This is the thread to post your pics and stories for all birds entered in this year's contest
This is the thread to post your pics and stories for all birds entered in this year's contest
Hey Folks,
Awesome hunt to share....
We get out Sunday morning for the opener, had a few birds gobbling, made a few moves, Wes had a swing and a miss with the crossbow on a Jake, but nothing for our efforts for the morning....
So we head home for breakfast, have a rest/recharge, did a few chores around the house and a little before 3 Wes asks if we're going again? Never one to miss a chance to get outdoors with the boy, I'm in....So we head for a different plot of ground to scout it out...It's really rolling hills and unless you drive by and really watch, there's a chance you can miss seeing birds there quite easily....As it turns out, we're going by at just the right time, Wes didn't even see the bird, but I did....just out of the corner of my eye on the way by...
"There's a bird there Wes....not sure what, hen, Jake, Tom, I don't know, but what do you think?"
We move back up the road to get parked and move across the field and into the woods between the field we're in and the one the birds in....As we get closer to the field, I pull out our strutter decoy and set it in front of us until we get into position....The owner of the field has given us exclusive permission and the woods are so open I had no fear of using the decoy to cover our approach....We get within 10 yards of the field and I plant the strutter beside a tree and Wes and I get set up behind the tree....I give a couple of yelps with a box call, just to let the bird know they've got company. I'm looking into the field with my binos and there it turns out he is.....A nice beard, alone and looking for love....a couple more yelps and a gobble back, he's moving towards us....slowly, but moving....
I've got a little better vantage point than Wes, I suggest he put the crossbow down and we try the shotgun I'm carrying as I'm not sure this guy will come within range of the bow and given our earlier failure, I thought we need the confidence of the gun....
So Mr. bird gets closer and closer, slowly, gobbling now and then, I keep throwing the odd yelp out, just to let him know.....
As he moves across in front of us into an opening I'm asking Wes if he has the shot....He finally does, and he shoots....but the bird still stands there, I tell Wes, give him another, and Wes does....This time the birds down and flopping but I'm not sure if he's done.....
I sprint as fast as a 52 year old insurance guy can and tackle the bird which is semi running/flying in a confused daze...I think he was hit, but just not done yet.....I get his head under my boot and he's done.....
Wes comes out of the woods and I ask him "Why is Dad chasing down your bird?" He stands there in awe, he tells me that I was gone before he even comprehended what was happening and was wishing he had videoed the event.....Thankfully he didn't.....
Awesome hunt, awesome bird, what a great day in the field with my kid....Love that guy....
21 1/2 pounds, 10 inch beard, 1 1/4 spurs, just awesome,
TurkeyJohn
Thanks Bowjob, he's pretty pumped about that bird, hasn't stopped talking about him or the tackle Dad laid on him since.....
TJ
Lenny, just a question in regards to the tag pictures. Would you accept a tag picture if the name and outdoor card # is blacked out? I might be paranoid, but having that info easily accessible in the photos might present a potential security risk? I welcome your thoughts and recommendations!
Nice job Wes, way to go!!! And good job Dad on the tackle...
It was a slow first day, glad to see the first entry comes with a great story.
As far as tag pics go, feel free to cover your name with your thumb, I don’t want your personal info, just want legally taken birds entered in the contest, within a few days of when they are taken.
After an uneventful first few hours this morning I moved to a different farm.
Similar to last year, I had waited a number of days into opener before hunting this farm and was lucky enough to be successful soon after I got there.
It was like deja vu today, a Tom in the same field standing in the same spot as the one I got last year.
It's a field with a valley running around the back end. He was about 60yards off the back edge of the field. I took the identical trail around the ridge and came up through the same opening as I did last year.
I was able to get a little further over the ridge this time behind an old root ball, did a couple of purrs and a few soft yelps and he come straight over gobbling the whole way to fifteen yard.
Two birds a year apart almost to the day with virtually the same visual hunt. That was pretty awesome.
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Nice birds everyone, congrats
Awesome story and cool to have two hunts so similar almost a year apart exactly!!!
Congrats!!
TJ
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Thanks tg.
Thanks tj, l enjoyed reading your hunts with your son through your eyes. Congrats to you both.
