Spring turkey

Who’s ready and what’s the plan number of tags, States, species?

Gould's turkey in Mexico.

Where and with who? Went with Chihuahua Outfitters last year and had a blast! Completed my Royal Slam X2!

Glad I went when I did, no trips this year due to financial difficulties, lol.

Flying I hope!

Bus.

Got my SD bow tag and will get at least one NE shotgun tag, maybe two. Anyone jumped on this .410 fad lately?? That old school camo pattern on the mossberg 500 is pretty cool. With the 5 dollar-a-shot shells im reading about 45 yard range??

Better stick with 25 yards or closer. A .410 isn’t exactly a 20ga.

Pack some lube and tissues.

Maine. Two birds. Twenty gauge. Got new decoys.

.410 sounds interesting but 25 yards would be my limit like said. Last year I had 2 in that range out in the Hills it would of worked fine but on a tough day useless if they hang up out further.

Just 3 here in Georgia unless I win the lottery in the next month. First year since I started turkey hunting that I won’t be traveling.

Now NE non- resident is it $95 tag or is that just for the first tag? Never could figure that out.

Think each tag is that price.

Minn. 1 bird. Eastern

I haven't decided New xbow or 12 ga. Yet

$87 last year for WY and it’s just across the border from where I hunt in SD. That would be almost $300 for 3 birds.

We would buy tags for Kansas and after limiting out we’d head to Nebraska. Only buy one tag at a time, after we’d find birds. Could’ve swore then the tags were only $90 each.

Just 1 tag for me here in Illinois. The private land we hunt is pretty pressured and by the time we get in there the third season the birds are very wary.

Your first tag is the most expensive because of the habitat fee. Then the 2nd and 3rd are in that 95 range.

No tag in Nevada got 6 points now. Might hunt California if my son finds some birds if i can scrape up some extra cash then looking at Iowa or maybe ok need an Eastern

Just here at home in the show me state for me. We get 2 birds. Already put in vacation for opening day.(April 20) I have hunted with my best friend on opening day for 20 plus years, except 3 of the 4 years he was in the navy. One of these days we would like to go chase the other species of turkeys across the country, but time and money stay in the way for now. I have started to get the itch and been playing that sweet hen music a little. My wife doesn't much like when spring turkey season is getting close, but she ain't kicked me out yet! Good luck men!!!

grandkids wont notice its gone !!\

1 WI, 1 WY and 3 SD tags for this year so far.

rich skunk guys startin to sound like farmers...lol

I get to hunt at home this year. Custer State Park tag.

Ill just throw this out there but if anybody wants to show a western guy around and chase some Eastern birds im up for it. Not sure of any place i can still get tags tho. I wont take my buddies the next weekend i promise.

I hate this time of year. Today felt like 60. It wasnt but thats how it felt. Most of the snow is gone. Im gettin the itch bad, and last 2 years weve had over a foot of snow in April. Its gonna be a loooong couple months til season.

I don't even like turkey hunting but I go shoot one every year since our DNR forces me to buy a license so I can take my boy to let him shoot one on his tag. I can take him deer hunting without a deer tag for myself but not a turkey.

I'm a bow hunter so no shotgun for me. But in Nebraska you can choose your weapon. So I'll be setting in a blind hoping for a gobbler so strut on by. I'll hopefully get to take a couple young first timers to, although they'll probably be tote n a 20 ga.

Got busy and forgot they moved the draw date in my area, so the youngest will be the only one that gets to turkey hunt. We have 300 on our ground that we feed all winter long and can’t hunt them unless we draw a tag. My bad for sure but it’s definitely frustrating

No turkeys here in France for me, but for years in CA we got 3 in the spring and one in the fall for no charge. There are so many turkeys around residential areas they changed the law so you can shoot them with any pellet gun .20 cal or larger. Plus there was a two week archery season after the spring season which was 5 weeks long.

I'm building calls now for 5 guys there.

Good luck to everyone and be safe.

Pete

Embrace the gobble. Nothing like it.

