2020 Turkey Success Thread

[MeatBuck]

Spring turkey season has opened for some and its getting close for others, so let's see and hear about those gobblers that took a ride home with you.

My son (12) took his first long beard Sunday morning of Californias Jr weekend on a piece of private near the local roost tree.
Beard measured just over 11" but it looked and acted like a 2yr old bird.
Shorter but not rounded Spurs so possibly 3 but he was getting his butt kicked and chased around by the other toms and jakes. By 8am he couldn't take anymore whippins and began practicing "social distancing". As he fed away from the flock, he got to within 60 yds of us. So as the other gobblers were busy with hens I gave a few soft calls. Hoping that the lonely tom would hear me but not calling so loud as to let the other gobblers know I was there, so they wouldn't run him away from us again. It worked and within about 30 seconds the youngster had bonked him on the noggen at about 5yds with his .410.
Afterwards we took some meat to the guy who gave us permission and thanked him. Processed the bird and now we've got 8 good meals for 3 packaged and in the freezer for Covid-19 season.

 

[torysavage]

Spring turkey season has opened for some and its getting close for others, so let's see and hear about those gobblers that took a ride home with you.

My son (12) took his first long beard Sunday morning of Californias Jr weekend on a piece of private near the local roost tree.
Beard measured just over 11" but it looked and acted like a 2yr old bird.
Shorter but not rounded Spurs so possibly 3 but he was getting his butt kicked and chased around by the other toms and jakes. By 8am he couldn't take anymore whippins and began practicing "social distancing". As he fed away from the flock, he got to within 60 yds of us. So as the other gobblers were busy with hens I gave a few soft calls. Hoping that the lonely tom would hear me but calling so loud as to let the other gobblers know I was there, so they wouldn't run him away from us again. It worked and within a 30 seconds the youngster had bonked him on the noggen at about 5yds with his .410.
Afterwards we took some meat to the guy who gave us permission and thanked him. Processed the bird and now we've got 9 good meals for 3 packaged and in the freezer for Covid-19 season.

Nothing yet for us but saw them off in the distance chest bumping, strutting and strutting themselves. Wild. nice post

 

[Jblodgett]

Great story. My son is excited to go on his first turkey hunt this weekend. We’ll see how patient he is in the ground blind.

 

[Agross]

Very cool. Where's the trophy pic? I bought my son a 410 a few years ago, couldn't pass up the deal, and plan to give it to him on his 10th birthday .

 

[MeatBuck]

Cropped for personal reasons but heres the bird.

 

[JNDEER]

Congrats to the Jr MB... cannot wait until Saturday--

 

[Dexter Grayson]

My wife with her Osceola to finish out her grand slam. Also cropped for personal reasons!


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[FLS]

South Carolina bird. I had some birds roosted, slipped in and setup before daylight this morning. Birds gobbled in the tree, flew down, gobbled and strutted all the way to me. Two to my right gave me no shot, but this fella stepped into a small opening and I dumped him with a load of TSS 7s. Gotta wait till April 1st to fill another tag.

 

[MeatBuck]

Killed my first archery bird opening day. Son and I sat the blind all morning with decoys out just hoping that birds in the next orchard would see them and take interest. Once the big group of hens broke up to nest late morning I was hoping that a gobbler would stroll the 200yds or so over to check us out. I threw out a few calls from time to time and eventually around 8am we could see the birds way north of us.
I hit the jerk string I had rigged up to my jake decoy which flips up the fan and called loud as I could. As we watched we could see athe gobblers heads go up so we knew they were seeing us. Now the waiting game was on. With little going on we threw on a few YouTube videos and kicked back until about 10 am when the cell phone battery died. About the same time we heard a noise towards our house and then our dogs let out a few barks. Immediately a bird shock gobbled to our northeast. So I quickly toss in my mouth call and let out a few yelps to let him know we were still there. No response so I got off my chair and went to my knees to stretch out the old back after a long sit. Maybe two minutes had passed and I look up and there was a longbeard in full strut at 75 yds.
I quickly turn and flip my seat back down and sat down but realized I might have to drop a window to shoot so I get back up, unstrap the window and let it down slow. I sit back down and grab my bow, now where's my rangefinder? Find it quickly and shakily range him as he moves in. 42yds. Ok set my rangefinder down and he moves in again. Grab rangefinder and hit another range. 35. Ok drop it and clip on and of corse he moves again as I draw.
I let out a small Yelp to stop him but he keeps moving so I do it louder and he stops. Settle the pin for 30 and let it fly. Big poof of feathers and he jams left and beds down. Stil with head up but clearly not doing well i decide to try a neck shot with a judo tipped arrow but I think my rangefinder picked up a blade of grass short of him because that arrow slid in under him and he flopped 5yds further out. I then grabbed the boys .410 and headed out after him. After a short chase I had my first archery bird in hand without having to fire a single shotgun shell.
He's just a two year old bird with a 9 3/4" beard. Confirming the fact that my sons bird was 3 yrs old not 2 like I thought originally. Comparing spurs it was obvious.

