Post by: buglebuster on April 08, 2024, 12:09:27 PM
Rylee was up first. We had roosted the Tom’s the night before and knew exactly where to be from past years experience. There was 80 birds in the field the evening prior to the opening. We snuck in 1.5 hours before shooting light to make sure we were in position and not spooking anything out of the roost. You have to be close to the roost in this situation. I set the decoys and we setup back in the brush. A little before light they started talking all around us. Right at 6:00am on the dot, legal shooting light a tom came strutting right into the decoys setup and Rylee laid him out proper, he didn’t even flinch. We called a bit and tried to coax the others in but the headed out. We got to the bird and found he was a triple beard! Her first turkey!
We took care of him and decided to drive to the other side of the property where we saw a Tom and some hens working over the ridge. When we got over there I saw a hen making her way into a little gulley in the wide open wheat field. I had the kids and father in law stay back while I snuck up to the edge with my silhouette strutted decoy to see where they were headed. Saw 2 toms and backed up and came up with a game plan. There was a small spot with a few rocks and brush in the wheat field and I figured they’d cross close to that. We worked over there and setup. I snuck up and peeked over the edge again and one of the Tom’s saw the decoy and came running. I backed up and got Payton setup but the Tom got there too quickly and busted us. I started calling and next thing you know the other Tom and hens came running. We repositioned again and both Tom’s came strutting into 10 yards, its hiding behind a single piece of brush and my decoy. The strutted in and I told her to line them up and kill both with one shot. When she was about to shoot one stepped away and she ended up only getting 1, but oh well! 2 Tom’s down by 8am. We gutted the birds and put them in the cooler and regrouped.
We decided to go back to the original setup where Rylee shot the turkey first thing and setup again in hopes they come back along the tree line. I set decoys up, settled into the trees and let out 1 series of calls. No joke, 30 seconds later a time comes full strut right into the decoys and she laid him out as well! Exact same spot as first light! Time from setup to back at the truck was 9 minutes.
The rest of the day was pretty slow but we setup in the same spot to catch them coming from the Roost. We had a tom and some hens in the field above us and knew they’d work down. Sure enough they showed up. Tom needed 3 more steps and Payton would have got him and we’d be tagged out. Unfortunately he saw something he didn’t like and boogied! Still not a bad day with 3 toms down, and 1 kid tagged out!
Friday found us in a completely different area up north. I had a new piece of private land to check out but decided to hunt some public first thing since I had no idea where to be on the private chunk. Immediately had toms gobbling all around us on the roost. Unfortunately it was pouring rain and they went silent when they hit the ground. We spent a little time there looking but got soaked and decided to try the private. Immediately when getting there, we saw turkeys all over in the fields on the tree line. We spent the morning figuring out a game plan for the being hunt. Watched the main group feed into the trees and decided to head to town for lunch. When we got back we would go set the blind up and wait out the day. When we got back, the turkeys were already back in the field. I decided we’d just grab everything and slowly walk toward them and push them into the trees, knowing most likely they would come back out in a few hours. 100 yards into the 500 yard field, they slowly worked into the trees. Perfect. We setup the blind and decoys and the waiting game began. We heard hens periodically behind us over the next couple hours. Finally we saw 8 hens working across the field toward us, not even a Jake. Completely different birds than went into the trees. They got about 70 yards out and 3 Tom’s flew off the hill and landed behind the decoys. 55 yards out. Too far for the .410. One Tom worked his way to the hens, the other 2 went right with no shots. I assumed there were more turkeys over that way. I was right. Now Payton had to pee, and the excitement and cold had her shivering and barely able to hold it. I said you need to be quiet and hold it together! A few minutes later a flock started working to the decoys. A Jake came into range and she was going to shoot it(after telling me she won’t shoot a Jake) I told her to wait a big Tom is coming! Se said I don’t care I have to pee. I said wait! Next thing you know the Tom is there, but not quite in range I didn’t think. I said wait and was just about to hit record when I heard BOOM! Tom crumbled and didn’t flinch. She jumped up and out of the blind to go pee
I ranged the Tom and he was 43 yards out cold! The kids were both tagged out! Rylees first 2 turkeys and Payton’s 8th and 9th. What a great season for us. Thanks for following along!(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20240408/2e3ea166b5613553c88326476e4315a4.jpg)
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