Finally bagged my arch nemesis- long story with PICS**

[johnsd16]

Now this whole ordeal may not seem like much to some of the big time turkey guys but for me, today was a victorious day. This saga goes back at least three years. We have been fortunate to have lots of turkeys on my dad's place since he bought it a few years ago. We have always had a decent amount of gobbling and usually 3-5+ gobblers on the place, plus a good herd of jakes every spring. This season, my dad hunted the end of April and only heard a handful of gobbling and saw only a couple jakes, one of which he killed. In scouting for my season, I initially could not find any gobblers on our place or a larger neighboring property. The day before my season started I located a bird roosting at the far end of the property right along the river. I figured I was set but knew better, I had suspicions of which bird this was.

Rewind three years......

In early spring I always put my game camera on our food plot where the turkeys usually enter the field. Every year we had lots of pictures of hens, jakes, gobblers, deer, etc. In the sping of 2008 is when we started getting pictures of a large bird with a long thin beard that curved back towards his feet, kind of crescent shaped. Most birds have that but then they kind of flip back out at the tip to face outward. He also had some whitish spots on his central tail feathers. Initially we thought these were just broken feathers and gaps in his tail until we got better pictures. He was a larger bird and showed up late and strutted late morning to lunch time at times regularly but he was sporadic. I picked him as the bird I was hoping to bag in 2008. Unfortunately I bagged a bird I thought was him on the second day of my hunt. It was a nice gobbler but not my target.

In 2009 I had him patterned and was hunting with my bow with a good friend that I don't get to hunt with much anymore, and he was videoing. The big gobbler was running with two others that rolled into our field every morning at about 6:40-7am. It was a rainy mornning and at 6:40 we heard a couple birds gobble behind us and soon they were walking by in front of the blind at 8yds. They were not stopping and made a split second decision and picked out the bigger of the two birds (yes there were only two today, after there had been three every day for a week). I pulled back put the pin where I wanted it and thwack! A gobbler ran off with equal halves of arrow sticking out of each side. Long story short I never found my bird despite what appeared to be a perfect shot. I was heartbroken. Three of us searched for several hours and found no blood, feathers, or arrow. During this search I heard some wings flapping and sounds of a strggle. I spproached slowly expecting to find my bird with the arrow in it struggling. Insead I walked up on a full on gobbler fight, and neither bird was injured. One of them however was the bird I was originally after. I set up again to see if the wounded bird would return to the area to find his crew, he never did but the big boy did, sneaking in and busting me every day.

Now 2010, the big bird was once again on the camera in March/April. I had a plan and this was to be the year, but I was hunting with my godfather so he was going to shoot a jake and me the gobbler if we saw one. Every morning we had a bird work in to our calls from behind us and would hang up every time just into the woods from our small field and gobble his head off at 70yds or so. This happened 3 days in a row. On the fourth day I finally said, I'm just not going to call at that bird anymore. This was at about 7am after we did our usual song and dance for almost 2hrs. He shut up when I quit calling. Just before 9am he lit up right on the field edge and I readied my gun in the double bull blind. We were tucked in between two large spruce trees with lots of dead brances on the bottom. My godfather tried to move to allow me more room to lean back and in the process knocked over his chair and got his foot caught in our plastic snack bag. Needless to say this was a significant commotion and the bird stopped his progress. He had been walking, head down right to the sweet spot. He was now at 35yds through some dead pine branches, and despite my partner's coaxing, I did not shoot. He was well aware of this bird and my history/failed efforts with him. The shot never happened and the bird lived on, with his legend and mystery growing.

Back to this week. First day, I found his roost, set up the blind in the dark and was set. In the morning he started gobbling on his own. I called sparingly and he was eagerly responding. In his typical fasion he flew down neither toward or away from me. He proceeded to gobble at every call, crow, pheasant, and other sound for the next two hours, making a horseshoe shaped course around me never closer than 200yds or so. This was mother's day so I was in by 8am. I rechecked his roost that night, and what do you know. He was roosted right over my blind. Way too close to get in there even in extreme darkness.

