Turkey Time
Contributors to this thread:Connecticut
From: tbyars
05-May-18
Great morning. Had three big toms strutting but wouldn’t commit. Along comes seven Jakes and that was that. Shot with my new Triax.
From: tbyars
05-May-18
From: Shawn
05-May-18
Nice bird and congrats!! Nice to see the bird taken with a bow.
From: deerstalker
05-May-18
nice job! Was a great morning
From: Jmill
05-May-18
My 8 year old son and I called in 2 monster toms this morning. Not quite close enough, but it was incredible. The excitement on his face when he heard the gobble from far away. We laughed everytime they got closer.... Then we finally spotted them strutting in. He said " they're sooo huge". He could barely keep himself from jumping out of our homemade blind. The birds must have caught on :) What an awesome morning.
From: soapdish
05-May-18
Sweeeet
From: Paul
05-May-18
Well done nice bird
From: bowhuntbob
05-May-18
Nice Bird!
From: bigbuckbob
05-May-18
Nice job!
From: air leak
06-May-18
Congrats, nice bird and shooting.
From: DeerDan
06-May-18
Congratulations!
From: tbyars
06-May-18
Making a fan and beard mount. Love the couple middle feather colors.
From: tbyars
06-May-18
From: Bloodtrail
06-May-18
That’s a beautiful bird. Not a Jake though.
From: longbeard
06-May-18
Blood I’m glad you pointed that out cause I thought I was loosing my mind. I read original post multiple times and couldn’t figure it out
From: bigbuckbob
06-May-18
Or,....as notme would say, the 7 Jakes were in a van that was driving by as toms were walking away and pushed them right back into bow range. They were with Darrell and his brother Darrell. Or, maybe tybars names the birds he harvests, and this one is Mr Jake #7?
From: tbyars
06-May-18
Trust me I’ve hunted for forty years. I know a mature Tom from a Jake. As many turkey hunters know, a mature Tom can’t stand Jakes so when they came into the hen decoy the old boys came straight in. Hope this clears up your confusion.
From: Shawn
06-May-18
Is that a Tom or a Jake? Little confused here??
From: steve
07-May-18
congrats !!
From: longbeard
07-May-18
Thank you for the clarification on the events as they unfolded. Here is mine from this morning. No confusion here. Single gobbler flew down after 200 gobbles and came to my decoy where I shot him!
From: Shawn
07-May-18
So I know this is a dumb question for most of you but at what point does the bird become a Tom? Is it by the length of the beard?
From: tbyars
07-May-18
Shawn - typically they are called Jakes as one year olds. They have anywhere from an inch to three inch beard. A mature Tom is one that IMHO is three years old or older. They typically have beards that are in the 10+ inch range. As SWK stated, mature Toms cannot stand Jakes so if you have Jakes that come into the decoys then it's only a matter of time before the big boy comes in and tries to whip some ass!
From: bigbuckbob
07-May-18
Also - the tail feathers on a jake are lower on each edge, with higher feathers in the middle. This is an easy way to tell when they're walking in strutting. That and they're stupid.
From: Bigbuckbob
07-May-18
Spitting? He deserved to get shot!
From: bigbuckbob
08-May-18
Great pic!!! Love sharing the woods with young kids, everything is new and exciting to them.
From: N8tureBoy
08-May-18
"So I know this is a dumb question for most of you but at what point does the bird become a Tom? Is it by the length of the beard?"
Good question Shawn.... My son is named Jake. When he gets bigger than me I plan to start calling him Tom.
From: Bigbuckbob
08-May-18
Second year
From: steve
09-May-18
Nice going longbeard !!! and the young lady too !
From: air leak
09-May-18
Congrats everyone! Nice season so far!
From: Shawn
09-May-18
Ya I was supposed to go turkey hunting with a friend this year... hmmmm
From: Cranial Vault
09-May-18
Two on opening day.
Two on opening day.
A few days later.
A few days later.
Tagged out week one for private. All birds taken with archery tackle.
From: steve
10-May-18
Nice going Tim !!
From: Shawn
10-May-18
Good one n8tureboy.. I wonder if any birds are taken on state land and how many. If anyone killed a state land bird or know someone who has plz post it.
From: notme
10-May-18
The state of ct as a whole..hole...whole Or specific spots within the state designated state land inside the boundries of the state as a total land mass....id say there have been some nice birds taken
From: Ace
10-May-18
So far the numbers have been very close to last year. Opening Day was a bit behind last year, but it rained like hell, and it was cold.