First day out to a new property did not disappoint. I knew the property held birds as I would see them when coyote calling this winter. I got set up in a field edge around 3pm. Called for about 45 minutes but with a stiff wind was not travelling very far. I had never walked in the bush before so decided to go for a stroll and call a few times. The bush is thicker than snot, it had a skinny 4wheeler trail running through it and wall to wall new growth. I was looking to find some deer trails for fall (which I did) but not sure how to hunt as it's so thick with no mature trees. I turned around and went back to where I was sitting. As soon as I stepped out saw 2 toms working there way toward me, I hit the deck and did the army crawl with my hen decoy in front of me 15 or so meters to where I could get a shot. They both kept coming but at about 50 yds they started to angle across the field. I patterned my gun at 50 and knew that would be my only shot, he dropped instantly and his comrade flew away. Time was 430. I know I measured the spurs from the inside so that is incorrect and the carcass is already long gone.
26lbs
Beard 10 and 3/8
Spur on inside was 1.25
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Big bird Eddy, Congrats, afternoon hunts seem to be paying this year....
TJ
Nice bird Eddy22 nice rope of a beard
Nice bird guys and girls.... congrats
Thanks, the birds in my area almost always have a thicker beard. Haven't shot too many that were skinny.
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nice bird!
Nice birds fellas, great see some more entries. Now if only we could order up some nicer weather, this week sure was wet and windy in my area, but tomorrow morning looks ok. Good luck to everyone this weekend.
Our leaderboard so far:
Eddy22 45.75 TurkeyWes 45 Onelessarrow 39.5
Had a nice finish to my season with a double and some satisfaction taking a new hunter and getting him his first turkey. Story has its own thread.
24 pounds
1 1/4 spur
10.5 beard
Right on Dan, nice bird, and part of a double? Even better.....
TJ
Finally got a tom this morning.
Weighed 19.5 pounds.
Beard 9 1/2 inches.
Both spurs 1 1/2 inches.
Gun - Benelli 12 gauge.
Shell - Winchester Longbeard 3 1/2 inch - # 5 shot.
I've been trying for a bird out of a flock on the family farm since the 26th, but haven't had any in range until today.
On the morning of the 26th I set up on the east side of a hayfield along the river tree line, but only heard faint gobbling to the north (a big bean field), but didn't see any birds in the bean field, so I assumed they were on the river flats.
On the 28th I set up on the river flats just north of where I assumed they were roosting, heard a lot of gobbling in the tree line just south of me, and had 2 hens fly down right in front of me and feed for 20 minutes on the river flats, but the gobblers never came down. I assumed they were in the bean field.
The next day I set up on the east side of the bean field, and saw over 10 hens, 3 toms and a jake , but they never came within range.
On Saturday I set up further north along the tree line, and same scenario - they never came close enough for a shot - just 10 yds or so too far!
This morning I woke up early, so got to the farm real early, and snuck slowly north along the river tree line until I thought I was fairly close to the roost trees, then set my turkey lounger chair in the brush facing out into the field. About 15 minutes after I set up there was 1 very loud gobble from a tree just about 60 yards to my right, and it was still totally dark!
Then no more gobbles at all. After it got light a bird flew down into the field to my right about 60 yards away, followed be a second bird.
The first bird down was a gobbler, and went into a strut pose, then started walking to his left, across in front of me.
When he was as close as I thought he would get, I shot, and he went down and never moved.
I paced it off after - 45 yards - I really love those Winchester Longbeard shells!!
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Sorry, but cant bend tape measure around spur curve and hold camera at same time.
Also, photoshopped my personal info off of the tag.
Nice bird genec, those are some great spurs on that bird congrats
Limbhanger with those hooks, awesome bird Genec...and on a family farm, even better,
TurkeyJohn
Really nice birds Tom gobble and genec
with those long spurs I think we may have a new leader!
Foggy morning Tom. Double bearded big boy.
Lucan-biddulph twp. Middlesex county. Not my usual territory, made a 1 hour road trip this morning that was worth the while....
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Beretta urika, 3” federal flight control
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Beards 10.5” & 9”
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Spurs both 1&3/16”
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Shot at 6:15am this morning (may 4)
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25 lb even, heaviest bird I’ve ever shot.