Day 2 I set up in camo seated next to a tree. It was an encore of day 1 with lots of gobbling and good responses. Again, he flew down away from me. He went further down the ridge onto an area I know well. This ridge leads back to the blind. I thought if I could get back to the blind he would eventually work back to me with minimal calling. He was at least 150yrs or more through woods from the blind to the north and I was 70yds east of the blind. I made my move and called once half way to the blind and he lit up in more or less the same place. Right as I got to the blind he gobbled again, this time at about 70yds, dang!! The following 10 seconds was on par for how things went for this bird.... perfect for him and terrible for me. The zipper stuck, my therma-cell fell out of my bag onto the metal leg of the chair and in had to slide into a half open blind door. I waited a couple minutes and let out a call..... nothing. Again a few minutes later...... nothing. Then a crow flew by calling and a he gobbled at about 300+yds, I was disappointed but not suprised. Then a hen stared chain-yelping in front of me. I called back with some energy and managed to pull her in. She deviated from her path to check out my calls but she kept a steady walk and nearly relentless yelping on a path for the gobbler who was sounding off regularly. I stuck it out hoping he would come back through, several hours later I packed it in and had my little guy for the rest of the day. Par for the course. That night, no gobbler responded to my owl calling, and again this was the same result throughout the property and neighboring areas I have permission for.

Day 3, I set out planning to hunt wherever I found gobbling. Which ended up being nowhere, after 40 min of hooting and 2mi of walking areas where on any other year I should have encountered at least 4 birds, or more likely 6-8. I returned to the blind and did some intermittent calling. I called in a couple of lone hens but heard absolutely no gobbling for the first two hours of shooting time. Then finally, a gobble in the distance, most likely in the field mentioned in previous years. I left the blind quickly and set up at a large tree just on the ridge just off the field. I called sparingly with no response, then more eagerly, again nothing. I worked the same nearly 2mi cutting intermittently with no gobbling anywhere. I was literally huting one turkey, just one, that's all there was, and it was this one. The most poorly behaving and diffcult turkey I have encountered.

Dejected I headed home which took me through the field. Three quarters of the field has some sumac coming up as I came through the thin woody growth I heard a hen. I cautiously moved forward and eventually saw two hens feeding, scratching, preening and dusting in the field. I called and they answered, I was not set up in a good spot, but the ground contour was in my favor. I watched the area the hens were in to look for a struttter with them and listened for gobbling. I saw and heard nothing other than the two hens. I was not worried about busting two hens in the field. I was frustrated and dejected. I moved forward and the two hens flushed, took off and flew a good 200yds and up and over the trees. Weird! Left stading there was a big black strutter, looking around he let out one gobble as the hens departed. I dropped and he ran. How could this get worse. How did he manage to stay out of sight for 15min and not gobble. As I continued into the field I saw him run out the other end, into the woods with 6 more hens. I was more than feeling down, how could I have let myself blow him right out of my best hunting spot on day 3. I wanted to go home, but convinced myself to try and circle around them. I knew the trails they would most likely take and made my way into an area they should come. An hour later and some sparse clucking I saw and heard nothing. I headed home with a new plan. I checked the camera I keep on that field and sure enough he had been in there strutting with numerous hens since about 6:30am.

I had a plan, and I knew where he wanted to be. Turkeys are smart but they get busted out of fields and come back to their routine. The flock had spent a couple of undisturbed hours out there and I felt they would return. So yesterday afternoon I headed out in the heat, which now brought lots of mosquitos (oh, the therma-cell broke when it hit the chair), and more sweat. I packed up my gear and planned to put the blind in the same spot as last year as it is the least obtrusive spot of the 5 ground blind locations I have in the field. As I went to set the blind back up, uh oh............. two broken poles. I thought I had some extras in the shed, but no, just a bunch more broken ones. Hopefully my buddy Joe would be willing to let me use his.

He did and with bad weather coming in I elected to set up in the morning. I spent some time fixing the therma-cell, ok, a lot of time, but I got it working and I figured I was in business.

Now to yesterday morning.........................

