Our spring so far

[Borch]

Well after all the knocking on doors, scouting and patterning the season for us has finally started.

Maggie my 8 year old niece got out for the first time with my brother Wes the first Saturday. After watching and listening to a huge tom just on the wrong side of the property line this fine tom showed up and with some coaching from dad she made a great shot. Here she is with a 22.7 lb, 7/8" spurs and 9.75" beard.

Her older brother Charlie got the next turkey on a new property we just got permission for a few days prior. He had three jakes show up Thursday evening. He made a great shot on this jake and got his bird two years in a row.

I got my turkey just a few minutes later. I had decided to hunt a public chunk of land that I've shot birds on before. I got there about 2pm and heard gobbles almost right away. The toms weren't responding to calls at first but continued to gobble on their own until 3:30 or so. Then it started to get interesting. All of a sudden there were multiple toms responding. But it obvious they were with hens as when I called they'd respond but would head the other way. I was sure I was alone so I broke out my gobble call and things really got loud and soon they were inside 75 yards but would not cross a small creek. by 6pm it was clear they weren't coming across anytime soon even though the hens had crossed and were feeding right below me on a hillside. It was also clear there were a lot more toms there than I thought. Probably 15-20 of them. Also I started hearing toms gobbling in the distance from multiple locations. I decided to keep these toms going and see if one of them would break from the group or one to the distant gobbles when come by the blind. By 7pm I had toms all over me and they were all gobbling and strutting. I had one that just wouldn't give me a shot even though he was close enough. He was sneaking behind and blow down and below the crest of the ridge I was set up on. I had one small opening and got ready just in case he stuck his head up for one more look. Well that's exactly what he did and I pulled the trigger. He was at 37 yards and went down like he was hit with a sledgehammer. He never even twitched afterwards. When I picked him up I thought his beard looked funny. He was a two year old bird weighing 20 lbs even, had 7/8" spurs and 3 beards totally 17 inches.

I have never heard as much gobbling as I did that afternoon/evening. One would fire off and they all would gobble and there had to be at least 30 toms in ear range. I couldn't even begin to count all the gobbles.

I got to sleep in Friday morning as my dad wasn't feeling well. But my phone rang early afternoon and he was on his way. We headed out to a favorite spot that was easy to get to with a blind on a field edge. Right away we had a hen come running and then 10 minutes later a hen and a tom appeared and just as quickly disappeared. A farmer showed up to work the fields and we decided to hit a blind in the woods on a ridge. We settled in there and as soon as I called I got a gobble. This went on for over an hour with him getting closer than farter away, over and over again. Then I heard something walking in the leaves behind us and a few minutes later my dad whispered, "There he is". He was eyeballing my strutting jake decoy and was walking in 1/2 strut the entire way. Dad's 20 gauge barked and down he went.

He was a jake with a 6" beard but didn't look like one as he came in.

My brother saw a group of at least 20 jakes the next morning from this blind the next morning. So the future looks bright for next spring. We also had a few misses and have a few more still hunting so hopefully will have more updates.

[monstermoose78]

congrats. I am itching to get out. I have busting my butt to finish these papers. I am putting the final touches on the last one I might even get out tonight for a hunt.

[Borch]

Good Luck when you make it out MM.

[monstermoose78]

It is awesome you got the kids out and even your dad.

[1eyeReD]

Wow that is just awesome. Look at the smiles on their faces! You guys got them dialed in!!

[leech~~]

Wow nice work, all those will come in handy around Thanksgiving since the price of Turkeys may go through the roof this year with the avian influenza virus hitting all the farms.

[mws4dux]

Great pics and stories. ..way to go!

[DonBo]

Kids and Dads, doesn't get much better. Congrats on a great season so far.

[sticknstring]

Sounds like a great start to the season for you guys - congrats!

[Borch]

We have one youth left yet. Almost added another one yesterday but the hunter shot where the turkey's head was instead where it is at.