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View Full Version : How are the Turkey hunters doing?



Passport
04-25-2009, 05:50 PM
I killed a 23 pounder with a 9 inch beard and 7/8 inch spurs in driving rain on opening day 4-20 in Ottawa county. I know of 2 other guys that killed 22 and 24 pounders on the opener too. Seems the body weights are up this year in spite of a hard winter.

Here is the bird I killed, lousy pic as the bird and I were both soaking wet.

So what did you guys get/see?

I hunted today in the wind and never saw a bird, heard 1 gobble way off, just so you know I was calling for my Bro in law not hunting, Im done. We need to make this a 2 bird season, I think we have enough.

http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e140/passport3006/Picture002-1.jpg

RevDerb
04-25-2009, 07:39 PM
Nice job, Passport! Maybe I'll try it next year.

Done Deal
04-25-2009, 07:51 PM
Good for you.

My season started out last Monday and I haven't even had time to get my stuff out.

huntmeister
04-29-2009, 08:14 PM
I'm still trying. My toms are roosting with hens and then in the morning they fly down with them and are hened up for the next couple of hours and refuse to come to the calls..

Seems my best time is to be in the woods around 4pm.

With the exception of batchlor group jakes with stubby beards.

Wont even mention the big tom that snuck in behind me and walked up on my right hand side within ten yards, He turned his back I moved to shoot and got busted!!!! took a panic shot as he fled but at 10 yards with hevi-shot was about the same as shooting a slug.

Good luck everyone.

and good job getting that nice tom

huntmeister
04-29-2009, 08:15 PM
I'm still trying. My toms are roosting with hens and then in the morning they fly down with them and are hened up for the next couple of hours and refuse to come to the calls..

Opening day I called in a tom for a buddy of mine got his first bird.

Seems my best time is to be in the woods now is around 4pm.

With the exception of batchlor group jakes with stubby beards.

Wont even mention the big tom that snuck in behind me and walked up on my right hand side within ten yards, He turned his back I moved to shoot and got busted!!!! took a panic shot as he fled but at 10 yards with hevi-shot was about the same as shooting a slug.

Good luck everyone.

and good job getting that nice tom passport

Just A Girl
04-30-2009, 10:15 AM
Good Job Passport!
I called for my buddy the other day . . This was his day . .

Morning Golf
Afternoon @ pub for a couple
I picked him up @ the pub @ 4:30
We were in the woods and set up by 5:15
I called in 2 birds . . we walked out w/ a 20#, 10 in. beard, huge spurs @ 6:15

He had a great deer season . . hopefully this will keep his momentum up and we can get his archery game up to speed this summer.

Leader
04-30-2009, 11:12 AM
Good Job Passport!
I called for my buddy the other day . . This was his day . .

Morning Golf
Afternoon @ pub for a couple
I picked him up @ the pub @ 4:30
We were in the woods and set up by 5:15
I called in 2 birds . . we walked out w/ a 20#, 10 in. beard, huge spurs @ 6:15

He had a great deer season . . hopefully this will keep his momentum up and we can get his archery game up to speed this summer.

You mean the alcohol didn't cause him to just shoot everybody & everything he saw move?
Not only did he actually pick out a turkey to shoot but his aim was true through the alcoholic fog.
After all the "alcohol & guns don't mix" I have seen, I wouldn't have believed this was possible.:clap: :clap:

327poc
04-30-2009, 11:18 AM
Good job! I got mine opening morning of the early season thanks to huntmeister calling it in for me. He was 20# and had a 5" beard.

Garbo
04-30-2009, 11:28 AM
Terrible!!! In fact I havent seen one from behind my desk yet. Man i can just never make spring turkey work for me.

Passport
04-30-2009, 11:36 AM
Terrible!!! In fact I havent seen one from behind my desk yet. Man i can just never make spring turkey work for me.


