How did everyone's Turkey Season go?

[bassman186]

Well my 2005 Turkey Season ended without a Bird this year. I guess I just complete that 70% that dont get one. So lets here it how did everyone else do? Hopefully some of the FMer's fit into the 30% catorgory.

~Matt Jung

[IceHawk]

Mine went great, I was fortunate to be able to have a great hunt and as a bonus harvest a real nice gobbler.

Bird statistics

23-lbs

11 inch beard

1 inch spurs

[mnz71hunt]

Just started hunting season 3 this morning. The wind is nasty today. Called one tom off a ridge down to the bottom of the valley, but the wind was so strong he never heard my calls again after he landed.

Saw one nice tom roaming a valley bottom about 10:30, but couldn't cut him off to try calling. Called it quits about an hour ago.

Four days to go

[Captain B.R.K]

I encountered the same windy conditions just west of Rochester. Though I was done hunting after 4 hours into the hunt Saturday morning......19.3lbs tom with a 8" beard.

Stayed out until noon with my brother- to dang windy. The warmer it got the harder it blew.

Good luck to you in the next few days!

[Borch]

Quote:

---

Mine went great, I was fortunate to be able to have a great hunt and as a bonus harvest a real nice gobbler.

Bird statistics

23-lbs

11 inch beard

1 inch spurs

---

I saw your pic at the registration station.

Nice bird!

Borch

[riverrat56]

I am going out tomorrow morning, first day of 4th season, Im headed off to bed in about 10 mins.

Anyone else hunting this season?

[lookin4fish]

I am hitting the road today after a little snooze after working the night shift. if i get lucky and get one, i will leave a post.

[Parker]

I hunted the first season and struggled. As a group we went 1-3. Seemed like the Tom's were still in a winter pattern. They were all grouped up. Unless you found a group of birds you were SOL.

[Powerstroke]

I'm hunting 4th season and it wasn't pretty today. I saw one hen and she spooled form 250 yds away. Heard a couple gobbles about 11:30am but couldn't seem to get in front of him, kept going the other way.

I won't be able to get out tomorrow, but I have the rest of the weekend. Hope its less windy.

[catmaster1557]

6:00 this mornin there was 5 different toms 75-100 yds away plus 2 more farther off. They just wouldn't come in. At 6:30 two coyotes walked within 15 yds of me and then the turkeys went nuts and within seconds were long gone. 7:00 a jake comes up the ravine and stood 17 yds away. I watched him for about 5 minutes. I wasn't planning on shooting him, but what do ya know I couldn't take it anymore. He went 14lbs. I'm actually kinda mad at myself for shooting him as I had 4 more days left. But then you know how things work I wouldn't have seen anything rest of the season, and then would have been [PoorWordUsage]ed at myself for not shooting this little guy. So anyway its no trophy by anymeans but it is fresh wild turkey on the table. I'm gonna take a buddy to my spot tomorrow and see if he can't get one.

Good luck to the rest of ya,

Catmaster

[Powerstroke]

hey catmaster, what zome are you in????......I 'm kidding, but only a little.

[catmaster1557]

Zone 440... Not giving out where though

[hunt4food]

Went out with my dad this morning. he got a nice Tom. 20 pounds, 9" beard and 1" spurs. Not a huge one, but it was only the second one he has taken and the first one was a jake. He's always "too busy" to hunt serious, but he's really taking a liking to this turkey hunting. It was a great morning to take a day off work and spend it with my dad. The birds were not responding very well to my calling. We had several gobblers responding early and at least 3 of them came towards us, but they were pretty adament about the hen coming to them instead. We were talking about moving and I decided to just stay put since I have learned my lesson the hard way more than once by moving. Well, it finally paid off around 9:00AM. the Tom was with a jake and did not gobble much so I didn't call much. We just kept watching. We were hunting in some pretty thick woods. Finally the old boy decided he couldn't stand it anymore and came over for a look. Once he saw the hen decoy, he gobbled a lot more and came in with stronger intentions. the young jake learned a valuable lesson today too! I think he may have suffered some hearing loss when my pops fired the 10ga. The tom was only about 10 yards away and the jake was following about 10 feet behind the tom when he shot!! I bet he will be smarter next year! I can't wait!

[riverrat56]

Cat, thanks for taking me this morning........... Me and dad went out there, screwed up about 5 times, found your blind sat down, opened up my bottle of pop, bird gets out of tree about 5 yards from me followed by 4 more. Then there were 2 big toms in the feild that would have been in range if i was sitting on the edge of the feild where i normally do. Then I had one come in behind me and i moved to grab my gun and he spooked and took off. So i moved to a differnt spot, there was 4 birds going nuts, one was only about 60 yards away, then some (Contact US Regarding This Word) comes drving down the feild road, all the birds take off and i never heard htem again. But thats not the worst part, so i go back around the feild i was gunna go sit in the blind again and there is 3 big toms strutting right in front of the feild there, so they spooked and went acrossed the feild.

So then i just decided to quit.

You still game for tomorrow moring?

