bird..........

RE: Let the air out of one this morning.....
 

Great story -thanks for sharing. I did the same thing about two weeks ago. After putting a NAP spitfire right through a gobbler at 16 yards, and thinking he was going to be DRT; he got himself going and started motoring off to the right. Tried to shoot him again - the double bull blind waspinched down on the sides and there wasn't enough width to allow the arrow to passabove - arrow hit about and inch below thebottomof the opening. And mine didn't make it to the turkey. It tumbled end over end.

RE: Let the air out of one this morning.....
 

Congrats Rick
I'm glad to hear you had a great time with your Dad and you got a nice bird as well.

RE: Let the air out of one this morning.....
 

I don't know many things better than spending time with my dad ,,,,, Congrats to you guys Matt!:)

RE: Let the air out of one this morning.....
 

Thanks guys, here is one more cool pic, never had one that did this before........

RE: Let the air out of one this morning.....
 

Awesome bird Rick, and great story. Congrats!

RE: Let the air out of one this morning.....
 

Congrats to the two of you! Sounds Like a picture perfect day!

RE: Let the air out of one this morning.....
 

Congrats man! Its always nice to spend some time in the woods with the pops every now and then.

I do have do say, what happened to you? Did you get an makeover? You look like much more of a chick magnet in your avatar! [8D];)

RE: Let the air out of one this morning.....
 

A limbhanger for sure.....Nicely done, sir...Nicely done!

RE: Let the air out of one this morning.....
 

Congrats. That's a great bird. Not a bad way to break in the new Martin.

RE: Let the air out of one this morning.....
 

congrats nice bird






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RE: Let the air out of one this morning.....
 

Congrats on a great hunt!

RE: Let the air out of one this morning.....
 

Hey buddy, nice shootin. Beautiful bird. You going to mount it?

Shane

RE: Let the air out of one this morning.....
 

Atta' boy, very well done!!!

RE: Let the air out of one this morning.....
 

Congratulations! Sharing a hunt with your father is as good as it gets! Nice bird!

RE: Let the air out of one this morning.....
 

Congrats on the great bird RJ [8D]

RE: Let the air out of one this morning.....
 

Matt (RJ), Matt/PA is sitting here calling you names...LOL[8D] Because he's birdless after reading your thread and said go ahead and tell him congrats from us....(with a slight bit of jealousy);) We're headed back out tomorrow and looking forward to your phone call tomorrow evening...

Fantastic Job.

RE: Let the air out of one this morning.....
 

awsome job and story

RE: Let the air out of one this morning.....
 

Great job Matt (That is your name, Right:eek:) Glad to see you made it over the 20lb mark finnaly, I remember you stating that in my bird post, about not exceeding that 20lb mark. Limb hangar is right, great pics, congrats.

RE: Let the air out of one this morning.....
 

wownice bird

RE: Let the air out of one this morning.....
 

Great work, sounds like you had one heck of a morning with your father.

RE: Let the air out of one this morning.....
 

Thanks so much guys, I really appreciate it........he is quite a bird and it was a really great hunt, I am fortunate to have had the chance to take him with a bow and to have had my Dad next to me when it went down.

I am headed back to PA here in a couple hours when I am done running some errands so hopefully I will have another by weeks end.

~Matt

RE: Let the air out of one this morning.....
 

Congrats, RJ.....GREAT bird.

RE: Let the air out of one this morning.....
 

way to go.

RE: Let the air out of one this morning.....
 

That is a great story and in my opinion totally awesome that your dad and you both got the bird. There is nothing I enjoy more about hunting than hanging out with the old man. It just makes it all that much better. Heck, I get as excited when he getssomething as when I do, and I am sure the opposite is also true. Congratulations to you and your dad.

RE: Let the air out of one this morning.....
 

Nice turkey,very nice turkey.

RE: Let the air out of one this morning.....
 

way to go matt and matt's dad!

RE: Let the air out of one this morning.....
 

Very nice. Congrats on a fine bird and a fine fine hunt.

RE: **Update - Done in PA** Let the air out of one this morning.....
 

Well he isn't huge, and he isn't a bowkill, but he and his buddies sure did put on a good show for me this morning.

Yesterday I didn't see or hear a turkey till 3pm or so when a thunderstorm started rolling in. I was outside spraying my soon to be food plots with herbicide, and as thunder would rumble, all of a sudden our one neighbors side hill would erupt in gobbles from multiple birds at every thunderclap. I knew they wouldn't go far in the rain and would probably roost there, so this morning I headed that direction. This morning I brought both the gun and bow to the blind and setup a few decoys. My thought was to bow hunt the blind, but if they wouldn't come off the side hill then go to them and run and gun. Well sure thing this morning they were roosted on the sidehill, and I called and called to them until about 7:30 with lots of responses, but without getting any of them to commit to closing the distance.