From: nehunter
10-May-18
I just roosted birds for tomorrow and was quite surprised by how many Tom's moved into my private properties. Hopefully tomorrow morning works out. Saturday looks like a rainout.
From: PeteO
13-May-18
I called this one in around 8am yesterday morning. 12/14 yd shot
I called this one in around 8am yesterday morning. 12/14 yd shot
From: nehunter
13-May-18
Great job Pete! The ultimate Hunt with a stick bow!
From: Bigbuckbob
13-May-18
Pete, awesome! On the ground? In a blind? How did you do it?
From: PeteO
13-May-18
BBB in a blind. I called one in on Friday to about 5 yards with no blind. He didn't let me draw. This one I shot out of my matrix 360. We hunted Bethel until around 730. Nothing talking so we ran over to a spot in Danbury. We gave one call got a response and made a hasty set up. As soon as he saw the hen decoy he ran in the last 100 yards. I shot him broadside broke his thigh bone and the arrow exited out the opposite arm/wing pit. He flew about 60 yards dropped and didn't move. Usually they dont take more than a couple steps but this one wanted to get away.
From: Tall 1
14-May-18
Congrats everybody! Some beautiful birds. I'm looking at The site while sitting here in one of my blinds waiting on a mature Tom. So far this season I have passed a bunch of Jake's but it's all good. Just love listening to nature wake up too. 3 from Saturday got the pass....
From: longbeard
14-May-18
Shot this one this morning. After 3 weeks of getting up at 4am I was happy to see the bad weather. At around 8am I went out to check a few of my cameras but I brought my hunting gear just in case. Well, I sure am glad I did. When I pulled into one of my permissions, there were at least 3 full fans out in the field. I was happy to see that but still didn’t think anything would come of it. I went down into the woods to check my cameras and when I returned to my truck I heard one of them gobble. So, i put my gear on and headed back into the woods to see if I could entice any of the gobblers to come check me out. I made a few calls and finally got a responses. Then about 60 yards away a hen decided to cuss at me, so we traded insults for about 40 minutes until she decided to fly down from the roost about 30 ft from me. Very weird for her to be in roost that late. Anyway, all the while we were insulting each other, I could hear one of the gobblers from the field gobbling closer and closer. Finally he was within 50 yds of me coming a bit to my right side, so I had to shift and when I did, she saw me. She went straight toward him putting like she had been scalded. I managed to calm her down with a few clucks and soft yelps and with that she cut back to my left and walked right in front of me through a clearing at 25 yds. He made the mistake of following her. His life ended at 10:05 am this morning! A fun hunt for sure and I got to sleep in!!
From: steve
15-May-18
congrats !!
From: PeteO
15-May-18
NIce!
From: wilbur
15-May-18
Nice longbeard from this morning's hunt
Nice longbeard from this morning's hunt
From: longbeard
15-May-18
Nice Wilbur
From: Shawn
15-May-18
Awesome Longbeard. Congrats. I'm still waiting for you to take me out.. hint hint.. Wilbur that's a nice bird. Congrats to both of you!!
From: nehunter
15-May-18
My Daughter shot her 10th Tom Monday. We worked him for 3 days. Tough ole mountain bird.
From: nehunter
15-May-18
Found this heavy 8 pt shed. Most tines we're heavily chewed up.
From: steve
15-May-18
Congrats to her !
From: bigbuckbob
15-May-18
nehunter - congrats to your daughter, makes it so much sweeter to share the woods with our kids.
From: nehunter
15-May-18
BBB, Breakfast Friday or Saturday? I'll be trying to fill my tags. My season is done Saturday.
From: Bigbuckbob
15-May-18
Nehunter, I'm having a tree taken down but not sure if it's Thursday or Friday, depends on weather. I'll let you know tomorrow.
From: Bigbuckbob
18-May-18
Got in the woods this morning and it's dead quiet so far. No response to any calls. May be on hens so give it some time and see what happens.
From: air leak
18-May-18
Congrats guys and ladies! Nice birds!
From: Bigbuckbob
18-May-18
Not a peep this morning. Just peace and quiet.
From: notme
18-May-18
So same ole some ole bbb...lol
From: Bigbuckbob
19-May-18
Wilbur, love your picture! Frame it and hang it on the wall
From: steve
31-May-18
long beard check your pms .Steve
