First Turkey of the season down.

shishiinushishiinu
edited April 2010 in Hunting & Working
Turkey hunting season is in full swing and pig hunting is taking a back seat for the next three weeks.

I got to hunt on thursday and I ended up getting to a great spot. I got to the hunting area well before sun up and got my decoy, blind, and calls set up. As the sun rose above the mountains, the turkey hens and toms began sounding off in the threes. As the hen's yelped and clucked, the tom's gave a thundering gobble that could be heard for miles.

As the turkeys started to fly out of the trees, I started calling on my mouth call. Immidately I got multiple gobbles from love sick toms nearby and about 10 minutes later I had a group of 5 young toms and two older toms strutting near my decoy.

I lined the shotgun bead right on the base of the neck on the biggest tom and pulled the trigger, boom..........wth.............boom. I completely missed the big tom and watched all the turkeys fly for the next county line.

All of a sudden, I heard yelping from a hen nearby and right away a tom gobbled only about 30 yards to my right. I began cutting and yelping to excite the gobbling tom. The young tom began walking toward my decoy. As he strutted and began to mount my decoy, I put 3.5 inches of copper plated #5 magnum shot into the toms head..........lights out.

I ended up with a young jake that weighed 18lbs and I'm just greatful for this bird giving me a second chance.

Comments

  • KevinKevin
    edited November -1
    Atta boy. Season doesn't start for another couple weeks here. It'll be my first--any hints?
  • shishiinushishiinu
    edited November -1
    Kevin: spend time scouting and finding roost aeas. Once you find one, set up about 60 to 70 yards away and wait till fly down to call. In your area, the gobblers are gonna be henned up and happy so they may not come in to your calls but set up in their travel route.

    Good luck ! and post some pics.
  • dlrobertsdlroberts
    edited November -1
    Mmmmmm. Dinner! :-)
  • KevinKevin
    edited November -1
    Gen, thanks for the advice. I don't know much about turkeys, admittedly. What type of land are roost areas more prevalent?
  • shishiinushishiinu
    edited November -1
    Turkeys generally like to roost near a running creek in verticle limbs of Oak, Cedar, or Pine trees. Just stand in a area where you can hear really well and get there well before sun up. The birds will become vocal usually right before dawn or right at dawn. You can use a owl hooter or a coyote howler to shock gobble the toms......or even beep your car horn.
  • sukoshi_momsukoshi_mom
    edited November -1
    We have wild turkeys in our area. I recently counted a flock of about 30 down the hill from my house.

    Here is a photo of one in my front yard.

    We also have foxes that have moved into the neighborhood. One of my neighbors was looking out the slider door on to her back deck. A small red fox was sitting there-- staring back at her. When my neighbor moved, the fox took off.
  • shishiinushishiinu
    edited November -1
    Nice turkey, that looks like a young Jake simillar to the Jake I shot. You can tell if its a young bird from the lack of a long beard and an uneven tail feather fan.

    Those foxes will do a number on the young turkey polts when they hatch in may or june so shoot those things when you see them. Red fox also carry rabies and have been known to pass them onto other animals.
  • sukoshi_momsukoshi_mom
    edited November -1
    Am in a residential area that abuts a nature preserve. No shooting in this area. Fish and Game would have to trap the foxes and I don't see them doing that. They are more concerned about the mountain lions that have been sighted along the river. I haven't heard the coyotes down by the river recently -- probably means that there is indeed a mountain lion or two. A female w/ cubs was spoted recently on the other side of the river in a residental area. We also have "feral" pea fowl that have hung out w/ the turkeys for at least 20 years. (Someone released pea hens into the wild and they have also multiplied over the years.) We will have more foxes. A few weeks ago, I heard their mating cries. As I mentioned in other threads, our wildlife population includes deer, possums, raccoons, skunks, and several types of predatory birds.
  • shishiinushishiinu
    edited November -1
    Wow sounds like wildlife heaven around your house. Good thing is that the foxes and cougars will go after the pea fowl first since they are probably easy targets. Turkeys have a better chance of evading predators.

    Last year while turkey hunting, I had three big toms in front of me and right when I was about to take one home, a big bobcat jumped out of a hollow log and snatched one of the turkeys up.It was the coolest thing I have ever seen.
  • sjp051993sjp051993
    edited November -1
    that would be cool to see.
  • tjbart17tjbart17
    edited November -1
    Sweet! I have turkeys that pass by my bedroom window almost every morning. I'd like to shoot one of those on a Sunday at 6 am.
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