I finally decided to hang the bow up in the blind and grab the gun and head towards the birds. I got to the top of the sidehill and across the meadow on the other side I could see the birds, a good 400+ yards away in the woods. I belly crawled to the edge of the field and stuck a single hen decoy out there just 5 yards into the field or so and then headed into the woods about 15 yards back. Once I got settled, I let out a series of yelps and excited cutts on my trusty Deadly Double dual frame mouth call, and all 5 of the birds on the other side of the field sounded off in response. They started my way quickly, and skirted the edge of the field to a single point and then broke out across the field on a bee line to my decoy. They could obviously see it so I just shut up and let them come. 50 yards out they stopped, all gobbled 2-3 times each, 2 of them started chasing each other, and then the rest of them headed my way. They came in a group so tight I had to let 2x of them actually start trying to mount my decoy before they broke up enough to give me a clear shot at a single bird. I took the fattest looking one at about 22 yards with the Mossberg, hit him so square with a load of #5 Winchester Supremes that he didn't even flop.

Anyhow, I am headed back out to do some work on my cabin and a bit more food plot prep work, then later today I am off to NY to hunt a bit with APAJaws and his dad. I still have 2x NY tags and hope to have a chance to take another as well as call one in for APAJaws. With any luck I will have another update for this thread in a few days.

17lbs
6" beard
3/4" - 3/4"

RE: **Update - Done in PA** Let the air out of one this morning.....
 

Congrats to you guys, nice work!

RE: **Update - Done in PA** Let the air out of one this morning.....
 

nice Job again!!

RE: **Update - Done in PA** Let the air out of one this morning.....
 

Congrats , nice jake :)

RE: **Update - Done in PA** Let the air out of one this morning.....
 

Awesome man, good job

RE: **Update - Done in PA** Let the air out of one this morning.....
 

awesome Matt!! Great season so far...

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Congrats Rick,

RE: Let the air out of one this morning.....
 

Another great morning in the turkey woods today. I went out this morning with APAJaws at his camp near Oneonta, NY determined to call a bird in for him and managed to call one more to the gun for the season.

First light we managed to get within 50 yards of a roosted bird that we put to sleep the night before. He gobbled a good 20 times on the roost but when he flew down he went the wrong way and made us to hike an honest mile running and gunning trying to get in front of him. While hiking to setup on this bird we managed to bump into another that was a good ways off gobbling hard and responding to us, and also bumped another in a field that spotted us in the treeline. Just where we got busted, we decided to setup in an island of trees and brush in the middle of this remote field with a decoy spread since the birds seemed to be everywhere. I made sure to make the decoys visible from a good ways in most directions in case one came in from a weird direction and it paid off. I have never called a bird in from as far away as this guy came. He came from the other side of a valley we hunt, a solid 2000+ yards away and he even crossed a good sized stream as well to come to us. He gobbled the whole way until he was about 150-200 yards away and then he shut up for about 45 minutes. All of a sudden just as Dan and I were thinking about moving somewhere else he popped out of a hedgerow about 80 yards out from us in half strut, he apparently saw the decoys when skirting us. I had a buckwing bobble head breeding pair and hen on that side of the island we were setup in and he strutted a good 50 yards in straight towards the breeding pair until I asked Dan if he was on the bird. Dan said he was on him and waiting for his head to get more exposed, so I hit him with some purrs on the deadly double to get him to drop out of strut and expose his head. The second the bird let down, APAJaws dropped the hammer on him at 32 yards, and once again this one didn't even flop.

He is a pretty good 2 year old I think. This was the 4th one we heard this morning and the third that we were close to for the day. This is the third this year I have called in for a shot opportunity for myself or someone else so I am pretty pleased with my season so far. I may hunt with my girlfriends dad next Friday night, but not sure.........I still have 2x more tags in NY and would love to call one in for him.

Congrats APAJaws on a great bird and your first successful spring turkey season!

18lbs
10" beard
1" spurs

RE: Let the air out of one this morning.....
 

Well done on a great season!!!!!!!! Congrats!

RE: Let the air out of one this morning.....
 

nice looking bird apajaws, congrats on some fine shooting.

RE: Let the air out of one this morning.....
 

Nice Job! Congrats