2016 Spring Turkey Photos and/or Stories
- Thread starter BigBore45
- Start date
- Status
Nice bird! Congrats!
“30lbs-10" beard- 1 1/16"&1 3/8" spurs. Good/average Kansas turkey”
Ouch. BigBore you’re bursting my bubble.
I believe KS Wildlife calls that a trophy. The one I got two years ago was 28.5 lbs, a 10.5” and a 2” beard and 1 3/8” spurs. Maybe not as good as I thought, but still tasty though.
Got one on Saturday. A very big bearded hen came in just before 4. I watched it a little and had just talked myself into shooting it when three young jakes came out of the woods. (The second time I had seen them that day.) She took one look at them and walked off. I guess she wanted an experienced guy. I hadn’t heard a gobble all day (had been there since 8 am) so I sent a dinner invitation via #4 shot from a Baretta Silver Mallard 20 gauge with Winchester 3” shells. At 30 yards the invitation was immediately accepted. His two buddies were upset that they weren’t invited and proceeded to squawk loudly and run in circles around the invitee. They kept that up for 30 seconds or so and then slowed down to walking in circles for another few minutes before they headed back to the woods. My spousal unit is very happy and I am looking forward to several tasty meals (My wife makes delicious broth out of the drum sticks and thighs.)
The humorous side of the hunt was getting into my blind. I had set up last week and am always a little nervous about a skunk, raccoon or possum taking up residence in it. So I opened the zipper a little to verify that it was empty. Satisfied that there were no four legged critters in it, I unzipped it the rest of the way and was immediately greeted by at least 20 wasps. I was totally surprised and stood there while they kept flying past my face. Yep, I set it up on top of a wasp nest. After a few minutes I went in and opened it up. They came and went most of the day. I left the top flap open when I left. As long as they have an easy way out they don’t seem to mind sharing the space. I really should move that blind.
Would you like a story or two from two years ago?
“30lbs-10" beard- 1 1/16"&1 3/8" spurs. Good/average Kansas turkey”
Ouch. BigBore you’re bursting my bubble.
I believe KS Wildlife calls that a trophy. The one I got two years ago was 28.5 lbs, a 10.5” and a 2” beard and 1 3/8” spurs. Maybe not as good as I thought, but still tasty though. Got one on Saturday. A very big bearded hen came in just before 4. I watched it a little and had just talked myself into shooting it when three young jakes came out of the woods. (The second time I had seen them that day.) She took one look at them and walked off. I guess she wanted an experienced guy. I hadn’t heard a gobble all day (had been there since 8 am) so I sent a dinner invitation via #4 shot from a Baretta Silver Mallard 20 gauge with Winchester 3” shells. At 30 yards the invitation was immediately accepted. His two buddies were upset that they weren’t invited and proceeded to squawk loudly and run in circles around the invitee. They kept that up for 30 seconds or so and then slowed down to walking in circles for another few minutes before they headed back to the woods. My spousal unit is very happy and I am looking forward to several tasty meals (My wife makes delicious broth out of the drum sticks and thighs.)
The humorous side of the hunt was getting into my blind. I had set up last week and am always a little nervous about a skunk, raccoon or possum taking up residence in it. So I opened the zipper a little to verify that it was empty. Satisfied that there were no four legged critters in it, I unzipped it the rest of the way and was immediately greeted by at least 20 wasps. I was totally surprised and stood there while they kept flying past my face. Yep, I set it up on top of a wasp nest. After a few minutes I went in and opened it up. They came and went most of the day. I left the top flap open when I left. As long as they have an easy way out they don’t seem to mind sharing the space. I really should move that blind.
Would you like a story or two from two years ago?
Didn't mean to burst your bubble. Just average to a little above average in my area. Had 4 of them with this guy couldn't pick one from the other to be honest, so I took the one that was puffing up the most.
Got one the week before with a bow, same length beard a bit lighter and shorter spurs.
Got one the week before with a bow, same length beard a bit lighter and shorter spurs.
