SEIowaDeerslayer
Well-Known Member
I haven't scored him yet, but I think I probably bagged my highest scoring turkey this morning.
I always take the first week of turkey season off, just because I love turkey hunting so much. There's something about those nervous, anxious, crazy birds just makes me love chasing them. It was a tough opening week for me...I called in a gigantic bird on Monday morning right off the roost only to put a terrible shot on him, no excuses, and never found him. My luck ran dry after that mostly due to bad weather and the birds in my money spots just shut down completely. I can get a little mental sometimes and was starting to tell myself that it might be "one of those years". But, I stayed positive and kept hunting hard.
At about 5:00 am this morning I got to a new farm that I received permission to hunt just yesterday. Since it was windy I set the blind and dekes up in a nice open flat in a big bottom where I know the birds frequent. The wind was blowing pretty good and I could hear some faint gobbles pretty far away, but nothing close. At about 7:30 am I called in the farmer's sheep, like 50 of them...it was awesome, but not really. After the herd of sheep moved on I decided to pack it up and move to a farm just down the road to a proven spot.
The spot I went to is a perfect little grassy strutting ground clear in this deep bottom and on each end has a logging road connecting it to crop fields on the high ground. I figured it would be a good place for birds looking to get out of the wind. I got the blind and dekes setup...and waited. I let out some yelps on the aluminum slate call about every 15 minutes, not raising any gobbles. I was reading a book just to kill the time when I thought I heard a gobble to my north, which was downwind of my setup so it was barely audible. I let out a couple of soft yelps on the mouth call and got hit back instantly with 2 gobbles. I put my book down and got my bow ready, eying the loggin road with anticipation. I finally saw two white heads emerge and they slowly started working their way towards my dekes. The rest is a blur as it always is at crunch time but anyways, one of the gobblers took charge and starting beating up on the jake, and when he settled down I zeroed in on his vitals and let the arrow fly at 8 yards. The shot was true and the gobbler ran about 30 yards and did a sweet face plant into a white oak. His companion gave some pecks at his head for good measure.
I knew he was big just from the perception I had of him coming in but when I went to look at him he had some sweet hooks on him, very sharp, and the thickest beard I've personally seen. He's also a whopper at 27.1 lbs! Very happy hunter here today, finally got some redemption after Monday's super fail. I can't wait for next weekend to go after #2.
Good luck to everyone else out there with the turkey fever.
Spurs: 1 3/8 right, 1 1/2 left
Beard: 10 1/2
Weight: 27.1 lbs
I always take the first week of turkey season off, just because I love turkey hunting so much. There's something about those nervous, anxious, crazy birds just makes me love chasing them. It was a tough opening week for me...I called in a gigantic bird on Monday morning right off the roost only to put a terrible shot on him, no excuses, and never found him. My luck ran dry after that mostly due to bad weather and the birds in my money spots just shut down completely. I can get a little mental sometimes and was starting to tell myself that it might be "one of those years". But, I stayed positive and kept hunting hard.
At about 5:00 am this morning I got to a new farm that I received permission to hunt just yesterday. Since it was windy I set the blind and dekes up in a nice open flat in a big bottom where I know the birds frequent. The wind was blowing pretty good and I could hear some faint gobbles pretty far away, but nothing close. At about 7:30 am I called in the farmer's sheep, like 50 of them...it was awesome, but not really. After the herd of sheep moved on I decided to pack it up and move to a farm just down the road to a proven spot.
The spot I went to is a perfect little grassy strutting ground clear in this deep bottom and on each end has a logging road connecting it to crop fields on the high ground. I figured it would be a good place for birds looking to get out of the wind. I got the blind and dekes setup...and waited. I let out some yelps on the aluminum slate call about every 15 minutes, not raising any gobbles. I was reading a book just to kill the time when I thought I heard a gobble to my north, which was downwind of my setup so it was barely audible. I let out a couple of soft yelps on the mouth call and got hit back instantly with 2 gobbles. I put my book down and got my bow ready, eying the loggin road with anticipation. I finally saw two white heads emerge and they slowly started working their way towards my dekes. The rest is a blur as it always is at crunch time but anyways, one of the gobblers took charge and starting beating up on the jake, and when he settled down I zeroed in on his vitals and let the arrow fly at 8 yards. The shot was true and the gobbler ran about 30 yards and did a sweet face plant into a white oak. His companion gave some pecks at his head for good measure.
I knew he was big just from the perception I had of him coming in but when I went to look at him he had some sweet hooks on him, very sharp, and the thickest beard I've personally seen. He's also a whopper at 27.1 lbs! Very happy hunter here today, finally got some redemption after Monday's super fail. I can't wait for next weekend to go after #2.
Good luck to everyone else out there with the turkey fever.
Spurs: 1 3/8 right, 1 1/2 left
Beard: 10 1/2
Weight: 27.1 lbs