You need to move you're desk to a nice green field

Just A Girl
05-02-2009, 12:39 PM
Walked into the woods this morning @ 6:00.
They were already off the roost and clucking and yelping and gobbling up a storm. When the Big Guy finished w/ his primary harem about 7:30, he made his way over in my direction.

I had a lone hen decoy out, plus a real jake and a real hen were close by . . I clucked and purred . . he puffed up, fanned out and walked in . .

KABLAM!! He never knew what hit him.

Passport
05-02-2009, 05:24 PM
Walked into the woods this morning @ 6:00.
They were already off the roost and clucking and yelping and gobbling up a storm. When the Big Guy finished w/ his primary harem about 7:30, he made his way over in my direction.

I had a lone hen decoy out, plus a real jake and a real hen were close by . . I clucked and purred . . he puffed up, fanned out and walked in . .

KABLAM!! He never knew what hit him.



Nice job!!!!!!!:banana:

Where in W MI did you get him?

demerp
05-03-2009, 01:48 PM
Walked into the woods this morning @ 6:00.
They were already off the roost and clucking and yelping and gobbling up a storm. When the Big Guy finished w/ his primary harem about 7:30, he made his way over in my direction.

I had a lone hen decoy out, plus a real jake and a real hen were close by . . I clucked and purred . . he puffed up, fanned out and walked in . .

KABLAM!! He never knew what hit him.

am jealous. hunted pretty hard during my season of April 20-May 3. am done today w/ out a bird. saw a few in fields, but got caught trying to sneak to the edge of the field to set up. this is my first year hunting turkey; guess i have a lot to learn.

frustrating thing is, they seemed to completely ignore my calls, and i was pretty good w/ the slate. a group consisting of a numbers of hens and a gobbler hardly pulled their heads up to notice my calling, & then went back to eating. that's when i resorted to trying to sneak up a bit closer, but got picked up @ 75 yards out, and away they ran....:rant:

any hints for the next spring? what do you do when they won't come to your calling? is this like deer season, where you sit in a spot much of the day, or do you guys call & move, call & move, if you haven't spotted/heard anything? do i need to be more patient, or cover more ground?

what time are they come off roost in the AM? was hunting around Dundee area in some farmland. busted a group coming out of the woods, as my car pulled up @ 06:20 or so. are they off roost before legal shooting hours?

sorry for all the questions. did learn a lot, though: what their feathers look like on the ground (found flight & tailfeathers), what their tracks look like, the necessity of binoculars for glassing fields in the dawn/dusk, etc.

now i have to plan ahead for fall season!

brian

Just A Girl
05-03-2009, 07:10 PM
Hi Passport,
Thanks for the kudos and the dancing banana . . yes I did my own Happy Dance . . probably looked like the banana.

I was so concerned that my opportunity was going to be a turkey that was not strutting or fanned out . . I was so luckey that he was. It really made my first turkey a great experience.

By the way . . my turkey used to live by Cannonsburg . . now he's safe and sound in the freezer!!

Just A Girl
05-03-2009, 07:28 PM
[QUOTE=demerp]am jealous. hunted pretty hard during my season of April 20-May 3. am done today w/ out a bird. saw a few in fields, but got caught trying to sneak to the edge of the field to set up. this is my first year hunting turkey; guess i have a lot to learn.

frustrating thing is, they seemed to completely ignore my calls, and i was pretty good w/ the slate. a group consisting of a numbers of hens and a gobbler hardly pulled their heads up to notice my calling, & then went back to eating. that's when i resorted to trying to sneak up a bit closer, but got picked up @ 75 yards out, and away they ran....:rant:

any hints for the next spring? what do you do when they won't come to your calling? is this like deer season, where you sit in a spot much of the day, or do you guys call & move, call & move, if you haven't spotted/heard anything? do i need to be more patient, or cover more ground?

what time are they come off roost in the AM? was hunting around Dundee area in some farmland. busted a group coming out of the woods, as my car pulled up @ 06:20 or so. are they off roost before legal shooting hours?



