I had a pretty good weekend. Friday I did alittle scouting for turkeys and at daybreak 4 jakes were putting on a show 20 yards from me. They gobbled quite a bit and one strutted a couple of times. I also heard a couple of other birds in the distance.

I found the birds on the edges of a huge clearing but, there was a slight problem. This was the only place on our club where we had fresh cut-overs and there were lots of other guys scouting there as well. I didn't find birds anywhere else on our club but in that one set of clearings. It was a quite large clearing (around 200+ acres), but not near large enough for all of the people who were about to pound it on opening day!

As I expected, at day break opening morning there were several hunters around those clearings and I knew I was going to have to be aggressive and go to a hot bird. At day break two guys came right by me and set-up in the clearing. I waited around until I heard a few birds start gobbling on the other side of the clearing and I set out at a quick pace to try and close the distance before the other hunters got on them. By 7:30 about two shots had rang out in the distance and a couple of the vocal birds had been harvested but, there was still one sounding off every once in a while in the direction I was going. After about a mile I stopped for a bit to get a bearing on the bird. He finally gobbled so I set out again to close the distance. I placed my decoy near a creek and started sending a few lonely love notes throughout the beautiful hardwood creek bottom near the edge of the large clearing. The Tom sounded off and I could tell he was probably within a few hundred yards but he was on top of a hill out of the bottom. As any experienced turkey hunter knows, Ole' weary Toms don't like to descend in elevation so I eased my way to the top of the ridge above the creek bottom. I could hear other hunters calling and trying to lure this bird in and I knew I was going to have to talk real sweet to get this ole' boy headed in my direction. I sat down at the base of a Beach tree along the ridge line so I could get a view of the bottom as well as the hilltop. I grabbed the Lil' Deuce Slate and Hickory striker and let out a series of cuts and yelps. He sounded off but, it sounded like he was headed toward some of the other hunters so I hit the Lil' Duece again and let out a series of chirps and sweet purrs to follow. There was silence for a bit and all of the sudden he shook the woods with a gobble and I knew hew was headed my direction. Moments later I heard the unmistakable sound of footsteps in the leaves as he neared my location. My heart was pounding as I readied my Winchester. There was a good bit of brush between us blocking my view but, I finally saw that unmistakable bright red head moving through the brush. He hit a small opening, I drew a fine bead, and let the Ole' Winnie roar.

Sometimes an aggressive hunting style and alittle luck can go a long way in high pressure hunting locations.

Here's a couple of pix of my Tom:




Ya'll have a good one and Good Luck,

Reloader

Reloader, congrats, nice recap of the hunt!
He is a handsome bird, their irradescent feathers are always so cool. Your strategy of coming up out of the bottom was smart and shows your experience of hunting 'Ol Tom, they have their routines, and like to stick to them!

Thanks for sharing your story and pics.

Dang Reloader, you don't waste any time! Way to go!

Nice bird and great way to start the season!

Nice bird there, Reloader. How bout a pic of the spurs? (or tell us how long they were)

What load you using in that scattergun? What time did you get him? Our NY turkeys are usually crawling with some of the little cream colored fleas/mites that jump off soon after the bird dies - how about yours?

Sorry to hear that you had to deal with so many other hunters. It's always much nicer having the whole woods to yourself, but looks like you did pretty good even with the other hunters around.

Congrats again!

quote:

Nice bird there, Reloader. How bout a pic of the spurs? (or tell us how long they were)

What load you using in that scattergun? What time did you get him? Our NY turkeys are usually crawling with some of the little cream colored fleas/mites that jump off soon after the bird dies - how about yours?

Thanks Guys, It was quite an exciting hunt. Would have been alittle more peaceful without all of the other fellas but, that's part of being in a club I guess. All of my family land just doesn't hold birds so it's either hunt the club or hit the public land and I'd rather hunt around fellas I know of than every Tom, Dick, and Harry on the public places I guess. At least during deer season we have to remain 300 yards from each other in the thick stuff and 500 in the openings!

We still have 4 weeks to go so, hopefully the pressure will die down and I can get a chance at Tom #2.

Erict, He was not a real old bird, had hooks about 1" long and a 9-1/4 beard.

The best patterning loads in my favorite turkey gun are the cheap (grey box) Winchester 3", 1-7/8 oz, #6s. I've tried many different brands of ammo and varying shot size and I just can't beat the cheap winchesters. I guess being cheap is a plus though, it really would not matter to me, I'd buy what patterned the best. I get 40 deadly hits at 40 and around 15 dealy hits at 50 with this load. I've made 3 50 yard kills and one 65 yard kill with those loads since going to them a few years back. The 65 yarder was witnessed and a spur of the moment shot on a Rio, I wouldn't attempt a shot at that range normally but, it happened fast and I misjudged the distance a good bit. I was walking back to camp when he popped out of the brush ahead. A couple pellets to the noggin' was all it took. I thought he was about 50 but we went back to my hull from the bird and it was 65! And to think some folks say #6s don't carry enough energy

I bagged that rascall at 8:30am Saturday Morning. Most of the birds had shut-up but he was still hunting the ladies.

I haven't really ever noticed the mites on them, Haven't noticed them while skinning them either. Although, I'm sure the probably have them. The most I ever see mites on game is when we get wild hogs.

Man, we fried 1/2 of that Tom's breast Saturday night in camp, um um good . I cut it up into nuggets, seasoned with Tony's creole, dipped in an beaten egg, battered with flour and fried em in a skillet. Hard to beat a wild turkey, by far my favorite wild game.

Good luck to everyone!

Reloader

Great story. You must be confident of your club members in such situations!

Hey Reloader, Congratulations on a fine Hunt and a nice Kill. Excellent story which helps keep it in memory.

Continued good Hunting and clean 1-shot Kills.

Nice bird!

I envy you- hunting turkeys in March, that's a good deal. I just saw about 40 turkeys today, including about 10 toms, 2 in full strut. Me and a few other cars had to lock up the brakes on a group of 3 toms who happened to wander across one of the busiest streets around, right outside one of the biggest cities in Michigan!

I'm itching to get out there.

God bless two-year-olds

Congrats!

I'm going back to TN for the first 5 days of the season starting this weekend... I'm pumped, and hearing stories like yours just get me more fired up!

Great story, and thanks for posting

FB