Cheers, good luck to all
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Nice double beard foggy bird congrats
Awesome bird and a double beard too....Incredible.....
Congrats,
TJ
Updated Leaderboard (otherwise known as every bird entered so far.......what a weird turkey season!):
1 genec 49
2 tom gobble 46
3 TurkeyWes 45
4 outdoorliife 44.75
5 Eddy22 43.25
6 Onelessarrow 39.5
TurkeyWesleys monster bird,
Turned out it was bigger than we thought,
Couple hairs makes it 6 inch beard, 3/8 inch spurs... a brute, but part of our double...
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And my monster,
4 1/2 inch beard, 1/4 Spurs, other half of the double, thought I was taking the bigger, turns out Wes outdid the old man,
TurkeyJohn
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Almost forgot the shot with the method of harvest, one shotgun between the two of us..
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The student will always out do the teacher LOL great memories
Long story short last weekend i passed on two gimme shots on jakes and the third bird that came in was a tom. The birds cam in dead silent just after 10:30. The TOm chose a different route and came right at me. based on the terrain, i couldn't tell if he was a tom until about 12 yards infront of me. I shot without much thought as how hard is a 12 yard shot. Well turns out hard enough, cause i saw wings flap and run away, so i stood up and shot again, this time at 30 yds or so and watching him fly away. i was speechless as to what happened until i went back to my spot. Turns out i throttled a limb right infront of the bird and he got away.
fast forward to yesterday, i am walking into my spot just after 5 when coyotes light up and force an early shock gobble from a turkey. he was roosted in a very different spot than anticipated but i decided to keep walking and set up between him and a field where i knew he roosted the day before and likely frequented. The set up was ~600yds from the roost location. The bird continued to gobble from the roost when it was lighter out and once i heard the gobble change and knew he was on the ground i let out a bunch of calls which were answered immediately. called again, answered again. then i went silent. This Tom was a little over zealous i'd say and he covered 600yds in just over 10 minutes, gobbling the entire way. he was headed straight down my barrel at 70yds where he stopped and gobbled but oddly he decided to take a hard left (my right). i did some fancy acrobatics to make the shot work. Ended up shooting him at 6:05, a nice tidy morning.
i can see why he was all alone, solid beard but the spurs were left to be desired. must have had his butt whipped by the other toms in the area which likely had the hens and were much less interested in my calls.
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photos are a bit misleading, measurements are per below:
beard: 9"
spur: 0.5"
Got one down on Saturday. Hunted the same field 5 mornings over the course of the past week and finally was able to sneak in close enough to his roost. No blind and no decoys just the way I like it.
Beard = 9.5”
Longest Spur = 15/16”
Shotgun
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Great Bird Park and good story to go along with it..nice to have one play nice....
TJ
Great hunt, glad a plan works out eventually CD94, nice bird,
TJ
Great birds guys congrats.
Bird #2 down yesterday. Tagging out before the bugs come out is the perfect way to end the season for me haha. I spotted this tom on my property from the road with about a dozen other jakes and hens with him. It was relatively wide open pasture but luckily I had the tail fan from the first bird I got with me. I was able to belly crawl about 100 yards directly to them and ended up shooting him at 10 yards. I had heard of this "technique" before but couldn't believe it worked like it did, especially after I had 2 jakes come right up to me just after I started heading towards the group. The jakes putted some but never truly spooked and eventually just worked back to the rest of the group. It was a pretty wild experience and to top it off my brother tagged a jake the same morning to make our second double in the last 2 years.
Beard = 9.25"
Longest Spur = 15/16"
Shotgun (slung on my shoulder in the one picture)
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Got lazy this morning after getting up to hunt both Friday and Saturday morning, and decided not to hunt. "Slept in" till 5:30 - wow that is wonderful. Let the dog out, stepped out onto my back deck and what do I hear, far off in the distance? So much for not hunting, grabbed my crossbow and was out the door without even a coffee. Absolutely gorgeous morning in the woods, grouse drumming, warblers singing, and hens yelping and a tom gobbling. Moved in on him as he answered, then hens would work towards him, he'd go quiet for awhile, then announce he was available again, and I would let him know where I was. I relocated 3 times, and he was slowly working towards me, with some hens in tow.
