Turkey Season 2012
- Thread starter MikeD
- Start date
tcecil88 said:Nice bird MikeD! Your dressed for deer season though!
Actually those are the same clothes I wear during deer season. It was cold sitting out there.
John A. said:Biggest or not has never been my goal for hunting. That alone is not what makes a good hunter.
But I always welcome meat in the freezer.
Great job
I couldn't agree more.
Nice bird Mike! I'm a little jealous that you Michigan'ers get to hunt till 8-8:30pm....over here in CT we only get till noon.
nice write up on em as well...
+1 to you.
*edit. crap..i gotta spread my love elsewhere first....
nice write up on em as well...
+1 to you.
*edit. crap..i gotta spread my love elsewhere first....
When I first started hunting turkeys in MI, many years ago, the cutoff was much earlier in the day, For some reason I want to say 5pm-ish but I don't recall exactly.
The longer days are a fairly recent change, and I like it.
I've got some videos of deer on my phone that I'll be posting as soon as I can download them to my PC.
The longer days are a fairly recent change, and I like it.
I've got some videos of deer on my phone that I'll be posting as soon as I can download them to my PC.
Nice birds Mike!
Smitty in CT
.410
14 Y.O. son shot his 1st Turkey this A.M.
Greetings all!!
My 14-year-old son shot his first Turkey this morning with his Uncle Ronnie!!
He's down in Northeastern PA at Grampa's.
He was using my Mossberg 930 SPX (had the 28" barrel on it from my field gun, no optics, just the bead) and a Mossberg XX-FULL choke (3" Kent 2 oz. # 6 lead shot)
Smitty
Greetings all!!
My 14-year-old son shot his first Turkey this morning with his Uncle Ronnie!!
He's down in Northeastern PA at Grampa's.
He was using my Mossberg 930 SPX (had the 28" barrel on it from my field gun, no optics, just the bead) and a Mossberg XX-FULL choke (3" Kent 2 oz. # 6 lead shot)
Smitty
Re: 14 Y.O. son shot his 1st Turkey this A.M.
Very cool Smitty!
I know you're a proud poppa...
Very cool Smitty!
I know you're a proud poppa...
toyracer38
.410
Re: 14 Y.O. son shot his 1st Turkey this A.M.
Well done young Sir! Congratz! Soon turkeys everywhere will get chills when they hear your name.
Well done young Sir! Congratz! Soon turkeys everywhere will get chills when they hear your name.
Ya me too...
Ok...without further a due, here is my days eventful events....
I started my day off this morning at 4:45am. I had readied my gear the night before, so all I had to do was load it up in the truck in the am and I'll be ready to rock.... I arrived at the field at 5:20 and it was pretty light out. I got out of my truck set up my Mighty Mossberg 835 on the tailgate and slid in 3 Heavy metal 3-1/2 #4 Turkey loads, put my ghil-leaf camo suit on, and my speed seat. I fished out my owl call and tooted a few whoo's.
No answer. Where is everyone? I hope today isn't going to be another day like the last day. I didn't see a one, or hear anything.
I figured I was in the clear to march out to my spot in the corner of the field. I trudged through about a 100 yards of mud and stones and set my decoy bag down and gave another toot on the owl call....still no answer. I opened up my decoy sack and set them up, 3 in all, 2 hens and a jake. Grabbed my sack and paced off to the spot I had used earlier in the season. I cleared out some leaves next to the tree to sit, and unloaded my 2 slate calls, camo coffee cup, water, bino's, bag of baby carrots, and then cut some branches to place in front of me to camo up some of the open area in front of my spot...I then settled in and I started doing some calling on the slate and immediately heard 4 gobblers in the woods across the field in front of me.
5:42am...sunrise over here in Connecticut. Let's rock.
At 6am I see 3 toms wandering out the woods on the right side. Hmm...must be the ones I heard when I sat down. I reach for my bino's to see em up close and size em up. Those 3 looked so ugly they could break a trail camera. From the looks of it, they must have been beat down by a few larger toms a couple of times. Most of their feathers on their backsides were missing. Anyhow, they were walking down the filed towards me taking their sweet time, when 2 hens walked out the woods about 10 feet in front of them. They puffed up their selves and gobbled to them, "Hellooo ladies, look at us." The hens just kept walking past them. The 3 stooges then decided to follow them and they went over the hill and disappeared out of sight. I figure my jake deterred them...I need to get that guy out of there and just use the hens. ....I'm about to get up and retrieve my deke when another hen walks out on my left about 50 yards away. I'll have to get my jake later. She stays there in that area of the field just pecking away back n forth in the field 100 feet away. She eventually leaves around 9.
