Post by: lokidog on April 15, 2012, 01:42:29 PM
I brought my blind and bow as well. Set up before dark on the usual morning path. Only heard one pair of gobbles on the roost. Just before 7 we could see birds bombing off the trees. After a bit, they came down the road and stood from 7 to 13 yards in front of us. Her spot, so she had first dibs. TOO MANY TURKEYS! :yike: They would never clear each other for an ethical shot.... There were about eight big bodied toms and five to seven hens. Finally one stepped out to the side facing us at about 10 yards, thwup, small puff of feathers high and left, miss, a little excited. :chuckle: Still milling around, another shot, miss, not sure where that went as it was out of my view. The birds moved to our left but did not clear one branch that was missed in the dark setup so I had no shot. The birds moved off.
About ten minutes later a very noisy hen came tentatively back toward the blind calling all the way. We figured we were back in the game when she passed by and headed toward the chicken coops, No such luck, noone followed her. :(
After a while we headed out to see if we could figure out where they went. We saw some more, maybe same flock, a quarter or so mile away so we circle through another neighbor's to move in on them. We get there and the birds have moved off to the back corner of a, mostly abandoned, farmstead. After sneaking around the bulls, we were able to get within 30 yards but there was a fence between us. The birds started moving away and around another fence so i tried to thread an arrow between the boards for a 30 yard score... sounded like a baseball bat hit that fence! They continued to move off, though not in a big hurry, toward the end of a little ridge in the bull pasture.
We circled again back around to the access road where we had started and positioned around the ridge waiting for them to feed by us. I was up the backside of the ridge and she was on the fencerow in font of them. After about 20 minutes, the first ones appeared in front of me over the ridge. I had a tree at 15 and 22 yards so I figured I would sit still until one went behind one of those trees (I had no cover, just grass). Finall one steps up behind another tree more to the left so I draw and estimate 20 yards and wait. He takes a few steps, pauses, I release and hit the ground on the far side of him, I think I dropped my arm looking for the hit. He was also a few yards farther than I thought away. I nocked another arrow while he and a jake did a little circle dance. The jake went behind the 22 yard tree so I drew back. Not really wanting to take the jake, I decided to rise up on my knees and look over the ridge, there were several less disturbed birds there. I drew a bead on a nice tom just as he turned a bit away from me, zing, thud, down he goes, looked like a spine shot with the arrow sticking out, a few kicks and some wing flaps and all was still. Unfortunately, the other birds went back the way they came instead of past my partner.
Twenty three yards, twenty pounds, 5/8 inch spurs, an eight inch beard with an arrow I fletched... Awesome!
Weathergirl might try to get her first turkey after my friend gets hers.
Hope everyone had a good time out there this weekend.
Post by: bearpaw on April 15, 2012, 01:45:32 PM
Post by: denali on April 15, 2012, 01:47:59 PM
Post by: Todd_ID on April 15, 2012, 03:06:26 PM
Post by: Michelle_Nelson on April 15, 2012, 03:08:35 PM
Post by: lokidog on April 15, 2012, 03:10:27 PM
Cool story and great picture!
Thanks. Yes, it is one of my best turkey pics as most of the time I have to prop the camera on a stump or bumper.....
Post by: rasbo on April 15, 2012, 03:21:48 PM
Post by: gasman on April 15, 2012, 03:56:25 PM
Post by: turkeyfeather on April 15, 2012, 04:18:53 PM
Post by: PAW66 on April 15, 2012, 05:32:25 PM
Post by: h2ofowlr on April 15, 2012, 06:01:23 PM
Post by: TheHunt on April 15, 2012, 06:46:42 PM
Post by: blacktailer on April 15, 2012, 07:05:28 PM
Post by: lokidog on April 15, 2012, 07:27:36 PM
You using those guillotine broadheads?
Nope Muzzy MX-3's, 100gr. My partner was wishing she had those though.... :chuckle: I might pick up a pack for future use when they are standing 10 yards away though.
Post by: seth30 on April 15, 2012, 07:35:45 PM
Post by: BullMagnet76 on April 15, 2012, 07:39:05 PM
Post by: ghosthunter on April 15, 2012, 07:57:12 PM
Post by: carpsniperg2 on April 15, 2012, 08:41:58 PM
Congrats
Post by: kevinlisa06 on April 15, 2012, 08:56:44 PM
Post by: lokidog on April 15, 2012, 08:59:14 PM
Nice job man! I whacked my biggest tom today with a bow as well. Nice to see a few thunder chickens getting whacked with a bow :IBCOOL:
Awesome!
Congrats
Post by: Gobble Doc on April 15, 2012, 09:02:46 PM
Post by: STIKNSTRINGBOW on April 15, 2012, 09:09:44 PM
Thats cool !!
Post by: lokidog on April 16, 2012, 09:26:09 PM
Post by: Special T on April 16, 2012, 10:59:33 PM
Post by: ICEMAN on April 17, 2012, 04:53:32 AM
Post by: Machias on April 17, 2012, 09:02:21 AM
Post by: BOWHUNTER45 on April 18, 2012, 02:24:45 PM
Post by: turkeydancer on April 22, 2012, 07:00:25 AM
Post by: lokidog on April 22, 2012, 07:41:05 AM
Great job, but wondering if Merriams were planted on Lopez Island or if this was a "private" release?
They're all white meat on the inside.... :chuckle:
Don't know, don't care. Some have said they were planted with the NWTF. More likely locals. Still a challenge and fun to hunt.
Post by: LITTLEBUCK on April 22, 2012, 08:34:12 AM
Back to the hunt, I don't care if they are Merriam's or Easterners, it sounds like a lot of fun. I kick myself for not going up and doing the same hunt when I had the chance a few years ago. Again good job.