I was sitting with my back against a large maple, in a swampy area, wishing I had put the Termacell in my vest, and I can see him slowly moving through the scrub about 60 yards away. He was hung up, gobbling and strutting back and forth. I could hear hens coming in from behind me, so moving at all was out of the question. Then the hens got closer and louder, and as they came into view, I realized they were three deer. So now I have a hung up gobbler, at least 2 or 3 hens yelping like crazy, and three deer within a 60 yard circle - lots of eyes to bust me. What to do - wait for the deer to leave, and the hens to go to him? I went quiet and eventually he came my way, a bit at a time, finally stopping at 27 yards, and fanning back and forth. As he turned away from me, I raised my bow and attempted the Texas heart shot. On impact, a few feathers trimmed, and he deflated out of strut, and just started walking away - what just happened? I quickly reloaded, and made another rushed shot as he slinked away, down low. Thought I hit him, but no wing flapping, no kicking or scratching, aghhh!
To add to my misery, the mosquitos seemed to sense my weakness, and picked up their attack several notches. I still had 2 hens watching me and trying to figure out what was happening. Did I misjudge the distance, or maybe hit a twig? Entirely possible looking at both shooting lanes again. I decide to give him some time to bed down, and hopefully bleed out, so I sit, swatting bugs for 20 mins, then up and begin the search. Found a few feathers, neither arrow, and no tom. No blood. No good. Did another series of increasingly wider circles, nothing. At this point, I am frustrated, angry, and full of bowhunters remorse. Should I have waited? Would he have come closer? Caffeine withdrawl is starting to pound in my skull, so I reluctantly head out, go to the house and grab a coffee, and my Brittany. Now the last thing any upland hunter wants his bird dog to do is hunt and point turkeys! But I have to recover this bird, and so I put her beeper collar on, and she is bouncing, as we don't run her in the woods during nesting season, so she has been watching me go without her for a few weeks now. I put her on the scent, and within 30 seconds she finds my first arrow, and it is anything but clean - things are looking up. She takes off again, and soon I hear the intermittent beep of her on point. Sure enough, she was pointing the tom, who tried to run away as I approached. She launched after this tom, pinned him to the ground, and I quickly got my boot on his neck. What a relief to find this tom, not a monster, but a roller coaster of a hunt and recovery. Now I just hope my bird dog doesn't now think she is a turkey dog!
1-1/8" spurs, 9.25" beard
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Starting to get a few more birds in, way to go everyone.
Here is the updated leaderboard:
Top 10:
1 genec 49
2 tom gobble 46
lenny 46
3 TurkeyWes 45
4 outdoorliife 44.75
5 Eddy22 43.25
6 Onelessarrow 39.5
7 CD94 37.75
8 CD94 37.25
9 parkcity 28
10 TurkeyWes 19.5
Two Bird Totals:
1 CD94 75
2 TurkeyWes 64.5
That's a great story. I'm glad you took the initiative to find that bird. Kudos!!
Always a bad feeling when they can't be found... Nice work bringing the dog in to help track
Congrats on the crossbow bird.
Ive been there done that with the same shot you tried to take. The only difference is I didn't find mine. My Tom fell down then got up like nothing happened and flew into space with the arrow still in him. I looked all day for that bird. Congrats and good dog work.
Finally got my second bird this morning.
Bird weighed 18 pounds, 11 ounces
Beard was 9 15/16 inches (couple of hairs longer, but didn’t count them)
Spurs: 1 3/16 inches and 15/16 inch. (He obviously favoured the right leg for fighting, as it was worn down a lot more)
Gun - 12 gauge Benelli Nova pump
Winchester 3 ˝ inch Longbeard #5 shot
One popular bird roost on the family farm is the trees on the south side of the main bush, and I have taken several gobblers there over the years. I have a brush blind about 20 yards inside of the south edge of the bush, and another brush blind against a tree in the grain field about 90 yards south of the bush edge.
