OMG! .... **More Pix Added***

[DonBo]

Was bowhunting tonight and OMG the turkeys! I never did see even one, but what a racket they made going to roost. I counted at least 50 or 60 flying up, all within 100 yards from me.

My Metro tag is still unpunched, guess I'll be late for work tomorrow. I just HAVE to go in there and whack one.

[Borch]

Good Luck Don!

[fletcher]

they are not graceful when flying up to roost by any means

[mrklean]

thats pretty cool to bad you couldnt get a pic of something like that

[DonBo]

Well, they got away. They all flew onto the neighboring property. I had permission to hunt turkeys there this spring, but since I hadn't talked to him this fall I didn't feel like I could go after them.

Here's just a small portion of them that headed the other way into the other neighbors pasture. Man, I really need to get out there and butter up the neighbors.

If you've read any of my other posts about fall hunting, you know how much I love to sit in the middle of a big flock and just listen to them waking up. I had at least 30 birds withing 40 yards of me on roost. If you've never been that close to that many birds as they greet the new day you've no idea how cool it is to hear. Believe me, it'll be awile before the smile goes away today.

I got almost three weeks left of the season. Guess I'll just have to get up early and get to work late at least 1 more time.

[delzz7]

Me and my cousin managed to fool about 18 hens last friday. They came bye us about 10 yards away. I thought that was pretty cool.

Good luck the rest of the season.

[DonBo]

Not as many tonight. Again, couldn't see them from my deer stand, but heard maybe 12-15 fly up. Not hardly a peep out of them. That usually means bigger birds. Toms? I'll let you know tomorrow. One more late morning at the shop....

[trolloni]

DonBO any gobbles in that music?heard a few a week ago while out bowhuntin ,could just see em about 75 yards up one was struttin and the others were fighten and chasen each other they wouldnt come to the call then, but they did yesterday morn 12 hens with 2 gobblers with em just used a slate doing feeding purrs and ole boss hen led em right in to look at my Floozie hen decoy [deadly]got the biggest gobbler 24 pounds eleven inch beard and inch an aquarter spurs a beauty !

[DonBo]

DonBO any gobbles in that music?heard a few a week ago while out bowhuntin ,could just see em about 75 yards up one was struttin and the others were fighten and chasen each other they wouldnt come to the call then, but they did yesterday morn 12 hens with 2 gobblers with em just used a slate doing feeding purrs and ole boss hen led em right in to look at my Floozie hen decoy [deadly]got the biggest gobbler 24 pounds eleven inch beard and inch an aquarter spurs a beauty !

Yes, there were some gobbles yesterday morning, none today (story to follow).

An awesome fall bird! Anytime you can put a big gobbler on the ground in the fall, you've really accomplished something. Congrats!

[DonBo]

I underestimated the amount of birds last night, there were 30+ roosted here and I was right in the middle of 'em. I just walked in early and sat my rear down against a huge oak tree and waited. I was also wrong about the make up of the flock. Not a long beard among them. Funny how quiet they were last night, and the night before they made enough racket to wake the dead!

The first one on the ground (about 7:45) was a young jake. I was tempted as he was a mere 10 yards from me. The next 10 or so also landed within 15 yards. I live for this stuff! How cool is that?

Interesting thing, these first few birds must have been a hen and her brood, they worked up over the hill and were gone. The next group didn't fly down for about 15 more minutes, they all flew to the top of the hill, again maybe 10 or 12 birds. Shortly after, a few flew across the road to the pasture. When I left at just before 9:00 there were still a dozen or so in the trees. I'm assuming this was 4 seperate family groups all roosting together but spending the day apart.

Guess I'll have to keep at it. Too bad huh?

[Scott M]

Very cool Don! Keep after them. Awesome story and pictures.

[DonBo]

I was back yesterday morning but the birds had roosted elsewhere. Didn't go this morning because of the rain, but I'll keep at it.

