ME!!!!

I can hardly wait.

YEP!!
I may even get up there before I leave for Africa

I am getting antsy to go too. Tom what you goin to Africa for? They aint no turkey birds over there. Something might eat ya or atleast take a bite and spit ya back out.

Hunting a big vegetarian that won't eat me but they could send me back in a jelly jar if he steps on me----my new dream hunt for a long time! Been putting $$$$$ aside for a while to get to do it. Never really thought much about those big tuskers as a hunting target until I saw some up close and personal. Gonna do it in May!

Awesome, sounds like the experience of a lifetime, good luck

Hey WillyG    You can slip over to Kansas and pop a couple of Rio Grands' April 11th, like you did last year. That was a great hunting story !!!

wolffj

Thanks man, we had a blast. But money is pretty tight at the moment as i'm savin for college, so I think we are just gonna stay in good old missouri this spring  Dad bought a new farm here in MO this past summer, and from the looks of things, its gonna be awesome turkey hunting. I'm pretty excited

Yep...was thinking the samething with this weather and all....NY Spring season starts May 1st!!  Need any help Misssouri way???

Posted By JBURING on 12 Feb 2012 06:47 PM
Yep...was thinking the samething with this weather and all....NY Spring season starts May 1st!!  Need any help Misssouri way???

Theres definitly plenty of birds around here for ya!!!

I cannot wait. Have lots of limb hangers dragging beards located already in North East Washington! Good luck everyone.

I was on the 4wheeler today and saw two big ole'long beards out in a field by my house......... come on April

they have come back up the hill early this year and tracks all over the place in the snow today..can't wait

its getting closer and closer i cant wait for it to get here. ive got some new calls i want to try ouy this year.

I've been scouting but not found any yet in the area. Funny I see them by the road all the time were you can't hunt.

yea no kidding. a friend of mine has a ton of them in his neighborhood. you actual have to watch going down the road bc they will come up to your car and start attacking it.

yea no kidding. a friend of mine has a ton of them in his neighborhood. you actual have to watch going down the road bc they will come up to your car and start attacking it.

yea no kidding. a friend of mine has a ton of them in his neighborhood. you actual have to watch going down the road bc they will come up to your car and start attacking it.

yea no kidding. a friend of mine has a ton of them in his neighborhood. you actual have to watch going down the road bc they will come up to your car and start attacking it.

yea no kidding. a friend of mine has a ton of them in his neighborhood. you actual have to watch going down the road bc they will come up to your car and start attacking it.

Lol think we got it the first 3 times.....

than god i live in good ol' fla where the turkey season starts on march 16th.and i'm still chomp'in at the bit to get into the woods.went scouting the other day and saw a dozen good birds ta pull the trigger on.can hardly wait.good luck to all yall late shooters this spring.

Yep, counting the days. Our season comes in March 15th.

Oklahoma Spring Turkey started today,hunting public land, was working alongbeard but it got spooked by two hunters stepping out of woods into the old bean field, thought it was over forthe day, took a lunch break, dug out a couple more decoys & went back for a afternoon, worked what turned out to be a jake for 45 min before I could seal the deal, 14Lb, 3 1/2" beard 1/4" spurs, not what I was hopeing for but will go good with a pot of home made noodles. At least I don't have sad song soup, I'll go back for that Big Boy on Mon, hope he makes it till then.

Congrats on the bird SB. MO's opener starts one week from today, I've been seein birds everywhere! A couple days ago I saw 7 strutters working about 15 hens in the neighbors field..... I'm pumped

Well, little brother and I went out Monday morning to our new farm and we each got a nice bird. After alittle calling with the mouth call and slate call, 5 birds flew off the roost to with in 75 yards of us and then ran in the rest of the way and attacked the B-Mobile decoy. I told my little brother when ever he was ready to shoot the big boy, he dropped him one shot and I pulled up and shot mine right after. It was pretty crazy getting home around 8am with two birds in the back of the truck. Can't wait till next week when we can fill our second tag!

Congrats to you and your brother Willy G, what part of Mo. you in. I'm in the central not far from Sedalia. Haven't been out as of yet and not sure if I'll make it or not. I do get up and walk out the door every morning and listen to the gobbles, but usually time isn't on my side when it comes to being able to get out and do it. Hopefully next week things will slack a bit and I get an opportunity.
Steve Albers

 

Thanks, I live north of Sedalia about 15 miles but we were hunting just south of colecamp monday morning. Hope your able to get out in the woods and get a a bird SALBERS.

Congrats, WillyG!

I will be going out this weekend here in SW Iowa. I went out and did a little scouting the other night near where I plan to hunt and saw a flock of 7 turkeys, including 3 big gobblers! I hope I can get close to them on Saturday.