On Tuesday morning, I was hunting the river trees again south of where I shot my first bird, but just saw 1 hen. On my way out to the road after, I looked across the road and saw several birds in the grain field south of the main bush, so this morning I set up in my grain field blind south of the bush. I got there well before first light because, if they are roosting in the trees right on the south edge of the bush, they can see you walk to that blind if it is light.
After it got light I heard 3 gobblers calling in various points in the bush, and one right in the south edge trees somewhere. Around 5:20 a jake flew down and landed in the grain field about 40 yards to my front left, then 3 hens flew down a minute later. About 6 minutes after that the gobbler came strutting out of the bush into the field and slowly started strutting down the field to my left. I had to wait about 15 minutes or so until I thought he was in range, but I bagged him finally about 6:00 am - checked afterward with the laser rangefinder, and it was a 35 yard shot.Attachment 41846Attachment 41847Attachment 41848Attachment 41849Attachment 41850
Awesome bird number 2 Genec, way to scout it out...and all done before the bugs get terrible, even better.....
TJ
Nice job genec! A commanding lead in the 2-bird category, and still on top of the single bird score. Eleven days left for the rest of us to try to close that gap. Also, isn't it nice to be done at 6am! I always love it when I can be back to the house, or the office, and somebody notices you're there and says "I thought you were going hunting this morning?" Yup....
Here is the updated Leaderboard:
Top 10:
1 genec 49
2 tom gobble 46
lenny 46
3 TurkeyWes 45
4 outdoorliife 44.75
5 genec 43.625
6 Eddy22 43.25
7 Onelessarrow 39.5
8 CD94 37.75
9 CD94 37.25
10 parkcity 28
Two Bird Totals:
1 genec 92.625
2 CD94 75
3 TurkeyWes 64.5
After setting up in the dark this morning l was anticipating that the 2 gobblers I put to roost last night would be close by.
They were and flew into the field the moment I imitated the fly down flapping of the wings.
But just like last evening they wouldn't break the 60 yard marker and eventually left with a hen.
So I packed up and went to another farm across the road.
There was a small flock with a Tom coming across the field on my left on the way in, I parked as soon as I got out of their sight and went to the spot I anticipated they would cross.
I set up the Strutter and sat off a woodpile beside the driveway.
I just got situated and heard a gobble further up the driveway between me and the house.
I gave a soft hen yelp and 2 Tom's gobbled behind me across the driveway looking right at me in a small field on the other side of the valley. The same valley l mentioned before on my last bird.
I figured my chances were best to go after those two Tom's, provided I hadn't spooked them to bad trying to slip out of their view. I grabbed my tail fan and headed through the ravine to the edge of the field. Right when I got to the top and was trying to look, I had the luck of a crow squawk firing off both birds, that let me know they had worked their way up the field.
I grabbed my box call and gave a series of yelps and got immediate responses.
After a couple of minutes I spotted them heading back towards me, they looked like twins.
They worked their way into about 40 yards and strutted back and forth for about 10 minutes not looking like they were willing to come any closer. I held up the tail fan to the top of the grass and that's all it took to snap them out of their trance and head right in to 10 to 15 yards. I lifted the gun with one hand, dropped the tail and that prompted their heads to pop up.
I hit the one on the right he went completely stiff and fell on his back, the other one went over, kicked him and then ran towards me to the edge, took a big u-turn and ran out of the field, followed by two hens when I walked up to the top. Beautiful morning to be out.
Shotgun
1"spur
10 1/8" beard
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Great story, congrats on the bird
Got out yesterday with a buddy and his young son - always great to see the little guys up and out at 4:30am!
We snuck into the hardwoods, and listened to the day awake. Two different gobbles were sounding off, both close, one on either side of a small marsh. I was relieved to have gobbles, as they don't always roost in this pocket, so I was glad the young fella got to experience that part of the morning magic. We had no decoys, and were sitting together with two Thermacells making it pleasant. I was a bit worried about the noise and motion my friends son was adding to our morning, but it turned out to not matter, as both toms flew down and worked away, despite my excellent calling - ha!.
