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Post by james14 on Mar 24, 2024 18:11:47 GMT -5
Reading about another hunter shooting one prone reminded me of a story.
A buddy and I were slipping an airboat trail, and we peaked around the corner and saw a flock headed our way. We had just enough time to lie down right in the middle of the grass. We had turkeys walking all around us. I had to quickly get my gun up when the gobbler turned his fan towards me. He was about 10 yards away.
One more:
On my first bird, I was about 20 and had just started turkey hunting. I was driving through the WMA, came around the corner into a new clearcut, and saw a huge flock of turkeys in the middle of the cut. All I knew at the time was there were about 10-15 red heads in the group. I hit the brakes, popped the truck out of gear, grabbed my gun, and sprinted across the cut. One of the jakes stopped at the edge of the woodline to look back and I shot him.
I've had a few other "fun" hunts, which for me are the times I get to stalk one that gobbles in the swamp bottom but refuses to come to a call. One such stalk lasted over 5 hours, and right up to the 1pm quitting time we used to have. Of course, they're all fun, but something about stalking one hits differently.
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Post by swampdog on Mar 24, 2024 19:41:27 GMT -5
This happened to a friend of mine. Big gobbler he’d been after was coming in to his calling. The long beard was coming into a thick area and he lost sight of him for a minute. The bird gobbled and stuck his head up to look around and my buddy dropped him. At the shot another big gobbler flew away from the same little thick area. He walked over and discovered a dead Jake with a beard just sticking out of the feathers. This guy is a tremendous turkey hunter and was a little embarrassed that he’d shot the wrong bird. He dutifully checked him out, when a couple of his buddies stopped to admire his bird. They took a pic or two and had a high time as friends do when dissing each other. It’s still good for a big laugh when we ask him about his biggest jake.
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Post by pinman on Mar 24, 2024 20:59:31 GMT -5
I think my favorite Turkey hunt story was when myself and both sons each had a Quota Permit on the same area, same time. We all went out scouting and I roosted birds from a distance and knew they were all gobblers. Didnt know how many though. One son went a good bit aways and found a couple of birds. The morning of the hunt I told both of them we should hunt the birds I found. One son agreed but the one that went a ways out wanted to do his own thing. I set my son on one side of the roost spot and I walked further in to get on the other side just as daylight was starting to make its presence known. I spotted birds in the backlit pines and walked past them 50-75 yards and put out a single Hen decoy. As the sun rose the gobbling started and soon enough 3 strutters made their way towards the fake. With gun up I sized them up and kept my finger off the trigger as to not double with them being so close to one another. A single peeled away a bit and the spark sent to powder had a gobbler flopping next to the decoy. I got up to my knees to rush the bird and suddenly froze. "What about my son?". I watched as a 4th gobbler rushed in and all 3 proceeded to beat up on my helpless, flailing quarry. My bird ceased movement and the other 3 moved off towards my sons position. I sent a quick text "got one, theyre headed your way. Sit tight". The trio gobbled down through the woods and around a pond head then silence......"BOOM!". I held my phone in eager anticipation.......finally buzzing, "I got one too". We drove around with a pair of birds in the cooler, waiting, and hoping that #2 twin would complete the "trifecta". But his birds gave him the slip. Wasnt meant to be. Still one of the most memorable hunts of my lifetime....
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Post by Crkr 23 on Mar 25, 2024 5:54:37 GMT -5
I got lucky and drew a good quota hunt in our area. I invited a friend that I had met in Al the previous fall. His goal was to complete a public land grand slam and I felt this was an excellent opportunity to help him.
Dave and I hunted hard for a day with not much luck so we are down to the wire on the last day that he could hunt.
Let me back up just a bit now. Before our quota hunt started, Dave had taken a bird on private land and we were talking about the hunt, you know just general stuff like his gun, what shot, what call,his decoy set-up and the then I noticed this turkey fan. I asked him about it and he explains how he used it and how deadly it could be but he wouldn't use it on public because of fear of being shot.