[castmaster]

my buddy and i had our 2 birds by 6:30 thursday morning (hunted zone 337). we were in a 2 man blind on the edge of a field we had scouted and knew several groups of birds were feeding in. we had birds gobbling all around us and ended up with 2 toms coming at our decoys from 2 different directions. the smaller of the 2 (20lbs, 9 1/2" beard, 7/8 in spurs) got there first and was strutting and drumming. as soon as the bigger of the 2 (25lbs., 10" beard, 1" spurs) saw the decoys and the other bird strutting he bolted towards the decoys. when he got in range, we counted to 3, and took both birds at the same time!! great hunt....all 1 hour of it. now its time to "hunt" with the camera!

[ChuckN]

Wow, Turkey hunting is much better in person than on TV.

My first hour of my first turkey hunt I called in 4 Jakes across a large corn field and they surrounded my 1 hen decoy. Eventually 2 Jakes walked within a few yards of my oak limb blind I was sitting in, carefully studying me as they thought something was strange. I decided not to shoot at any of the Jakes as I was waiting for my cousin to join the hunt and I wanted more fun. It was absolutely crazy, especially when they all gobbled simulaniously within 10 yards from me. Intense! They walked away gobbling to be hunted another day.

Friday morning brought us 1 Tom later in the morning, he came crashing through the woods and we were not prepared for him thinking he was a deer, he made a lot of crashing noises. He stood nicely at about 50 yards and we couldn't move without him seeing us.

Friday at 4:30pm we called in a monster Tom across a corn field. He strutted nicely about 25 yards away and he wouldn't give me a good shot and I waited too long. That bird got away. A disappointment on my part.

Saturday morning called in a hen that cut at us for over 10 minutes and 4 nice Toms on the other field strutting and they wouldn't follow the hen into our field.

This morning at 6:15am we got the opportunity and took 2 Jakes.

In the few days of hunting we saw 14 gobblers and 1 hen. Unreal experience!!

[mtwalleye]

First time Turkey hunting. Started Thursday morning 4/28. 6:45am called in a big Tom. 24 1/4lbs, 11" beard, 1 1/2" spurs. Great hunt.

[Neiko]

Nice bird but don't get spoiled. I am heading down Wed AM to pick up 2 buddies in Chicago and then driving down to Southern Indiana and will be back Sunday. I hope to have some pictures to post.

[Nova]

Spent 4 days pretending to be a billy goat in the hills and valleys of south eastern MN with 2 - 14 year olds in tow. Great experience for the first timers and I had fun teaching them. Unfortunately, we were not able to get a bird for either of the kids. First day we got too close to a gobbling tom and spoked him off the roost. The next 3 days we spent trying to find another bird. Saw very few hens and the toms would shut up as soon as they hit the ground. Never even got close to another tom. Oh well, the experience of that 4 days with my boys was well worth the trip. Oh yeah, when we got home my wife had some photos of 2 toms and a hen under my bird feeder about 20 feet from the deck. We'll have to see if I can harvest one of those with my bow tag. Good luck to all still hunting.

[kingr]

Got my first turkey Saturday morning. 16# Jake in zone 244. What an experience. I was going to let him go so I got to watch him strut his stuff in front of my jake decoy until he decided he wanted to fight him. I watched him for about 20 min at 20 yds putting on a show for the decoys. I'm glad I decided to take him because I woke up Sunday to snow, and 15-20 mph winds. I am hooked.

[fishingaddict]

It f*()&^)&*()() su*(&()*&(_. This is the first time in 5 permits I have acquired in which not even seeing a bird. My past record is 5 permits -- 3 birds taken-- 1 bird seen and I screwd up with no decoy(my first time out ever) and of course this past weekend.

the fishing addict back to fishing now

[CrankinEyes]

I will not hunt season 4 again. Never saw a Tom or a Jake in an area we fill out every time we draw. Only saw 3 hens the 1st morning none after that.

[Sky Carp Blaster]

Hunted season 4(D) in zone 341. Very tough hunting. Cold. Windy. Birds were hardly gobbling in the morning(maybe for about 10 minutes) and it seemed many birds just weren't gobbling or responding to calls. The first morning I got one within about 100 yards and he wouldn't come any closer. Then some deer scared him away. Second morning I had a tom pretty close, but he shut up so I moved about 100 yards closer to a different bird. 15 minutes later, from the spot I just moved from, appear 2 hens and 1 tom. They were 80 yards away and the tom was strutting, couldn't get him away from the 2 hens. Third morining there was hardly a gobble to hear. Got up to walk around a little at 9:00 AM and found 2 toms in a field. Got close and tried calling, no luck. Fourth morning I set up in that same field, as I had seen birds using it. Saw a few hens and got a jake within 15 yards, but passed him up. Tough hunting. Birds would not respond to calls and were not gobbling. Saw lots of birds driving around in the afternoon, and saw decent numbers while hunting. They just wouldn't respond to calls. The big goose egg for our group of three.

[cmoredrakes]

I came really close.

{read the FIRST TIMER NEEDS HELP! post by cmoredrakes on the turkey forum page}.