2015 Turkey Meatpole

[blutooth]

Saturday afternoon I was on a small field and my brother texted me telling me there were birds on the far side of the plowed 80 acre field he was hunting. I packed up my decoys quick and headed the mile over to the far side of the big field. Came to the edge of the field and this tom was 20 yards away strutting all by himself - no hens around or anything. I quickly and quietly backed off 15 yards, dropped my bag and laid down. Gave a couple yelps, he would gobble back every time, and waited 5 minutes before he wandered over to see where the yelp came from.

Largest big I ever shot.

Spent Sunday morning watching this young tom constantly chase 4 jakes away from the hens. With the real deal right in front of him, I couldn't even get him to consider coming to check out my decoys.

 

[Wasatchbuck]

Snow Turkey!! it was the last day I was going to be able to hunt in our stupid limited entry season. Got up on top and it was snowing pretty good. We were able to locate a pair of birds and got set up on them. called back and forth for about 20 minutes and they were not moving. Finally they started to move and but they were moving away from us. We snuck into some pines that were behind us and watched them cross a large sagebrush flat and make their way into a small stand of pines. Told my buddy once they get into those pines we are going to haul ass across the sage and hunker down by some oak brush. Got about thirty yards from them and I snuck around the pines to have a better look. As I did so turkeys started running all over the place. Picked out a jake and let him have it. by the time I walked up to the bird there were still jakes and toms milling around not 40 yards away. Hell of alot of fun, more like stalking deer then turkeys. Weather got even crappier as we were walking out.

 

[realunlucky]

Nice we went out Monday night and couldn't get threw the snow drifts to our spot. Crazy spring

 

[Wasatchbuck]

crazy spring indeed. I couldnt believe they were still responding in that weather...I guess split tail will be the downfall of any man!!!

 

[River Rat]

Double with my father opening morning.

 

[River Rat]

Sorry, Can't get the picture to turn.

 

[FrankieP1988]

Here ya go river rat:

 

[trkyslr]

Ray beautiful birds rt there!!!! Congrats!!!

 

[River Rat]

Thanks, FrankieP1988

 

[dangerousD]

Good looking birds guys! Congrats! Here's my first this season. Also shot a second bird (jake) in a rain/snow storm here in Nebraska, but he looked like a drowned bird so I'm not putting a picture of him up...LOL First bird was 25.36 lbs, 10.75" beard, 1-7/16 right spur and 15/16 left spur (broken). My best archery bird to date. Here's a short clip of the "money shot". Video Link.

 

[bowhunter15]

I had the opportunity yesterday and today to hunt alongside Shane Simpson, who is a fantastic competition turkey caller and runs a website and show on turkey hunting. Before we met up, he asked where we'd be hunting. I told him about the public land I'd located at least one gobbler on and have seen plenty of birds in the past. He also asked if I was okay using his shotgun and hunting without a blind so we could run and gun more effectively. I said "no problem". Wednesday morning we set up 200 yards from where I assumed the birds were roosting, in a nasty pocket of nearly landlocked public on the edge of a cliff overlooking a river. We got them gobbling on the roost, but when they flew down they went silent with their hens.

We backed out and run-and-gunned a couple miles without hearing a peep. We drove over 1.5 hours to get to some giant public ground in the southern part of the zone Shane has been successful on multiple times. Once again, we run-and-gunned and blind called for hours with no responses. So we left and drove to nearby private that had lots of birds. We called in two hens by the end of the day, but that was it. Shane said it was the slowest day he'd had all year.

Today: We went back to my public land again to start, but went on the other side of the river near the cliff. Our goal was to call the birds we heard yesterday across the 150 foot tall vertical canyon because the roost area was so tough to access. We didn't have a decoy out, since we wanted to hear the birds first and make a move on them. Shane had three gobblers going absolutely nuts around flydown time on the other side. We weren't close enough to the edge to see if any flew over. Shortly after, a hen came in silently behind us. She was followed by a jake. He was at such an angle that I would have had to put the gun between Shane and his camera to get a quick shot off. Then we spotted another jake 30 yards in front of us that snuck in while we were focused on the other two. When we tried to get the camera on him, he turned and ran off. The other jake wandered off without giving a clear shot. But then we could hear gobbling on our side of the river. One of the toms had flown over to investigate. Shane called again and he responded. We looked at our maps to determine how to set-up on him. As soon as we devised a solid plan a shot rang out...

