redeyeddawg
New member
Nice goin' WPH. I have a pile of pictures of my youngens with turkeys back when they were itty bitty. Congrats!
2007 Spring Turkey Photo contest pictures..
- Thread starter James Lindley
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weekend_warrior
New member
Just now getting around to entering this picture. Took this tom, the second of the season, on the last weekend of the season at 12 noon on the dot. Called him in across a small field, and he hung up because he couldn't see a hen. He finally left and went in to a brushy creekbed. Missouri season closes daily at noon, so I charged him, because it was now or never. He busted out of the creek and crossed my front and I dropped him with a couple of shots.
Fun hunt
Bake
Fun hunt
Bake
DMcFaul
New member
Let me start by saying that I have hunted Turkeys in 3 Provinces here in Canada and 2 States "down south", and these Southern Ontario turkeys are the smartest birds I have faced yet. I started for turkey opening day this year. I had the advantage of getting a lot of time off this year, so I was going to make the most of it. The birds had a real late start because of the cold weather this spring. I've been out 8 or 10 times since day one and the hens just started laying last week. I had a few jakes come by but never coming within range, lots of hens interested in me, but no toms. I'd head out at night to get a response to find the roost and head out in the morning only to have the Toms always go wherever I'm not. Not that I'm scaring them off, just unlucky randomness. They never really settled into a routine until this week. I was close the other week, about 5m from taking my shot when a coyote burst out of the treeline beside me and snatched a decoy. Needless to say, it's been a challenging season.
I started second guessing myself and thinking that they're onto my position, even though I'm at a tree, hidden by scrub cam and wearing turkeyflage. So the other day I decided to build a ground blind (more because I've gotten rained on half of the days I've been out.) I posted my blind last thursday and gave them a few days to get used to it. Yesterday I sat in early and again had a bunch of hens drop by my decoys, and 4 toms come near with obviously enough hens that they didn't need mine. One lone tom came by and was just about in range when a 4-wheeler rips by.. I guess my father thinks that turkeys are ok with that. I decided to move my blind 100m to the south where the birds seem to be using a path, at least I might get lucky and get one coming out of the trees.
At 5am today I go out again, I heard 5 gobblers all around the area, so I started calling. The gobbles died out around 7am, and I hadn't even seen a hen by then so I figured they once again went where I wasn't. So around 7:15 I crouched low in the blind and had breakfast (oatmeal in a thermos and coffee). A hot breakfast while turkey hunting is a rare event and it warmed me up nicely, just as the sun was ready to start lending some heat. 7:45, still nothing so I broke out my phone and decided to play yahtzee to pass some time. ...Hunting in a true blind is something I haven't done for turkey since my bow-days. It was a hell of a lot nicer being able to move around a bit, and have a smoke now and again.
At 8am some movenemt catches my eye and I look up from my phone to see this big Tom 5 feet away strutting up to my decoy. He must have come out of the treeline trail that I was set up on. I took a second to get my gun up and let out a sharp yelp to get him to drop the strut and poke his head up. The rest is history.
Spur Length: 21mm
Beard Length: 245mm
Weight: 21.5lbs
I started second guessing myself and thinking that they're onto my position, even though I'm at a tree, hidden by scrub cam and wearing turkeyflage. So the other day I decided to build a ground blind (more because I've gotten rained on half of the days I've been out.) I posted my blind last thursday and gave them a few days to get used to it. Yesterday I sat in early and again had a bunch of hens drop by my decoys, and 4 toms come near with obviously enough hens that they didn't need mine. One lone tom came by and was just about in range when a 4-wheeler rips by.. I guess my father thinks that turkeys are ok with that. I decided to move my blind 100m to the south where the birds seem to be using a path, at least I might get lucky and get one coming out of the trees.
At 5am today I go out again, I heard 5 gobblers all around the area, so I started calling. The gobbles died out around 7am, and I hadn't even seen a hen by then so I figured they once again went where I wasn't. So around 7:15 I crouched low in the blind and had breakfast (oatmeal in a thermos and coffee). A hot breakfast while turkey hunting is a rare event and it warmed me up nicely, just as the sun was ready to start lending some heat. 7:45, still nothing so I broke out my phone and decided to play yahtzee to pass some time. ...Hunting in a true blind is something I haven't done for turkey since my bow-days. It was a hell of a lot nicer being able to move around a bit, and have a smoke now and again.
At 8am some movenemt catches my eye and I look up from my phone to see this big Tom 5 feet away strutting up to my decoy. He must have come out of the treeline trail that I was set up on. I took a second to get my gun up and let out a sharp yelp to get him to drop the strut and poke his head up. The rest is history.
Spur Length: 21mm
Beard Length: 245mm
Weight: 21.5lbs
Moe
New member
Good bird. I've noticed in the past 4 years from which the season opened here in Essex County, that the birds have became a lot harder to call. I would like to hunt down South sometime to compare how wise the birds are compared to here.
Where in Ontario are you located?
By the way...welcome to the board /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinning-smiley-003.gif
Where in Ontario are you located?
By the way...welcome to the board /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinning-smiley-003.gif
DMcFaul
New member
Moe, I'm in Prince Edward County (WMU 70). Lots of birds, but this year we really had to work for them. They're definitely getting smarter out here. Not so much harder to call, but they're getting wiser to decoys. They won't run blindly into a open field to strut a hen, or chalenge a tom/jake decoy like they used to. They spend much more time at the treeline looking out, trying to bring the decoy to them. They know that open=dead. We've been playing around with new tactics such as deploying decoys ahead on trail straightaways, and setting up shooting positions that allow the kill as they're passing and focused ahead.
...man I love hunting turkeys. They don't just walk out and take it like other animals, you have to work for it.
...man I love hunting turkeys. They don't just walk out and take it like other animals, you have to work for it.
James Lindley
New member
Contest is over,,
The results of who has won will appear in 10 days... That will be the 21st of June....
Thanks for all who entered pictures.. It is sure gonna be hard to pick just three out of all these fine entries..... James L.
The results of who has won will appear in 10 days... That will be the 21st of June....
Thanks for all who entered pictures.. It is sure gonna be hard to pick just three out of all these fine entries..... James L.
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