alloutdoors

This is my first Osceola, taken on a WMA hunt last spring. Mike Mizelle (Blackwing Turkeys) did the taxidermy work. His work is world class and I can't recommend him highly enough. I'll let the photos speak for themselves. I added the artificial greenery myself, otherwise this is how it came out of the shipping crate.

I don't think it's the blind that let's you sit all day, it's the chair you are in. Get a Gobbler Lounger and you can accomplish the same thing. My point was I would rather have a longer season, but to offset that I would get rid of some of the things that have made turkey hunting less challenging to balance out the hunting pressure.

It's not. The guy that throws his gun (presumably with a live round chambered and safety off) after first trying to grab a gobbler and then missing it twice tells you all you need to know about the mentality of these individuals. It wouldn't bother me nearly as much if they shot the birds at 20 yards, but this desire to nearly touch one with the barrel before pulling the trigger is just "look at me" showboating nonsense and is pretty clearly a great way to wound a lot of birds or destroy a lot of meat and that is just completely unacceptable.

I'll take A, but outlaw decoys and popup blinds.

As has been said, that's a two year old. Most of the weights seem to be down this year from the hard winter. My second bird this year was at least three and maybe older, only weighed 19.5 lbs. Usually on that farm they are 22-25 lbs at that age.

Usually skin them, and have several ways to prepare them. My favorite is cut into kabobs, marinated in Wishbone Italian dressing, wrapped in bacon, and grilled on a skewer with chunks of Vidalia onion, peppers, salt potatoes, and whatever other veggies you like. Veggies should be marinated in the dressing too. Breaded and fried turkey medallions with morel mushroom gravy is hard to beat too.

I killed one a few years ago on Mothers Day. I had spent the previous two days zeroing in on his roost, I knew one more morning would do it. I told my wife I was going to go kill the turkey and be back before she woke up to make her breakfast in bed. I got my bird and she woke up to French toast, everyone was happy!

Took a friend, located a gobbler with an owl call, and got set up inside of 80 yards. The bird was fired up on the limb, we didn't hear any hens and he probably gobbled 100 times if not more after just a few tree yelps. A little past legal shooting time I used my hat to do a flydown and then gave a few louder clucks and yelps. About twenty minutes later he pitched off the limb with his hens (turns out they were there all along), and landed thirty yards in front of us. My friend promptly missed him clean. Sigh. He's only got a couple gobblers under his belt, both taken with me, and I think all the gobbling shook him up.

Ok, this is just my opinion so take it for what it's worth. I think some of you really need to get these kids out of those blinds. Don't take this the wrong way, I've shot birds from a blind myself and they can be very effective at hiding a kid but it also has to be the most mind numbingly boring way to hunt turkeys that there is, and I think some of you are seeing that expressed in the restlessness of these kids. Unless you are setup where you have a front row seat right when they fly down you are going to be sitting watching the same unchanging scenery out of a small window for some unknown period of time. A blind just throws up an unnecessary barrier between you and the world around you, you become more of a spectator than a participant. It's no wonder the kids are getting bored. Even on a small property where you still might have to stay put in one place, I would much rather sit against a tree and feel the breeze on my face, feel the first few rays of sun as they take off the morning chill, smell the dampness in the spring air, and watch a meadow vole scurry through the leaves a few feet from my boots. A blind eliminates or diminishes a lot of these experiences and sensations. If a squirrel runs past the front of your blind it's no big deal and no different than watching one at the bird feeder in your yard. When the same squirrel jumps over your legs it's a completely different story. A blind changes the hunting experience too, if a bird sneaks in and gobbles from behind your blind it may startle you but it's nothing like the tension when you are in the open leaning against a tree and you know you can't move a muscle. Spend less time worrying about making a kill and focus on selling them on the full experience. If that means they learn the hard way why you have to sit still, so be it. It will mean that much more when they do get a bird. For what it's worth, nobody in my immediate family hunts. My first spring turkey hunting I was 14, and I had to teach myself and I didn't have a blind to sit in and didn't need a smartphone or game pad or any thing else to keep entertained. I simply wanted to be there. The simple truth may be that some of these kids just aren't interested in being there, but I would try to make sure they get to have the full turkey hunting experience before making that evaluation (and I'm not referring to making a kill).

No worries, I have plenty of guys to call for, I'm far from done. I get just as much fun calling one up for someone else, pulling the trigger is the easy part.

Two days in and my season is done. Opening day a buddy and I set up on the edge of a field near where some birds have been flying down from the roost. Shortly after it got light the birds started pitching into the field but they landed just out of range and began slowly moving in the opposite direction from us. Three hens and a gobbler split off from the larger group and headed for parts unknown, but the rest of the birds spend the next couple of hours just wandering around the field they had flown down into. There is a small hill in the field so they were coming in and out of sight during that time. When they worked their way to the lowest corner of the field I took the opportunity to reposition on them, while my buddy stayed put since part of the flock seemed to be making a big circle and we thought they might come all the way back around. I got up to the high point along the hedgerow and could see two gobblers and three hens in the low corner. I got settled in and gave a few calls trying to get the hens fired up but had little effect. Probably 10 minutes passed and I noticed a flash of movement behind the turkeys, only to realize it was a coyote trying to blitz them. The birds saw him coming and scattered. They put about 70 yards between themselves and the coyote and then settled back down a bit, with the coyote still standing in the field corner. Now the two gobblers seemed very much inclined to come check out the calling they had heard earlier, probably figuring it was safer there than over with the coyote. At 30 yards the lead gobbler met a swarm of HW 7's and went down in a heap. It was still relatively early so we headed for another farm to try and get my buddy a bird, and saw a gobbler with hens in the neighbors field when we got there. Now some background, I've asked that neighbor several times for permission on their property, but was politely declined each time. They had trouble in the past with slob hunters and trespassers and didn't want to deal with it anymore. I stopped asking several years ago. We slipped in on the property I do have permission on and got up close to the line to try and draw the gobbler across. Long story short, the gobbler ended up working all the way to the fence but stopped about 5 feet from crossing it. He was easily within range, but his life was saved by a single strand of electric fence. The birds worked off into the woods and we followed on our side of the line, but although he answered us from time to time he wasn't about to leave his harem. Where it got interesting was when we walked back out to my vehicle. The neighbor came riding up on his ATV and apparently had seen the entire thing go down with the gobbler hanging up by the fence. He was so impressed that we didn't shoot that he gave permission to come back and go for the bird on his side of the line! I wasn't going to pass up and offer like that, so this morning found me setting up a couple decoys in the field near where I've seen the birds fly down dozens of times over the past several years. As it got light I could see the gobbler and five of his hens roosted right on the field edge. Once his hens started to talk a bit I sent them a few clucks and purrs and then sat back to see how things would unfold. Eventually the hens began pitching down right in front of me. The gobbler was the last one to fly down and I had to wait for him to get clear of his hens, but once he did I ended my morning and season with a shot at 20 yards. The coyote gobbler. 20lbs 9oz, 1" spurs, 8 1/2" beard. Gobbler number two. 20lbs 13oz, 1" and 1 1/8" spurs, 9 1/2" beard.

One down here around 8 this morning, working on one for my hunting partner now.

Less than ideal conditions yesterday afternoon, but had to help a friend sight in his gun so I took the chance to take a verifying shot myself. Even with it being kind of cold out I was happy with the results. Come on Friday! Benelli M2 20ga, 3" 1.5oz Fed HW 7's, SumToy .562-5, 40 yards

I never really unpacked after my Osceola hunt in March, I'm good to go.

Congrats bud, glad you guys had a good trip!

I don't have anything against using decoys and they can be very effective. I've used them in the past and will continue to use them when the conditions call for it. I use them less and less every year though, because to answer your question on what I prefer, I get far more of a thrill knowing I brought a bird in with just my calling. When it's just you, the bird, and your calling, and you make a kill, you have truly earned it. I personally don't get nearly the same sense of accomplishment from birds I've taken over decoys or by ambushing. Also, when I was using decoys a lot and hunting with my bow I thought the best part of turkey hunting was watching a tom come in and tear up a jake decoy 10 yards in front of me. My opinion on that has completely changed though. Now I would say the biggest thrill in turkey hunting is the anticipation when you know a gobbler has committed to your calling but is slipping through the woods to your setup unseen. When he gobbles from inside 30 yards and you still haven't seen him, your heart will nearly jump out of your chest. To me, that is what turkey hunting is all about.

My highest scoring bird is this GA triple beard, 20lbs 1oz, 1 1/8" and 1" spurs, 11 1/8", 9 1/2" and 8 1/2" beards. Best typical bird was this NY gobbler I took with my bow, 23lbs 15oz, 10 5/16" beard, 1 7/16" spur and a 1" spur that was busted off.

http://www.ableammo.com/catalog/federal-premium-shok-heavyweight-shotshells-pht258f7-gauge-1100-tungsten-shot-rdbx-p-109804.html Currently in stock.

Sorry about that, I was looking at that on my iPad and it wasn't displaying the page properly. 7's seem to be scarce this year.

Wish you could still find them for $15 a box. Good thing I bought a case at that price.

http://www.sportsmansguide.com/product/index/5-rounds-federal-premium-mag-shok-20-gauge-3-heavyweight-turkey-load-shells?a=1587296

Yeah, I should have said certain tighter chokes. As I said above it's a finicky wad. Choke internals have a lot to do with it. The SumToy and IC do very well with the HW7 20ga loads though.

The 20ga shells have a softer wad and don't seem to have that problem. That said, it's a finicky wad and requires the right choke.

In theory the flightcontrol wad is supposed to be designed for tubes that are much more open than that. Based on some of the results I've seen you would probably be able to crack the 100 hits in 10" at 40yds benchmark without much trouble, probably with a bit of wiggle room. The real eye popping numbers from those shells typically seem to come from the tighter chokes though like the .562 SumToy or the .555 Indian Creek. With temps in the 60's my SumToy is pretty consistently around 180 hits, at 30° it still throws 130+.

Do it, especially if you are setting it up for Fed HW 7's. William has those shells figured out. I run the .562-5 in my M2 and it's scary good.