little indian

Congrats to all that have taken birds and don't give up for the ones that haven't scored yet.

phall2

sunday was the last day of the season, brought a friend of the families son i had promised a hunt to. sat in the same spot I saw that gobbler across the creek. got him to fly in right off the roost. I said if that bird came out i was going to shoot him and he could have any other bird but i got cought up in the excitement and he was shaking about 100 times more than I was so I let him take the shot. HE SMOKED IT! it had a 12 inch beard and some monster spurs. I have some good pics I will put up when I can upload them on the comp.

SoggyCereal

Put that nice gobbler behind the house on the roost and was gonna skip school today to try and get him. He was about 40 yards away from me this morning, I didn't feel comfortable shooting that far. Maybe he was closer, I'm not that great at judging distances. Better to not shoot at all than to miss him. I'm gonna try and get him in the roost again sometime this week, he hasn't been out tonight so hopefully tommorow. I've had a longbeard within 50 yards everytime I've been out this season so can't complain there.

titleist_03

Sorry I haven't been able to post for awhile. I've been really busy hunting and studying for finals. My weekend was horrible. They were henned up like crazy. I got to hunt with guys from The Management Advantage. They shot a 29 lbs bird 2 days before I got there. They said earlier in the week there were some toms alone. Then on Thursday they henned up. We only managed to have a group of 6 jakes in range.

Last weekend we went back up there for my buddies tag. Friday was uneventful. Gobbling on the roost, then nothing afterwards. Saturday we were able to get one to gobble at 9 am. There were 3 longbeards, but they skirted our setup at 50 yards. Just couldn't get them to commit. Finally, on Sunday we had a hen inside 10 yards off the roost all by herself. We decided to move after she left. At 730 was able to get one to gobble inside 100 yards as we were walking through the woods. He came to 50 yards but wouldn't come any closer because of a ditch between us. He ended up cirlcing around us and coming in from our backside up the hill. Every call I would make, he would light up. He was drumming the whole way in. I wasn't able to get turned around to see him, but my buddy with the tag was. He could see the top of his fan every time he would strut, then when he finally came to the crest of the hill he was inside 10 yards. My buddy tried to adjust to get a shot because of a tree in the way and the bird saw him.

Hens are finally starting to go to their nests and the toms are starting to get lonely. I have tags for here at home next week and my fiance has them for this weekend. One of us should get one on the ground in the next two weeks.

Good luck to all!

MKMGOBL

Today was Vermont opener and by 8:30am I was tagged out. First bird was taken at 5:30am and the second birdat 8:25am. 21.5lb 9-1/4" beard with 1-3/16 hooks. Worked a Jake about 20 minutes after I shot him but didn't want to take a Jake. Second bird was a group of three Jakes that ran off a long beard I was working not only once but twice. Let's just say the leader of that little pack of punks won't be ruining any of my hunts in the future After the time thet ran off my gobbler, I called them (all three Jakes) back to me within 10ft of my gun barrel. Once the leader knew something wasn'tright, I let him have it!

It was fun calling them so closeand I really wish I could have tagged a second long beards instead but with the time I had to hunt and the cost of gas now a days, I thumped him Now a day of rest and I'll be out after my NH gobbler.

Photos and a story to come a little later today. I need to get my bird to the taxidermist to mount for my Tooky River Calls booth at shows next year. All the birds I worked today came into either my same test call from WV and my "Tominator" mouth call.






Your score is 21.5 + 11.875 + 11.875 + 18.5 = 63.75

MKMGOBL

Sorry it took so long for me to get these photos & story up. Took my bird to my taxidermist and we got to talking about past hunts and one we plan on doing this year. My son was so excited about seeing the turkeys that I couldn’t keep him out of the photos.

My ride up to where I hunt is just over an hour. I was up at 1am, left here by 1:40 and was at my spot (after a coffee break) around 2:50 this morning. I sat in the truck until 3:30 planning my strategy for the morning hunt. I actually changed my set up three or four time before I found the tree I liked and was comfortable sitting against.

With the wind blowing like it was I thought maybe IF the bird(s) were roosted there, they would be at on my side of the ridge and down low out of the wind. I knew the birds like to roost in that area in the past but I didn't do any scouting or roosting prior to this mornings hunt. I went in blind. I stood there in the middle of a small clearing with the full moon shining bright for the longest time thinking out that wind and boy did it pay off. I put out a single hen decoy right in the middle of the small field (20yards away) and had the stone wall entrance to my back (10 yards away). I started off the morning action with a few tree yelps and no response. Waited a few minutes and tried it again and got a response this time of a gobble in my back pocket. About 75 yards directly behind the large Maple tree I was sitting against. It was large enough that I could actually turn around and see the field entrance and the tractor road leading to it but not bird. I also didn't make that move until I was sure he was alone and no other birds were roosted around me.

We shared a volley of tree yelps, cuts and gobbles back and forth for about 15 minutes before he decided he had enough. Now for the first time in my turkey hunting life, I saw my first gobbler pitch down and land already in full strut ;D He belted out one more gobble to my toned down yelping and the rest of the way to me was nothing but spitting & drumming. As he strutted to my hen decoy I was about 17 yards away when he turned his fan to me and I bared down my gun stock & sights. I gave a loud putt and when fan went down and his head game up, I thumped him right in the back of his noggin

After filling out my tag, I was walking down to my truck and heard another bird gobbling. I quickly got lower field edge. I made a move on it and was calling for about 20 minutes when it game into gun range. A Jake : I just let him walk right on by and got out of there.

Sorry for being so long with this It was one of my best "text book" hunts I've had in years and I've been waiting a while for it. I made all the right decisions this morning with a blind set up (no roosting for scouting for this season), the weather conditions, being the first to sound off and when not to call. My heart was racing so bad this morning on this hunt I actually thought I was going to die right there at that big old Maple tree. I sure would have missed my wife and son but would have been happy moving on while turkey hunting ;D He's also defiantly one my best NE birds! I'll post up the story of the second bird later and I promise, it won't be as long.

Thanks for reading

Huntinlady

Congrats to you!!!! Sounds like you had a great morning!! Oh what fun! Way to go!!!! And it looks to as if you have a up and comming little hunter there!! Again Congrats!!!

YooperMike

That's a great day of hunting, nice hook on that one spur too! Congrats!

Carpmaster

Congrats to everyone getting birds!!! I have been really busy with work and the new house, my season opens next monday so we will see!

MKMGOBL

Thanks My little guy helped me today with some last minute scouting for our NH opener in the morning. I sure hope it goes as well as my otheropening day hunts!