[DonBo]

So windy while deer hunting last night that I couldn't hear if my turkeys were roosting in their usual spot, but I heard them this morning while in my stand. At 8:00 I couldn't take it anymore. I'm only about 100 yards from the truck so I ran up there and got my shotgun.

I knew where these birds were from watching them for so many mornings these past couple weeks. I snuck as close as I could using the terain to my advantage. When I got to an opening through the brush, there they were. Lots of them.

Recently these things have been a bit of an anoyance to me (like thats possible). I really need to concentrate on taking a deer or two before the gun opener next Saturday, so I wasn't going to be too picky about which bird to take. There were so many around that getting one seperated from the others for a clear shot was a real problem. I could have shot (at) a big hen, but there were several toms in view. I waited with the gun ready for what seemed like 10 minutes till a fine young tom poked his head up and it was over. My metro turkey tag is filled.

Sorry, no pix. Honestly, he was wet and shot up and wasn't very photogenic, but my wife can't wait to put him in the crock-pot.

[DonBo]

Thought I was done with this silly sport, but after hearing them going to roost again last night while bowhunting, I just knew I hadn't yet gotten enough. I called my friend Tom, president of our local chapter of NWTF. He had never hunted fall turkeys and jumped at the prospect.

We met early this morning and headed into the woods. First thing we did was bust out a bunch of birds. What do you do? We hoped there were still some left and it turned out there were. A bigger flock was up the hill and responed some to my calling. Eventually some near us started to talk. Most flew way away, but one stayed and....gobbled! I slowed down the tempo of my calling to immitate a tom and he flew to another tree closer to us. Moments later he flew down and headed our way. Soon after, Toms gun barked and a nice tom was down.

Tom was so excited to have taken a bird on his first fall hunt, and a tom to boot, he bought me breakfast.

[delzz7]

Congrats Donbo and Tom on your success.

[trolloni]

Great job just goes to show never ever give up until the season is over, any fall turkey is a trophy and real gratifing feeling especially with thanksgivig around the corner kinda makes me think of the beginning of the U.S.A.first thanksgiving,man we live in a wonderful country dont we?just wonder what direction were headedas long as we can hunt well be allright!

[Scott M]

Cool stories Don! Thanks for sharing. Sounds like you've got a killer place to hunt. Saw some turkeys feeding on the side of the road on Friday night on I94 by Woodbury and thought of you.

[Borch]

Sounds like a lot of fun!

Congrats Don!

[DonBo]

This is why they call it "metro hunt"

Here's Tom's bird.

A nice mixed flock of fall birds. From big toms to baby hens.

Thanks for the responses guys...you know I love this stuff!

[Hodgy17]

excellent photos, nice turkey too!!!

[DonBo]

The landowner was very excited that we got another bird on her property. She says, "Do you know anyone else you can bring?"

Well this morning I brought my friend Larry. Larry is an NWTF volunteer from my east metro chapter. He has never shot a turkey and only hunted (kind of) once.

I sat in my roost area last night but nothing showed, so we went to a different area just hoping to hear some. Just before sunrise a turkey flew out of a tree just to my right and landed in a slight depression right in front of us. Wasn't sure what I saw when another landed right next to that one. Both broke into strut! Toms! Larry couldn't get a shot as they were to his right. In the meantime more birds came in, probably a dozen in all. Larry finally got turned but had no shot because of brush and trees in the way, plus they were still in the depression. When they were in the clear there were too many close by to chance a shot. I kept calling softly trying to get them up the hill, finally he had a clear shot at one of the bigger ones and it was over. He made a great 35 yard shot and had his first ever turkey. 21 lbs, 7" beard. A great fall turkey in anyones book.

Congrats Larry!

[sticknstring]

Jeez. You can bring me Don. My bow is thirsty for turkey blood! That's a great picture - sure are pretty birds.

[DonBo]

Jeez. You can bring me Don. My bow is thirsty for turkey blood!

You had your chance ...It's over now. With the pumpkin heads coming out tomorrow, I'm done. Sorry.

[sticknstring]

Bummer. It's hard to get turkey on the brain during whitetail season. Maybe next year.