Post by: Pathfinder101 on April 30, 2018, 09:05:21 PM
A local friendly farmer offered us a spot to hunt, so we did some scouting to find the roosts and geared up for opening day. Some of his pine trees were knocked down in an ice storm this winter and he had a pile of pine branches in an ideal location for us, so we spent an afternoon piling branches and building a natural ground blind on the edge of his alfalfa field. Building our "tree fort" was probably as much fun for the little guy as the scouting and he was pumped to use his blind.
We actually missed the youth season because I was coaching my high school rifle team in Utah that week, but Sunday the 15th we were ready to go.
4am we are on the way and by 4:45 the decoys are out and we start hearing gobbles. I have always had a tendency to set up too close to the roost, but the pine branch pile had forced me several hundred yards away, which was probably a good thing. We could hear the turkeys, but from their roost there was no way they saw or heard us set up.
By 5:30 we were pretty sure the birds were out of their roost, but couldn't see anything. I was starting to second-guess our location and set up, when about 5:50 I spotted 4 turkeys about 500 yards away in the field. I started calling and that was all it took. First time I have ever really had them come in on a string like that.
Three hens came trotting across the field with a monstrous gobbler in tow. I was tucked in the back of the blind and couldn't see anything after they came inside 50 yards, but I cold tell from the look on my son's face that they were getting closer, so I just purred softly on the call and hoped for the best.
I couldn't see the tom when he pulled the trigger, but he told me that he was fully puffed up on my jake decoy when he shot him. One shot and it was over with.
Post by: scotrobe on April 30, 2018, 09:08:31 PM
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Post by: Pathfinder101 on April 30, 2018, 09:08:53 PM
Post by: Dan-o on April 30, 2018, 09:18:57 PM
Thanks for sharing.
Post by: Timberstalker on April 30, 2018, 09:19:07 PM
Well done, sir.
Post by: Pathfinder101 on April 30, 2018, 09:29:24 PM
Post by: bowhunterforever on April 30, 2018, 09:40:45 PM
Post by: Karl Blanchard on April 30, 2018, 09:45:44 PM
Post by: teanawayslayer on April 30, 2018, 10:01:10 PM
Post by: Brushbuster on April 30, 2018, 10:06:09 PM
Post by: nitroelk on May 01, 2018, 04:36:19 AM
Post by: Gringo31 on May 01, 2018, 05:40:29 AM
Just fantastic :tup:
Post by: zwickeyman on May 01, 2018, 05:45:07 AM
Post by: nwwanderer on May 01, 2018, 06:32:56 AM
Post by: kevinlisa06 on May 01, 2018, 06:40:38 AM
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Post by: redi on May 01, 2018, 07:59:41 AM
Post by: Yelper Guy on May 01, 2018, 08:48:46 AM
He'll remember this bird the rest of his life.
Post by: elkboy on May 01, 2018, 09:20:17 AM
Post by: Woodchuck on May 01, 2018, 09:24:36 AM
Post by: MooseZ25 on May 01, 2018, 09:27:03 AM
Post by: WaltAlpine on May 01, 2018, 10:53:31 PM
The best of times.
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Post by: tgomez on May 02, 2018, 03:48:55 AM
Post by: Skyvalhunter on May 02, 2018, 05:17:16 AM
Post by: DOUBLELUNG on May 02, 2018, 09:47:36 AM
Post by: Pathfinder101 on May 03, 2018, 09:20:46 PM
Congrats to the young man, and what a tom! Rare to see those fully developed spurs on birds less than 4 years old.
[/quote
So, I'm not a turkey expert. How do you know the age of the bird?
Post by: Limhangerslayer on May 03, 2018, 10:20:54 PM
Congrats to the young man, and what a tom! Rare to see those fully developed spurs on birds less than 4 years old.that bird is a four year. Awesome tom, congrats! I've shot about 18 or so toms down there. General rule of thumb is 1/2 is a two year 3/4+to 1 is a three year old. A bird with 1 1/4" is for sure a four year old.
[/quote
So, I'm not a turkey expert. How do you know the age of the bird?
Post by: Pathfinder101 on May 06, 2018, 09:09:29 PM
Congrats to the young man, and what a tom! Rare to see those fully developed spurs on birds less than 4 years old.that bird is a four year. Awesome tom, congrats! I've shot about 18 or so toms down there. General rule of thumb is 1/2 is a two year 3/4+to 1 is a three year old. A bird with 1 1/4" is for sure a four year old.
[/quote
So, I'm not a turkey expert. How do you know the age of the bird?
Cool. Interesting information. Thanks :tup: