reeltime

friday and saturday hunts were fun ( well except for the rain saturday) but was in birds both days letting a few 2 year olds walk. no hunting here on sunday so I got more scouting time in first thing in the morning and again late morning and evening. in between all the scouting I worked on digging out the dirt bank along mom and dads house so we could build the barn stone retaining wall as a preparation step for me to form up and pour her cement patio. monday morning I was walking away from the truck at 3:30 am under clear starlit and moon light skies, Finally I was going to get on the ridge above a neighbors barn, I had seen a longbeard up there almost every time I scouted his farm but could never put spurs on him even with the spotting scope. it had rained sunday night till about 10 pm so I figured the fresh planted fields would be hit hard. With the hay being about mid thigh height it didn't take long to be soaked. I had listened to this bird a number of days and knew where he liked roosting. with the bright moon light and 0 wind the last 300 yards was tricky I tried staying under the overhanging limbs of the fencerow trees and moved at a snails pace as I knew that I was in plain sight of the gobbler and his hens, even at 4am it was bright enough I could of seen a turkey on the ground easily at 100 yards. I had already picked out a likely set up tree through the spotting scope but just needed to verify it once I got to the massive old oak tree. It seemed to take forever for the first crow to start up, heard 5 different gobblers anywhere from 300 yards to a mile away, filed all the locations away in the memory bank. by now the temps had taken a big jump and the fog was really building. Finally a hen starts up and he gobbles at her directly across the field from me, but sounded like he was back off the field 50 yards or so. I did a loud flydown with the wing breaking some branches before thumping the ground he bought it hook line and sinker when he double gobbled at me.... he sounded good, I hit him with some soft yelps and clucks and barely got the bomber back in the vest pocket and my hands on the gun when I see him sailing in like a b-52 and he touched down 15 yards from me! I dont think he had 2 toes on the ground before he was in full strut. didn't take me long to see that he was going to get a pass... another lovesick 2 year old. the hens finally flew out to the field and he went strutting down the edge to the vocal hen. once he went over the rise I was on my feet and motoring to one of the other birds that had a decent sounding gobble. we played cat and mouse for a bit but he was with a hen and was not gonna leave her. I backed out and started trolling the edge of an old strip mine when I get blasted by a gobble, I hit the pine tree next to me just as the first bird came into view.....the leader of the rat pack.... 6 jakes. let them all walk away and back on my feet again. did some more trolling and working back to the truck I was up on the high ridge above where I parked and a buddy from ny had sent me a text saying he was headed down wed. night. and wanting to know how it was going. was typing the text when a bird hammers way out in the neighbors field. I eased my way that direction clucking and yelping as I walked the logging road and he was hitting every call. I get set up when I felt I was close enough and he gobbled steady along the edge of the field making his way to the logging road turned right and walked right to me where I had set up in the old log landing area. He too was sporting sub inch spurs so I let him walk away, I get another text from my buddy and text back another 2 yo gotta find a good bird. back at the truck and it was 9:45 I knew where I was going! I get to the farm and sure enough the silage thief is off his little island. there is only 1 little spot to see him from and its almost a mile walk down the creek bed to get to the little strip of trees which run along a near vertical bank of nearly 100 foot rise up to the grain fields. I parked the truck as the farmer was going by he stopped, we chatted for a bit and when I said where I was going and I was after the grain thief he said his brother was there that morning and never heard a gobble. I said if I can get him to gobble after 11 he may get a ride in the truck. he told me I better get moving since he knows my route, and told me he would stay out of there till my truck leaves. I jokingly said I will be back by noon..... down the creek I go get into the finger of trees and work my way along the bottom till I can just barely make out the upper inside corner of the upper field. I unload the gun and literally on hands and knees start scaling the hillside using small trees to pull myself up and using them as basically steps all the way to the top. I get to the old sheep fence the farmer has along the hill to keep the cattle out of danger with the hill and I ease over the fence and set down against a big black walnut tree, I am drenched with sweat its now 11:25. I get all situated slip the bomber out of my vest and do my cluck and yelp series and he cuts me off, thats 1, wait a few minutes yelp into clucks and he cuts me off again thats 2, I wait 5 minutes call again he hits me again a lot closer, thats 3. I wait another 5 minutes call again...nothing time to put the call away and get ready. seems like an eternity before I hear him do his where are you cluck about 30 yards in front of me and then I see the grass waving back and forth coming at me. twice he stretched way up but could not verify it was him. he has slowly weaved through the grass and is now at 20 yards, he periscopes up, still cant verify its the thief, his head looks big enough to be him but I want to make certain its him, I know chances are it is because he has never allowed another gobbler to be with him even through the winter he was alone. Finally he drops into about 3/4 strut with his fan up and its confirmed! no mistaking that tail! I ease the safe off even though I can only see his fan above the grass, finally he periscopes up again and I ease off the safety, crosshairs right on the tip of his beak,,,,,,,,, literally blew him backwards with the shot. I get up walk up to him and fully confirm its the silage thief. we have had some fun hunts the last few years, passed him at 2 & 3 years old, didn't get a chance to hunt him last year but kept tabs on him and then I turned up the heat on him this year and finally it all came together yesterday. filled out my tag, took some pics at 11:45. over the shoulder he went and out around his island and down the tractor path walking past the silage bags. I get down to the road and as I am walking back to the truck I hear the farmer coming up the road on the tractor, he stops and says I don't even have to ask if thats him I see the skinny tail its him,,, well he aughta be good eatin that sumbit did nothing but tear holes in my silage bags so he had easy eats... and by the way you said you would be gone by noon you have 2 minutes to get to your truck as he laughed and drove away. lightweight at 15 lbs. beard 10 1/2" spurs 1 3/8" only 11 tail feathers, his wings were so beat up from fighting I don't even know how he flew up to roost, not worn from strutting, broke off or completely missing wing feathers. he musta been a southpaw cause the left wing was really bad, if he could fly and distance it was probably in a circle.

good luck this morning guys, about to head out here in pa. starting next years scouting today since I tagged out on another good bird yesterday. seemed odd setting the alarm for 4 am,,,, didn't work since I was up by 330 anyway but the extra hour sleep was nice.

had a blast Wednesday after I got to camp, went and checked a local public hunting property and saw a strutter with a couple hens. ended up working on him for 5 hours moving set ups 7 different times to finally break down the hen and got him into 20 yards only to let him walk since it was only a 2 year old. after letting him walk off and clear the area I eased out and headed to a different farm, watched 1 good bird and a satellite gobbler work their way into the woods an hour before dark. I was parked and walking in by 3 am. heard one gobble off in the distance while it was still dark i figured it to be around 4:45 am. the moon finally sank behind the ridge as daylight arrived and not a peep out of either gobbler. the crows had been calling for a while and it was now really light and still not a peep, I had to get up and make something happen. I eased up on top and down a mowed path towards a meadow but just had that feeling that I needed to back off and back up around the bend and get across the path into the woods. I have learned to trust my instincts. I am now in the woods but its really noisy dry, I scratch along about 40 yards and stop right next to a large oak tree, turkey sign is clearly evident as well as the remnants of a bumper mast crop last fall. I ease the burville bomber out and give a few clucks and soft yelps,,,,GGGOOOOOOOOOOBBBBBBLLLE that about blew my hat off. they were close 80 yards or less. I hit the base of the tree and made a scratching sequence as I cleared a spot at my feet and they hammered that. I give them a few soft clucks, purrs and yelps and it sounds like they are in the meadow, why they would want to walk through soaking wet grass and not through the woods is beyond me. guns up eyes searching as I see a head pop up over the little rise from the meadow, a hen, she walks right to me and starts feeding, clucking and purring, even though I have watched turkeys feeding for hundreds of hours I am still amazed that they can swallow acorns whole, the hen is 5 yards from me and now the gobblers are hammering and definitely in the woods. the hen walks out behind me clucking and purring now I can make final adjustments on gun location. just in time as they have not gobbled in a few minutes and they step out from behind a huge oak tree at 15 yards. the problem was I was on the satellite gobbler not the shooter and being that close there was no way to get on him and have the time to make a precise shot since the pattern is really small at that range. I had to let them stand there for probably close to 3 minutes until they started clucking, then they started getting nervous since they couldn't see the hen that had been talking, they turned and started walking away as the shooter walked behind a tree I moved the gun to the right about 4 inches but they were still side by side and I didn't want to kill them both. finally the satellite walked behind a tree and now at 25 yards I eased the safety off and as he stretched up as if taking one last look for the hen I took the shot. Tag 1 filled shortly after 6 am. 10 1/4" paintbrush beard both spurs broken 1 1/8" and 1" a whopping 15 lbs.

Belo, things happen in the moment sometimes they work out sometimes they don't. nothing to be beat up over. anyone and everyone can, has, or will misjudge yardage at some point in their hunting career. in reading your story my only piece of advice for a similar scenario in the future I would suggest that if you get up close to a bird that is obviously still very much alive shoot again, better to pick out more pellets than loose the bird all together. Turkeys are extremely hard to kill if you do not put pellets in the head or break the spine. give me a call and will see if I can be of any help.

I walked from the truck at 4 am and was set up on a familiar point where I knew a good longbeard was hanging out. 5:!5 he revealed his location just across the ravine from me. I knew since he roosted farther west of me it would be tough if not impossible to get him to cross the big ravine and creek, my only chance off the roost was to convince him to fly over to me first thing. no matter what I did he decided to fly down right at the base of his roost tree. I took a good mental note of the location and got up and trolled south trying to get one to hit me, I got caught up with a vocal hen and had some fun with her for a little while but she was alone and I let her walk off to finish churning up the leaves. continued on my journey with no response from a gobbler. I was now back close to where I started and dropped down through the ravine and crossed the creek and got up on the next bench and was soon close to his roost tree. My first calls from the Burrville Bomber were cut off with double gobbles from 2 birds. I made a few more calls and each time they were cut off by both gobblers. I eased ahead 60 yards and let them know I was on the move and their response let me know they were closing the distance in a hurry. I got set up and a few more calls to verify their progress and then I went silent. They didn't gobble for a while and then one of them gobbled and they were closer. I let them gobble again before giving them more calling, they were now under 100 yards and all the deer out in front of me were giving away their location since they all had their heads up and staring in the direction of the last gobbles. Finally I see 2 gobblers working through the beech brush headed NW which was gonna have them pass just out of range. They also had a hen with them, I allowed them to walk by and get to the NW of me out the bench about 80 yards then gave them some soft clucks and yelps on the bomber, they all spun around and shortly were 40 yards and closing with the hen now on a deliberate and steady vocal march right to me. There was no way to shoot as I would have killed them both and the hen was now 15 feet from me and had slowed down but still walking towards me. The hen is now less than 5 feet from me but the 2 longbeards are side by side and still no shot, now she is 3 feet and purring softly, 2 feet purring harder and now a loud cluck, both gobblers separate and are now at 20 yards, the hen is within 2 feet of the gun barrel I purr on the diaphragm and she sharp clucks which causes both gobblers to break strut and extend up. My crosshairs were already on the smaller bodied gobbler as I knew what he was sporting for spurs. At the shot the hen bowled over backwards as the gobbler hit the ground, she got up looked at me, looked at the other gobbler standing there looking at the one on the ground and they both walked away slowly. I sat there as the walked away and once they were out of sight I got up and walked over to my bird. Just as I knew a good dominate lightweight bird with 1 1/4" spurs. 9 3/4 " beard and a whopping 17 lbs. he has been pretty busy fending off intruders from his hens over the last month and it was evident he was a scrapper.

after letting him walk yesterday I was back again this morning and made a bold move of waling directly under his hens to get to a better position. The fog was thick and I honestly had little hopes of hearing much gobbling. I got to the area where the hens were probably about 4 am, took me close to an hour to slowly move 100 yards to my favorite turkey tree, they never moved and I could see the hens with their heads tucked in setting in the beech trees. I also and most importantly didn't bust any deer. As I eased down on my turkey seat next to one of my favorite large maple trees it was faintly dawning light and the air was heavy with moisture. As darkness gave up its hold to daylight he finally gave away his position and was actually farther out than where he went to roost. I let him gobble a few times and then gave a few soft clucks and light yelps on the burrville bomber and one of his 4 hens went ballistic yelping and hard cutting. I let things settle down and when I felt it was light enough for him to be comfortable flying down I did a flydown with the wing and right into a series of clucks and yelps on the bomber, He starting double and triple gobbling and was now facing me and the hen was really going ballistic. I again allowed things to settle down and heard her pitch out in front of me at less than 80 yards. I yelped to her and she answered making him gobble and he was now on the ground but relatively close to his roost tree. I turned up the heat on the next series and threw in some purr putts on the single reed diaphragm call, he hammered me with a quad gobble and the hen walked away from him. As I scanned the darker woods and the fog blanketed field he finally gobbled again and I knew he was on the logging road where it entered the field. I clucked to him on the bomber and gave some real soft purr putts and he again quad gobbled and gave his position away as he was now in the field. I was in perfect position and soon saw his snow white head and large barrel shaped body slowly strutting and drumming coming up the field edge closing the distance and looking hard for the hen that was doing the talking. As he closed the distance and I was able to verify that it was indeed the monarch and not the satellite gobbler I eased the safety off as he cleared the last obstacle between us and as he stopped and stretched up to look for the hen again I settled the crosshairs on his neck and took the shot. I have shot a lot of birds in all kinds of weather and a good number in about the same conditions as this morning but for the first time this morning I can distinctly remember seeing what I can only describe as a vapor trail of the shot pattern and actually saw the wad hit the gobbler just as he crumpled to the ground. At 6:20 am the monarch was down and I walked to him with an awkwardly calm feeling. I was finally able to verify everything I had seen through binoculars and the spotting scope. He lacked in spur length from what I would normally shoot but he more than made up for it with beards,, yup beardS 3 of them. 21 lbs 1 inch sharp spurs 5.5 , 7, and 11 inch beards. taken with my grandsons 20 ga. 2.75" federal heavyweight 7's I hate taking pictures of wet gobblers, they rarely ever turn out looking nice. http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a367/reeltime/Mobile%20Uploads/2016-05/20160502_065046_zpsgmcofmkm.jpg http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a367/reeltime/Mobile%20Uploads/2016-05/20160502_064945_zpszqplli29.jpg

congrats on a great hunt

I am trying to figure out how to post the video's. any help would be appreciated.

we took our 9yo grandson Gavin to camp for the youth hunt that happened on Saturday. Gavin and I left Thursday afternoon so we would be there before dark to do some scouting and then be out Friday morning to scout. The bird I had been watching was mia Thursday evening and again Friday morning but I did find him right back where he had been the last 3 weeks Friday evening just before dark and just before the torrential rain started and put him to bed. It finally quit raining about 11pm and was partly cloudy and full moon when I got up at 3:30, had Gavin and Scott up by 4 and was on the road to the spot by 4:30. I walked across the big field, which was about 400 yards from the truck. we timed our walking with the clouds as they covered the moon. We got to the spot I wanted to set up and got the blind up and a hen decoy set up, again only moving when we had cover of darkness. when it would get bright out we would stop, hunker down to try and keep off the skyline. had everything set up and was situated in the blind well before legal shooting time. He didn't gobble till almost 6 am. and he was in a tree about 100 yards behind us. I let him do his thing and knew he had 2 hens with him. I did a flydown with the wing and then gave him some soft clucks and yelps... The moisture was really killing the sound of my burrville bomber. He finally followed his hens out into the field and would strut up to 60 yards then go back to his hens. we played that game till 6:45 when I went silent on him. shortly after 7am he gobbles along the woods edge. I make a call and he cuts me off and it was game on. He loved what he was hearing so I got him fired up and then fell silent again once he came up the edge of the field committed to finding the sassy hen. we go Gavin all set and finally the bird worked up into the open and with the aid of the caldwell system shooting pod he could stay steady on his target, little did I know what scene was going to transpire was one we had reviewed many times on Friday while scouting. The bird strutted up through the field and it was obvious once he got to a certain point he could see the decoy. at this point it was all up to Gavin and the gobbler, when he extended up to look at the decoy Gavin had the crosshairs centered on the gobblers neck and took the shot. From my results on the pattern board to the results on the live bird that little 20 ga with the federal heavyweight 7's is a deadly combination! For 9 years old he did fantastic by making sure he was steady on the target and squeezed the trigger and not jerk the trigger. it was a pretty happy moment for all.

the only state I have hunted that allows all day hunting is Pa. and that is only the last 2 weeks. I generally go the last week of the season so that I have less chances of hunter interference and the older gobblers are more prone to play. I rarely hunt afternoons even though its legal, the birds don't want to come to calls, its hot, buggy, and it makes for a long long day when I leave camp at 3 am. myself personally from what I have seen is that when you have all day hunting although it gives folks more time in the woods it also brings out the bad element in some people. I see WAY more "road" hunting than folks being in the woods, there is way more roost shooting and more trespassing issues. I would like to see the cutoff time backed down to 5 or 6 pm to cut down on the roost shooting. While its true we don't see many hens we kicked off the nest I am sure that we kick off many that we never even knew were there, they just quickly and quietly move off and let us pass by then go back to the nest. I have not seen a great impact on our populations around camp with the extra hunting time and with going to an extra gobbler tag. our populations were and are good as we have not contend with the harsh winters and have been lucky to have decent nesting weather. As far as here in NY our populations are down considerably from even 5 years ago, while its true that gobbler harvests have a minimal effect on populations as a rule when you have a small population taking gobblers can and will affect your population especially when your populations are really low. It takes both a gobbler and hen to produce fertile eggs, if the population is so low that you take out the only gobbler in the area your not doing yourself any favors by shooting him. Its even more important today in a large portion of upstate to know your populations and make a decision whether or not you should hunt that gobbler or let him go. is it a hard decision.... YES, especially when your talking about a bird we love to hunt, but in the long run you may be better off. With dropping the fall season to 2 weeks it saved some birds, while yes it stung a little as a fall hunter in the long run it may help the populations but is only 1 factor in the population equation. The biggest factor is the one we have no control over and that is the weather. consecutive years of wet June's has really hurt our populations, while its true we have had decent July and August weather the later in the summer the hatches happen the the higher your winter juvenile mortality is. We really need a weather break this year to help bring up our numbers.

yes he is Dan. he also makes a nice glass call as well.

while the burrville bomber can crank out some loud calls for locating, it can also be toned down for some sweet limb talk, one thing is for sure they are a deadly call mine will always have a place in my vest.

yup some think its divine intervention, and some also think with the almighty crossbow, 50 + yard shots are ok.... but then again some compound shooters think the same thing.

