"We're #1" Official Site

[DonBo]

Sorry you didn't get one Hunter. It's been a tough season everywhere. Glad you got to see some up close though. Better luck next year Bud!

nbadger is hunting now, hopefully he's having better luck.

[mattrd]

Well it was a cold & wet weekend down here, but I was able to get out after some longbeards. This weekend wasn't focused around me getting a bird, but rather getting my dad his first bird. My brother and I bought my dad a non-resident license for down here in IA this past winter. Well his season started on Wed. and I was able to get him out this weekend. Well Saturday was slow, saw a lot of deer and just about had a chance at a coyote. This morning got out to some public land nice and early. Sat for a long while with no action until around 8 when out of no where we hear one really close. 2 youngs tom's were working their way toward us. They came to within 35yds and weren't going to come any closer, so I told dad now or never. He picked out the bigger of the 2 and wham! 1st turkey down! He's the one that introduced me to the outdoors and instilled the passion of being an outdoorsman in me. He was there for a lot of my "firsts" in the field and on the lake, so you can imagine my excitement to be there for his first ever turkey today! Congrats Dad! bird went 16lbs 9oz, 9 3/4" beard, 3/4" spurs

[DonBo]

Way to go Matt! Believe me, I know how exciting it is to be able to give back to those who first showed us the way. Tell Pop's congrats!

My WS season didn't go so well:

[sticknstring]

Good stuff - It's a great feeling helping the ones you love enjoy their time afield! Congrats to the both of you!

[bigbucks]

DonBo, never a good sign when the only tracks you can see are your back trail... Looks like some tough conditions to say the least.

[sticknstring]

Quote:

My WS season didn't go so well:

Sorry to hear that Don - ma nature sure can be cruel sometimes!

[nbadger23]

Just checking in... I did punch my tag on Monday morning, after a long 4.5 day hunt. I'll get the details in sometime today hopefully.

[DonBo]

Just checking in... I did punch my tag on Monday morning, after a long 4.5 day hunt. I'll get the details in sometime today hopefully.

Sweet! Can't wait to hear the story.

[nbadger23]

What a season... from 15" of snow to 75 degrees on the last day, with many ups and downs in between. As you can imagine, Thursday and Friday were pretty lean with that much snow. I did manage to get a great deal of exercise trudging through snow (snowshoes are on my xmas list), see a few birds (and I mean only a few) and hear one gobble through close of business Friday p.m.

I had good hopes for Saturday and things started off fairly well as I sat in my ground blind and heard a gobble at 5:45. Unfortunately that was the only gobble that a.m. but I did have a group of about 15 birds come out in the field around 10:30. I was so engrossed in my book hey almost caught me off guard! Unfortunately nothing ever came close enough as they seemed totally disinterested in both my calls and my dekes. They seemed to only want to groom themselves, flap their wings about, and generally sun themselves in the faint sun that was shining.

Saturday afternoon warmed up quite a bit and I knew the fields were getting good bare spots so I set up on a fence line near a known roosting spot where I can see a good ways. I've shot 3 birds this way as I intercept them on the way back to roost or they get close enough while feeding in the field. By the time I got setup at 4:00 I had already heard more gobbling than the last 3 days and were they hungry! Birds piled out into the various fields and I never had a time where there weren't double digit #'s around. I took the safety off 4 different times but never closed the deal.

Tom 1 needed to take 5 more steps, tom 2 doesn't realize how lucky he was that a group of jakes ran him off, tom 3 did the unimaginable and left his hens headed to roost to head 1000 yards off in another direction to roost instead of walking within 20 yards of me, and tom 4 is lucky that I must not shoot well flat out on my stomach in a pool of water on a field edge But all was not lost.. I got out w/o scaring any birds and they were gobbling their heads off on the roost when I left.

I knew they'd be fired up Sunday morning and I had them roosted but you have to almost get them right off the roost in that spot because they rarely hang around that field but rather head over to land I don't have permission on. My hands were tied with getting very close due to the illumination the snow was giving off but I was able to get within 300 yards. I had a nice tom committed to me around 6 a.m. until 5 jakes ran him off. Then I had another nice tom curiously coming in until the jakes returned and ran him off as well. Not a big fan of jakes at this point

I headed over to the blind and proceeded to get into a fun "discussion" with a couple of hens and toms. At first they were all together and everyone was talking back to me. The hens progressively got more fired up and I did the same and I thought things were gonna come together but then radio silence. It was 45 minutes before another sound was made and it was a gobble not far away but now behind me. Ugh.. I had no visibility and no shooting lanes. If they came from behind me on the trail I'd have to hope they passed within 10 feet of me and not notice me. I didn't think those were good odds so I took a chance and moved 5 feet so I could turn around and see the area the gobble came from. I had a small rise between me and them so I figured I was safe and I think I made the move w/o a problem. The issue became the other hen and tom who interrupted my plans with a loud gobble and yelps from the original spot. Now that I'd moved THEY were now behind me and they'd also have to walk past me for me to get a shot, which seemed like a big chance. So I moved back to where I was originally and I think they saw me because there wasn't another peep from them. Very frustrated with myself in not being decisive enough or patient enough but it's experience I'll learn from.