[johnsd16]

Yesterday morning. I was tired from 3 days of getting up at 4-something am, I hit the snooze until 20min to 5am with shooting starting at 5:17am.

My plan was this

1) Set up in the planned spot in the field

2) No calling

3) NO calling

4) Not do any calling

5) Wait, sit all day if necessary

6) No calling

I got the blind set up and settled in for the long haul. I didn't open any windows but left the mesh on the two I was planning on shooting from. Therma-cell on, I was comfy in scrub bottoms, tennis shoes, a black long sleeve tee, black facemask and black gloves. I was going to get the better of this bird today. The bird was not going to be the jailhouse Bubba and have me as his fresh fish for another year. As sunup neared, gobbling began about 300yds to my left. This was like a replay of last year. I did not call, not one bit, he gobbled, and he gobbled. He came closer, then wait, no, he was moving away again, or was he in the bottom? No, now closer, nope now farther away. Yep he's going to get me again. Don't call, no calling!!!!!! Then, yes, he was closing the distance, by about 6:15 he was setting off just into the woods, about 70-80yds out. There is a wood pile in the middle of our food plot field, and this creates a pinch point between the trees the blind is in and this pile. This was in front of me, to my right was a pinch point between the trees I was in and antoher clump of spruce. Both of this narrows put the bird at 25yds or less. A hen passed through in front of me, yes.......... this is going to be it. I raised my gun, nothing, nothing, nothing. He did not follow her.

He continued to gobble frequently just into the woods. It was still a bit foggy. He moved away and my heart sank. He gobbled further back into the woods. Then he turned again and came back. This roller coaster went on for quite a while. Then, suddenly.............. he was on my right less than 50yds away. How the heck did he get past me?????????? He skirted the edge of the field on the other side of the wood pile with just enough fog to hide him as he passed through a spot I could shoot to about 45-50yds out. He chain gobbled from about 35-50yds away for about 15min. I could not see him, nothing, no movement or flash of color through the pine limbs, nothing. I started to wonder if this thing was even real. This went on and on. Then a hen, coming from right to left, gun up, this was it. Nothing, again he did not follow. The gobbling at 35yds continued. For those who have never been that close to a big bird when they sound off, it is LOUD!.

Then, all of a sudden, there he was. I could just make him out through the spruce limbs, in full strut. I readied my gun, he contined to go in and out of strut and gobble not moving an inch except to turn around. I had to do somthing. I could see him now, and he was CLOSE! I picked up my slate, I clucked, he gobbled, I clucked he gobbled, and he did not move. I clucked and purred softly and sparingly and he contined to strut and gobble, but did not move. I could see his head but there was at least 4 or 5 thumb sized limbs in this view. I used my binos and determined this was not a shot to be taken, but this came after lining him up seveal times. I imagined him him rolling with the shot, but also saw falling limbs, a running bird and another year of anguish, or lifetime as I probably won't be turkey hunting for several years and definately not in this area. I held off. Another hen passed in the gap, but this time toward the gobbler.

I was now going on a hour of this bird being within 35yds and gobbling constantly. Then he moved out of my sight and went silent. He was gone, that hen had led him off. Again, heartbreak. Par for the course, my plan that had started so well today was continuing to deteriorate, with every card falling in the gobblers favor.

Gobble!!!! He was back, right in the same spot. Its like he had a working knowledge of my setup and knew EXACTLY where to stand so I could see but not shoot him. More hens moved through. This chess match of sorts went on and on. Then suddenly, like a statue breaking free from its stance he began to move to the left, toward the opening where the branches were thinner. A hen had him in tow. I thought about waiting until he was in the clear, but then considered how many things can go wrong in 15' of gobbler walking, he could see me, the hen could spook, I could fart, anything. There was a softball sized hole in the boughs. As he strutted around his new hen his big white head settled in this opening. There would be no clucking to get him to break strut, no monkey business....................I settled the bead on his wattles and touched the load off. The hen flew and there he was flopping. I unzipped the blind and ran my overweight can out toward the bird fearing he had one last aweful joke to play on me. Not this time, he was down for the count. There was some arm raising and fist pumping. He was down, three years and three hard days leading up to this with no other birds to hunt this year.

