Dead Tommy!?!

[pumper317]

I was bow hnting up at my cousin's husbands land and when walking out to the deer stand accross a field we noticed a turkey laying dead on the edge of the field. (I have never been turkey hunting, but know a little bit about it. Both the guys i am with hunt them in the spring.) I ran and picked it up to get a peak before we went out to the stand, and low and behold it was a big tom. It had an 11+ inch beard, inch and a half spurs, and a gorgeous tail.

We took the bird and cut off the legs, tail, wings, and beard and are getting them mounted as a gift to the guys dad who owns the land.

We couldnt figure out why it was there dead, but we just figured natural causes. Not something you see every day.

[DonBo]

That's a shame right there. No obvious sign of being hit with shotgun pellets or anything like that? Turkey season is still on in the metro.

Could have been hit by a car? A lot more common thn you might think.

[Powerstroke]

I see the roadkilled ones all the time where I bowhunt. If I find one fresh enough I might get it mounted. I know mnmuzzleloader has done that with a couple. Can't beat a live/now dead decoy.

[pumper317]

Not road kill. It was about a half mile off any traveled road. No signs of pellets, no signs of anything really. Just a dead turkey.

[Hotspotter]

Sounds fishy. Not implying you guys did anything, but they're way too tough a bird to just plop over dead. Suppose the old boy could've had a heart attack?

Careful taking any game or pieces of game out of the woods without prior contact of a CO. In their eyes, you could've taken the bird illegally and just wanted the spurs/beard.

I ran into this last year. I cruise the roads and hunt turkeys religiously each spring. Not only do I see tons of them dead on the road, I've seen them get hit. In one instance, I called a CO and he said I could breast it out and take the bird, he'd stop by later with a posession tag. Did the same thing last year, left a message, he didn't answer. Got back to me a day later and acted surprised I took the animal. His new stance is "circle of life", coyote food, kick it in the ditch; along with a stern warning. Guess it seemed suspicious that in two consecutive springs I'd see fresh turkey kills and want either parts and/or meat. Not for those who know how much time I spend out there .

Careful!

Joel