2024 BIG GOBBLER FUN CONTEST - Leaderboard

[Lenny]

After 2 days of hunting, we have 4 entries, and based on this morning's first time out, I'm winning my own contest (is that allowed????) - luckily, Thegeet was there to witness my first day luck, with a set-up near the roost, and some sweet calling that sounded better to this recently deceased tom than the 2 local hens that were trying to tell him it was too good to be true.....done except for the flapping at 6:17am

10.5" beard and 1-1/8" spurs, nice bird

[IMG][/IMG]

2024 Leaderboard

1 Lenny 43.5
2 TurkeyJohn 38.5
3 Coonhound 34.5
4 Wmay 30

[Markster]

Geez lenny, thats a nice bird!
Good job.

[Markster]

Sorry i missed your post Wmay.
Good job! You outsmarted that gobbler. I find the evening is a tougher hunt because the birds just want to roost and aren’t enticed by the decoy or calling as much. At least in my area thats the way it is.

[tom gobble]

Nice bird Lenny and great pic. Congrats

[Jerryklimczuk]

9" Beard
7/8" spur
Shotgun

Not a big bird but first one of the year.

Story-

Contemplated whether or not to go out Saturday morning because of the rain and wind forecasted. I read an article by Steve Rinella on his Meat Eater website about hunting turkeys in wind and rain and it convinced me to get out Saturday morning. The gist of the article says you have very limited time to hunt turkeys in the spring and limiting yourself to days when there is nice weather is not smart. So I decided to head out and sit in the blind and wait for a small break in the rain around 11 am to walk back out.

Decoys setup and in the blind by 4:45 am. Tims kept me warm and blueberry muffin kept my stomach from giving away my position. Gobbling started around 5:50 am, 3 different directions so I had confidence in at least spotting a gobbler. A couple of soft clucks and yelps yielded very little response. Heard the fly down from one direction but that group sauntered off into the cedars away from my position. Then it was mostly silence. I started panic calling to muster a response but it was dead silent. So I figure If they aren't vocal then I won't be and see if they stroll by the field I have set up on and patterned on my game cams. Luckily the Cabelas blind kept the rain off me so it was pretty comfortable. Bored until 9 am where 2 black dots moving in the bushline across the field caught my attention. Some soft calling and up the hill these 2 jakes come towards my setup. Not a peep out of any of them. The one Jake walked right into my decoy setup and the other guy hung back around 50 yards out. I decided I wasn't going to shoot these guys because they were just small guys. So I decided to enjoy the show. The 2 jakes partnered back up and started walking away when they quickly did a 180 and started walking back. I look to my left and 2 hens had walked into range heading towards my decoys as the 2 Jake's were. Then I look to my right and 2 more hens start walking into my setup. So now I have 6 turkey's mingling in and amongst my decoys and I am enjoying the show. Not a peep out of any of them. I pick the phone up to try and get some video when all of a sudden there is a thunder of wings flapping behind me and crashing through the branches to my left. In an instant this Tom comes crashing through the tree line mid flight, flies over my strutting Tom decoy and he kicks it flying over it and lands 5 ft in front of him. Quickly pulls a 180, goes into full strut and drops his wings. By some miracle I had my shotgun in my hands and shouldered by the time he was strutting towards my Tom decoy. No time to decide whether or not to take him I shot and down he went. Tom down and my strutting decoy has a couple holes in it now.

The surprising part, the 2 Jake's and 4 hens didn't run off. They hung around for a good 5-10 mins before slowly sauntering off in different directions. I have never witnessed that before, after the shotgun blast they normally run away but they didn't.

Filled out my tag, cleaned up and headed home. Weighed in at 21 lbs (using my fish scale). Took all my pics and processed the meat. I have never had a beard on a Tom so scraggly , it was a chore to try and hold it straight and get the length in a pic. 9" down to the strand. Pretty pathetic beard if you ask me. Also the spur is just under 1", the camera wasn't cooperative.

Still got my second tag I am saving for the monster Tom I have been seeing for the last 2 years. He is huge, I hope to see him in front of the end of my barrel this season. See pics for a game cam pic of him, doesn't do him justice as he is huge in person. Also, had a black bear stroll past my blind just a couple of hours before I headed in.

Good luck to everyone.

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[ihunt]

Congrats on a great hunt! You just don't know when or how its going to happen.

[ihunt]

yes that is a great bird! good job Lenny!

[Turkeyjohn]

Great story and bird Jerry… spooky bears going by just before you did, bears are a hard nay, nay…

TurkeyJohn


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[Turkeyjohn]

Great bird Lenny, showing us how it’s done!! Congratulations…

TJ


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[Markster]

Congratulations Jerry, thats a nice bird.