Carpsniperg2 2015: Boss tom and beared hen double!

[carpsniperg2]

Well great and interesting season over in a hurry lol.

Started out hitting one of my favorite spots. Got in and didn't bust any birds out of the area. Knew they had to be pretty close. So got settled in and let out a little sweet talk from my phelps diaphragm. I call this model the bar fly! I don't know what Jason calls it now. I call it the bar fly because everyone makes a pass at her and she is so raspy! 3 bird fired off. I knew one was a jake and the other 2 sounded like adult birds. A couple more short series and I see them bombing off the hill on a dead run. No hens for some reason. Of course the jake had to be first and he gets to about 25-30 yards and locks up hard and starts twitching his wings. So I know all hell is about to break loose. The 2nd bird is the boss and the 3rd was a nice bird as well. The boss is at 43 yards. I have killed many turkeys with this shotgun and never taken more then one shot. So I pull up as he turn's to leave and punch the trigger like a clown. I felt the shot break low. He does a flip and then gets his feet under him and get into the air. Lucky I was ready and smacked him again in flight. He coasted about 40 yards and fell like a stone from the sky. Man I thought geese sounded funny when they hit the ground! The sound of this bird hitting the ground is something I don't think I will forget.

So I go over and collect him up. Tag him up and proceed to start heading back to my truck and stop off at my normal rock to get some good trophy pic's. He has right at a 10" beard so one of my longer bearded birds. So I am walking along after getting my pic's watching my feet and happen to catch something out of the corner of my eye. A hen scratching on the side of the hill and she did not see me. I found it weird since I had shot in the same canyon just about 15 minutes earlier. So I slumped down and tossed the bird behind a bush and got setup. I started yelping and several hens started answering me. Then I see a fan pop up and see a bird strutting. So I am pretty excited and looking for another opening day double to add to the books.

I start being a little more aggressive with my calling and this bird is about 90 yards away with a couple hens and will not gobble. So I am thinking what the heck. The first hen starts walking kinda at a 45 to me. So I am sure I am going to get another tom. As the fan follows through the brush. I start to notice something weird as it gets closer. It's a hen! With a bang big beard for any hen! Acting just like a tom. She follows the lead hen to about 35 yards from me and then it gets crazy. This strutting hen jumps up on the lead hen and goes to work trying to breed her! Now I know turkey hunting pretty well but not bearded hens lol. So I am not sure if this is a hermaphrodite turkey or what. Or if beared hens just mock breed? Someone smarter then me will know.

So she gets finished. They kinda jump apart and I give her a case of lead poisoning at about 30-32 yards.

So pretty awesome opening day. Here are some pic's for everyone's viewing pleasure.   

[bugs n bones]

 

[C-Money]

Congrats Carp!! Looks like a great hunt!!

[Boss .300 winmag]

Congrats Carp! 

Just have a question, if you know it's a hen why can you shoot it? 

I don't turkey by the way cheaper in the store, plus huntable populations don't live close by.

[washingtonmuley]

Any bearded turkey is legal.

[D-Rock425]

Nice work.

[h2ofowlr]

Congrats!  Sounds like a fun one.

[carpsniperg2]

The regs don't say a sex. They just state that the bird must have a visible beard. So unless you see a beard sticking out you don't pull the trigger Lucky this one was really easy to see.

[lokidog]

Cool!

[Greenhorn]

Great job!

[bearpaw]

Good deal Matt, congrats!

[The Gobble-stopper]

Just a side note, it is also just as legal to shoot a beardless tom. Regs say a bearded turkey or a tom. A friend of mine shot a tom a few years ago, 3 year old bird with absolutely not a stitch of a beard. The wildlife dept changed it to that ruling a handful of years back. After they realized there were a lot of toms without beards.

[HUNTINCOUPLE]

Nice birds!

[Jester052]

Just a side note, it is also just as legal to shoot a beardless tom. Regs say a bearded turkey or a tom. A friend of mine shot a tom a few years ago, 3 year old bird with absolutely not a stitch of a beard. The wildlife dept changed it to that ruling a handful of years back. After they realized there were a lot of toms without beards.

I think your reading the regs wrong. It says Gobblers and Turkeys with visible beards ONLY. There is no break in the sentence (ie  comma ) that would exclude the GOBBLERS from the rule. Does anyone have more input? I might be wrong but I don't think so.

[Todd_ID]

Very cool Matt! Congrats 

[bowhunterforever]

Sounds like a awesome hunt, Congrats

[Tree Killer]

Sweet double...congratulations!   

[one more]

    Good beards!!!

[carpsniperg2]

Thanks everyone. It was another great opening day and one that I will not soon forget.