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Season C; success, failures, opinions and yes, bickering welcome. We can put the season 2 thread to rest. I think the weather has been pretty stable too long, this morning was pretty quiet and one big lone hen responded to my calling twice. Actually, I only saw her and another small lone hen.
Had an awesome turkey hunt this morning. I doubt I will ever be able to sneak on a flock of turkeys in an open field again. I heard a gobble and I sneaked down the open field edge and spotted the fan of a Tom in the open field. Using the rolling terrain I managed to put a sneak on the flock crawling on my belly the last 100 yards. As I got close I could see heads of turkeys and knew that they were close so I waited till I saw red in the head of one and stood up and the Tom was fanning about 25 yards out and as he took off I rolled him with 1 shot. On a side note, just before I started my stalk I saw a black bear along the wood edge feeding about 100 yards away from me and he never knew I was there. — in Almond, Wisconsin.
Nice job Trapper, those are some fun hunts. I've been in that position a lot in periods 5 and 6, especially, often hiding behind a real fan or a Montana silhouette fake while on hands and knees (and bellying when needed). In rolling farmland it's surprising how close you can get if patient!
Had a great morning for my neighbor and I. He was the shooter and I was the caller. Our closest hen was so close that if the shooter lifted the barrel he would have smacked that hen right in the beak. We saw over 40 birds this morning with first gobbles at 523am. We had hens around the DSD hen decoy early for over a half hour. The toms however were skittish and never came close for a shot. The hens all went to the toms when they were in the farmers fields. Calling did not work on the toms either. I tried all 5 calls that I had along. Every day is different with these birds. Finally my neighbor connected this evening with a 21 pound 13 ounce tom. It had a 9 1/2 inch beard and 7/8 inch spurs.
Pretty fan on that bird trapper! It seems like some of them run lighter in color....Almost as if they were lightened by the sun. Nice sneak!
Yes Raspy, each day is different. Get him next time! Those toms might break from the hens, and run right in, you just never know?
Sat 6 hours yesterday where I shot a tom midday last year on Memorial Day. Only saw one hen. Had a couple gobblers in the distance, but none came to this strut zone.
Decided to get mobile today and bring the Turkey Fan, but I ended up sitting in a ladder stand for a couple hours and had spooked some turkeys while I was glassing with coffee in my hand.
Long story short, one of the birds I busted came back to the field a couple hours later while I was sitting in a comfy chair of this guys deer stand planning my next mornings hunt. He came to a filed corner gobbling and I purred down a trail into the woods at 10:15am.
No birds, coyotes howling like crazy! Huge difference from the last two weeks.
Well done K2S. Getting it done!
Well done everyone! Please keep them pics and stories coming.
Congrats guys on the birds. I don't have a tag this week and they are roosting in the back yard. This was last night.
Storm is coming and a tom across the valley from my house is gobbling away. I got the slate call out just to make him feel there's still a hen around who wants some lovin. I have tags for the next three seasons and I'd love to kill a bird from my whopping 2 acres. I have a pond and my property border a field to the South and a cattle pasture to the West where the hillside is. I had a nice hen 2 days ago walk right by my permanent blind and I had a tom hitting the field with hens 2 weeks ago, but they haven't been in the field much and they just started working it up today.
I do love the late seasons, things are greening up and there's less hunters.Good luck late season hunters. We can get D, E and F threads going when they come.
Well, it worked. The storm passed and I just saw the tom paralleling my fence line about 80-100 yards from my back step. He then angled away from my house and is likely going to roost on my side of the valley. If he's fire up like that again I'm going to call from the corner of my property and get in my blind 30 yards away from it, further up the fence line.
Okay I posted on the 2nd season, for what we have seen this period, so if interested go to that thread.
Washington / Ozaukee Counties. lots of birds, toms seen every time out, will not come to calls and are very decoy shy....... this is the north part of both counties.....
so what do we do, well we went and bought a decoy front with the fan, a jake, by primos. not my first choice but, that was all we could find/
so my buddy son is on the ridge, and two toms are in the field... moment of truth,,,, he get behind the decoy, and slowly crawls to toms. he got within 50 yards, they came right at him,,,,, shot distance was 5 steps....... he was so excited he just was a bust.
yesterday, with bow, went after tom, with decoy. hard clay, disced field, not ideal, but it worked, my problem was I had a bow,, and the shot was very close, but the bird turned and ran on the draw......
however you talk about fun........If I did not have to teach a class this pm, I would be out........