This has been a long post and doesn't even touch on all the encounters and screw ups I've had with this bird.

The blind, fairly concealed for how I usually set up for turkeys.

Where he lay

DOUBLE BEARD! I had no idea and this made the trophy more special.

Decent spurs for our area, I thought they'd be bigger, but I know this is him.

No mistaking this guy as his tail has always looked like this.

The browning takes down another. That gun has killed 8 or 9 turkeys in the last few years for my dad, myself and a couple others.

Gotta explain the big hole to Joe, ooops

I know those hooks aren't much to you southers guys, but he actually makes it

The little guy was super excited to see daddy's turkey. He had to come out in his jammies to see it.

Final stats were 2 beards 10.5" and 6.5" and matching 1 1/16" spurs and 20lbs 8oz. Pretty light but with how few birds there are around he was likely doing lots of breeding. Crop and stomach were completely empty. A trophy in my book given the story and stats that are decent especially for our area and with double beards.

[johnsd16]

A couple old photos. I don't have my previous years trail cam pics on this computer but I might try to dig them up.

Another thing. This bird had really small feet. My dad shot a jake during D season that has middle toes probably 1.5" longer than this bird at least. Not what I would have thought. Any ideas??

[IlliniWalli]

great story and huge congrats!!!

you definitely worked for and deserved that guy!!

(lots o clappy, bowing and thumbs up smileys!!!)

[brittman]

Glad to see your persistance paid off for you.

I have had similar ordeals with a ruffed grouse or two. In the same place all season long .... changing strategies to get off a shot ...

[Borch]

Congrats on completing another exciting chapter in your turkey journal. Man there was all sorts of good stuff there. The stuff that went wrong has happen to a lot of us turkey guys.

Good Job hanging in there and closing the deal.

[mrklean]

congrats on the bird

[Andrew Erickson]

great story and great bird! congrats

[goblueM]

fun story, great pictures!

[johnsd16]

Thanks for the nice comments. The more I think about it and comments from another board this bird may not be a 5yr old. What do you guys think based on spur length we seen here in MN. I never read much into weight or beard length as they run the weight off breeding and beards seem to max out around 11" with the snow/ice we get.

Here's a post of some spurs from previous birds and my interpertaion. What do you think? I copied this from where I made it on another board.

I am positive that this is the same bird from 2010 and 2009 but yes, 2008 is questionable. Our 2yr olds have 1/2-3/4" rounded spurs generally. Our 3yr olds have 3/4-1" and are still not sharp. It seems to me that from 4yrs and on they get sharp.

I hunted around here and found a bunch of spurs from MN birds, none from NE or SD or even WI. Like I said I think spurs vary by region and climate this is talking all easterns. I used to work at a registration station in WI. I can tell you exactly how many spurs I saw that were a legitimate 1.5" or over out of literally hundreds of birds.... ZERO. Were there ZERO 5yr and older birds in that sample, I doubt it. There were some monsters, and I've seen plenty of sharp, hooked spurs from 1 1/16" to 1 3/8" and a few that you could call 1.5" but I see plenty of pics on the internet of big long hooks from the southern states that frequently go well over 1.5" and approaching 2" at times. I see write ups and scroing records from MN birds that are in the 1 9/16 to 1 3/4" range but those are the rare exception and are usually from newly opened zones or the southern part of the state. Hunters in other areas are killing 4yr, 5yr birds and beyond but the spurs just dont get that big IMO.

Here are some pics of MN bird spurs.

Picture #1 Jake spurs off a bird from a couple of weeks ago my dad shot. Pretty easy there.

