We had an awesome opening weekend! My son came home from Montana for a few weeks to turkey hunt and fish…we went Friday morning and found three separate groups of birds to hunt.
We set up on one group Saturday morning but probably tried to get too tight and busted some hens off the roost. All the birds flew down to the south end of the field and we knew another member was hunting somewhere down that way…we weren't sure he was on that field but we were actually watching 2 Tom's through binoculars and trying to figure out a strategy when the other member shot! He had no idea we were on the north end of the field but he is an awesome guy and we were happy for him to shoot that bird!
Daniel and I backed out and just started walking and listening the rest of the morning….at about noon we heard a bird gobble, we slipped into the woods and called really softly and he came in strutting, spitting and drumming…I think my son got a little excited and just yanked the shot…it was a clean miss…
We went to a different spot Sunday morning and my son said "I had first shot yesterday and blew my chance so you get first shot today!" We had a few groups gobbling on the roost and we chose the right ones to go to because that pair kept gobbling once they hit the ground. We were able to put a sneak on them and got to within about 100 yards…actually saw them and had to stand perfectly still until they walked out of sight…we sat down, called once softly and they came in on a string. I killed the bird at 35-40 yards. (9.5" beard, almost 22 lbs).
We went again yesterday and they gobbled on the roost but shut up quickly. We found 3 toms strutting in a field with about 8 hens. It's a big field so we were able to sneak to the edge and set up. We were in good position with them at about 150 yards strutting and breeding hens. We called and one Tom came to about 80 yards but since we didn't have a decoy…he just stood and strutted at 80 yards for about 5 minutes….since he never saw a hen, he decided to go back to the real thing…we watched them strut and breed hens for about an hour until they finally left the field…we both had to get to work so we'll try them again later this week!
We set up on one group Saturday morning but probably tried to get too tight and busted some hens off the roost. All the birds flew down to the south end of the field and we knew another member was hunting somewhere down that way…we weren't sure he was on that field but we were actually watching 2 Tom's through binoculars and trying to figure out a strategy when the other member shot! He had no idea we were on the north end of the field but he is an awesome guy and we were happy for him to shoot that bird!
Daniel and I backed out and just started walking and listening the rest of the morning….at about noon we heard a bird gobble, we slipped into the woods and called really softly and he came in strutting, spitting and drumming…I think my son got a little excited and just yanked the shot…it was a clean miss…
We went to a different spot Sunday morning and my son said "I had first shot yesterday and blew my chance so you get first shot today!" We had a few groups gobbling on the roost and we chose the right ones to go to because that pair kept gobbling once they hit the ground. We were able to put a sneak on them and got to within about 100 yards…actually saw them and had to stand perfectly still until they walked out of sight…we sat down, called once softly and they came in on a string. I killed the bird at 35-40 yards. (9.5" beard, almost 22 lbs).
We went again yesterday and they gobbled on the roost but shut up quickly. We found 3 toms strutting in a field with about 8 hens. It's a big field so we were able to sneak to the edge and set up. We were in good position with them at about 150 yards strutting and breeding hens. We called and one Tom came to about 80 yards but since we didn't have a decoy…he just stood and strutted at 80 yards for about 5 minutes….since he never saw a hen, he decided to go back to the real thing…we watched them strut and breed hens for about an hour until they finally left the field…we both had to get to work so we'll try them again later this week!
