2 Turkeys 3 Birds
Contributors to this thread:Turkey
From: Dino
23-Apr-18
Up here in Alberta we have to wait about 10 years to draw a Turkey tag, and I love hunting, and I do love hunting Turkeys. About 5 years ago I started researching different areas. This led me to BC, to Montana, and finally into Idaho. i spent a ton of time, effort, money and driving to find a decent spot. Last year, I sat for 7 mornings and finally on the seventh morning a Tom came into the decoys and I shot through his breast at 17 yards. He ran away, apparently unscathed...I have had the turkey curse for a long time...
From: Dino
24-Apr-18
Packed and ready to roll. 2 Turkeys ready for birds.
Packed and ready to roll. 2 Turkeys ready for birds.
What's a road trip without a good greasy burger, and some wifi to get caught up on Snap Chat
What's a road trip without a good greasy burger, and some wifi to get caught up on Snap Chat
I sat on this curse for a long time. I did more research, picked the brains of the turkey gods, hunt man and Paul at the Fort. Basically, I wanted them to hold my hand and show me the way. Instead they gave me simple and great advice to follow. With all this in mind my son and I packed our stuff and headed into Idaho to hunt.
From: Dino
24-Apr-18
Blinds and decoys
Blinds and decoys
Proud pops
Proud pops
No spurs on this guy, even though he was a mature Tom.
No spurs on this guy, even though he was a mature Tom.
We had decoys, we had blinds, we had strategy, confidence, we were ready for turkeys! I dropped my son off early, and he had troubles with his double bull blind, he sat on the ground and I hunted another spot, simply seeing a hen. I brought him a new blind around 9 am and shortly after I received a call from an excited young man. A bold Tom had walked in, and he spined it at 15 yards as it was about to leave!!!
From: t-roy
24-Apr-18
Type faster!!
From: Dino
24-Apr-18
Not my Tom. But in true Canadian fashion, I needed a cold Canadian beer, and needed to process this guy with a great American made Buck knife!!!
From: Dino
24-Apr-18
We hunted the rest of that day, Ryan missed another Tom and the curse remained on for me. Back at camp, we tried Steve Rinella style Turkey Schnitzel.
From: Dino
24-Apr-18
We were up early next morning once again. This time we elected to sit on the same quarter about 400 yards from each other, birds walked about 80 yards away from me, and I had an immature Golden Eagle land in my " spread" other than that it was uneventful. By 9 am, I decided to move my blind into another spot.
From: Dino
24-Apr-18
I moved my blind to a part of the field that we had often seen birds dusting. It was now about 9 am, we had been in our blinds since 5 am. The showers had changed to sun and the wind was blowing. We were about 400 yds apart and we could see each other's blinds and decoy set. He had the Avian X Jake and Breeder Hen. I had that and a lay down hen as well. Ryan called me about 11:40 saying he had enough as his Double Bull kept blowing the walls in, even spooking an approaching Tom. I said, let's wait 5 more minutes, if we don't hear anything we can leave...
From: Dino
24-Apr-18
As soon as Ryan hung up, a hen came up out of the bottom, into the field and fed around my decoys. She was calm and slowly fed away. About 2 minutes later a Tom came out, walking by my decoys without a glance, shooting a walking turkey at 25 yards, is about the hardest thing in the world to do..so I let him go. The curse continued as the bird walked directly towards Ryan's blind.
From: Dino
24-Apr-18
I actually couldn't believe it when the Tom continued towards Ryan and the stopped at his decoys and stood there Calmly. I watched through my Binos as I knew what was about to happen. The glint of the arrow, the poof of feathers and the flight of the fatally wounded gobbler, told me that it was now Ryan 2, me 0.
From: Dino
24-Apr-18
Having trouble loading photos here...sorry fellas, will retry in am and finish the story.
From: Charlie Rehor
24-Apr-18
When an Alberta Resident buys a hunting license the number of tags they get will fall to the floor when held at shoulder height. I believe you get at least 8 or 9 species to hunt and very limited amount of Resident bow hunters. Truly blessed. You have to be the only Alberta resident who comes to the states to hunt the wily thunder chicken. Have fun and good luck! C
From: HUNT MAN
24-Apr-18
Type faster please. Hunt
From: Dino
24-Apr-18
Grrr...I am trying to load photos, even resizing, getting shut down here!!!!
From: SBH
24-Apr-18
Congrats! Way to go Dino. Glad you had success after making the trip. Super cool.
From: Dino
25-Apr-18
Ryan put it in tin foil, cut in to strips, coated in Panko and then fried!
Ryan put it in tin foil, cut in to strips, coated in Panko and then fried!
Ok...trying again, here's the Schnitzel pic I hope.
From: Dino
25-Apr-18
Next Morning, typical bust for me as the flock of turkeys gave me the customary 80 yard walk by screw you...
From: Dino
25-Apr-18
Ryan's second gobbler that walked right by me to get to him!
From: Dino
25-Apr-18
I let him process this one while I sipped a cold one!
I let him process this one while I sipped a cold one!
Here is his second...
From: Dino
25-Apr-18
It was getting late along in the day, and I wanted to try another spot. When we drove up to ask permission, the farmer looked at me like I was nuts, he also wished we'd shoot more than just one. As he pointed us in the right direction, we saw a flock of birds in the field. 20 min later, I was set up and waiting.
From: Dino
25-Apr-18
The turkey curse has been lifted
The turkey curse has been lifted
It wasn't long and a couple of Toms showed up. They were kind of interested in my decoys...they fed closer, but stayed behind the blind. My turkey curse continued. They started sunning themselves contentedly behind my blind at 30 yards, I decided to change my luck. I closed the front of the blind, slowly opened the back window, I couldn't believe they were both standing there! I picked my spot and pulled through my shot...
From: Dino
25-Apr-18
Not sure he looks refreshed or not...but the old man has coffee on.
Not sure he looks refreshed or not...but the old man has coffee on.
It was nice to be done the hunt. We headed back to camp for a nice meal and reflected on a great experience. Thankful for the opportunities provided and already planning our next trip. Thanks for joining us.
From: Stoneman
25-Apr-18
Well done, thanks for sharing. Congrats to you both.
From: HUNT MAN
25-Apr-18
I knew you would make it happen. Congrats to the both of you guys . Great looking birds. Also way to make it happen. That’s what separates good hunters from great hunters.
From: Quinn @work
25-Apr-18
Nice job. Congrats on a successful trip with your son.
From: buzz mc
25-Apr-18
Good job!! Congrats on the birds.
From: t-roy
25-Apr-18
Great job by both of you! Congrats on your success!!
From: Dan Mallia
25-Apr-18
Very cool. Congrats.
From: IdyllwildArcher
26-Apr-18
Good stuff. Grats to you both.
From: LUNG$HOT
26-Apr-18
Awesome hunt! Good job guys.
From: Beav
26-Apr-18
Congrats on some nice birds!
From: APauls
26-Apr-18
Congrats! Has to be so fun to enjoy with your son!