 

[Loco4dux]

Tough opening weekend but made it happen today on bird #1. 52 yards with the TSS, that is good stuff.

 

[Gulfgoose]

Finally made it out the third day of south zone season here hunting Rio's. Hunted a new piece of property that I got permission on. Birds pitched across the river they roost on first thing in the morning. Put 6 miles on my boots trying to find more birds around the property. Heat and soupy conditions had them pretty quiet. Set up on a hay meadow between the birds and the roost. A couple of hens came out with a tom in tow about 500 yards across the meadow. Then another two hens came out down the fence line that I was on with two toms in tow. All strutting their stuff. I was able to get one gobble out of the pair of toms that was it. Kept cutting off the loud hen and got under her skin enough that she came into 7 yards from me squawking looking for a fight. Fortunately for me, her boyfriend followed her. Rolled him at 25 yards. As he started flopping, the other two toms came at a dead sprint to whoop his tail. Let the nerves calm down, and rolled one of them right next to the other. I could have had a triple but could not see the third tom coming back due to a slight rise in the field. Bird 1: 11" beard and 1.75" spurs. Bird 2: 10" beard and 1.25" spurs.

 

[Loco4dux]

^epic

great hooks!

 

[bsanders8181]

My wife’s worked at this winery for 12 years. Two weeks ago the turkeys were getting aggressive with the cars, and I got the thumbs up. Just a little strip of huntable space, but it’s where they wanted to be. First day I had two jakes beating up my decoy, but I was in too close and blew them out trying to get in position to make a shot. Took a quick shot and missed.
Shockingly they came back the second day. I had moved to more cover, and it was clear they were hanging out just out of view where I had been Saturday. Finally the Tom flew in and strutted for me for about 5 minutes. He wanted to go up to the hens, but also wanted to trample my decoy, so he kept inching towards my decoy. I felt like time was running out so I let it rip at about 30 yards.

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[Gulfgoose]

^epic

great hooks!

Thank you sir!
Very special birds to me. I struggled last year when I started hunting them hard and finally killed my first bird thanks to a very accomplished buddy. These were the first birds that I have ever killed solo. Hours of hard work and studying paid off. Working on a double mount together during quarantine.

 

[Sccritterkiller]

SC bird...He pitched down 100 yds from in the middle of the field I was setup on..couple soft clucks and he walked under my gun at 25yds. 10" beard 1" spurs...2 yr old birds are fun!

 

[FLS]

#2 Afternoon hunt. Saw a lone gobbler out looking.

 

[MallardSX2]

 

[Rob5589]

54 feet worth of social distancing didn't work for this jake. NAP Gobbler Getter got it done.

 

[Cobie33]

My 13 yr old son knocked out a couple of dark winged Osceolas on private ground down in Florida before the Rona escalated.

 

[TheCougar]

First morning success for my son. His first turkey and easily the stupidest bird I’ve ever seen. He ran through a field next to camp while we were skeet shooting. We took off through the woods to cut him off and shot him while he circled us at 20 yards. Bizarro. What you see us wearing is how we killed him, no camo. My son did great. He was using a shotgun for the first time and I gave him 10 seconds of instruction while we were moving to get in from of the Tom. He made a perfect shot, standing unsupported. He is still on cloud nine! The Tom had a decent beard and full fan, but a very small body and skinny legs with no spurs at all. Not worn down, just nothing there. I think his egg got dropped a couple of times in the nest. My wife used everything, including the feet, to make turkey stock and we sous vide the meat and made some amazing turkey breast and roast veggies.

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