WI turkey success thread.
Wisconsin
I know there was a thread about turkeys in the snow. I figured with all the crud on here lately, we needed another hunting thread.
I have second, fourth, and fifth season tags. With limited time to hunt now (second). I was estatic to get it done this morning on our land in Pierce county.
11.5" beard inch and a quarter and inch and an eighth Spurs. Plus woods time with one of my best buds. It was a shotgun kill, so I did cheat.
Yes, congratulations. Nice bird. Arrow or shot-shell, does not matter, you were successful. Good for ya!
That's a really nice bird rutnstrut! I was gonna see how things were going for you, congrats!
Won't post a pic but I did kill a standard run of the mill stupid 2-year old last Sunday with the boom-stick (stupid birds are my favorite).
Was a really fun hunt, turkeys gobbling everywhere but oddly enough the one I killed didn't say a peep. Was sitting the edge of a cornfield and could hear one spitting/drumming for an hour directly behind me before him and his idiot friends finally committed (another tom and a jake). This was at 1 pm, had turkeys gobbling literally from sun up until I killed him (one still going crazy on the walk out that I thought I would've ended up killing). God I love the spitting/drumming, just as much fun as the gobbling!
2018 Archery Tom
2018 Archery Tom
Congrats guys. Always like hearing the stories of how it all went down and pics to give the visual. I posted in the snow thread already, but thought I would put it in the actual success thread. Mine is a long story, but boils down to some patience, a little creativity and a lot of luck. 9 1/2 " beard and 1" spurs.
Congrats, I had no luck 1st season. Never can I remember toms being so call shy 1st season. If you called they would literally run the other way. Hoping 3rd season is better.
RJN, the day I killed my bird the Toms were very vocal, with only about an hour of not talking. And very responsive to my pathetic calling. The hens weren't really saying much. On that Saturday (trying to help a buddy get one) they only talked in the morning and not necessarily a lot. Hens didn't talk at all. Weird how it can vary so much, even within a day. Good luck 3rd season.
RJN, I have heard that from many & had the same experience myself. I had to rely on my decoys & a little purring to get lucky on Monday. I'll post the same pic I had on the Snow thread. From what I have heard for the Second season it is not much better. I'm thinking the Third should be great after the rain.
Killed a decent tom this AM with the shotgun. two days with the bow and nothing, then the day I take a gun he comes right in. Just as well, lots of work right now. Had 9 1/2" beard and 1 3/8" spurs. Killed at 6:45 AM.
My 12 year old son and his third turkey - first with the bow.
Badger Congrats to your son very nice.
Cool, congrats to Badger bucks and son.
BB, congratulations to your son! He did well! Tell him us old timers are depending on him and his young friends to carry the torch for bowhunting into the future.
Congrats to your son Badger. Absolutely outstanding. Love to see this, especially with all of the negativity around here and all the people complaining the kids all want to do it the easy way. Keep doing what you're doing!
Congrats on the birds folks!
Badger, congrats to you and your son!
Badger Bucks, a huge congrats to your son and also to you and Mom. You guys are doing the parenting thing right.
Me and baby fip no sooner got our dip in and had not spit once when we herd a terkey gooble a mile and half away. I gave the nod to baby fip said bring-um to daddy boy. 10 minutes later we got us a bruser commin in fast. 36 pounds, 13.57 inch beard, and 2.85 inch spurs. Not my biggest but respectable. Proud of baby fip he is only 6 and called that bird in. The bird looked like a spike horn on November 7 with 2 hot does and know other bucks around.
Congrats fat inbred pig! ;) Sharing it with your son is awesome., Your son looks just like you too..
Tell your boy, congrats, BB, quite the accomplishment! I was about 24 y/o before I ever stuck one. Granted, we never had ANY turkeys where I lived growing up... What a great success story!
Still have the same excitement as years ago.
My brothers daughter with her first turkey.
Great birds every one! FIP did your 6 year old really call that bird in? I have a 7 year old and I can not get him to sit still!! Hope all have success in the coming seasons.
Good Luck Jason
Great pics! Very nice one of the young gal. I was out this season & I don't know if the rain shut them down or if it was just me. I came home to get my camper as the place I stay got flooded & when I woke up this a.m. the pain was not good & I could not walk well. Then I had to mow which is really nice on my back. I am hooked up and ready to go. Might stay up there as the place I will hunt the next season is only about 10 miles from this seasons place. Maybe I could sit in the camper with the decoys out & wait for a bird. I brought a bigger chair as the tripod stool really hurts after 6 or 8 hours.