Now back to our hunt,we are down to his last day. We strike a bird ahead of us on this long planted fire line. Dave goes ahead 50 yds or so and I hide in this ditch with my head at about ground level. I can't tell exactly where he sat but knew it was at one of 3 or 4 trees ahead of me. He starts working the bird, the bird goes to our left and goes silent. We are waiting him out and this hen steps in the fire line and starts moving toward Dave. I lose sight of her and in about 10 minutes I see the this fan working. I can just see the tips of it and I'm thinking " Yeah he broke that fan out and boy does it look realistic, I see how you could get shot"
. Anyhow, no turkey, so we're headed home and are talking about the hunt, you know "The would of,could of" kind of stuff. I throw this out "I see why you don't want to use that fan on public, you dang well could get shot, it looks that real". He responded "What fan, I didn't even bring it".
Yeah, that was an "Oh Shit" moment. I went back the next day and found where where the gobbler had strutted to within 10 yds of where he had been sitting, straight behind him.
I have said you will always remember the one's that get away, whether it's fins, fur, or feathers a lot longer than the ones that you take. This one will be with be with me to the grave.
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Post by richm on Mar 25, 2024 6:30:07 GMT -5
Good stuff guys.
My best turkey story is about a jake we spotted down a grassy fire break, sucker ran in in 50 yard sprints, stopping to "strut" each time. I'm sprawled out in the knee high grass with shotgun pointed where he should come thru. Next i know buddy (about 20 yards behind me) says Rich - shoot him, he aint gonna hang around forever. Where is he I can't see him. To your right. I look to my right and there it is, about 15-20 yards on a raised berm staring a hole in me. Made a slow contortion swinging the barrel and as soon as the bead hit his neck, Boom! Dumbest turkey award.
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Glenn
Junior Member
Posts: 49
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Post by Glenn on Mar 25, 2024 8:15:40 GMT -5
Too many turkey hunting stories...
One that sticks out from the past is a gobbler I shot in Lochloosa WMA many moons ago. I was setup on the edge of the Right Arm Marsh, but at the time is was super dry and the birds were all over the place. Called this Tom in around noon and dropped him at 20 yards. I mean he just dropped with none of the flopping or anything.
I sat there for a minute enjoying what had just happened and then slowly got my calls together. I walked over to him and went to grab his legs and that damn bird jumped up, clucked, and hauled ass! I put two or more shot at him as he ran back into the pines.
I spent two hours looking for him, but he was gone like a ghost.
This would not be the last gobbler to pull this stunt.
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Post by meateater on Mar 25, 2024 10:02:07 GMT -5
my best was leaving jw corbett at 1pm after hunting the tomato field grade area with 109 other hunters, took off my boots and camo for the drive home and left with 3 or 4 other trucks behind me, mile or so down the road a big gobbler crosses 100 yds in front of me so i hit the brakes jump out wearing just shorts and a t shirt. grabbed my shotgun and jogged down to where he crossed walked out bout 10yds and he was 20yds to my left, shot him, walked out with him barefoot and in shorts, guys who were behind couldnt believe it. nice to be lucky sometimes.
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Post by Stumpy on Mar 25, 2024 10:12:00 GMT -5
The sigher and the worm digger!
Before they were old enough to hunt with guns I took my 2 boys turkey hunting with me.
This was their first time. I didn't have have birds located so it was pot luck. I took them to a river swamp that was close to the road. Hehe, i told them to watch for snakes and sasquatch.
Made our way in the dark to the edge of the oak cypress transition. Found a large oak dead fall that was perfect to sit with our back to it.
It gets to that magic time of day light when I heard a bird sound off. It's deep down in the swamp, I can barely hear it.
I pop the call in my mouth and let out a long and loud string of yelps. I can hear the bird gobble, so do it again.
So the bird goes quiet and the waiting game starts.
We'd been sitting there a hour or so and the whole time it sounded like this.
1 kid is sighing and the other one found a stick and is poking the dirt.