Tomorrow I will be at it all day,,,,,,, so its not the end all, but it worked
Hunted every day and all I get is Lezbos coming in every time I call. Like I said, if one of them had a beard I would have shot it just for the novelty of shooting a bearded hen. Is that even legal? LOL
Our oldest daughter had very little time with school, softball practice and games (and a three-game tourney staring at us Saturday) so Friday after practice and supper we hit the woods with less than an hour of light left. Her hunt lasted all of maybe 20 minutes after spotting two strutters and some hens and jakes from a long way out in a secluded field after we had put a quarter-mile of cedar swamp between us and the truck. The hens led the toms off to another property about 30 yards outside our comfort zone for a good shot so we decided to try to lure in a trio of jakes still milling around mid-field. She eventually made a 10-yard shot when they came to check out the light clucks and single hen which I manipulated by hand from within cover to make it move as if feeding along the edge. Got video on the phone cam, then took a silhouette back at the truck.
My friend goes to a spot, I put him on. he sits 20 minutes the whole season, shoots a 22 pounder, so it can be that easy. shot was at 4pm
This am, herd a gobbler at 8:30am. he comes out of the woods, but goes over a hill. I go after him, with my fan decoy. going up the rise, the fan is I front of me, and see 2 gobblers, at 60 yards.
With the decoy I start to crawl, and I knew I should have just crawled, to the rise, so the only thing they would see was the fan coming over,,,,,
but, I got up a little on my knees, and they took off slowly to the east, so that must have made them nervous, they walked slow, but could not get around them......
going after them like this is fun, but sure would like one shot. I know I would be better off in a blind, but after my last 2 blinds were stolen on private land, kind lost the ball, on buying another one
so since last Wed I have seen over 15 toms, you would think I could get a shot,,,,,, sure is fun,,,,,,,
you never know though, what these goofy birds will do,,,,,,,,
I once read a post on here, by a guy who said the birds were easy to kill, so he would not waste his time,,,, that guy must be some hunter
I call BS bgbuckslyr, you don't look a pound over 225;)
Good job, very cool story and great bird.
What I need is a Head Up Decoy that fits in the stabilizer thread of the bow. going to order one tomorrow......
Razor, I saw the Heads Up decoy at a booth in Salt Lake. Seemed it was fairly simple to deploy and stow. They had some very impressive videos of critters being hunted with their product.
Congrats to your daughter Naz!
Congrats bgbuckslyr and to your daughter Naz. Great stories. Even razorhead had an intense hunting story. I will be calling for a young man tomorrow afternoon. He is saving his vacation time for the birth of his first child in the fall and needs to be working during the day so no early mornings for him until the weekend.
Doesn't get any better then a HUD and bow mount, get ready because when it happens its FAST.
Cool sunset silhouette shot taken near the truck after our walk out!
My 86-year-old dad scored Monday morning, long beard, long spurs but skinny! Didn't weigh any more than a mag jake, about 17 pounds.
Nice photo.
Congrats to all the third season turkey hunters.
Congrats to your daughter and great pic Naz.
Awesome again Naz. How blessed are you to have your Dad still alive at 86 and able to hunt. That is so cool. The silhouette pic with your daughter should be in a magazine.
Thanks all, happy, you're right about dad, good news is he shot it right near one of his old deer blinds that we put out for him five years ago or so and he saw it sitting there, unused the past two seasons, and decided it needed a larger front window as it was tough for him to see and get the gun up quickly and quietly .... bottom line, he says he'll be back at it this fall. As for the silhouette shot, thanks, that is without the editing. I have some software to remove noise that should really improve it. It was a beautiful night, and she's a great kid.
No family tags this period so if anyone is looking for a change of scenery in Z-2 .... could have a combo turkey/trout trip!
Kevin,Great silhouette pic .Tell her congrats! And your dad just keeps on ticking.Seems like he has the patience to score every year. That's awesome ! I really think we need him out there when we do some of our walks during deer season.Congrats to him once again.