Sunday p.m. went and passed with only 6 birds in the same field that had over 30 the night before.. such is turkey hunting. It did however give me a good idea of where they were roosted for Monday a.m. The plan was to get to the blind and stay outside of it, ready to be mobile if I heard one gobbling and get in as close as I could. This had been the play each morning in that spot but they simply hadn't talked. This morning was different as the first gobbler lit up at 5:15. I made my way down the 4 wheeler trail and was quiet as a church mouse due to the dew on the leaves. So quiet in fact I got within 10 yards of the roosted gobbler

I thought to myself, hmmm, I don't think a squirrels nest would be on an uneven limb like that, nor does he have tail feathers to shake! I panicked a bit as I had never been in that situation before. Thankfully he was facing away from me so I slowly backed up the trail to a downed tree. I was about 50 yards away and around a slight bend in the trail. I got setup, made a soft yelp to let him know I was there and waited patiently for it to get light enough. I got nervous as the hens started talking and a few flew down but there was so much turkey talk in the woods it was just a fun spot to be in. When it was light enough to see I made a few putts and two birds gobbled back at me from up the trail and they sounded like they were on the ground. I steadied the gun on the log and got ready. Shortly thereafter I heard a twig snapped and figured they were coming and soon enough there were two birds on the trail, both fanned up. They were too close together to shoot at so I had to wait for some better spacing and that came in the form of one of them going into the woods on the other side of the trail. It was now or never because if they got off the trail I had no shot. I pulled the trigger and the bird flopped to the ground!

I had some pretty interesting feelings come over me when I walked up and saw that it was a double bearded jake. The first was a bit of remorse that it was a jake but as I thought back on the season and all the issues that jakes had caused me I felt like I had exacted a little revenge The second was some relief that I had a smaller bird to carry back on the 30 minute hike with the blind, decoys, gun, and all my other junk! Lastly I was just happy to be out there and have an opportunity to shoot that bird on what was turning out to be a gorgeous morning with the sky lighting up in all sorts of pinks and oranges.

That's two straight years with multi-bearded birds. I'm starting to think I have a knack for picking out the weird ones. The beards were 4 3/4 and 4 1/2 so if you add them up it's not so bad :-) All in all a fun season where I learned a lot and saw a couple of great sunrises which is one of my favorite things about hunting.

[Archerysniper]

Great write up and awesome bird Nd. I guess next years will have at least 4 beards and triple spurs

Congrat's again on a awesome trophy during a hard hunt

[sticknstring]

You were really on the birds! Congrats on the jake - great writeup!

[DonBo]

Great write up nbadger, and congrats! I know about the weather last week, way to stick with it and get'r'done.

[mattrd]

Great job! Congrats on the turkey! Like you said the way this season is going it's nice to get one on the ground!

[DonBo]

Just now got my bird registered on the Turkey Quest Submission Thread. nbadger, hope to see yours there soon. None of our three birds are big enough to win this thing, yet, but hopefully Matt is still hunting and we haven't heard from Musky Hunter yet. His season just started tuesday.

[mattrd]

Still after mine. Gonna head out after school. Beautiful day for it and hopefully I can find a big ol' tom cruising for love! I think we might have them figured out a lil. We'll see I guess!

[Musky hunter 82]

Sorry to dissapoint you guys but it looks like my season is over before it started. My wife and I are licensed foster care providers and have been placed with 2 kids. So it's not looking good that I'd be able to get out at all.

[mattrd]

Did I really say I thought we had them figured out? This has been a very frustrating season! Saw a few hens Friday night and that is all. Well I'll get back after it tonight again.

[DonBo]

Hey Musky, too bad about your season, but way to go, taking in those kids!

Matt, keep at it. I'm kinda jealous you've got such a long season.

[mattrd]

Well our season wrapped up yesterday, and I have no bird to show for it. I gave it my best shot this season but just couldn't get the birds to cooperate for me. Atleast I was able to get my dad a bird this year. The other 3 guys I hunt with also struggled and didn't get one. Looks like it's all out fishing for me now that the season is over.

[DonBo]

That's the way it goes Matt. I'm ready to hit the lakes too.

Nice to meet you all. Congrats to x1957x and nbadger on your birds!

[Borch]

Better luck next year guys!

[DonBo]

Well guys, we ended up in 4th place. BUT! ONLY 108" out of first.

Was fun though, lets all hope for a better year on 2014.

[Archerysniper]

BUT! ONLY 108" out of first.