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Had a friend ask me to take her turkey hunting, so we set out this am at 510. walked 200 yards and i gave an owl hoot, and had a bird anser about 75 yards away. we snuck in and set up 60 yards or so from the tom. tom. a hen started calling to our left and after 15 or so minutes of gobbling the bird pitched down and went toward the hen. a calling contest ensued for the next hour with several jakes and other hens joining the group 50 yards below us. finally the boss hen started to drag the tom away, but not before a jack came in range of her 20 guage gun at 12 yards... her aim was slightly off as she hit some brush in front of it and the bird managed to get airborne and landed in a tree. the other birds got quiet but we didnt move. after 5 min of watching the bird swaying on its roost limb, it dropped to the ground. i told her i stand up and see if it was dead. i could see it with its head up about 45 yards from us. asecond shot finished it. she had her first bird!!! as birds erupted from all around the flat and looking to my left i saw a jake standing in bewilderment about 50 yards from me. a quick shot from my 835 and the double was complete!

The Browning laid to rest this lonely 2 year old yesterday morning at 6:35. Counting last weekend'syouth hunt, makes 3 birds down in 4 days!!!

Well Friday and Saturday morning were busts where we had the birds gobbling opening day. Not a peep. Covered a lot of ground too. I had to head home, Saturday afternoon so packed up and said good bye to the parents and brother, and headed back down to Orange County. We had a BBQ over at some friends for the race, and then I headed out to roost some birds in Sterling Forest which is very close to home and where I do a lot of hunting. TL;DR - Roosted a bird last night, snuck in real close (closer than I wanted), got a great tree show, dropped him at 40 yrds. 20lbs 9.5" beard and 7/8" spurs ". Pics below On the way in to roost I saw some bird land on a ridge line, but they never made any noise. So I walked in a bit deeper and just sat and listened for an hour but didn’t hear anything, so I gave it a hoot around 8:15 and nothing. Started walking out, and stopped where there is a nice valley between two hills and gave it a hoot. BOOM!! There he was!! Pulled out the map and figured out where he was and marked it for the morning. 3:50 AM this morning the first alarm goes off and I am out of bed by 4:10. Gear on and out the door by 4:30. Pulled in to the lot by 4:40. And tripping on sticks and holes in the dark by 5. Went in a little bit and just listened for a while hoping he would sound off, but nothing. It was starting to get lighter out and I wanted to make sure I had time to reposition, so I gave a hoot and BOOM!! There he was. I figured he was about 200 yrds away right on a ridge line, right about where I pegged him to be last night. So I start pussy footing it over in the direction of the ridge line, quiet as I can be. He gobbles again while I am walking and think I should close the distance a bit more. The whole time I am walking I am scanning the trees looking for hens or other birds. I find a tree that looks good and do a scan for a better tree (grass is always greener right??) and see one that I like and start moving over there. That’s when I see him, about 40 yrds away!! Closer than I wanted to be!! So I slowwwwlllly get back to my first tree at sit down as slow as I can. As I am sitting down he starts gobbling again. For the next 45 minutes I got to watch him gobble and strut on that tree branch. It was quite a show. It’s amazing to me he didn’t fall off. He was gobbling about once every 5 minutes, and all I wanted to do was tell him to shut up so he didn’t attract anymore hens or hunters . Around 6 he flew down, going away from me. That was actually the best case for me, well maybe second best, and I could still see him strutting around. On the ground he was quiet for a while, but as hens started flying down to him he was heating up again. I kept the calling very low key, a cluck or two every once in a while to know there was another hen for here. After about 10 minutes of him strutting around at 50 yrds behind some trees with 2 hens, a third hen comes in from my left. He sees her and starts moving to her, right towards one of my open windows. He continued that way and right into my window and boom went the 870 and he folded right there. It was a 40 yrd shot, and that is about as far as I would comfortably shoot a bird but it was true.

5/4 9:50am, 19lbs, 7 1/2" beard, 7/8" Spurs: His feathers surely did take a beating...I told the story on the Spring Turkey Report Thread: http://huntingny.com/forums/index.php?/topic/22421-TURKEY-REPORTS---SPRING-2014/page__view__findpost__p__300925 My first turkey harvest with the bow! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

JMHO. but I think some of you are leaving the woods to soon. I have found over the last 40yrs. that the toms will start talking again around 10 -11 in the Am. Hang in there & try one loud blast from a crow call as a locater call & listen for the gobble then work him. Just a suggestion.

Well we are home already,between the rain and wind my lil huntress was froze.They got within the 40 yard mark and I have her 20 gauge patterned out to 35 with a decent pattern.I know she could have taken one out but she didn't feel comfortable because she was shaking like a leaf on a tree and she wanted to hold off for a closer shot.I am very proud of her,she has learned a ton this year!!