Having a bird come in silent then bust out a gobble behind you will test any mans nerves! LOL

Just a shotgun tag in SD for me. But the tag I am the most excited about is my daughter's. She is 9 and ready for her first Turkey hunt. She has been practicing calling and is sure excited.

I'll be at my camp for a week in May chasing them around the mountains of north central PA. In spring we can get one bearded bird with our regular license and a second bearded bird with a special permit. One bird of either sex in fall on the regular license.

Hunting spring gobblers is my favorite thing to do.

2 PA and 2 WV this year

I'm ready.Here in Maine.Allowed 3 between spring and fall.Using my hand made turkey wishbone turkey call made right here in Maine by Peter Wentworth

Yep.."Swift4Me" makes the world's finest box calls..I think Pete made 4 or 5 of them for T-Man last year..I know someones got pictures..

This is the first year I have ever not got a turkey tag in the first round in SD. Way more people applied for East River tags this year and I'm not sure why. Fingers crossed for the second round. This was supposed to be the year I harvested a turkey out of my 40th county in SD but I need a shotgun tag to do it. Beyond that I've already got Iowa and I'm in for Nevada (still waiting for the draw to happen). All the other states I'm considering are OTC so it's just a matter of how many of them I can hit in the time I'm off from work.

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Having a bird come in silent then bust out a gobble behind you will test any mans nerves! LOL
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And his shorts.LOL. Also ruin a good nap.

Turkey hunting gets in your blood just something about a big old gobbler coming into a call nothing like it.

^ I actually had a gobbler come in behind me and gobbled some years back. It scared the living heck out of me, I fell off the chair and broke the paddle on my box call.
With all of that the bird stayed the course and I harvested that bird. What a circus it was!!

Yep..I enjoy spring gobbler hunts more than elk hunt's...

Yep..I hear you..I've had them come in quiet and light up next to me...let's you know your alive...LOL

I’ll be headed to South GA (if Swampwolf will have me), here in Mo, then going to try WI for the first time.

I turkey hunted out of state the first time in 1990. I have hunted in as many as 6 states in one spring. Not that mad at them anymore.
Put a lot of miles on and spent lots of $ chasing gobblers. It’s hands down my favorite hunting.

Yep..Just looked up my turkey draw results..another no draw year...dang the bad luck..LOL

However the "OTC"..Over The Counter hunts are still a go..

Too boring for me. Setting around and waiting bores me to death, bow hunting deer is the same thing. Its great when the deer/turkeys are there but the rest of the time it sucks - IMHO.

Yep..Never hunted easterns..I'd get bored to if that's how one hunts them back east..sitting around all day..In fact I agree I wouldn't even hunt them..LOL

I’m ready! Gonna take my 20ga, bought a couple of new pot calls and a dozen mouth calls, like I really needed them 🙄

Actually the best way is to roost them then set up as close as possible the following morning to call one in as they fly down off the roost.Very exciting way to hunt and very safe.

I'm with you on the waiting but I'm much more patient waiting out a deer on stand than I am sitting there wondering if I have a gobbler working my way. I run & gun quite a bit if the birds aren't talking much. I'm with Law Dog...there's not much more exciting than hearing a fired-up old gobbler talking smack to ya.

Will try for 2 here at home in Illinois. We have a decent population here right now since I started trapping our turkey hunting has really improved for our family and neighbor. Way more birds to chase. I'm going to try and harvest a bird with my moms old JC Higgens pump 12 ga 2 3/4. Last year I took s bird with my grandfather 12 ga double and dads 16 ga double both stevens mod 311
J

Just one PA tag for me this year. Lose a few prime days to late opener. No change in equipment or tactics this year. Just do some scouting in normal haunts to make sure some around. I guess im going to do one thing differently. Instead of setting cams onnfield edge, im going to put up in tree and set to field scan. If felt i missed patterning the mornings last year with such a small view to trigger the cams.

Yep..That's how I try and do it out here..Start the day out right...

1st year I missed the lottery date. Know I will have to wait and get some left overs on line or go stand In line at the DNR service center.