Hi Demerp--I am no expert. This is just my 2nd year turkey hunting. The biggest favor I did myself was to learn how to 'turkey talk' with the diaphram call. I have called in turkeys for 3 successful hunts this Spring so far . . will probably do a couple more (hunts).

As much as I would prefer otherwise, it seems best to be in position before they come off the roost. And Yes . . this past hunt I did the "Set up and move", "move and Re-Set up" all day long . . my friend's nephew finally had a shot @ 1:00 p.m. Here's the best part . . it was a 55 yard shot w/ a 12 ga. w/ #6 thru trees. I had no idea he could pull off a shot like that (seems like a big distance). One other thing that you mentioned . . after the first part of morning passes . . it seems like there is no turkey talk . . I couldn't get them to respond to clucks or purs--maybe some other noises too . . but I really don't know what things are called-- . . but when I yelped they gobbled and puffed up big time.

Contact me next Spring . . I'd be happy to try calling for you.

protectionisamust
05-04-2009, 03:55 PM
am jealous. hunted pretty hard during my season of April 20-May 3. am done today w/ out a bird. saw a few in fields, but got caught trying to sneak to the edge of the field to set up. this is my first year hunting turkey; guess i have a lot to learn.

frustrating thing is, they seemed to completely ignore my calls, and i was pretty good w/ the slate. a group consisting of a numbers of hens and a gobbler hardly pulled their heads up to notice my calling, & then went back to eating. that's when i resorted to trying to sneak up a bit closer, but got picked up @ 75 yards out, and away they ran....:rant:

any hints for the next spring? what do you do when they won't come to your calling? is this like deer season, where you sit in a spot much of the day, or do you guys call & move, call & move, if you haven't spotted/heard anything? do i need to be more patient, or cover more ground?

what time are they come off roost in the AM? was hunting around Dundee area in some farmland. busted a group coming out of the woods, as my car pulled up @ 06:20 or so. are they off roost before legal shooting hours?

sorry for all the questions. did learn a lot, though: what their feathers look like on the ground (found flight & tailfeathers), what their tracks look like, the necessity of binoculars for glassing fields in the dawn/dusk, etc.

now i have to plan ahead for fall season!

brian


Sounds like your season went like mine. This was my first year also and tried to learn. I called one into about 40 yards the 1st day but could not get a clear shot. After that day, I hunted an additional 5 days and could not get anything to respond. i would see a lone hen or two but that was it. I'm wondering if it was my calling or something I was doing wrong. I tried the sit an hour call and then move. Seemed liked nothing was working for me.

I did call in a raccoon on the last day, lol.

Deer hunting is definantly easier, but enjoyed the challenge and realized, I also have alot to learn.

Passport
05-04-2009, 09:13 PM
Hi Passport,
Thanks for the kudos and the dancing banana . . yes I did my own Happy Dance . . probably looked like the banana.

I was so concerned that my opportunity was going to be a turkey that was not strutting or fanned out . . I was so luckey that he was. It really made my first turkey a great experience.

By the way . . my turkey used to live by Cannonsburg . . now he's safe and sound in the freezer!!



Cannonsburg has tons of birds! Wish I could find access there, my buddy lives in Parnell and I use to shoot at S. Kent alot so I know the area pretty well. Go to the Honey Creek Inn for a cold one and some blue gills!!

Congrats again

Just A Girl
05-05-2009, 05:15 PM
Oh Yeah Passport!!
Cold one and blue gills @ Honey Creek is second only to Blue Gills and a cold ones at my house . . which is what I just had for dinner!!!!

Just caught the gills today.
For anyone interested . . shallow water, over a dark bottom, close to shore . . I used red worms and did most of the catching today---my buddy was using a little black artificial bug (stone fly maybe??) and a fly rod . . the casting is pretty but it wasn't as productive as simply throwing a worm out there.