4 years 2 birds

I've probably got a little over a dozen or so over a dozen years. they haven't been spread out evenly though, I went a couple years in a row without getting a bird. here are some pictures of some of my my recent birds:
fall '08 bird

Spring '08 - Bird 1


Spring 08 - second bird

I'm not one of those folks who went out and killed a bird the first time they go out, lol...took me 3 years of hunting them before I got my first in 2001,thank God I have been getting one or two every year since...
I think I'm up to 11 or 12...at least 11....I started hunting in "99" , the years I have gotten one bird have all been at the last minute and I'm out there every hunt all day , i put mad hours into scouting each year, i know where they are , I just can't get them to connect with me, so I still have those days., but when it happens, and it will happen,nothing else matters but that moment.....be patient, learn all that you can from us(i'm still learning)and from putting in the time...before long it'll happen.
I did a search and found the post i made of one of the most incredible hunts I have ever had.....my swamp bird.

i have been posting on ushf about hunting this weekend so some of y'all are firmiliar with what happened but for you that dont know basically, i had this bird come in 2 days in a row, the one time ,he was about 10 yds away and he wouldnt come out from behind the cabbage palm, then he flewthe canaland i spooked him going after him, hard lesson learned there and the next day(sun) i had a single palm frond between me and him and he saw me shaking uncontrollablly, lol.....he putted once and took off, thought about shooting him on the run but decided against it...he started right back gobbling though so i knew he wasnt too spooked.......heres the story:

After the 2 days of that emotional rollarcoaster i was on, i finallygot him.....@ 6:38 a.m.
i was listening for gobbles, i heard one to the north, but fl.huntress called and wouldnt be quiet, she didnt hear me shhhh her, so i couldnt pin point his whereabouts, i decided to go where i was, i knew he'd be there somewhere, well i heard a gobble waaaaaaaaay in there and i hauled butt to it,got within 100 yds of the gobble and i sat down and started to call him in, he hung up about 60 yds, he kept circling me, but he wouldnt come in, he knew i was in there, lol......so i said screw it, i moved, i was gi jane, lmao.......crawling on my hands and knees, then i would pop up by a tree , listen , after doing that a couple of times, i sat down and gotready, i clucked, just so he'd know i was there and i waited...he came in gobbling, i saw white and boom, i wasn't taking any chances of him getting away today, lol.........the date on the camera is wrong, just realized that today, so the date is wrong...lol...
his offical stats are:beard 9 3/4
17.5 lbs
spurs:1 1/4 and you ready....the other was 1 1/2 inches
i know it was him, it has to be......that beard looked 11 '' yesterday when he was next to me, lol.but thats ok...now i'm going to bed, i've had about 13 hours of sleep since thur.
here's the video of me walking up to my bird(Caution: I had a potty mouth)
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v382/HuntnMa/?action=view&current=100_2209.flv





Every hunt is special, even the ones that were just lessons learned(the hard way, lol)...seems like every hunt just gets better and better, last year was so amazing that i doubt I can ever top it,but this is the 1st bird that I went outside of my safe zone for and because I did, i got him...don't be afraid tochange your way of hunting, try new things, try old things forgotten.

Huntnma...That's a downright BODACIOUS Osceola gobbler....Love those SPURS..!!!.. Congrats, Girl.... The video was precious too..<<grin>>...

I was slow starter at gobbler hunting...Took me three long seasons to kill my first one..Of course that was a long time ago, and there weren't the tapes, videos and other media available to learn from... Come to think of it, there weren't a whole lot of TURKEYS around herethen either..

I learned to call listening to a 45 RPM instruction record featuring none other than M. L. Lynch himself.. Still got the record AND the instruction pamphlet...

I killed that first gobbler in 1975...That was 119 birds ago...But who's counting..??....

Bud, your one of the Old Master of the sport as well Dan they do sure to add up when one can travel.

I as well am lucky to be able to travel and take the odd bird. I started back in 1989 in Ontario Canada and the first year I took my first bird. I could not get enough of them Thundering Gobblers. This last fall I believe I took number 115 but I'm starting to lose count so give or take a bird. I started in 1990 guiding turkey hunts and became very successful in putting hundreds of birds in front of guns for a lot of Canadians and Americans as I also guided in central Florida at one time. Last season I produced my first Wild Turkey DVD "Learning the Ropes of Wild Turkey Hunting" that has been very successful.

here's a few pic's that I have in Photobuct of some of the hunting I've done,
Ontario :

Ohio :

Ontario : Look at the beards

Ontario :

PA :


South Dakota :

Ontario :


Central Florida

Hmmmmm 20 years... wow, been THAT long?

Prob darn near 100. now i wish i'd kept better track of it back then.!



But i will say this : I'm sure I enjoyed every last one of those hunts!

not for sure how many it is now. but here are a couple of my best birds.

2007 season

a freak


2006 season

Adrian...Good to hear from you, old Friend... Are you doing the Harrisburg show again this year..??.. Please give Jeanette a hug for me..

Nice pictures ( as always.).. That double beard Ontario bird is a beauty..

Mohunter...Your triple beard is a fine trophy also... Congrats...


It's not about numbers... The only reason I know how many birds ( along with deer and other big game animals I have taken) is because years ago I started keeping track of such things on my desk calendar at work, and I decided that when I was an OLD FART it might be cool to know just how many deer, turkeys, etc. I had taken over the years...

I am now approaching OLD FARTNESS , so I guess I don't mind revealing the numbers.......

I've been hunting turkeys since the early 70's, and have lost count of the number of gobblers I've had the fortune to harvest. I can safely say that I get more fired up, and love it more now than in earlier years.

Dan , yes I will be in Harrisburg again this year for the show, Glad to see your doing good and I do agree that this game is not about numbers. I think being safe is far more important.

Here's Jannette from last spring, I made her a movie star