Good luck to all of you.

Posted By slaymaker on 19 Apr 2012 09:58 PM
Congrats, WillyG!

I will be going out this weekend here in SW Iowa. I went out and did a little scouting the other night near where I plan to hunt and saw a flock of 7 turkeys, including 3 big gobblers! I hope I can get close to them on Saturday.

Good luck to all of you.

Thanks, How did your hunt turn out?

Well, I came up empty-handed for this season. My daughter and I went out Saturday morning, and had action, but we couldn't get the birds to come all the way in. I had two toms strutting between 100 and 120 yards out. Unfortuantely, they had hens with them. Hard to call them away from the real thing, and I didn't have any luck pissing off the lead hen enough to pull her in. Amy had one strutting for her at about 65 yards that also wouldn't come any closer.

Later that morning, I did have one come in close enough for a shot. I was sure it was a hen when I first saw it. Then it turned sideways and there was a beard. It was smaller and more slender, as well as lighter colored than gobblers usually are. The beard was between 7 and 8 inches long, but not much bigger around than a pencil. I had never seen a bearded hen before, but I am certain that is what I saw. I nearly pulled the trigger, but just couldn't convince myself to commit. It is legal to shoot a bearded hen in Iowa, but I couldn't do it. Turned out that was my only chance at a shot all weekend!

Saturday afternoon, we went back out to a different field. But before the birds came in, a storm did. Amy watched a dark cloud creep in from behind me then the wind kicked up and it started to rain. We decided to call it a night and try again in the morning. Ironically, the sun came out again before we got home.

Sunday, the wind did not let up all day. We had to stake down our blinds really well to keep them from blowing away. I barely heard any gobbling from the blind, but I think they were just overpowered by the sound of the wind. I could not even hear Amy calling (nor her me), and we were only about 125 yards apart. Mid morning, Amy texted me that she heard gobbling in the trees behind her but couldn't seem to call them any closer. I decided to try helping her. I crept up to the top of the hill... belly-crawling the last 40 yards with my arsenal of calls. I stayed just out of sight and threw everything I had at them: yelps, fighting purrs, and even a few gobbles with a box call. They responded and even sounded like they were getting closer, but never quite made it in close enough for a shot before losing interest and wandering off again. At one point, I was lying flat on the ground and looked up and saw a turkey buzzard circling over me. I wondered if he thought I looked dead.

The wind only got stronger that afternoon, and Amy had to get back to my 3 year old granddaughter, so we didn't get out at all that evening.

I went out by myself this morning for a few hours before work. The weather was ideal: clear, calm, and cool. I heard the first gobble 10 minutes after I got set up, and by 6:00 there was all kinds of gobbling all around me... but I never saw a bird! Unless I get an opportunity to get out tomorrow night for a couple of hours, I will end up with a helping of tag soup for 2nd season. But I still had a lot of fun with my daughter!

Hopefully, fourth season will be more productive. It opens May 2 and runs through the 20th. I was really hoping to take the pressure off and have a bird in hand with my shotgun for 2nd season. Then I was going to try to get one with my bow for 4th. I was really looking forward to some smoked turkey! Last year I missed the only chance I had all year when my arrow went just underneath a big gobbler at 24 yards.

Well my luck changed for fourth season!  After a very short night (was working on month end financials until 1:00 a.m.!), I woke up at 4:30 this morning.  45 minutes later I was sitting in my blind.  10 miniutes after getting set up, I heard my first gobble, but it was a ways off.  The next time it gobbled, there was an answer from another tom just over the hill from me.  I heard it pitch down a short time later then saw another turkey fly down to join it.  At one time I heard three gobblers just over that hill.  Finally at 6:15, his curiosity got the better of him, and I saw him crest the hill and start towards my decoys.  I dropped him in his tracks at 30 yards.  I was back home by 7:30.

The weather was a lot different from two weeks ago.  It was 73 degrees with nearly 100% humidity (compared to 37 degrees for 2nd season.

I never got him weighed, but he wasn't the biggest turkey I ever shot.  I am guessing around 21 lbs.  I could tell he was a young tom, but he looked bigger before I shot.  He had an 8 inch beard (that fell off while I was wrestling with him before he expired.  He was the floppingest turkey I hever shot!  I got him skinned and boned out and put the breast in a maple brine so I can smoke it.  I also got about 3 lbs of leg, thigh, and wing meat that I am going to make into Onion Turkey Sausage... a recipe I got from an old North American Hunter magazine.  I've made it a couple of times before, and it is pretty tasty.  I can post the recipe if anyone is interested.

Hope everyone else is having good luck!