Monday morning was one of the most exciting turkey hunts that I've ever
been on. Thomas (THA4) and I had planned on spending the whole weekend
down in southeast Iowa trying to figure out the farm that we've been
hunting for deer. There are plenty of turkeys there, but we have never
been able to figure out their patterns on the side of the property where we
hunt deer.
We hunted hard on Saturday with not much going on and lots of sitting.
We decided to split up on Sunday morning so that we could cover more than
one spot and we thought that both spots would be good, but weren't sure
what to expect. Thomas went and sat on the other side of the property and
I set up in a spot where we've had birds fired up in the past. I heard
Thomas shoot and then it was confirmed because I heard him drive the truck
to the barn. I wasn't seeing anything and decided to try to meet him at
the barn and see what he got. He got a nice tom that had strutted 300
yards across a field to the pretty boy. He had left the blind in place
because when he got out of there the birds were still gobbling in the
distance.
When we returned to the blind where he had shot his bird an hour earlier,
there was a strutter in the field about 400 yards away and we watched him
do his thing for about 2 hours. When he disappeared over the hill we
decided that we would sneak over there using the terrain and see what else
was going on over there. We got up close and ended up seeing 4 more
gobblers, two of them with huge beards, and a bunch of hens down in the
valley, but they were moving off of the property and we didn't really have
any angle to pursue them, so we decided to back out and get back there on Monday morning.
We took Sunday afternoon off because it was windy, not much fun to hunt, and there was some pending severe weather. It was nice to have a bit of a break while we waited excitedly for Monday morning.
We woke up extra early on Monday morning and got to the property with
plenty of time before light. We got the blind set up with about 5 hens and
pretty boy. We were right where we had seen all those big toms the day
before and we both felt very good about the set up.
The morning started off with a few hens working through the set up and into the field. No
gobbling really close, but enough gobbling to keep the blood pumping.
About 6:20 a strutter came out into the field and put on quite a show for a
long time, but he must have been a subdominate tom because he wasn't really
going after any of the hens or even getting very close to them. The
strutter wouldn't come any closer than 80 yards and we were still hoping to
see those big birds from the day before.
All of a sudden around 7:15 the strutter tucks up and just starts feeding and working his way back towards timber and I was thinking that maybe the spot was going to be a bust...The next moment we both heard wings dragging the ground very close to the blind on the opposite side. We looked at each other in utter suprise because we had been watching the other way. I got the gun around and there were twin strutters at about 15 yards and closing. These were the big boys that we were after. Thomas told me to take the 2nd one, so I waited for a clear shot and dropped him at five yards! He didn't move after he hit the ground. We started hooping and hollering because it all happened so fast. We ran out there and started flipped him over to see this:
Two Beards: 10 1/2" and 6" with the longer being thick like a paint brush
Spurs: 1 1/4" and 1 3/8"
He weighed 26 lbs.
My best bird ever!!
I blew his fan all to crap so there wasn't much left of it, but still an
awesome trophy and an unforgettable hunt with a great friend. Thomas and I
always have a great time hunting together and this was no change. Also,
thanks to Bukslayr (Jeremy) for letting us use his pretty boy/girl and the
Matrix. They were essential to both birds that Thomas and I killed.
The great thing is that there is still another boss tom to get after down
there...He had at least as big a beard as the one I killed, but Thomas saw
the double beard on this one. Thanks Thomas!
Good luck and be safe out there!"
been on. Thomas (THA4) and I had planned on spending the whole weekend
down in southeast Iowa trying to figure out the farm that we've been
hunting for deer. There are plenty of turkeys there, but we have never
been able to figure out their patterns on the side of the property where we
hunt deer.
We hunted hard on Saturday with not much going on and lots of sitting.
We decided to split up on Sunday morning so that we could cover more than
one spot and we thought that both spots would be good, but weren't sure
what to expect. Thomas went and sat on the other side of the property and
I set up in a spot where we've had birds fired up in the past. I heard
Thomas shoot and then it was confirmed because I heard him drive the truck
to the barn. I wasn't seeing anything and decided to try to meet him at
the barn and see what he got. He got a nice tom that had strutted 300
yards across a field to the pretty boy. He had left the blind in place
because when he got out of there the birds were still gobbling in the
distance.
When we returned to the blind where he had shot his bird an hour earlier,
there was a strutter in the field about 400 yards away and we watched him
do his thing for about 2 hours. When he disappeared over the hill we
decided that we would sneak over there using the terrain and see what else
was going on over there. We got up close and ended up seeing 4 more
gobblers, two of them with huge beards, and a bunch of hens down in the
valley, but they were moving off of the property and we didn't really have
any angle to pursue them, so we decided to back out and get back there on Monday morning.
We took Sunday afternoon off because it was windy, not much fun to hunt, and there was some pending severe weather. It was nice to have a bit of a break while we waited excitedly for Monday morning.
We woke up extra early on Monday morning and got to the property with
plenty of time before light. We got the blind set up with about 5 hens and
pretty boy. We were right where we had seen all those big toms the day
before and we both felt very good about the set up.
The morning started off with a few hens working through the set up and into the field. No
gobbling really close, but enough gobbling to keep the blood pumping.
About 6:20 a strutter came out into the field and put on quite a show for a
long time, but he must have been a subdominate tom because he wasn't really
going after any of the hens or even getting very close to them. The
strutter wouldn't come any closer than 80 yards and we were still hoping to
see those big birds from the day before.
All of a sudden around 7:15 the strutter tucks up and just starts feeding and working his way back towards timber and I was thinking that maybe the spot was going to be a bust...The next moment we both heard wings dragging the ground very close to the blind on the opposite side. We looked at each other in utter suprise because we had been watching the other way. I got the gun around and there were twin strutters at about 15 yards and closing. These were the big boys that we were after. Thomas told me to take the 2nd one, so I waited for a clear shot and dropped him at five yards! He didn't move after he hit the ground. We started hooping and hollering because it all happened so fast. We ran out there and started flipped him over to see this:
Two Beards: 10 1/2" and 6" with the longer being thick like a paint brush
Spurs: 1 1/4" and 1 3/8"
He weighed 26 lbs.
My best bird ever!!
I blew his fan all to crap so there wasn't much left of it, but still an
awesome trophy and an unforgettable hunt with a great friend. Thomas and I
always have a great time hunting together and this was no change. Also,
thanks to Bukslayr (Jeremy) for letting us use his pretty boy/girl and the
Matrix. They were essential to both birds that Thomas and I killed.
The great thing is that there is still another boss tom to get after down
there...He had at least as big a beard as the one I killed, but Thomas saw
the double beard on this one. Thanks Thomas!
Good luck and be safe out there!"
