First Turkey!!

[Thunderchicken]

Well, I got my first turkey last week here in South Dakota on my second ever hunt. Last year went out to the Black Hills with little success one for six. A lot of rain!!
Then this year was a totally different story. Four of us hunted on the plains this year and went 8 for 8 with everyone getting there two birds each in THREE DAYS!! My first was a nice tom with 8 1/2 inch beard and 3/4 inch spurs and my second was a younger one with only 4 inch beard and nubs instead of spurs. It was great, my first ever to hear a tom spit and drum as the experts call it. I think we were early though because the birds didn't answer the calls much and so we did some ambushing and catching them loffing around the bluffs in the after noons. They were also bunched up in large groups. I'm just a rookie at this but may have to go later in the year to get them to come to the calls better. What do you think??

Thanks

[Borch]

Congrats!

Where abouts where you hunting?

We're heading out next Tuesday to the Black Hills. Hoping to time it right this year. Last two springs have been so late over there that the birds were not interested in hen calling. Kinda like you described.

Borch

[Hotspotter]

Thunderchicken:

You may have been a bit early, but I would've guessed you to be about right on the better part of the season. Bunched up birds can be an indication of that, but it can also mean that the hens are very willing to breed and are roosting with the toms. Toms are always looking for an opportunity, but its tough to pull them away from a sure thing. Last year in KS we experienced the same thing.....birds that would ignore or even shy away from even the lightest of calling.

Congrats on your birds! Sounds like you adapted well to the situation. It's difficult when they won't respond or come to the call, and it takes some real patience and woodsmanship to make it come together when they're behaving like that.

Joel

[This message has been edited by jnelson (edited 04-26-2004).]

[Thunderchicken]

Borch,

We were in Tripp county on some private land. The farmer was great, didn't even ask for money either. Which was a good thing to here out here in SD. All the ranchers are starting to get into commercial hunting instead of just farming. We talked to about a dozen ranchers out there and got permission to hunt on two places one charged $25. and the other didn't. The rest either didn't have days open or charged giuding fee and all that. But we seen turkeys all over whan we went out scouting early this spring.

[Borch]

Sounded like you had a great trip!

[Thunderchicken]

Sorry Borch,

It was Jones county not Tripp. I got it mixed up with the county we deer hunt.

[RiverRunner]

Thunderchicken,

I'm not so sure you were too early, you may have been a little late. Just judgeing from our experience earlier in the spring. Three of us hunted the BlackHills on the opener March 10th and had our birds by 10a.m on opening day. Two Toms and a Jake. The Tom and one Jake litteraly ran into our calling, the other Tom was a spot an stalk. Lots of gobbling at that time and the turkeys were very responsive to calling. We hunted around the Custer area, quite a few turkeys around.

[TomBow]

Congrats Thunderchicken! I have some buddies that go out to S.D. every year and they get a limit most years. May have to join 'em next year! Way to Go TC!

[Borch]

Riverrunner said:

I'm not so sure you were too early, you may have been a little late. Just judgeing from our experience earlier in the spring. Three of us hunted the BlackHills on the opener March 10th and had our birds by 10a.m on opening day. Two Toms and a Jake. The Tom and one Jake litteraly ran into our calling, the other Tom was a spot an stalk. Lots of gobbling at that time and the turkeys were very responsive to calling. We hunted around the Custer area, quite a few turkeys around.

I hope meant April 10th. You shouldn't be hunting a month before the season opens.

I'm guessing he was hunting during the breeding peak. That's a tough time to hunt. I'm hoping we hit the second gobbling peak when we head to Custer next week.

Borch

[RiverRunner]

My mistake it was April 10th, I looked at my calendar wrong. Thanks for the correction. The birds were really flocked up, the toms were roosting near the hens. We just snuck into an area between the hens and gobblers and they came right in. They responded to every call we made. The Pringle area just south of Custer also had a ton of birds.