We relocated, called, and had some return gobbles, even further away, relocated again, same deal, nothing close. We were standing there talking before heading out, when out of nowhere this suicidal tom gobbled almost right on top of us. He had snuck in silently, and we melted to the forest floor, finding the closest tree. The little guy was so tired, he just layed down on his back, and tried not to swat the bugs (thermacells were both off and packed....). Took a little coaxing, but he eventually gave up strutting and came in to find the hen that had been calling to him, and the Longbeard did the job again.
Awesome morning, and hopefully a lifetime memory for the aspiring hunter
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3/4" spurs, 9" beard
Updated Leaderboard
Top 10:
1 genec 49
2 tom gobble 46
lenny 46
3 TurkeyWes 45
4 outdoorlife 44.75
5 genec 43.625
6 Eddy22 43.25
7 Onelessarrow 40.25
8 Onelessarrow 39.5
9 CD94 37.75
10 CD94 37.25
Two Bird Totals:
1 genec 92.625
2 onelessarrow 79.75
3 Lenny 79
4 CD94 75
5 TurkeyWes 64.5
6 tom gobble 46
Can anyone catch genec this year???? Seven hunting days remain this spring.......
Nice to see that you got a second bird Lenny!
Congratulations.
Gotta love those Longbeard loads...they’re awesome!
i actually tagged out on the 15th but have been busy so uploading now.
particularly proud of this one. i was after this guy all season and he was tricky. i hunted him probably close to 10 times and each time was basically the same. gobble ok to good on the roost then shut up on the ground. if he did gobble it was at live hens only, believe me, i called aggressive, passive, owl, coyote, crow but unless it was a live hen, he wasn't answering. very frustrating. so on the 15th i go to my usual listening spot as he can be roosted literally anywhere in this forest but he chose the top of a ridge i was familiar with which dropped off into a lower elevation bowl. he gobbled good on the roost and once i heard his gobble noticably change, i made my move. they flew down into the bowl, so i hastily moved to the top of the ridge and started to work down the spine. as i was standing and listening, i heard rustling in the leaves and knew turkeys were close. then i hear the drumming so i sit down and shut up and adjust my set up around the tree to the spot i hear it. the drumming was almost constant, every 10s but as it went on i started to second guess where he was so i shifted back around the tree to my original spot. as the drumming got closer it sounded like it was coming from everywhere so i kept moving my set up back and forth until i finally spotted the fan coming to my left. i swung over and a few seconds later when he cleared the trees i dropped him at 25yds. not one single call made that day. this hunt was just knowing the terrain and getting in his bubble. i have no doubt my constant shifting in the leaves made him come have a peak as i sounded like a turkey scratching. not the biggest Tom but he was a slickster. actually felt a little sad after that our cat and mouse game was over.
beard 8.5"
Spur 11/16"
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Your hard work paid off. The scratching in the leaves I believe too is the reason he came to look. Congrats to a bitter sweet ending
Well I got out this morning, there was some gobbling way off to the east. I was sitting on edge of field, saw nothing for over an hour decided I should stand up and have a look down the field, nothing to the west, but there were birds in the field to the east about 200yd. I watched for awhile they didn't seem to be moving so I got back in the bush and moved a 100yd towards them. Came back out to edge and they were about 200yd away still so they were moving east. I moved another 60yd while staying behind a big tree and a bush that was out a bit. I got the binoculars out to check them out. 3 normal hens, 2 toms and a big bearded hen. I watched for awhile and then the bearded hen and one of the Tom's started to come my way, so I sat down with the tree and bush between us. They kept coming and the others stayed behind they were about 20yds out in the field. They kept coming and I could see both birds had big full beards even the hen. So when they went behind tree, gun came up and safety off. I had no cover in front of me but that was ok as I was going to take the 1st bird to clear the bush. NOTE. always make sure of beard. I could see their legs coming got ready, but they were really close. 1st bird clears bush no beard, 2nd bird clears bush no beard and are both about 10ft away. They see me and start putting and run back the way they came, but stop where I can see their legs. They come back, this time one hen has a stubby beard. So I put gun on it and think do I want to shoot the hen. I have no problem shooting a hen with a beard, but do I want too. While I'm pointing the gun on her I decide to give it a pass, then another bird comes out dragging a beard, 10ft away. I lower to aim at this one, pull the trigger and miss. Another one comes running past about 25yds out heading west, I let him have it and he drops[IMG]https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...797cbaf53b.jpg
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1.25" spurs
11.5" beard
21lb
Now I will try to add pictures. Having issues I will ask for help to post pictures
Great bird sabmgb! Moves you into second place, with only 2 days to go.....
