kbgibby
Threebeards
Got back Saturday from a three-day hunt on private land in Kansas. Three of us scored six birds ... it was unreal!! Sorry this is long, but we had lots of action.
The first morning (Weds) we split up and at 6:36 a.m., my buddy Bob had four toms come in right off the roost. He ended up taking a 26-pounder with 1" spurs and a 10 1/2" beard.
I sat a couple of places with gobbling all around me but only had a hen come in to within 20' of me. So about 10 a.m., I decided to move to another spot. As I came up a small hill, I caught movement to my left and froze ... here came 7 toms all in a line. I was right out in the open with only one small patch of brush about 3' tall between us. And they were only about 40 yards away. The first four birds were jakes and the rest were big toms.
We all just froze for about a minute, then the first jake moved on across the ridge and down the slope, crossing an opening just 20 yards right in front of me. The whole time I'm just slowly inching my gun up to my shoulder.
The next couple of jakes start to follow the first one and I've just about got my gun shouldered, but the big toms are starting to get nervous. As the second jake makes the clearing, the last tom turns and starts to leave so I decide to take the shot and just rolled the jake in the opening as the rest of the birds scatter. Look at my watch and it's 10 after 10. Big jake -- 16+ lbs., thick 5" beard and 1/4" spurs.
My buddy Steve connected on a tom about 3 p.m. so we ran to the nearest license outlet and bought three more turkey tags. At only $20 and with loads of birds, we couldn't pass it up.
Wednesday evening, I scouted a new area and found a perfect set-up for the next morning, a lone cedar on a hilltop that overlooked a food plot. Thursday was another perfect morning with gobbling all around me. I had a hen and jake decoy set up and had a hot gobbler come in right off the bat. He came to a fence at 100 yards, saw the jake decoy and turned and left. "Man, did I screw up," I said to myself, then crawled on my hands and knees and yanked the jake.
About 20 minutes later, I saw movement on the next hilltop over and there was a tom strutting in the sun. I called and he gobbled but then I lost him. A half hour later, he came up to the same fence where the first bird had and I clucked a couple of times and he ducked the fence and literally ran across the food plot to about 70 yards and broke into a strut. I could tell by the damaged fan he was the same bird I seen earlier. He closed to about 50 yards, then took a right angle turn and skirted out around behind me. I thought he might do a full circle but he moved off and didn't return.
About 8 a.m., I have two more toms come up to the fence and cross just like the last one. I cluck and purr and they move steadily toward the decoy. I have my gun on them the whole way in. Finally, at about 50 yards, one breaks into strut and they separate slightly. As he lets down and raises his head, I let fly with a 3" load of number 6's. I stepped it off at 44 paces as I went to collect him. It's 8:10 and I've just gotten my second bird in less than 24 hours.
He wasn't heavy, 17 1/2 lbs., but had a 10" beard and 1 1/4" spurs (a true limbhanger) and my oldest bird to date (3 years).
My buddies each got their second birds on Friday to complete our sweep. With Friday's rain, the birds were out in the fields and we probably saw over a hundred total as we drove around about a four-square-mile area.
I've got photos coming and a great shot of four longbeards in a row if I can get a still from a video clip. Hopefully I can post some even later today.
Oh, and it was a great way to break in my new turkey gun ... a Stoeger P-350 pump. The old 870 is now officially retired!!!
Here's five of the six birds:
And my bird right before the celebratory shot!
The first morning (Weds) we split up and at 6:36 a.m., my buddy Bob had four toms come in right off the roost. He ended up taking a 26-pounder with 1" spurs and a 10 1/2" beard.
I sat a couple of places with gobbling all around me but only had a hen come in to within 20' of me. So about 10 a.m., I decided to move to another spot. As I came up a small hill, I caught movement to my left and froze ... here came 7 toms all in a line. I was right out in the open with only one small patch of brush about 3' tall between us. And they were only about 40 yards away. The first four birds were jakes and the rest were big toms.
We all just froze for about a minute, then the first jake moved on across the ridge and down the slope, crossing an opening just 20 yards right in front of me. The whole time I'm just slowly inching my gun up to my shoulder.
The next couple of jakes start to follow the first one and I've just about got my gun shouldered, but the big toms are starting to get nervous. As the second jake makes the clearing, the last tom turns and starts to leave so I decide to take the shot and just rolled the jake in the opening as the rest of the birds scatter. Look at my watch and it's 10 after 10. Big jake -- 16+ lbs., thick 5" beard and 1/4" spurs.
My buddy Steve connected on a tom about 3 p.m. so we ran to the nearest license outlet and bought three more turkey tags. At only $20 and with loads of birds, we couldn't pass it up.
Wednesday evening, I scouted a new area and found a perfect set-up for the next morning, a lone cedar on a hilltop that overlooked a food plot. Thursday was another perfect morning with gobbling all around me. I had a hen and jake decoy set up and had a hot gobbler come in right off the bat. He came to a fence at 100 yards, saw the jake decoy and turned and left. "Man, did I screw up," I said to myself, then crawled on my hands and knees and yanked the jake.
About 20 minutes later, I saw movement on the next hilltop over and there was a tom strutting in the sun. I called and he gobbled but then I lost him. A half hour later, he came up to the same fence where the first bird had and I clucked a couple of times and he ducked the fence and literally ran across the food plot to about 70 yards and broke into a strut. I could tell by the damaged fan he was the same bird I seen earlier. He closed to about 50 yards, then took a right angle turn and skirted out around behind me. I thought he might do a full circle but he moved off and didn't return.
About 8 a.m., I have two more toms come up to the fence and cross just like the last one. I cluck and purr and they move steadily toward the decoy. I have my gun on them the whole way in. Finally, at about 50 yards, one breaks into strut and they separate slightly. As he lets down and raises his head, I let fly with a 3" load of number 6's. I stepped it off at 44 paces as I went to collect him. It's 8:10 and I've just gotten my second bird in less than 24 hours.
He wasn't heavy, 17 1/2 lbs., but had a 10" beard and 1 1/4" spurs (a true limbhanger) and my oldest bird to date (3 years).
My buddies each got their second birds on Friday to complete our sweep. With Friday's rain, the birds were out in the fields and we probably saw over a hundred total as we drove around about a four-square-mile area.
I've got photos coming and a great shot of four longbeards in a row if I can get a still from a video clip. Hopefully I can post some even later today.
Oh, and it was a great way to break in my new turkey gun ... a Stoeger P-350 pump. The old 870 is now officially retired!!!
Here's five of the six birds:
And my bird right before the celebratory shot!