Post by: BOWHUNTER45 on April 22, 2012, 08:48:27 AM
Post by: Wacenturion on April 22, 2012, 09:10:22 AM
There could have possibly been some addition releases by private individuals over time.
Post by: LITTLEBUCK on April 22, 2012, 09:28:12 AM
Post by: turkeydancer on April 22, 2012, 10:19:36 AM
Post by: lokidog on April 22, 2012, 06:05:59 PM
Sounds like some jealousy to me. :twocents:
BTW, scored my first Eastern (23 pounds on DNR land) back in 95 or so, the year only 17 birds were killed west of the Cascades! Have gotten a couple more easterns since including one with the bow by Onalaska. Have completed my WA slam but don't really care.
Why don't you come out and shoot one w/o a tag and see how the state wildlife officers feel about shooting them since they are farm birds? :dunno:
Post by: Turkeyman on April 22, 2012, 06:24:57 PM
Post by: Wacenturion on April 22, 2012, 07:25:38 PM
I new this was going to get good :chuckle:
So did I. :chuckle:
Post by: lokidog on April 22, 2012, 08:16:23 PM
Post by: Wacenturion on April 22, 2012, 08:56:24 PM
The other comments were merely historical, nothing more.
Sorry if you took offense.
Post by: JCKILLSHOT on April 22, 2012, 09:27:33 PM
Post by: turkeydancer on April 23, 2012, 08:51:13 AM
LOKI - Actually my first day hunting I had 3 Easterns approx 25 lbs at 10 yards, and also been there many more times since. I'm also not into pins and records ... just good times with good friends. I'm glad that it trips your trigger. Myself I would want to know, thus the question posed. If you want to take that as a personal attack, then that's also up to you. Jealous ... not hardly.
Post by: BOWHUNTER45 on April 23, 2012, 11:13:27 AM
Post by: turkeydancer on April 23, 2012, 12:20:01 PM
I truly meant congrats to Loki for nailing one with his bow, but also thought he should know about these birds. I think most people that know me know that it was meant to inform and had nothing to do even a hint of jealousy. But as you stated, I shouldn't have been surprised on this site by any response.
:yike:
The main thing that concerns me about these private releases is the fact that they can spread avian diseases to the wild populations everyone has worked hard to get established. And then there are the releasers that look to profit from people harvesting these feral birds (like the guy that advertises Easterns in eastern WA).
:bash:
Note: in the second post, one of the two pin "winners" I mentioned was in the Belfair area and one on Lopez.
Post by: BOWHUNTER45 on April 23, 2012, 12:44:34 PM
Post by: Wacenturion on April 23, 2012, 04:09:41 PM
I know exactely what your saying AL ..I have delt with Davidson ( local bio ) for years on trying to convince him we need turkeys in N.W Washington ...and a couple of years of the Dept. PUTTING PRESSURE on him he finally said O.K Lets give it a shot ...Well the problem is they had a meeting in Acme Wa. and they were basically leaving it up to the people of whatcom Co. since this is the place they wanted to turn loose some Rios.... Yeah Rios not easterns .. The dept decided they will not be buying anymore birds from out of state so they wanted to try Rios ... Well after a few months the people of Acme complained enough to shut it all down ...Mostly Berry growers and ranchers who did not want turkey sheet mixed in with their cow sheet ...some lame ass excuse like that ....thats when I said I had enough of all the BS and decided I was just going to be a hunter and stop wasting my time with dumb--- people ...we have all the birds we need in the N.E where most of us hunt anyway so its all good with me .....
Bowhunter45.....Not exactly true. WDFW left some of the decision up to dumb a** NWTF biologists who thought Washington's turkey program was premature with Easterns and should have planted Rios in western Washington instead. That brain fart was generated from all the successes of the Rio's in western Oregon, primarily the Roseburg area. Now any idiot knows Whatcom county is not Roseburg, Oregon. Roseburg is more like northern California.
Then with a rush by the local NWTF chapter to get anything released in their backyard to hunt, everyone was full speed ahead. There were landowner concerns and yes they ultimately shut it down, and good for them. Rio's would have been a disaster. If they had taken, they would have headed toward the lowlands around I-5, in and around the farmlands. There would have been a nuisance problem for sure.
On the other hand, Easterns would have been an easy sell. They would have headed east and up away from the open berry fields. They would have been ghosts like everywhere else in western Washington. The failure to get releases in Whatcom county was entirely due to NWTF biologists from back east, and the local NWTF chapter making dumb decisions while Davidson and WDFW stood back and quietly laughed. WDFW got exactly what they were hoping for....no birds. Period, the end.
Post by: BOWHUNTER45 on April 23, 2012, 05:29:25 PM
Post by: BOWHUNTER45 on April 23, 2012, 05:30:20 PM
Post by: lokidog on April 23, 2012, 09:59:40 PM
From Wikipedia - A feral organism is one that has changed from being domesticated to being wild or untamed. In the case of plants it is a movement from cultivated to uncultivated or controlled to volunteer.
If these were broad breasted bronze turkeys, I would agree that they are feral. Merriams or easterns that have been transplanted, even ones hatched in captiviity are still wild stock birds. Every bird in Washington has a hatchery hatched or transplanted bird in its history.
All I know is that I worked hard to get a wild turkey, I don't care about its lineage. The bonus, I didn't have to drive 5 to 7 hours and burn a crap load of gas. :tup:
Post by: turkeydancer on April 24, 2012, 07:19:58 AM
:bash:
Loki - Again congrats ... just meant to inform you was all.