I had hens, hens and more hens. (one with a beard)... saw a couple jakes. Couldn't get any to come close.
At one point had three hens in the field I was hunting and a coyote stalked them - got within probably 20 yards and they flew into trees on the edge of the field. Coyote continued through woods then hens flew right back down into the field.
My son has this week and hoping to get out a couple times this weekend if weather isn't horrible. The boys sure seem to be finicky and/or henned up!!
Just got off the phone with my turkey hunting partner. He has a strutter decoy with a real tail fan. On Wednesday he finished his hunt in 5 minutes after a tom saw the strutter and charged in bumping the decoy around. At noon he helped a friend fill his tag with a jake when three jakes came into the strutter decoy infront of his new bow. And today a father/son team finished their day before 10am by using my friends strutter decoy. The team had 2 adult toms come running in from 200 yards out to fight the strutter decoy. The father shot first killing one tom while the other tom ran off. Within 10 minutes the second tom came running back to attack the decoy and the son dropped that one. If you have a strutter decoy with a real fan it might be time to stick it out there. It can't hurt.
Congratulations to all. I had fun but came up empty.
The birds were there the entire time in period C! They were holding tight to cover especially in the pines and white cedar. I actually abandoned my hunt on private land and ended up hunting the last two days in the Northern kettle Moraine State Forest. Both days I got on Toms in a spot and stalk situation. I was not able to ultimately connect but, I did get a shot on the last day after a three hour stalk in the cedars. I ended up taking off my boots and belly crawling for near a hundred yards. Got within 40 and missed!!!. It was the most fun I've had hunting in some time. Beautiful big Tom, I just crapped the bed on my shot. And, there are plenty of birds in the kettle, just very well educated. Much more challenging than private land. Anyone that gets a bird on public hunting grounds after the first week, you certainly have my respect. Especially if you stuck it with an arrow! Good hunting.
Naz-two great photos that'll be engrained in your memory forever. Great stuff.
Great job and congrats to all others. Nice birds.
Hens are really beginning to segregate themselves earlier and earlier each day, which should bring some vulnerable birds looking for a lady friend. The ticks are out in force so be careful... Limes is no joke. Thermacell is becoming increasingly valuable. Good luck.
My wife had another successful turkey season. Notice killer B behind her right shoulder, always have had great luck with that type of decoy.
Big Tom emerged from the woods to the edge of the field, at first he did not like what he seen and went back in, I waited one minute and began calling again, he came back out and committed, circled behind the blind, came within 10ft of the blind, then proceeded to bully the decoy.
This is the first time I did not have to coach my wife threw her hunt. Very proud of her.
NWO, you are a lucky man! Congratulations.
Congrats to your wife NWO. Wow that bird looks huge. How heavy, length of beard and spurs please. Thank you.
25# 10 inch beard, 1 1/4 spurs. Don't know how old it was but I know its a mature bird. Turkey hunting is the only hunting she will do.
Congrats to your wife! That's at least a 3-year-old based on spur length, and either way, who cares as long as it's exciting and fun!
That is one outstanding bird NWO. Thanks for sharing.
Just a followup to my friends strutter decoy. That decoy went 7 for 7 this week in zone 2. It ended with a granddaughter of the father/son team taking her very first tom Saturday morning. Craziest thing I ever heard of.
Congrats to your Daughter, very nice bird.
Thanks NWO, the first pic was sideways so I'm trying it again.
Well done on the photo, and congrats to her!
CaptMike congrats to your daughter on a great bird. Well done!
Thanks guys! I didn't mention in my second attempt at posting a pic that she snuck up on this bird and shot him at 22 yards.
Wow, not to many hunters can sneak up on turkeys even with a shot gun, even more impressive with a bow.
I was not with her but it sounds like it all just happened to come together. She saw it walking the edge of the field and she toward it and up to a spot where she had an opening to shoot through the foliage. Said she just had enough time to draw her bow and then it walked into the opening.
While both daughters bow hunt, this one pretty much refuses to hunt with a rifle or shotgun. I give her credit because as much as I like to bow hunt, I also enjoy a shotgun or rifle hunt.
Kudos to your daughter Captain. Well done.