WNY Bowhunter

I really don't have much experience with using owl hooting for locating gobblers here in NY, but the owls absolutely lit the birds up in KY when I was there a few weeks ago. I don't use the owl call for two reasons: first...the last one that I bought was very tough for me to us (way tougher than running a turkey call) and secondly, I don't need one because I have total faith in my crow call. I use mine from preseason scouting in early April all through season with the same results. All crow calls are not created equal...I've been using a Hook's Harrison crow call for the past few seasons and it's awesome...it's loud and obnoxious and gets the birds to gobble even when you have to force it out of them (literally). It's funny, I've had several instances this spring where the birds completely ignored the real crows but would respond to me every time. Last weekend was the last time I was out and there was a bird gobbling his head off on the ridge below us...we were thinking about moving on him...I hit the crow call and another one gobbled less than 100 yds from us, he had hens roosted right with him and wasn't in the gobbling mood but I could still get him to sound off to my crow. I don't have dinosaur experience either, but after 2 decades of hunting NY gobblers, I KNOW that they will gobble to crow calls all season long and I KNOW (or rather knew) a bunch of longbeards that have paid dearly for opening their beaks to give away their presence after hearing one.

It's been a good spring, guess I can update a few of these categories... New best overall bird: Heaviest to date: 24# gobbler from KY Overall biggest that I've ever taken part in Killing: My wife's KY bird @ 24.5#, 11" beard, 1 3/8, 1 1/4" spurs

I went out this morning with a friend after a big ole strutter that I saw out in one of his farm leased fields yesterday morning. At 5:05 a bird started hammering in the woods below us but he was a little ways off and then another bird started gobbling closer to us. The distant one carried on gobbling his head off until he hit the ground then went silent. The closer tom is the one I believe I saw strutting out in the field yesterday. He's had hens with him all the time for the past month and he didn't need to gobble as much because he already had girlfriends nearby. I got him a little interested in the calling until a hen flew down behind us and went to him. At that point he would gobble back at my crow call but was getting farther away each time...

I agree on all counts. First, the bird in the photo is an adult tom with a short beard. Look at the wing covert feathers...they tell the story (as do the spurs). Also, your limits are spot on for my area too...

http://www.turkeyandturkeyhunting.com/turkey-scratchings/brian-lovett-blog/turkeys-365-all-about-turkey-beards When trying to determine whether a is a two year old or 3+ look at the tips of the beard under a light source... The beard on the left has orange/amber coloration on the tips = 2 year old. The beard on the right has no orange tint at all because his beard has had an extra year to grow and the intitial "jake tip" portion of his beard has been worn off = 3 years or older

Here's a trail cam pic from back in January...

That sucks!!! I have to figure out how to preserve all the beards in one piece. It's so much simplier with only one beard...lol.

Yes, I killed this guy in Steuben County. Tried to get him registered but had to be to work at noon so I ended up cutting him up instead...

No, I did not see the extra beards before I shot him this morning or on monday. The main beard is 9.5" and the extra are all 2.5 - 4.5" and would be almost impossible to see on the live bird. I do have trail cam pics of him before season. I know that he was the one that I missed because I've only been hearing one bird and he's been roosting in the same tree...right where this one was this morning.

I missed a gobbler monday morning and I've been feeling bad over the whole ordeal ever since. Misses happen, but in this case...looking back...I realize that the shot was marginal and I never should have pulled the trigger. Fast forward to this morning... I decided to go back after the bird that I'd shot at to see if he was still around. He has been roosted in the same exact spot on a gully bank for the past several times that I've been there. He's had hens roosted around him and they all pitch down in to the open hardwood flat below. This is where I missed him the other day, but I was on top not in the bottom where I should have been. This morning, however, I decided to set up in the hardwood flat where he's been landing. At 5:20 he gobbled right where he was supposed to be about 50 yds away and I felt better about the miss since I knew now that he wasn't laying dead in the woods some where. He gobbled two more times on the roost...a hen flew down behind me...I got ready...a couple of minutes later he glides down and lands 25 yds away right in front of the gun barrel...BOOM...game over at 5:45!!! The coolest part of the whole thing is that this bird has 5 beards!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Will post pics later...

Congrats, sounds like a cool hunt. About 10 yrs ago I was hunting with my dad and called in a hens that strutted and even gobbled a couple of times!!! Good luck in Canada!!!

I took the day off to recuperate. I threw up an airball at a nice longbeard yesterday morning...

After the winter that we had it is very surprising that the birds are weighing in so high this spring. We have killed 4 longbeards in the family so far (all two year olds)and currently the lightest is mine at 19.5. The other three went 22, 22.75 and a 23.5 pounder that my cousin shot today. This bird breaks the record for the heaviest in the family. The old record was 23# that my dad killed 20 years ago and that is out of approx. 150 adult toms over the years...

Awesome!!! I've killed a couple with my bow in the fall but always wanted to stick an arrow in a spring gobbler...

Looks tasty!

Awesome!!!

The birds here in my stomping grounds are extremely henned up right now and have been very unresponsive to calling. They gobble a little on the roost then shut up as soon as their feet touch the ground. Today, I decided to hunt a gobbler that I'd seen for the past couple of mornings strutting out in a cornfield. He's had several hens with him so I decided that my best bet was to set my blind out where the birds have been hanging out and wait for them to show up. It was extremely foggy this morning when I arrived. I got set up and the gobbler I was after gave away his location at 5:15 right where I thought he'd be. He gobbled several more times and a hen started yelping about 50 yds from me. Her calling was driving him nuts. About 5:40 he sounded like he was on the ground...the next gobble was closer...the next was only 70 yds away. The hen flew down and everything went silent for the next 20 minutes until I could finally make out his outline in the fog about 100 yds above me in the field... Decoys... Gobbler and hen... I made a few soft yelps on the Halloran Metal Mouth and he answered. It was a waiting game now...as the longbeard, his little buddy jake and three hens slowly worked my way. After another 20 minutes or so of intense waiting they finally made it in to 45 yds and I took my shot... 19.5 lbs, 8.5" beard and 7/8" spurs When I got home I learned that my dad had also killed a nice bird, on his birthday to boot!!! His was 22 lbs. 8.5" beard with both spurs broken...

The blind squirrel strikes again, congrats!!!

Awesome, congrats!!!

Update...he got a hevishot headache at 6:40!!!

I've got a gobbled hammering up in the woods above me and a hen yelping in between us. I'm set up in my blind out where I've seen them together for the past two mornings. Hopefully ole big boy won't like my strutter invading his turf...

I don't agree. The birds seen to be behind schedule this spring...every gobbler I've been messing with has had hens rooster right with them...same as every strutter that I've seen out in the fields too. They don't need to gobble when there already have hens. I think that mid season should be better when the hens start nesting.

Looks like he has the "wing patch/speculum feathers" of an adult gobbler, not the juvenile feathers of a jake...

Congrats! I've been getting my butt kicked by tight lipped/henned up gobblers. I have a big old Steuben County longbeard roosted, well kind of...saw him picking out in a field around 7:00. He appeared to be all alone and looking for company as he kept fanning out and then would throw his head up looking for admirers. Hopefully, he will be in the same mood at first light. But, ya just never know what these stinking birds are gonna do...