I really need to stretch my legs now and water the bushes. I walk back to my tree and stand there for a second surveying the field for any movement. I notice a big black spot on my right side by the edge of the trees.
It's Old Blue tip!!
CRAP! He's staring at me. I'm standing still, staring back at him, then looking down at my Mighty Mossberg 835, and back at him. I'm caught red handed. Son of a ......If I move, he's gonna book. I can't move. But I have to. I need to get my 835! WTH do I do? Finally, I make my move first. I slooooowwwwly kneel down. Then he turns his head sideways. He must be looking right at me now. I have the barrel of the 835 in my left hand. I'm sooo close. My hearts beating faster and faster....My knees are killing me. I'm on some rocks. I have to move to get off the rocks and raise up my Mighty Mossberg. Could this be my chance?
No, no it is not.
Old blue tip just walks back into the woods nonchalantly. "Not today kiddo, not today." he gobbles to me.
Rats.
Well...at least I can sit now and get situated again. I still have time. I'll get cha Ole BT... I'll get cha.....
I sit down and take a swig of coffee out of my camo coffee cup, I call out on my slate. I hear some gobbles in the field in front of me. I notice 2 birds walking towards the left at the top of the hill. Then another, an another....and then 4 more. I take out my bino's to see if they are jakes. All of them are jakes. Then a few more, and few more. What is this? A parade? I counted 14 of them. They start gobbling. I couldn't believe what i was seeing. I was in heaven. Turkey heaven. I do some soft pops on the slate. 2 of them start towards me gobblin the whole way. They take about a half an hour to go 50 feet. Sheesh man, you think you guys can hurry up? Nooo. So I wait. I call. I hear some gobbles in front of me. Crap. There's tree in my way of vision. I lean over to my right slowly. 3 jakes are walking down the hill in a beeline to my dekes. sweet. Who's going to be dinner first? I keep up with the pops for about a minute, then stop. They see my hens. That's good enough. For the 3 on my right at least. The 2 on my left lose interest and wander back to their rafter gang. The 3 jakes move closer to my dekes..down the hill, and into the gulley. I can maneuver my Mighty Mossberg into place. I set it up on my right knee, and turn on my Burris red dot. Red T or yellow T? I'll go with the yellow, I don't want to stare at the red.
The jakes make their way up the hill and to the right of my dekes. They stop and gobble.
Breathe slowly Marc. You can do this.
2 of them start towards my hens. closer...just a little more. They both enter my Burris sight. Hmm. I think to myself, "You 2 need to spread out a little"
They both stick their heads out and gobble at my dekes. One is just slightly in front of the other. Nice...
BOOM!!!
They both go down in a cloud of feathers. Holy shnickeys!! I got a 2fer!! I look over to my right and see the 3rd guy running down the hill. I look to my left. The whole gang scatter over the hill.
MMM MMM MMM...dinner tonight is going to be good!
I walk out to the 2 prizes I just claimed. Man these guys are huge but only 4" beards and their spikes are just nubs. Hmm. must have been a good year to eat like a turkey. I gather up my dekes and all my stuff, I leave the 2 tagged jakes there and walk back to the truck and unload it all, Next time, less is more. I walk back to the jakes and pick em up. These guys are heavy!
I walk back to my truck with a jake in each hand. I am a happy hunter today.
Mrs ripjack and I made dinner tonight. Stuffed turkey breast rolled and breaded with a delicious cheese sauce on the side, a loaf of home made bread, veggies and a bottle of rip's home made Merlot wine.
I started my day off this morning at 4:45am. I had readied my gear the night before, so all I had to do was load it up in the truck in the am and I'll be ready to rock.... I arrived at the field at 5:20 and it was pretty light out. I got out of my truck set up my Mighty Mossberg 835 on the tailgate and slid in 3 Heavy metal 3-1/2 #4 Turkey loads, put my ghil-leaf camo suit on, and my speed seat. I fished out my owl call and tooted a few whoo's.
No answer. Where is everyone? I hope today isn't going to be another day like the last day. I didn't see a one, or hear anything.
I figured I was in the clear to march out to my spot in the corner of the field. I trudged through about a 100 yards of mud and stones and set my decoy bag down and gave another toot on the owl call....still no answer. I opened up my decoy sack and set them up, 3 in all, 2 hens and a jake. Grabbed my sack and paced off to the spot I had used earlier in the season. I cleared out some leaves next to the tree to sit, and unloaded my 2 slate calls, camo coffee cup, water, bino's, bag of baby carrots, and then cut some branches to place in front of me to camo up some of the open area in front of my spot...I then settled in and I started doing some calling on the slate and immediately heard 4 gobblers in the woods across the field in front of me.
