Turkey hunters- let's see your 2019 thunder chickens!

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I like this thread a lot. But I gotta wait until May 1st. Set up my pop up blind Tue. and got it all staked down. Never turkey hunted out of a blind and never in the area where the blind is now, on a friends land. So this year is gonna be new & different. Got a crummy picture of the blind with my flip phone. Here it is with the windows all zipped up. 0904-105513.jpg ............ We'll see what happens come May.
 
Heading up to the cabin to pull my trail cams this weekend. Saw some nice Toms when I hung the cam two weeks ago and lots of sign. No gobble though. My season starts May 8th and they should be turned on by then. Hopefully!
 
Well, I'm sick as a dog- got a very nasty cold, and our season ends next weekend. I'm lucky if I get back out there at all for a second bird.
 
I have hunted with my neighbor for about 18 years. Our properties border each other. We have several birds that hang around on or near us. We both have blinds set up, and we decide on a daily basis which one to sit in.
On opening day this year we sat in his new blind equipped with regular lawn chairs.
We sat down in the pre-dawn darkness and settled in for a 30min wait for the first light of opening day. Soon I could hear him rustling and fumbling in his pack. I assumed he was fumbling for his calls until I heard the familiar sound of ice tumbling into a plastic solo cup.
So there we sat, 30 minutes before sunup, each enjoying a Bloody Mary, complete with celery stick. They really hit the spot after a 20 min hike through the midwest mud.
I think we have a new opening day tradition.
 
Season not for a week and a half.
Ticks out down south.
Dunno if I'll try local opening morn and then head down for a weekend on gov ground.
Buddy has em in his yard 10 mins down the road.
Killed a 24 # yrs ago there. Small place, no run n gun.
It aint about killin'.
 
#1son and his father in law(aka my shooting buddy, maco jim)...doubled on this fine pair of birds 4/20/19.

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They were headed out when they heard a gobble nearby. They plopped down on the spot and called to them . A pair came running in range from my sons side... maco took a shot but the pair of Tom's didnt run. Son fired on the bigger tom of the pair and dropped him. Still the other tom lingered. Son said "shoot him maco!"
No response.
Here, use my gun and shoot him!
Why do you want to shoot three birds? Mine is laying dead over here!
Lol...another tom had come to the call without son seeing it...which was taken by maco's shot.
....anyway...great story and memory of two nice toms.
 
9 AM this morning.

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I could hear a couple of toms gobbling on the next hilltop, but didn't feel like walking over there when it was so late. I decided to give them a try on Monday, and started packing up my stuff. This one came walking in behind me. I'm surprised that he didn't spook, instead he just walked away.

I missed another one last Saturday that came in behind me.

I didn't buy a second tag, so am done for the season. I'm kinda sad I can't hunt any more.
 
Well, tomorrow is my turn to get in the woods. Predicting rain next two days, so I broke out my blind and set it up in my spot on the edge of the cedar wetlands. At least I won't get too wet. Other than a boatload of deer, not much action on the trail cam. Not sure if that's good or bad LOL! In any case, I got dinner in the oven and poured a few fingers of my oak aged bourbon. Probably recheck my gear for the 247th time and try to turn in early. But like every season I'll be too wired to sleep much lol.

Be well folks
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Well, one down! Great morning with lots of gobbling just before and after sunrise. Was nervous when they dropped out of the roost at about 530 and moved away from me towards the other side of the bluffs. And it got real quiet. At about 8:20am I really had to pee ...LOL way to much coffee!...and eased out of the blind. Since I was up, I figured I'd move through the wetlands in the direction were I heard some other gobbling earlier.... I slipped in under a cedar and made a few calls, only to get a response from farther down the bluffs. After about 10 minutes of back and forth call & responses (closer each time) he finally caved and came crashing down the bluff right in front of me 35 yards out. I was fortunate enough to make a good shot. What an exciting morning! Nice bird 23.3lbs Plucked him and am heading back out to try to fill my 2nd tag before the rain moves in.

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I blew my chance.
Turkey season is usually hectic for us trying to farm and hunt. Farming wins in that battle because we need to pay the Bill's. I can usually go early in the season, but that's it. This year has been wet, we have yet to turn a clod over. Our season is over here at home, but we farm some property in the northern zone, so we can still hunt this week.
#1 son and I peeled out at 350am for the 45 min drive .
We staked out the decoys near my kill site from last spring and soon had 3 gobblers answering our calls. After a long quiet spell, we made a call and to our surprise a gobble cam from over the hill in the field we were sitting in. He soon appeared, a big ol' longbeard. Not wanting to spook him, I left the 870 supermag on my lap as the bird approached our dekes. My son likes to video our hunts, and he has good equipment so I intended to let the big bird peck around on the decoys before I blasted him. The bird got about 10ft from the dekes and stuck his head up and did an about face. Son said SHOOT HIM, so I shouldered the gun in ol quail hunter mode pulling the trigger as it hit my shoulder.
The slo-mo video showed my first shot high and right, second shot high, third shot good but too far out.
Crap
Looks like McNuggets for me instead of Turkey nuggets and mustard sauce.
We may try again tomorrow morning if I can gather my composure.
 
My son and grandson got these two April 21, about a half mile north of the house. They walked down to the blind about 5:15 AM, and were back home by 7:00. Tyler shot his as it walked by the blind, then son Jim started walking toward the river when he came across two toms fighting. Shot one of them, hunt over.

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My season didn't pan out. I hunted opening day and played with a bird for 2 hours. We got close enough to hear him drum but couldn't pull him away from the hens. Then my daughter came in from Philly for a visit and killed the rest of the season. I did get out one more time and it was a repeat of opening day. Still fun though.
 
My son and grandson got these two April 21, about a half mile north of the house. They walked down to the blind about 5:15 AM, and were back home by 7:00. Tyler shot his as it walked by the blind, then son Jim started walking toward the river when he came across two toms fighting. Shot one of them, hunt over.

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2 nice birds- nothing wrong with harvesting a good one fast!
 
My season didn't pan out. I hunted opening day and played with a bird for 2 hours. We got close enough to hear him drum but couldn't pull him away from the hens. Then my daughter came in from Philly for a visit and killed the rest of the season. I did get out one more time and it was a repeat of opening day. Still fun though.
That's hunting. Next time!
 
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