We walked out to the road to meet the hunter who had just killed the bird. They had parked on the opposite side of the road so we had assumed we were alone on our side. It was a 2y.o. with an 8" beard. Nothing we could do but congratulate the guy.

Plan B...
We drove deeper into the state and past several public land parcels. Finally we found one that looked good at 10am. The signage was a little confusing, so we called the number on the sign and confirmed that the land was open for turkey hunting. Then we had to wade through a knee high creek to get to the high ground. On the way into the woods on the access trail, we found the imprint of a track in the grass and some droppings. We put the decoy in an opening in a narrow strip of hardwoods between two crp fields and set up against a big, out-of-the-way oak. After an hour of blind calling, we were nearly ready to move on to the next piece of public land. Then a gobble rang out in the distance. Shane hit the calls and waited about a minute. Then he called again, and the gobble interrupted him less than halfway from where the original was. He was coming fast so we turned the cameras on and got ready. Finally we could see his fan crest the ridgetop 60 yards away. He slowly strutted and shuffled his way down towards our decoy. It's been a couple years since I shot my only turkey, and was shaking badly and trying to control my breathing. When he cleared a big hardwood less than 10 yards from the decoy, I focused on the base of the neck and squeezed... The recoil took me by surprise, and when I looked up the tom was laying stone cold on the ground 28 yards away!

He was likely a 2 year old bird with 3/4" spurs and a 10 1/4" beard, but had a nice full fan. I let Shane keep the gizzard and heart in exchange for showing me his method of cleaning the bird, and I kept the meat, fan, beard, and wings. I plan on making fletchings from the wing feathers for my longbow arrows. Pretty exciting hunt, and the best part was that I learned how to run-and-gun and call from someone who really knows what they're doing. The hunter we talked to this morning was like "there was some hen going crazy this morning that got the gobbler to fly over the river". Shane had replied "that was me" :lol: It was a pretty fun change of events from the bowhunting in a blind I'm used to.

The video from the hunt will be edited and uploaded for Shane's webshow. I'll post the video when he airs it.

 

[MTbowhunter36]

 

[dangerousD]

I had the opportunity yesterday and today to hunt alongside Shane Simpson, who is a fantastic competition turkey caller and runs a website and show on turkey hunting. Before we met up, he asked where we'd be hunting. I told him about the public land I'd located at least one gobbler on and have seen plenty of birds in the past. He also asked if I was okay using his shotgun and hunting without a blind so we could run and gun more effectively. I said "no problem". Wednesday morning we set up 200 yards from where I assumed the birds were roosting, in a nasty pocket of nearly landlocked public on the edge of a cliff overlooking a river. We got them gobbling on the roost, but when they flew down they went silent with their hens.

We backed out and run-and-gunned a couple miles without hearing a peep. We drove over 1.5 hours to get to some giant public ground in the southern part of the zone Shane has been successful on multiple times. Once again, we run-and-gunned and blind called for hours with no responses. So we left and drove to nearby private that had lots of birds. We called in two hens by the end of the day, but that was it. Shane said it was the slowest day he'd had all year.

Today: We went back to my public land again to start, but went on the other side of the river near the cliff. Our goal was to call the birds we heard yesterday across the 150 foot tall vertical canyon because the roost area was so tough to access. We didn't have a decoy out, since we wanted to hear the birds first and make a move on them. Shane had three gobblers going absolutely nuts around flydown time on the other side. We weren't close enough to the edge to see if any flew over. Shortly after, a hen came in silently behind us. She was followed by a jake. He was at such an angle that I would have had to put the gun between Shane and his camera to get a quick shot off. Then we spotted another jake 30 yards in front of us that snuck in while we were focused on the other two. When we tried to get the camera on him, he turned and ran off. The other jake wandered off without giving a clear shot. But then we could hear gobbling on our side of the river. One of the toms had flown over to investigate. Shane called again and he responded. We looked at our maps to determine how to set-up on him. As soon as we devised a solid plan a shot rang out...