My brother in law got a jake this am also OK heres the story now that I am done with cleaning the bird and doing a few things around the house.Got to the farm at 5am,loaded up and headed out.The night before we saw 2 birds heading into the block of woods but didn't see where they went after they went in and it was an hour before sundown so I know they would be in a different roost.My friend wanted to sit right where the birds went in so I went over to were I figure they roosted.I was within 30 yards of where I wanted to sit when a one gobbled on the roost,I knew I was going to be in the right spot!! I got under a big cherry and started to clear the leaves when a big flock busted 20 yards to my left.I thought that was it the birds are gone,so I settled in for the long sit.After 15 minutes I heard a gobble so I knew he was still there.I let out a few purrs and watched him fly down from the roost at 625,he and another the same size came strutting in and when they hit the 40 yard mark I let him have it.The other just sat there like he had a "WTF" look on him.,not moving just a few clucks.He was down for the count so I just watched his buddy and hoped he would run by my friend.No such luck so that ended my day.Now its my daughters turn,she wanted to spend the night at a friends and she is regretting that!!!!LOL

After not hearing one gobble all yesterday this morning started out great! Walking in i could hear birds gobbling on the roost a bunch! got to my blind (pre set-up) right @ 5:30 and quickly put out a feeding hen decoy and setup in the blind... i lightly yelped a few times to get the attention of the gobbler in the roost 150 yrds or so from where i was... he fired up right away gobbling like mad! once he flew down he pretty much came on the run an stopped @ about 40 yards strutting and gobbling... i just sat there for close to 1/2 an hour and enjoyed the show, calling every little while to keep him fired up... i wasnt gonna shoot cause i was thinking "ahhh too small prob a jake" at about 6:20 he came in to10 yards i couldnt resist anymore and decided to put a round of #3's thru his neck... upon closer inspection i found he actualy is a good sized bird! with an 8 1/2" beard and 1" spurs! all in all it was an awesome morning!!!!! cant wait to get my 2nd bird now!!! i just realized as i was posting this that the tag wasnt on the turkey when i was taking pics so i ran out and snapped another pic showing the tag as stated in the contest rules... Redneck ingenuity when taking pics blind stool works great for propping up fan lol

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=goBXdYIOqUY

Picked up the rug today, came out good. Also looked up the 2013 bear take from the DEC stats. and she was the only bear taken in the town I hunt and was 1 of only 8 taken for all of Otsego county. Find myself very fortunate to harvest this huge sow , she went 260lbs. Now just waiting patiently for DEC to send me her age. Here's a picture of her laid out on grass then up on wall.

nice job, I better come down soon before you start charging for the guide service!LOL

Spotted a road shed yesterday afternoon. Went to pick it up and ended up spotting the other half only a few feet away. The small 8-pt set makes 35 for the season...

Congrats on the bow kill!

hey no fair your hogging all of the sun over there!!LOL Great bird and congrats on getting him with the bow!!

Have 2 around me since 5:45 can't get them in... been playing hard to get. Haven't heard them in awhile. Sent from my DROID RAZR HD using Tapatalk

On state land got a bird gobbling 100 yards ahead of me was chasing him yesterday but ran out of time

Fillet the breast into thin cultlets. Place a slice of prosciutto (Orif cheap boilr ham) and swiss cheese on the cutlet and roll (use toothpicks to keep closed). Drench in flour . Salt and pepper the cutlet. In a pan melt butter and saute the cutlets. When slightly browned add some white wine,chicken broth and finely sliced mushrooms. Cover until done (Do not overcook.) Serve with parsley buttered red potatoes. Boil the thighs and legs making a great turley consumee. (Throw throw the drumsticks out) and chop the thighs to be made as a turkey salad.

You'll just think of the memories of the hunt everytime you see the scar...Congrats on the bird!

He had a 9" beard with 1" spurs and weighed in at 20 lbs. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Took down a nice gobbler today after not hearing a single bird for the first two days. My buddy and I heard 4 gobblers on the roost who quickly went quiet after fly down. We picked up our things and started to move when a hen came in all fired up cutting and yelping. She didn't bring any of her boyfriends with her. After she left we moved around trying to locate some birds when we came up on a gobbler who was hot to trot. We set up the decoys and started calling. He came in all fired up to my jake hen decoy setup around 9:45 AM, that's when I showed him the business end of my Remington 870, 12 gauge. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

636 this morning,21 pounds 8 1/4 inch beard and 1 inch spurs

Here is a Bumper sticker that I would like to get ........... Honk if you love Jesus Text while driving if you want to meet Him !

Bagged one at 6:05 this morning. Beard was 8-1/4", spurs were both a hair over 7/8", and even though it doesn't count, he weighed 20lbs. 9oz.

opening day no gobbling untill 8:30 then let loose like mad till about 9:30... yesterday zip! didnt hear one gobble from 5 am till noon.... today gobbling like mad while still on the roost and thru fly down right up until the time i pulled the trigger @ 6:20 oh and im in 6G

these little guys wouldn't leave, got some video I'll add later

My 12 yr old's first bird. Got him on Sunday in Youth Season. Thanks for the youth season - my kid's hooked. 9" beard 1" spurs