WestKentucky
Member
I shared my embareassing story (spelled correctly for this story) on another forum this weekend, you folks might get a chuckle too. Put the coffee down before you go any further...
2008, spring had sprung, so had the economy. I got cut way back on hours and just couldn't make ends meet after finishing an internship. So I moved back in with my parents and went to work 3rd shift where my dad had worked for years, and I had worked as a temp for 2 summers. Business there was booming and I was pulling 12s regularly, to the point my spring turkey tags were going to go unused. So one morning after pulling a 6pm to 6 am shift working my butt off I got home, chewed on a biscuit and got in the shower. Lo and behold with a head covered in shampoo I hear a gobble. Then another, very very close. So I did what a lot of folks would have never admitted to, grabbed a towel and went to investigate. Turkey is full strut in the front yard, sweet talking my mom's bird bath. Poor fella was REALLY hard up. So I toss the towel as I grab the shotgun from my bedroom and proceed to burst through the front door as I am chambering a round. I'm not sure if it was laughter, fear, or suprised that got the turkey, but he poked his head up and made an odd noise as the bead came to rest on his head for a split second before thumping him squarely over. So I grab my houseshoes, and go streaking across the yard to pick up this turkey. So in 2008, I killed a gobbler trying to breed a birdbath, naked, mid-shower. I made the mistake of telling Dad the whole story, which he ever so graciously shared at work. For the next few months my name was "Naked Gun".
2008, spring had sprung, so had the economy. I got cut way back on hours and just couldn't make ends meet after finishing an internship. So I moved back in with my parents and went to work 3rd shift where my dad had worked for years, and I had worked as a temp for 2 summers. Business there was booming and I was pulling 12s regularly, to the point my spring turkey tags were going to go unused. So one morning after pulling a 6pm to 6 am shift working my butt off I got home, chewed on a biscuit and got in the shower. Lo and behold with a head covered in shampoo I hear a gobble. Then another, very very close. So I did what a lot of folks would have never admitted to, grabbed a towel and went to investigate. Turkey is full strut in the front yard, sweet talking my mom's bird bath. Poor fella was REALLY hard up. So I toss the towel as I grab the shotgun from my bedroom and proceed to burst through the front door as I am chambering a round. I'm not sure if it was laughter, fear, or suprised that got the turkey, but he poked his head up and made an odd noise as the bead came to rest on his head for a split second before thumping him squarely over. So I grab my houseshoes, and go streaking across the yard to pick up this turkey. So in 2008, I killed a gobbler trying to breed a birdbath, naked, mid-shower. I made the mistake of telling Dad the whole story, which he ever so graciously shared at work. For the next few months my name was "Naked Gun".
Big Bore, no worries. I’m just showing I’m relatively inexperienced as a hunter. I’m hunting Linn County, adjacent to the MO line. Where are those big birds? I’ve got a friend in south Texas who is chomping at the bit to get up here. He has no turkeys in his part of Texas. We’re going to swap his hunting for turkey on my ground for my hunting hogs and javelina on his.
The story is kind of long. I hope you find it entertaining.
My revelation that turkeys are the dumbest animals on earth came two years ago. I was in southwest corner of 40 acres that has a three acre clearing. To the south is a 30 acre wood. To the west are more woods with a “lane” running along the fence line. There is rarely anybody on either tract and they have become bedding areas for deer and turkey. I set up on the north side of the clearing, about 100 yards away from the 30 acre wood and 40 yards from the west property line. There is a U-shaped berm from where a prior owner ham-handedly shoved some dirt around. I was really green at turkey hunting but had been there enough to know that a big tom would come down that lane, into my field and to a pond in the woods just north of where I set up. I‘m in the U of that berm, wearing a brown hat, a camo shirt and blue jeans. I’m sitting on 2’ step aluminum ladder. From where that tom would be coming, the most he would be able to see of me is my head. I’m totally exposed from behind.
