Turkey hunting

[little sam]

Turkey hunting is basically sitting in the woods getting rejected by birds for hours. And then one morning a tom comes strutting in at 20 yards and you forget every frustrating minute of it.

 

[HighRanks]

All the frustration vanishes when that tom finally strolls in...nature’s way of keeping hunters humble and hooked

 

[Wadlow Palerider]

I went last year for the first time. I saw two running away from me. They saw me long before I saw them. I'm going to give it another try this year. I like sitting quietly in the woods.

 

[41Magnum]

My hunting buddy and I drew permits for Chuck Swan this year,
looking forward to that. Haven’t hunted there in quite some time.

 

[Jamie]

Turkey hunting is basically sitting in the woods getting rejected by birds for hours. And then one morning a tom comes strutting in at 20 yards and you forget every frustrating minute of it.

 Yeah, that's exactly how I'd describe it. You'll have these long periods where nothing much happens and then suddenly one little thing clicks and it all makes sense again.

 

[Alan]

Turkeys really run on their own schedule, your patience gets tested way more than your calling does.

 

[Wadlow Palerider]

Well Ive been busy. In fact, I just returned from trout fishing in West Virginia. I always have good time there - on the Cranberry River. It was extremely dry there like it has been here, so trout fishing has been better there. I did some turkey hunting before leaving. I'm here to report my turkey calling is in need of practice. I use a box call and normally cluck or chirp 3 or 4 times in a 20 minute span and then wait quietly.
I detected some movement about 80 yards down on old road bed. Not moving, I watched intently while it (undetermined at this point) was inching its way closer to my location. It turned out to be a bobcat. It actually came within 30 yards and continued in my direction until I re-positioned my shotgun. It caught sight of my movement. We had a staring contest for about two minutes and it scurried off. I guess my take away from this is my turkey calling must sound like an easy meal or a wounded animal rather than a turkey. I sure didn't see any birds.
Try, Try again ... BTW, while in WV I tried wild turkey for the first time. I thought it was really good eating. It was convincing enough to make me want to practice calling before the hunt. Hoping you turkey hunters have been more successful than me this year !

 

[jdlii]

Opening day started out slow. While trying to sneak to my favorite spot, I stumbled on to three hens. They jogged away into a cedar thicket and my plan had to be revised. The creek bed was a second, last minute choice but, after 45 minutes of no gobbles, a decision was made to walk up the hill toward the Northern boundary of the property.

Once repositioned, I heard a couple of gobbles estimated to be 80+ yards away. A downed tree provided a hole for the stake of my decoy just on the side of low area created by an old logging/farm road. A cluster of three trees was selected as my hide 15 yards back from the decoy and I began calling and chirping about every 5 minutes for not more than 8 to 10 seconds. The gobbler responded and was closing the distance from the neighboring property and heavy woods.

The last gobble, in response to my call, was about 25 to 30 yards out. I never laid eyes on the gobbler until he emerged from behind my decoy from right to left. He was puffed up and fanned out then he saw the decoy and raised his head the full length of his neck. The front sight of my Beretta Xtrema settled just below the head and the 3.5" Winchester Supreme #5 did its job.

In the attached photo you will see a red object under the decoy, that is the shot wad. It landed at that location and was not placed there by me. The bird weighed over 20 lbs. with a 9" beard and 3/4" spurs. A couple of subsequent hunts have resulted in a hen sighting and other than another beautiful morning hunt in Tennessee, no Toms.

Well, I can't shoot them in the den so, I might as well keep trying.