Any more kills this week?
Probably plenty killed with a shotgun, but who'd have the balls to post up a turkey killed with a gun, amongst all this crossbow talk? If a crossbow is bad, a gun must be worse, right?
Pete-pec. Don't feel bad if you made the switch to xguns. The majority want to use a easier weapon if legal. You are not alone.
My turkey perspective..... For the first time I hunted Zone 1, on our land now in Vernon County, outside of Hillsboro. I was amazed, of seeing no turkeys anywhere, driving around, including excursions into Richland Co. I hunted our land, 64 acres, and received permission to hunt, a large farm 300 acres, on the last day. The birds here are tough, as is the terrain,,,,,, My partner did the blind, and decoy thing, I chose to run with a shotgun and mouth call, in this area, going up and down them hills.....
It was good for my heart, felt like a kid now,,,,,,, all total I observed 7 big toms, and they did respond to calls, but they were always on top of me, it seemed and I passed on a jake..... my partners saw nothing,,,,,,,,, some birds across the road from us, on a farm being hunted hard.......
locals told me, not the birds there use to be, and they did not know why..... Well my guess is the coyotes, learned how to hunt them... I never saw so much coyote sign in all my life, plus they were on the howl every night...... If I promise to trap this winter, got more land to hunt for deer, from one farmer,,,,, great deer sign,,,,,
I noticed that birds dropped down from the roost, after they went up, in the late pm, if they saw me, on the other hill, another tip, that predation is a factor over there......
I wonder if the hunting is over sold, in Zone 1, for what it really is, I mean there is 18,000 tags left, I doubt there is 2000 birds in the whole Zone.............................
Back home now in Zone 2, lots of birds out, with the rain, easy to find birds, and next week I will again be out........ I think hunting birds in Zone 1, a lot tougher than Zone 2,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
Maybe mother nature just decided how many birds an area can hold, but there sure is a lot of area in Zone 1, void of birds, and its prime country,,,,, I wonder why?
RJN, I don't use a crossbow? I'm a real bow hunter. I use a compound. I'm only suggesting that there might have been more pictures posted of turkeys, if there wasn't the shame of using any easier weapon like a gun or crossbow. Even in this case of turkey hunting, a gun would certainly be easier than a crossbow, and a crossbow easier than a compound, and a compound easier than a long bow, and a decoy and a blind making it even easier. I just wish all hunters would figure it out. There's only one way to hunt. Duh!
My daughter's turkey she shot this past Sunday afternoon. This was her first one calling in all on her own as me or my son usually does the calling for her. She finally had an afternoon off of coaching soccer so decided to set up in a back field with a hen and tom decoy. She called occasionally throughout the afternoon and didn't hear much until she finally heard this one respond. He didn't gobble much coming in but she could hear him spitting and drumming as he made his way through the woods. He put on a nice little show before she finally got a shot. To make things even better she was using her grandfather's gun that's been passed down to her. This will definitely be one of her most memorable hunts. I'm very proud of her.
Yes little FIP called in the bird. Yet another way to bring a 6 year old into the hunt without giving him a weapon. He was in control of our success. I did have to tell him to stop calling toward the end he was going nuts on the call and the turkey kept gobbling.
Speaking of predators and turkey....................
Well done Ridge Runner. Congrats to your daughter! Neat story with her grandfather's gun. Very cool.
Groundhunter- I hunted zone 1 also and there are less birds in our area to. Half the mornings I hunted coyotes cleared the fields after fly down. Even 1st season if you called to them they would run the other way. Strange yr
A lot of times, calling to birds early in the season will get them going the other way. Most the time it's the boss hen doing that and the Tom follows. Most people realize that and then forget it the next year. Or don't piece that together at all. Most people that had first period this year battled snow. Birds were pushed out because of it. Took up to the end of the second time zone for the birds to start moving back in to their usual mating/nesting areas.. Thats what we saw. Might be true for some but there were a lot of birds this year. The exception of the Nw counties that got hit hard most of the winter.?
Just got back from hunting in zone 3 again. It was completely dead for a while but got good again with 2 days left in the 3rd season. I was able to take this one yesterday between storms. Just like the first season. Decoys at 15 yards & bird went 8 yards. I have the last 2 seasons in zone 2 but have seen very few Turkeys here. I'm even getting slow on those self timer pics.
great photo.....................
