Post by greendeem on Apr 27, 2006 14:25:38 GMT -5
I killed this turkey opening morning while hunting with my good friend Terry Gary (tg on this forum). It got down to the mid 20's the night before and was in the low 30's when we got out. We were hunting a part of the farm that I had not scouted. I put the landowner's friend in the area that I had previously scouted and knew the birds. We went in blind, but to an area where I knew turkeys had roosted in past years.
While we were slipping up the edge of the field (and right after I thought I had glassed every limb on every tree in the fencerow) several gobblers cut loose less than 100 yards from us. We slipped in the woods and quietly set up. Terry set up at the edge of the field and I went into the woods a little ways. The turkeys, at least 5 of them, gobbled hard until fly down. I only called with a few tree yelps. When they flew down they went into the field and looked down the hill towards Terry's location. Not seeing any hens (we later discovered that a couple hens were roosted in the trees behind us, and probably would have flew into the field if they had not seen us sneaking around) the turkeys continued to gobble and walk around, eventually going into the woods approximately 50-60 yards from me. I got to watch them for about 20 minutes until the strutter got to about 40 yards and I clucked and shot. I shot him with a 3 1/2 winchester supreme #5, and it dumped him hard. Two of the others went into the field, and for a moment looked like they may got towards Terry. They eventually went away from us.
The bird was a 2 year old with 20 mm spurs, weighed 24 lbs and had a 10 1/2 in. beard.
While we were slipping up the edge of the field (and right after I thought I had glassed every limb on every tree in the fencerow) several gobblers cut loose less than 100 yards from us. We slipped in the woods and quietly set up. Terry set up at the edge of the field and I went into the woods a little ways. The turkeys, at least 5 of them, gobbled hard until fly down. I only called with a few tree yelps. When they flew down they went into the field and looked down the hill towards Terry's location. Not seeing any hens (we later discovered that a couple hens were roosted in the trees behind us, and probably would have flew into the field if they had not seen us sneaking around) the turkeys continued to gobble and walk around, eventually going into the woods approximately 50-60 yards from me. I got to watch them for about 20 minutes until the strutter got to about 40 yards and I clucked and shot. I shot him with a 3 1/2 winchester supreme #5, and it dumped him hard. Two of the others went into the field, and for a moment looked like they may got towards Terry. They eventually went away from us.
The bird was a 2 year old with 20 mm spurs, weighed 24 lbs and had a 10 1/2 in. beard.
John made fast work of the season - way ta go. 