Updated Leaderboard
Top 10:
1 genec 49
2 sabmgb 48
3 tom gobble 46
lenny 46
4 TurkeyWes 45
5 outdoorlife 44.75
6 genec 43.625
7 Eddy22 43.25
8 Onelessarrow 40.25
9 Onelessarrow 39.5
10 CD94 37.75
Two Bird Totals:
1 genec 92.625
2 onelessarrow 79.75
3 Lenny 79
4 CD94 75
5 TurkeyWes 64.5
6 tom gobble 46
Not a big bird but tagged out, Jake season for Dad, got TurkeyWes on a big boy on the opener then the huntable big boys went Houdini, loads of Jake’s, well, minus 2 now...tough season for us, having to work our properties with other hunters added to the issues, and only going on weekend as the boy couldn’t miss any online school, bugs got bad, missing it already though, glad we have a fall season here...great birds online here, congrats to everyone!!
TurkeyJohn out!!!
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Nice bird John congrats
Congrates to everyone on their birds and awesome tales on how they got them.
Congrates Genec and sabmgb on your wallhangers, way to go.
Thanks Lenny for running the contest again.
Was awesome to see some monster birds up here and thanks again Lenny for running this....gives us all a little extra incentive to hit the woods that early every morning, like we needed more anyway.....Congrats to everyone who harvested a bird regardless of the size, some great stories and memories made....thanks for sharing,
TurkeyJohn
Thank you Lenny for running the contest and congratulations to all that entered and to the winner.
I was hit pretty hard with Covid middle of April and spent 4 days in hospital the first week of may which ended my turkey season managed to get out last week end for my first and only hunt.
Heard one Gobbler late in the morning but nothing showed and I now wait for the fall hunt.
Articcat, thats really a tough way to lose out on the season.
Hope your fully recovered from it.
Like you say, there is always the fall season now to look forward to - and, with archery, you have a whole month to double hunt deer and turkey both!! I haven’t had a lot of luck with fall turkey, but its nice to have that 2nd option for a month while hunting deer.
As I sat down to update and finalize my spreadsheet and prizes last night, this guy walked out into the field behind my house......
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Where was he all season long, dragging around that paintbrush????
I found this year to be mixed back of roller coaster weather, and fewer birds than "normal" in my area.
I got both my birds in the woods, with no decoys, run and gun. Took a new adult hunter out, as well as a 12 yr old who got to experience the full morning magic.
Congratulations to our big winner genec - finishing first in both the single and double bird categories!
2019 - 42 Contestants, 16 entered at least 1 bird, 5 entered 2 birds
2020 - 45 Contestants, 20 entered at least 1 bird, 7 entered 2 birds
2021 - 39 Contestants, 11 entered at least 1 bird, 8 entered 2 birds
Here is the final tally:
Top 10:
1 genec 49
2 sagmgb 48
3 tom gobble 46
3 lenny 46
4 TurkeyWes 45
5 outdoorlife 44.75
6 genec 43.625
7 Eddy22 43.25
8 Onelessarrow 40.25
9 Onelessarrow 39.5
10 CD94 37.75
Two Bird Totals:
1 genec 92.625
2 onelessarrow 79.75
3 Lenny 79
4 CD94 75
5 TurkeyWes 64.5
6 parkcity 58.75
7 tom gobble 46
8 TurkeyJohn 33
Prizes are going to genec, sagmgb & Turkey Wes - please PM me your shipping address
Already looking forward to next spring! Have a great summer.
congrats to the winners!
enjoyed all the stories.
thanks again lenny for setting this all up! :)
now that is a long beard on that bird. Be even longer for you next year Lenny. I saw lots of birds, but like you no calling or decoys at least that is what I noticed. all but 2 bearded birds were in the field. I saw hens in both bush and field.
Again, thank you for running this.
Thanks very much Lenny for running this again.
Congrates to all the winners.