Yep then running and gunning after that nothing like a good hike in the forest the down time is reflection time for me. Most folks won’t hunt a 2nd time with me I go where the birds are even if it’s straight up or down I’m going. LOL

I roosted one. More like four or five of them. I didn't know they were in the tree above me until one of them crapped on me right at daybreak. Hazard of bowhunting deer.

Lol at least you was sneaky enough.

Lol in a deep holler at that.

1 tag in u p of Michigan , should be more ,we are over run with them ,

I used to do a MT WY NE and sometimes SD go 4 two weeks id get back and hunt ID on the weekends. Now i can kill 5 birds in Mt that keeps me busy now. Anybody wwatching the Pinhote Project on youtube?

I can kill 3 here in Mississippi, hope to hit Kentucky or Missouri this year too but it'll be spur of the moment notice. I've alternated between those 2 states the past 6 years and had great luck.

Season starts 4/15 limit is 2 bearded

Tough to pick a week/weeks to go with the weather in the high country in the spring I have hunted in desert to arctic weather in past years, have sat in the rain for a week also. Hunting just below the snowline is pretty close to opening day conditions if a guy works for it.

My buddy has to pick his vacation time ahead of time so even if it’s bad we are going, with the snow last year we still pulled 3 birds no problem. I watch the weather and look for 3day gaps of good weather to pop out there for a few days.

It seems like some days we have the Hills to ourselves and other times it’s like hunting back East again but all hunting seems like that on public but that’s part of the challenge.

Dave is a good friend of mine. What you see on his videos is 100% true. That kid has a gobbler or two in his family tree. Persistence kills turkey and he doesn’t stop until a bird is dead, but he has always given thanks afterwards. I was lucky enough to start hunting with him the very first year I started turkey hunting in 2010.
If y’all want to see a true turkey killer start following the Pinhoti Project. His breakdown videos offer a lot of tips.

I leave for FL in 3 weeks. Hopefully get my FL bird and then come home and hunt in WI on the tag I drew. I will try to get some left over tags and hopefully hunt a few different units in WI. If I can do it, I might try sneaking to SD for a quick hunt.

This year I will be using the 20ga and 16ga with tss.

Already planning a Rio or Merriam hunt for next spring. One of my life goals is to get the slam!!!

If a guy decides to come out at the last minute to SD we have picked up licenses at the nature center in Rapid City before rather the mailing in for a tag. You just get on the computer there and buy your tag and the lady in the next room prints it out for you. Call before you go it’s been a few years.

we have lots of birds , an not many hunter anymore ,

Any turkey hunters out there want to maybe do some swapping of information on out of state hunts? I'm not saying I can put you under the limb every day but I can point you in a direction or swap out on some fishing here in WI.

I am planning on hunting Kentucky in the end of April for sure. Still on the fence about going to Tennessee the first week of April. Hopefully I will draw a public land tag for the end of May in Michigan. If not I will hunt the same birds the whole month of May but restricted to our farm which is surrounded by public. Next year I will hopefully get a merriams somewhere, thinking South Dakota.

I need a Rio, but will never get my FL bird either I’m to cheap to pay what they want for one down there. I hunted OK once was going to get set up and that fell through so I hunted public and seen 1 hen that week. The birds were just over the fence on private ground.

The Black Hills National Forest is huge and covers the East end of SD and goes into WY the further North you go the more it drifts into WY. SD you can buy on line and WY is over the counter in several areas. It’s tough to plan around the weather could be hot or butt deep in some places a guy can drive out of it most years rain is the enemy.

Birds can be easy others hammer away as they walk away and never look back. LOL

Daves my hero

Start putting in for the quota hunts. We get drawn about every 3rd year. Still cost you the drive down and some groceries, but a lot cheaper than a paid hunt. I will admit it’s still not a guarantee, some years the birds just don’t want to play, but other years you have to beat them off with a stick.

still got all 3 of my tags so i'll get out and try to use at least two of em lol
12 gauge one and gonna try to contender one, but it wont be no 410 bore lol

Adam you going to go out and try your luck, this year?

KY PA and NY where I'll be.. Got a new bow that needs broke in and a new shotgun..