Sometimes they look a lot further for me too than they actually are. I like the 25 yard shots where I have no doubt. Sounds like a fun hunt nonetheless. I went and listened at a spot near the house this morning. Heard one way off. Got back home and made an owl screech and one gobbled in the field next to my garage. Gonna take a buddy in the morning and see if we can find one near the house. Public land opens this weekend, but all the local to me stuff is quota only this week. I’ll try to fill my tag after the quota hunts are done.

Gonna head to Montana for my first out of state turkey trip in May so maybe I’ll get to scratch something off the bucket list

Closed the 2024 season out this morning.

Set up on a gobbling bird at dawn....but he had other plans. Moved on him twice, but no go....must have had hens as he didn't want to play once he got on the ground.

I moved about 1/4 mile away to some fresh dusting sign at a sandy road intersection. Set up and called about 4 or 5 times in about 10 mins. No gobbling. I had been there about an hour sitting quietly when a gobbler sounded off up on the open pine ridge to my left about 100 yds away. I immediately yelped softly and he cut me off. Two longbeards came in....I killed the strutter at 38 steps.

I'm truly blessed!!!!




Also got to witness a cool moonrise and found a few artifacts.

Nice work Swamp!

Congrats Swamp! They were quite vocal this morning on the SW part of our property.
We went back to where we encountered the bird yesterday and “he” was roosted nearby. We heard him, one to our North and another East.
Cover is sparse where we hunt this year due to the burns. We alternate every year, this year it was outside the feed trails and the drains/bottoms due to logging last year and the fact we didn’t burn at all in this area last year. That leaves just the inside of the feed trails.
We moved on the closest bird and ended up in having to set up in the burn. If this bird gobbled once he gobbled over 100 times. We were downhill so to speak. I had my son in some brush that didn’t burn completely and I stayed close to the drain to call. We worked this bird and moved up 3 times. We finally saw him at 70yds and this joker jumps up on an old stump trying to see that hen and would gobble from it.
We just needed another 30yds or so when this joker jumps down and takes off running to our right! I’m thinking what the heck??? I could see Zac and he didn’t move, I know he didn’t see me…then I see the reason! Jakes!!
I love seeing jakes because they become gobbling 2yr olds next season.
But, jakes are like a gang of unruly teenagers. 4 jakes will run off a single gobbler every time! Of course the jakes coming in strutting and the two closest get to within 5yds of Zac! After about 15min of them hanging around and the gobbler back gobbling to our West, I stood up to run them off so we could get back to hunting!
We crossed the drain back to the North to work our way around where we’d heard the bird only to hear him to the far SW corner.
By the time we got there everything shut up so we decided to just sit and listen. After 15-20min we decided to take the long way back to the truck and do some calling along the way. In the process we walked back up on the jakes and they had a couple hens with them. We knew the gobblers would be around but may not be gobbling because of the jakes.
We’d gone about 125yds or so and I hit the call and one answered in the bottom. We hit him again with the crow call and got set up. This time we had the cover and he was in the open. Once we got set up and had him going I realized he was gonna be stubborn. I had Zac move up to where he could see the bottom but not quite all the way down. Meanwhile, I backed up 20yds, then 50yds, and eventually almost 100yds behind him. Each move backwards I could tell he was moving closer. That final move brought him up the hill and in range!

And my son missed!! I mean not even cut a feather.
Zac said instead of just popping up straight in front of him and him shooting, this joker flanked us and then would strut and gobble, strut a few steps and gobble. My son said he got to 35yds and he was shaking so bad the bird saw him and putted twice and set his wings. He took 3 steps back the way he’d come and stopped and my son shot. He said he knew at the shot that the red dot was nowhere close to the bird.
He felt horrible and at one point told me he thought he was gonna puke. Of course, that just spurred me to rag on him even more!! I didn’t get upset. I just laughed and told him if I didn't get all shook up when trying to hold that dot steady on a gobbling strutting bird, I’d just sell all my guns and turkey calls.
We have a month and a half of turkey season, there’ll be other chances and I’m sure throughout life, other misses!

Where you headed in Montana. I hunted the West side last year. Hit me up if you’re in that area and I’ll drop you some pins.

Love this thread!!!!!!

Our season opens on the 15th

Can’t wait!

WB,
Great story of this morning's hunt. Gobbler misses make me wanna puke too, and I've had a few.

Nice work Turkey Freaks.

Now dangit. Car pool and head North.
Need some thinning out of those pests around here.

Appreciate the invite! But, you are a LOOONNGG WAAAYY from here.

Yep, but your Old and have Time...

That's true!

I’m loving that old school 870 you have there. Wish I woulda bought one back in the day. Congrats on two nice longbeards. CJ

Thanks! And now Mossy Oak has brought back that camo pattern..

WB, I think we’ll be near hisham, Montana. Kind of southeast central. I tried to convince my buddies to just hunt public land, but they have a friend who has access to a good bit of private land so I guess that’s where we’ll go. The guys I’m going with don’t take turkey hunting as seriously as I do so I think they are looking for as close to a sure thing as possible.

Bucksnbears, that offer is awful tempting to me!

Great second bird Swampwolf. You’ve had an excellent season.

I tried to take my buddy near the house this morning. I heard a couple gobble in the vicinity yesterday, but it was dead silent this morning. Sounds like we’ll be butchering cows the next several weekends so I’ll have to try to make the most of some before work hunts on the wmas when they open up.

Picked this base up on the way back in this morning...

Good deal to all. Those GA turkeys seem to have a lot more black/darker wing feathers than ours,?

They certainly do.
These turkeys all come from the same river watershed. That watershed runs way south into Florida.
No doubt, these turkeys have some Osceola blood.
I’ve killed a lot of eastern gobblers, and those turkeys have a look all their own.

Lots of BLM land that allows hunting, and when I was there I didn’t run into a single person. OnX shows it all and I contacted their local DNR for that area and talked with them about local populations.
Good luck out there! Can’t wait to see pics and read the stories. If you get near the Saint Regis area hit me up.

Congratulations

Well Sunday afternoon had us in the game again, but no shot at a turkey. We walked the bottom in hopes that we’d strike one early. Donated a pint of blood each to mosquitoes and headed to higher ground. We were making a loop back to a drain between to burn areas and saw 4 jakes. Proceeded a little farther and saw a lone hen. About 1830 or so we got a gobble way back in the bottom off a crow call. We advanced through cover and hit him again and no response. So now we’re stuck. We set up about 5-10yds back in the cover from the burn and waited. About 20 minutes later with no other gobbles I hit him with the glass call. He answered and was within 150yds or a little closer. We were now stuck in place.
There’s a road in front of us and it falls off the other side to the bottom. Our dilemma is the bottom got burned this year. We can’t advance for lack of cover and to be honest, I HATE setting up against a tree in a burn. I just feel like I stand out and if that joker doesn’t see a hen, he ain’t coming anyways.
I tried to deploy the old back up and call while I left Zac in place. It worked sorta, but he never would come to the top. The most Zac got to see was the top of the fan.
The gobbler finally moved West to his roosting spot and we backed on out with a game plan for next weekend. And part of that game plan involves 2 Thermacells each, lol!!! This is one of the wettest Springs I can remember in a long long time. I haven’t had to use a Thermacell the last three seasons, but this year is making up for it!!