the antlerless season failed not because of equipment, it failed because it was basically done behind closed doors, announced late in the summer, essentially trying to force the season an antlerless only down hunters throats, but the single greatest reason it failed is because of the single biggest issue the DEC can not control,,,, hunter ACCESS! It doesn't matter how many tags are given, how many days are given, what weapons are allowed,,,Its pretty simple to understand that hunters can NOT kill deer they can NOT get access to. there are far too many small parcels completely locked down for access to anyone that give a large number of deer a safe sanctuary during the season, and it doesn't take long for the deer to figure that out. If you think the almighty crossbow is going to bring the population under control in a single year you are delusional, if gun hunters can not get the populations under control how are such a small number of crossbow shooters going to do it especially when a vast majority of the deer go nocturnal once season starts.

my 835 loves the winchester extended range in either 5 or 6 shot pretty close in pattern to the nitro shells I used to shoot. I did a lot of barrel work and choke tube matching but I finally got a great pattern matched up. 242 pellets in a 10" circle at 40 yards. no doubt over the last 10 years the market has been flooded with the next greatest turkey killing shotshell and I am sure that matched with the right gun and choke all will do the trick. i would say that some time on the bench will be needed, if for nothing else building confidence in your setup. nothing worse than setting there with a bird coming in and that little bit of doubt eating away at you if your not 100 % confident in your setup.

on my camp. I have been moving mounts down to camp each trip, space is becoming scarce and its starting to get the appearance of being cluttered with everything. Basically there is no open / usable corner, flat top cabinet, and even open wall space is getting scarce. The even bigger deciding factor of needing to add on is what is still at the taxidermists or in the freezer to be dropped off yet. I'm thinking its going to be 12x 16 with an 8 ft deck on the west side, full 8 ft. walls and will go with a cathedral ceiling to gain me more sq. footage on the gable ends. some of the stuff that made the trip last night this one is on the built in dresser in the master bedroom. this guy is setting on what will likely now become a call display cabinet until I can build one with enough room. this one is setting on a stand in the living room until I can design and build a corner elevated glass case to put him in. the photo behind him was taken 3 weeks prior to me killing him and about 200 yards from the spot. at the top of the stairs for now, I do not care for it there at all but it was the only available space even bookcases and the grandkids bedroom walls are not exempt at this point.

welcome aboard laturkeyhtr good to see you on here.

sorry to hear this Eddie, my condolences to your family

I also have one of these boards made by Paul, its on my livingroom wall at camp.

what about a hold on new membership? its been so long since I joined I don't remember if it was just a sign up and go or there was a waiting period. I know back when I was a moderator on a different site the spammers were a major PITA.

happy birthday papabear

I have been stopped a number of times by town/county/state police, always in May as I am on the roads just after "closing time" on my way turkey hunting. first thing I do is put my wallet on the dash and then both windows down and hands on the top of the steering wheel. as soon as the officer or officers get to the window I tell them there is a firearm in the vehicle its unloaded but just so you know there is a firearm in the vehicle. every time they have thanked me for informing them, each time they give an excuse as to why they stopped me and always ask if there is an issue with my license which there isn't they go back to the car and then hand me back my stuff and their most common question then is why would I be going turkey hunting at 2 or 3 am. I just tell them I have a long walk to get where I want to be before daylight. All of my encounters with them have been pleasant and I understand they are just doing their jobs and can fully comprehend why they would be more than a little unsettled to walk up and be surprised looking in the back seat and seeing a gun in view or partially covered and not being informed of that firearm being there. The way I feel about it is if the roles were reversed would I rather be informed or surprised.... I would rather know up front and even more so with what is happening in today's world.

make sure you don't use the slippery plastic heat shrink like is used for shrink wrapping electrical wires. I know the wrap on my summit cable is more of a rubber type of tubing vs the slick style like the shrink tubing I use for electrical work. my feelings are that the cable is one of the contact points for the stand, certainly nothing to experiment with. 20.00 -vs- 40.00 for 20 bucks I am not taking a chance of putting the wrong stuff on there and having the stand slip because I tried to save 20.00. I would buy the cable from summit and keep the old one as a spare but that's just me.

happy birthday Doc. have a GREAT day.