It went like this ...Sigh...poke poke poke...Sigh...poke poke poke... Be quiet stop moving.... Sigh .. poke poke poke
All of a sudden the bird gobbled about 70 yds out... the bird gobble on off for the next 3 hours just far enough away where you could not see it. Never did kill the bird, but boys were hooked on turkey hunting.
Today they are 35 and 30 yes old, I still call them the Sigher and the Worm Digger.
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Post by bullfrog on Mar 25, 2024 15:51:24 GMT -5
Is shooting one prone or having them close enough to touch with your gun considered unusual? That’s just a normal morning for me….
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Post by ogbohica on Mar 25, 2024 16:14:18 GMT -5
First Gobbler I ever killed took all of 5 mins. Parked the truck, made a few clucks out comes a gobbler runs down a sandy hill right to me..like bee line. Barely had time to get my gun up then smoked em. Said this turkey hunting thing is ez.. Didn't kill a bird for 3 yrs after that.
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Post by 4ward on Mar 25, 2024 17:06:24 GMT -5
I took a friend of mine one time. We located some birds early and were just slipping a little and sitting. Slip some more, sit.
It got close to the 1pm cutoff and we finally had a couple birds in sight. At about 12:45 I look over where my buddy was about 50 yards away, he wasn’t there.
Then I see that he is doing a full on combat charge down the firelane. Head down on the gun, hunched over at a trot.
One of the birds freaked out so bad it started running in a 20 yard circle and my bud unloads everything he has without stopping. Walks over and picks the bird up as I was just able to yell “wtf” are you doing!!?
His reply was” I’m hungry, my ass hurts and I want a cheeseburger “! Can we go now?
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Glenn
Junior Member
Posts: 49
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Post by Glenn on Mar 25, 2024 17:29:42 GMT -5
I took a friend of mine one time. We located some birds early and were just slipping a little and sitting. Slip some more, sit. It got close to the 1pm cutoff and we finally had a couple birds in sight. At about 12:45 I look over where my buddy was about 50 yards away, he wasn’t there. Then I see that he is doing a full on combat charge down the firelane. Head down on the gun, hunched over at a trot. One of the birds freaked out so bad it started running in a 20 yard circle and my bud unloads everything he has without stopping. Walks over and picks the bird up as I was just able to yell “wtf” are you doing!!? His reply was” I’m hungry, my ass hurts and I want a cheeseburger “! Can we go now? LOL!😂 |
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Post by 4ward on Mar 25, 2024 18:08:34 GMT -5
Patience is a virtue, unless….
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Post by nuthinfancy on Mar 25, 2024 18:36:50 GMT -5
Nothing too crazy. One of my buddies had never turkey hunted in his life, one weekend hunting a lease I convinced him to give it a try. This is after I had hunted multiple days in a row and nothing other than Jakes seen. Place had a rule against shooting Jakes. Anyway, he comes out and his first morning one of the members points him in the direction of a gobbler seen a previous weekend. About 15 minutes after shooting light he sends me a picture of a big beard in his hand. Type of guy who didn’t own a call, says he had never heard a turkey gobble in his life. I sit for the rest of the morning and finally ask him to pick me up. I wait for about 40 minutes before calling to see where he was. He picks up the phone and says he just smoked another giant he watched cross the buggy trail. He pulls up and sure enough 2 longbeards in the bed of the side by side. One 10” one 11” beard if I remember correctly. You can imagine he wouldn’t shut up about how easy the whole turkey hunting thing is until the next season. Better to be lucky than good.
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Post by Crkr 23 on Mar 26, 2024 4:29:36 GMT -5
This isn't a hunting story but it is a pretty good turkey story.
My buddy was explaining the nuances of turkey hunting to his wife. He was telling her how unnatural it was for a mature gobbler to go to a hen. The gobbler would get in a place where he could strut and display and the hen was supposed to come to him, completely not natural for the gobbler to go to her. The Jakes (young gobblers), he explained, had a completely different mind set. If they heard a hen they would immediately take to her, dumber than a rock.
The wife thought about this for a second and said " I think I have this. In other words if you (my buddy) were born a turkey, you would not have survived beyond being a Jake.
True story.
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