We walked out to the road to meet the hunter who had just killed the bird. They had parked on the opposite side of the road so we had assumed we were alone on our side. It was a 2y.o. with an 8" beard. Nothing we could do but congratulate the guy.

Plan B...
We drove deeper into the state and past several public land parcels. Finally we found one that looked good at 10am. The signage was a little confusing, so we called the number on the sign and confirmed that the land was open for turkey hunting. Then we had to wade through a knee high creek to get to the high ground. On the way into the woods on the access trail, we found the imprint of a track in the grass and some droppings. We put the decoy in an opening in a narrow strip of hardwoods between two crp fields and set up against a big, out-of-the-way oak. After an hour of blind calling, we were nearly ready to move on to the next piece of public land. Then a gobble rang out in the distance. Shane hit the calls and waited about a minute. Then he called again, and the gobble interrupted him less than halfway from where the original was. He was coming fast so we turned the cameras on and got ready. Finally we could see his fan crest the ridgetop 60 yards away. He slowly strutted and shuffled his way down towards our decoy. It's been a couple years since I shot my only turkey, and was shaking badly and trying to control my breathing. When he cleared a big hardwood less than 10 yards from the decoy, I focused on the base of the neck and squeezed... The recoil took me by surprise, and when I looked up the tom was laying stone cold on the ground 28 yards away!

He was likely a 2 year old bird with 3/4" spurs and a 10 1/4" beard, but had a nice full fan. I let Shane keep the gizzard and heart in exchange for showing me his method of cleaning the bird, and I kept the meat, fan, beard, and wings. I plan on making fletchings from the wing feathers for my longbow arrows. Pretty exciting hunt, and the best part was that I learned how to run-and-gun and call from someone who really knows what they're doing. The hunter we talked to this morning was like "there was some hen going crazy this morning that got the gobbler to fly over the river". Shane had replied "that was me" :lol: It was a pretty fun change of events from the bowhunting in a blind I'm used to.

The video from the hunt will be edited and uploaded for Shane's webshow. I'll post the video when he airs it.

Thanks for sharing the story. Good recap! I've always wanted to hunt with someone that knows how to call and interact with the birds better than I can. Looking forward to the video.

 

[MThuntr]

I managed to get an Idaho gobbler on Monday. 18ish lbs with an 8.5" beard and 1.25 & 1" broken spurs. Lots of fun. I called him across a clear cut which confused me since he could tell there was no hen where I was calling from. I didn't have a cameraman and needed to clean the bird due to the heat.

 

[Hollywood]

Connected on a Monterey County Gobbler here in CA. Just thankful for another great turkey hunt.View attachment 25025

 

[rodney482]

Indiana

 

[Ironmerganser]

We got these at 8am and 9am Sunday. Beautiful day and birds came in perfectly to the call. The one on the left had been fighting a lot and was missing feathers.
View attachment 25108
View attachment 25109

 

[MOshorthair]

After an earlier miss I was able to kill this MO gobbler yesterday morning. He weighed in at 23.8 pounds and had 1 1/4 spurs with one being broke off. Probably my biggest eastern to date. Will try with a bow this weekend to end out the season

 

[E72]

My son and I teamed up to get this gobbler . 5/2/15, Southern Ohio Public land .

 

[hobbes]

Congrats to all and great photos!

We've been having a great season. We've killed a total of 9 birds so far from IL, KS, and MT. I'm hoping to add to that before MT ends and on a four day trip to Nebraska.

Our first bird was my wife's bird in MT. Her and my youngest son drew limited permits, so that is where we started. She hasn't hunted turkeys for approximately 10 yrs, so I couldn't hold her off the jake.


The second bird was killed by my oldest in a general area here in MT. Check out the solid black wings (primaries and secondaries). Melanistic turkeys are a fairly rare occurence. It requires both parents to have the recessive gene.




The next four birds were taken by myself and my two sons. The first was my youngest son's first turkey. The tom gave us the slip on our first day, but he wasn't so lucky the second when he came into 32 yards gobbling. He was a whopper for a first, 23.5 #, 9" beard, and spurs that are a hair over 1 3/8".