jkratz5
Well-Known Member
Well I have to admit I have had quite a fun turkey season. Not that many days of hunting but a lot of action and 4 birds on the ground. The first two birds fell early in the year on our KS hunt.
I hadn't been back out in the woods since that hunt and was quite excited to head to IL on April 30th. My dad and brother had tagged out on the farm two weeks earlier and no one had hunted since, so I was pretty confident that the birds would be undisturbed and workable. At 5:15 I was setup and soon after the birds were fired up. At 5:30 the first gobbler hit the field with two hens. It was so early that I couldn't even see them in the field I could only hear them on the ground gobbling. Over the next 30 minutes gobbler after gobbler after gobbler made its way into the bottom field. By 6:15 11 toms stood less than 200 yds and gobbled every time I through a call at them. The birds continued to strut their stuff for the 4 hens that they were with for the next 30 minutes. Finally, 3 birds got fed up with the pack and broke off to check out my dekes. The last 70 yds of which they closed doing the mean run. At 20yds. all 3 stopped gobbled in unison and continued there way to beat the tar out of JR. The last bird was the biggest of the three and just as he was givin JR the right wing slap I filled his pumpkin with #5s. Was a fairly quick hunt, but it was an awesome one, it isn't often that you get to watch 11 gobblers put on a show together. To top it off, my dad sat and watched the whole hunt from about 500yds away through the Binos and I was home and taking a knap by 8:30 (with an hour drive home
Bird was a two year old, 21lbs, 3/4" spurs and 7.5" beard
A week later I headed to the IN woods with a good buddy to chase the gobblers again. We hunted a brand new farm and weren't 100% sure where the birds roosted but had seen birds strutting in a small field almost every morning. We setup in that field and as the timber awoke the closest bird was 500yds away or more. After a few hours without seeing a gobbler we decided to relocate. As we approached a small field we saw a couple of gobblers strutting and decided to setup and see if we could pull them in. A couple of hours later the birds had left and we hadn't heard a peep for quite some time. It was approaching noon so we decided to make a switch to a farm that has produced in the afternoon and evening in the past. I had knicknamed a bird there puff daddy as almost every day we drove by this farm he was strutting in the same location, never saw him out of strut, hence the name puffy As we got to the farm, sure enough that lone tom was strutting a few hundred yards from the road for a couple of hens. We had easy access to the timberline they were walking down and decided to make a move on them. 10 minutes later we were setup and during my first series of calls I was cut off by a gobble, approximately 100yds away. Another series of calls and again I was cutoff by a thunderous gobble. I set the slate down and went silent, and minutes later I could see the bird working towards us. At 30yds he stopped and let out a couple more gobbles trying to pull his lady from the timber. Finally, he started doing the dance spitting and drummin the rest of the way to us. At 10yds, I let him have it and my 4th bird was down. This was my best bird of the season, 25.5lbs, 11.5" beard and 1 3/8" spurs. All in all it was a great turkey season. I didn't spend as many days in the timber as I normally do but put 4 gobblers down.
Kratz
I hadn't been back out in the woods since that hunt and was quite excited to head to IL on April 30th. My dad and brother had tagged out on the farm two weeks earlier and no one had hunted since, so I was pretty confident that the birds would be undisturbed and workable. At 5:15 I was setup and soon after the birds were fired up. At 5:30 the first gobbler hit the field with two hens. It was so early that I couldn't even see them in the field I could only hear them on the ground gobbling. Over the next 30 minutes gobbler after gobbler after gobbler made its way into the bottom field. By 6:15 11 toms stood less than 200 yds and gobbled every time I through a call at them. The birds continued to strut their stuff for the 4 hens that they were with for the next 30 minutes. Finally, 3 birds got fed up with the pack and broke off to check out my dekes. The last 70 yds of which they closed doing the mean run. At 20yds. all 3 stopped gobbled in unison and continued there way to beat the tar out of JR. The last bird was the biggest of the three and just as he was givin JR the right wing slap I filled his pumpkin with #5s. Was a fairly quick hunt, but it was an awesome one, it isn't often that you get to watch 11 gobblers put on a show together. To top it off, my dad sat and watched the whole hunt from about 500yds away through the Binos and I was home and taking a knap by 8:30 (with an hour drive home
Bird was a two year old, 21lbs, 3/4" spurs and 7.5" beard
A week later I headed to the IN woods with a good buddy to chase the gobblers again. We hunted a brand new farm and weren't 100% sure where the birds roosted but had seen birds strutting in a small field almost every morning. We setup in that field and as the timber awoke the closest bird was 500yds away or more. After a few hours without seeing a gobbler we decided to relocate. As we approached a small field we saw a couple of gobblers strutting and decided to setup and see if we could pull them in. A couple of hours later the birds had left and we hadn't heard a peep for quite some time. It was approaching noon so we decided to make a switch to a farm that has produced in the afternoon and evening in the past. I had knicknamed a bird there puff daddy as almost every day we drove by this farm he was strutting in the same location, never saw him out of strut, hence the name puffy
As we got to the farm, sure enough that lone tom was strutting a few hundred yards from the road for a couple of hens. We had easy access to the timberline they were walking down and decided to make a move on them. 10 minutes later we were setup and during my first series of calls I was cut off by a gobble, approximately 100yds away. Another series of calls and again I was cutoff by a thunderous gobble. I set the slate down and went silent, and minutes later I could see the bird working towards us. At 30yds he stopped and let out a couple more gobbles trying to pull his lady from the timber. Finally, he started doing the dance spitting and drummin the rest of the way to us. At 10yds, I let him have it and my 4th bird was down. This was my best bird of the season, 25.5lbs, 11.5" beard and 1 3/8" spurs. All in all it was a great turkey season. I didn't spend as many days in the timber as I normally do but put 4 gobblers down.
Kratz