Picture #2

I think these are 2yr old bird spurs

Picture #3 Spurs off the bird from yesterday

Picture #4 All three in a row, by the above account these would be 1yr, 2yr and 3yr bird spurs from bottom to top

IMO I think that is a bit of a jump from 2yr to 3yr, maybe not in length but in character, see more pics below

Picture #5

These were off a very heavy and thick/long beareded gobbler from a couple years ago. No IMO these are 3yr bird spurs from our area

Picture #6

These are spurs off a 20lb bird with a nice 10" beard from a sometime recently, IMO these are 2yr spurs with the small one being an anomoly

Picture #7 these are pictures 5 and 6 side by side

I think this is a smallish 2yr bird on bottom and a typical 3yr on top

Picture #8

These are about as big as spurs you seen commonly in our area, they are 1 3/8 and 1 1/4", I've seen some bigger and a bit more hooked from birds in the area but I would think this is a 5yr bird or an exceptional 4yr at least.

Now riddle me this. Here are two feet of birds taken in the same field a week and a half apart. My dad's jake on the left and my gobbler on the left. I have always judged tracks based on middle toe size. As you can see the jake's middle toe and whole foot for that matter is significantly bigger than a bird at least 2-3yrs his senior.

Again, I am basing my interpertation on bird age based on the spur structure I see in my area, and this is what I see. I'm wide open to opinions. It just seems for birds to have sharper tapered spurs depends some on genetics and also them getting passed 3yrs and into their 4th.

[sticknstring]

Heck yeah - congrats! It's all so sweet when it finally comes together. Great story, great bird!

There's no hard rule with spur length. Generally, the older the bird - the longer the spurs but not always. I think like most everything else, genetics play a part. Without all the confirmed history you have with him, I'd call him a 3-4 year old just going by length. But if he aged at 5, it wouldn't surprise me. Maybe he's really old and the spurs and feet are shrinking! Heckuva bird no matter what.

[bigbucks]

Great story! I really like your aging study. I would have to agree on the hooks thing. The bird I shot at 24 lbs. & nearly 1" spurs I figured must be 3-4. My cousin shot one that weighed 19 lbs. 11 oz., that only though it had just a 3.5" beard & just black bumps for spurs, would seem that at that size would have to be a two year-old. Maybe it was a really big Jake, I just don't know.

[sticknstring]

Super jakes. I've shot a few 18+ lb'ers over the years. Not sure if it's just birds born early or purely genetics.

[Archerysniper]

I think we should send in a tooth sample to get aged.

[johnsd16]

Without all the confirmed history you have with him, I'd call him a 3-4 year old just going by length. But if he aged at 5, it wouldn't surprise me. Maybe he's really old and the spurs and feet are shrinking! Heckuva bird no matter what.

He may not be the bird from 2008, but he is for sure the bird from 2009 and 2010, so he's four at minimum.

He definately gave me the most trouble last year then made it through a close encounter and then was giving me fits this year for the first three days.

[Powerstroke]

With the white in the tail he may be piebald genetics or possibly the offspring of a domestic.wild hybrid which may somewhat contribute to him being smaller in stature than normal.

On any scale he is a trophy, and any turkey hunter will tell you that adventure of the hunt is sometimes greater than harvesting a bird. Getting a bird with such a fantastic backstory is the whole package.

Congrats!!

[Archerysniper]

+1 for powerstroke it's not the gobbler it's the gobble and the fits they put you through.

[Borch]

I've shot several with that white/chream streaks in the feathers and they are definitely all eastern. Why some have a lack of pigment iun the tail feathers I can only guess.

Doesn't much matter how old he is as he definitely gave you several very memorable hunts.

[hugonian1]

Great story and nice bird.

Congrats.

[Sifty]

Great Story and pics.

A really Trophy.

Sifty

[engfish]

Great story. Please tell us that you're going to at least do a tail mount.

[Nightcrawler]

your Dad got Big Foot would make it interesting when scouting by the tracks.

What age do you figure the spurs hook? My first tom was 22lbs 1" spurs and NO beard. not even a bump.

[Cheetah]

My understanding of the white in the center tail feathers is that when they grew in after molting the bird's diet may have been poor and that causes the strange coloration. I was told this after I shot a bird that looked very similar. I've seen this in both Merriam's and Eastern birds in the wild.

Turkeys and other birds regularly molt, which is the loss of feathers to grow in new ones.

[mws4dux]

Great story and pics,Nice bird, congrats !!

[Shu]

Congrats! You must feel good taking that bird after all the time that has passed.