Spring Turkey

[Rich52]

Anyone going out this year?

[Banshee7]

I've been trying to find the time to go on the weekends.  We have several birds on our farm, and I'm anxious to get out there.

[Rich52]

I've been trying to find the time to go on the weekends.  We have several birds on our farm, and I'm anxious to get out there.

Boy I wish I had a farm. Good luck this season. How's the deer hunting down there?

[mtnman]

Yea, I usually make it out.  My season is next week, actually.

The last few years have been more about helping my son get one.  I take my Brown Bess out with me, but would only shoot if there were two birds, and I was able to get a shot off AFTER my son does.

[morfiend]

 Mtnman,

  Can you use a bird of prey to take a turkey? I mean legally,of course I know it would take something larger than your falcon.

  Just curious,would be cool to set a golden on them!



   

[Banshee7]

Boy I wish I had a farm. Good luck this season. How's the deer hunting down there?

We lease a 900 acre farm every year, so it's technically not ours.  It's been home to a turkey herd of around 100 hens and 20 long beards until the floods of last year and year before.  Between that and the fact that three of us killed our limit of 4 every year...the turkey herd has dwindled down a bit, but it's slowly making a come back.

Deer hunting is phenomenal.  I didn't get to hunt much last season due to work, but there were 4 very nice bucks killed (2 from the same stand).  I suspect the next few years to be better.  Like the turkeys, the flood really affected the crops on the farm, leaving the deer with less food and nutrients.  This year is the first year to have corn on the farm, so I'm pretty excited.  The highlight of my season last year was killing a doe at around 350 yards.  That's the longest kill I've gotten, since most of our shots are no farther than 100 yards (which is why I usually only hunt with a .243).  Grilled some pretty awesome backstraps from that one 

[mtnman]

Mtnman,

  Can you use a bird of prey to take a turkey? I mean legally,of course I know it would take something larger than your falcon.

  Just curious,would be cool to set a golden on them!

  

Legally, we do not have a season for turkeys with our falconry birds, so we cannot pursue them.  

I've had a redtail grab a hen turkey though, while out hunting squirrels, and that was interesting...  I had to run in to assist her with it before she got hurt, but she let go of it right before I got there.  It was probably for the best.

We do have a federal rule in place for instances like that, where our bird catches something we cannot legally go after...  I cannot "send" her after anything like that, and cannot legally take possession of it if she kills it.  I can let her feed on it at the point of kill though.

A golden can kill a turkey fairly easily.  A friend of mine was involved with some golden eagle trapping for a scientific study last winter here in Wisconsin.  They used wild-turkey-colored domestic turkeys as bait...  Wild goldens hunt pronghorn in Wyoming in the winter.  They also predate on calves and lambs out there...

The falcon I'm flying this year would probably go for a turkey, actually.  She goes after canada geese and sandhill cranes as it is.  She hasn't killed any yet, and I don't pursue those birds as quarry, but she has a serious attitude.  On one of my last training seesions with her this spring she went after a very large canada goose that was in a nearby field, feeding on the ground.  She strafed it, and clocked it in the head, leaving it a bit addled and confused.  Had she landed on it I think she could have killed it.  However, she just continued to strafe it, and didn't make any more contact with it.  It eventually flew off when she began to ease off.  If she did that with a turkey...

When she goes after sandhills, she chases after them, gets above them, and then stoops in and tags them repeatedly.  She drives them lower and lower, and eventually into the ground, but doesn't attempt to kill them (which is a good thing).  I think she just doesn't like them in the area.  I've quit flying her when sandhills are around as a result...

[Frodo]

Anyone going out this year?
(Image removed from quote.)

Our gun season opens Monday.     


With the crazy weather this year, I think it will be tougher hunting.

[TheflyingElk]

Opens sunday here in the great Northwest we shall see

[shotgunneeley]

Ours opens up bright 'n early saturday morning. We get three weekends/two full weeks of season. No Jakes, No hens, 2 mature gobblers maximum. Youth hunt was last weekend, but we just went out listening. I'll post pics here if we score.

[shotgunneeley]

Today was opening day of season in south Arkansas, I got this 4 year old Eastern at about 9:10 am CST. My dad and I stayed together. We set up on two gobblers who were together and fired up early, but they got henned up on a ridge line and didn't want to come to us. So at about 7:30 we eased up to the ridge line and got within 40 yards with them on the other side of the crest. A hen came over to us and got within 5 yards before spying us; wasn't anything we could have done since we were in a pine plantation with 0 cover. She didn't spook bad, but it was enough for her to lead the two gobblers away.

We pulled out and headed NW to find another turkey. We called and one answered about 500 yards away, but the terrain was to open to go to him directly. So we walked the road and made a big circle to get a better set up. We called again when we were close to his last known position and the silly thing answered back exactly where we had been standing when we first heard him. We just sat down in a pine plantation with a clump for cover. Only sat there for about 10 minutes before he appears directly in front of us at about 40 yards. I'm using a Browning Gold automatic 10 gauge so he is well within range, but the same clump that is giving us cover is also blocking my shot even though I can see him clearly through it. He came closer and closer, strutting and gobbling at only 20 yards away looking for us. Finally he stepped around the clump and I leveled him at 15 steps.

10 3/4" beard, 1 1/8" spurs. lean and fit, around 16 pounds.

[TheflyingElk]

     Well a Great opening day here is Southern Oregon, Made it to my stand about 0600 and listened to allot  of Roosted bird gobbling, I had 2 decoy's out for any interested parties to gaze upon should they feel like wandering over to my part of the woods, Fly down time was about 0620, just started to have very good daylight by then, so I started to give a few soft yelps on the the old box call,  suddenly a Coyote comes trotting into view, He see's the decoys and start's to make a run at them at the last moment he realized his mistake and you would have thought he turned himself inside out trying to beat feet out of there when he got with in 2 feet of that hen decoy and come to the realization that hey that's plastic and I am about to get blasted! I let him run because I didn't want to let fly with the old  12 gauge with that many turkeys around, It was still very early.

     So around 0710 I start getting gobbles back to my calls and they start getting closer, could be 2 or 3 birds from  what it sounded like, then I see two jakes making their way down the into view but a larger bird is still just inside the tree line. The jakes headed straight for the Decoy's and they start carrying on like teenagers do so, I let them be even tho they were well in side my kill zone. I took some soft calling and finnally the big boy had lost his patients with the teenagers and he headed down the hill stopping 32 yards from me, I let him go into full strut and turn away.......pulled up the ole mossberg and clucked real loud, he came out of his strut and BOOOM!! 10 inch beard and 1 plus inch spurs, one of my best yet

Love it when a plan comes together, Have great rest of the season guys

[Rich52]

Nice birds guys. Im leaving tomorrow.

Its unbelievable with all the hunting Ive done my entire life, out west many times, upland galore thru 4 dogs, waterfowl, Africa twice, Canada several times, bowhunting since a kid, that Ive NEVER hunted wild turkey. So wish me luck.

[Spikes]

Don't open here till May 1st.

[mbailey]

Nice birds guys. Im leaving tomorrow.

Its unbelievable with all the hunting Ive done my entire life, out west many times, upland galore thru 4 dogs, waterfowl, Africa twice, Canada several times, bowhunting since a kid, that Ive NEVER hunted wild turkey. So wish me luck.

Good luck sir.....fingers crossed for ya