5:42am...sunrise over here in Connecticut. Let's rock.
At 6am I see 3 toms wandering out the woods on the right side. Hmm...must be the ones I heard when I sat down. I reach for my bino's to see em up close and size em up. Those 3 looked so ugly they could break a trail camera. From the looks of it, they must have been beat down by a few larger toms a couple of times. Most of their feathers on their backsides were missing. Anyhow, they were walking down the filed towards me taking their sweet time, when 2 hens walked out the woods about 10 feet in front of them. They puffed up their selves and gobbled to them, "Hellooo ladies, look at us." The hens just kept walking past them. The 3 stooges then decided to follow them and they went over the hill and disappeared out of sight. I figure my jake deterred them...I need to get that guy out of there and just use the hens. ....I'm about to get up and retrieve my deke when another hen walks out on my left about 50 yards away. I'll have to get my jake later. She stays there in that area of the field just pecking away back n forth in the field 100 feet away. She eventually leaves around 9.
I really need to stretch my legs now and water the bushes. I walk back to my tree and stand there for a second surveying the field for any movement. I notice a big black spot on my right side by the edge of the trees.
It's Old Blue tip!!
CRAP! He's staring at me. I'm standing still, staring back at him, then looking down at my Mighty Mossberg 835, and back at him. I'm caught red handed. Son of a ......If I move, he's gonna book. I can't move. But I have to. I need to get my 835! WTH do I do? Finally, I make my move first. I slooooowwwwly kneel down. Then he turns his head sideways. He must be looking right at me now. I have the barrel of the 835 in my left hand. I'm sooo close. My hearts beating faster and faster....My knees are killing me. I'm on some rocks. I have to move to get off the rocks and raise up my Mighty Mossberg. Could this be my chance?
No, no it is not.
Old blue tip just walks back into the woods nonchalantly. "Not today kiddo, not today." he gobbles to me.
Rats.
Well...at least I can sit now and get situated again. I still have time. I'll get cha Ole BT... I'll get cha.....
I sit down and take a swig of coffee out of my camo coffee cup, I call out on my slate. I hear some gobbles in the field in front of me. I notice 2 birds walking towards the left at the top of the hill. Then another, an another....and then 4 more. I take out my bino's to see if they are jakes. All of them are jakes. Then a few more, and few more. What is this? A parade? I counted 14 of them. They start gobbling. I couldn't believe what i was seeing. I was in heaven. Turkey heaven. I do some soft pops on the slate. 2 of them start towards me gobblin the whole way. They take about a half an hour to go 50 feet. Sheesh man, you think you guys can hurry up? Nooo. So I wait. I call. I hear some gobbles in front of me. Crap. There's tree in my way of vision. I lean over to my right slowly. 3 jakes are walking down the hill in a beeline to my dekes. sweet. Who's going to be dinner first? I keep up with the pops for about a minute, then stop. They see my hens. That's good enough. For the 3 on my right at least. The 2 on my left lose interest and wander back to their rafter gang. The 3 jakes move closer to my dekes..down the hill, and into the gulley. I can maneuver my Mighty Mossberg into place. I set it up on my right knee, and turn on my Burris red dot. Red T or yellow T? I'll go with the yellow, I don't want to stare at the red.
The jakes make their way up the hill and to the right of my dekes. They stop and gobble.
Breathe slowly Marc. You can do this.
2 of them start towards my hens. closer...just a little more. They both enter my Burris sight. Hmm. I think to myself, "You 2 need to spread out a little"
They both stick their heads out and gobble at my dekes. One is just slightly in front of the other. Nice...
BOOM!!!
They both go down in a cloud of feathers. Holy shnickeys!! I got a 2fer!! I look over to my right and see the 3rd guy running down the hill. I look to my left. The whole gang scatter over the hill.
MMM MMM MMM...dinner tonight is going to be good!
I walk out to the 2 prizes I just claimed. Man these guys are huge but only 4" beards and their spikes are just nubs. Hmm. must have been a good year to eat like a turkey. I gather up my dekes and all my stuff, I leave the 2 tagged jakes there and walk back to the truck and unload it all, Next time, less is more. I walk back to the jakes and pick em up. These guys are heavy!
I walk back to my truck with a jake in each hand. I am a happy hunter today.
Mrs ripjack and I made dinner tonight. Stuffed turkey breast rolled and breaded with a delicious cheese sauce on the side, a loaf of home made bread, veggies and a bottle of rip's home made Merlot wine.
That's AWESOME brother!
I was reading each line like an excited little kid. Great story rip, congratulations on your turkey 2fer!
I was reading each line like an excited little kid. Great story rip, congratulations on your turkey 2fer!