So there I sit, Baretta on my lap and a box call in hand. I give a few purrs and wait 15 minutes, a few purrs and wait 15 minutes. About an hour into this, I haven’t heard a turkey when suddenly, “CLUCK”. That was close, I thought and behind me. Another cluck. I strain my peripheral vision trying to see the bird. It must have taken me 10 minutes of very slowly turning my head to finally see the bird, directly under the deer feeder 8 yards behind me. I risk another purr, to be answered by a cluck. The seconds drag on and finally the bird circles to my right around the berm. I’ve got an easy shot but it is a smaller bird with a very small beard. It was going to be my first turkey but the beard is so short I feel sorry for it and let it go. The next 45 minutes this bird parades in front of me, answering my occasional purrs with clucks, dust baths and grazing. Finally it walks off to west, northwest and goes below the pond dam. All the while, I’m hearing its intermittent cluck.
I stick to my call routine, hearing its clucks. Suddenly, “CLUCK”. That was close, I thought and behind me. Another cluck. It has to be right where the first bird started. I strain my peripheral vision trying to see this new bird. But at the sound of a new cluck, the first bird answers and it is clearly excited. It is coming and fairly quickly. The new bird is answering. Through my peripheral vision, I see the first bird coming. It passes through my vision and there are excited clucks behind me as the two birds meet. “Great”, I’m thinking these two are going to have a party behind my back. So I’m trying to turn to see these two when up the lane 150+ yards away comes a thunderous gobble. Geez, that is an amazing sound. The tom comes into view a 100 yards away just on the other side of the fence. I’ve got two birds 8 yards behind me clucking away. My butt hurts from sitting on that stupid aluminum ladder, my shotgun laying in my lap and the call in my hands. The tom is trying to get these two to come to him. Being inexperienced, I’m not sure what the two behind me are up to but I’m pretty sure they aren’t mating.
I give a purr. The tom answers with another big gobble. He is all puffed up. The two behind me are clucking away. The tom comes through the fence. “All right, keep coming”, I’m thinking. But he makes a slight left turn and struts about 50 yards away in front of me. Over the next half hour, the strutting and gobbling continues, the clucks continue, the occasional purrs are made. My butt really hurts but I’m thinking this will be my first turkey if I can just get the tom 20 yards closer. Then the two behind me split up. One goes around to my right, the other to my left. Just as the tom is 50 yards out directly in front of me and the other two are 15 yards to my right and left, I hear “Cluck”. “That was close and right behind me again!” The tom gobbles in response to the third bird. The two to my right and left continue circling heading for the tom. I’m in the middle of four birds and they are oblivious to my presence. They get to the tom and those three start to head off to the lane. The bird behind me continues clucking and moves away to the left. I never got a look at him/her. I’m crestfallen and fail to entice the tom to come back.
They are just disappearing from view, a 100+ yards away. My butt can’t take it anymore. I stand up. At that, those three scream and run in terror. All I could do was chuckle and marvel at how that tom could make such a thunderous gobble and such a terrified shriek. I was in plain sight and as long as I didn’t move quickly, they didn’t care. Geez, I love hunting even if I don’t get anything.
The story is kind of long. I hope you find it entertaining.
My revelation that turkeys are the dumbest animals on earth came two years ago. I was in southwest corner of 40 acres that has a three acre clearing. To the south is a 30 acre wood. To the west are more woods with a “lane” running along the fence line. There is rarely anybody on either tract and they have become bedding areas for deer and turkey. I set up on the north side of the clearing, about 100 yards away from the 30 acre wood and 40 yards from the west property line. There is a U-shaped berm from where a prior owner ham-handedly shoved some dirt around. I was really green at turkey hunting but had been there enough to know that a big tom would come down that lane, into my field and to a pond in the woods just north of where I set up. I‘m in the U of that berm, wearing a brown hat, a camo shirt and blue jeans. I’m sitting on 2’ step aluminum ladder. From where that tom would be coming, the most he would be able to see of me is my head. I’m totally exposed from behind.
So there I sit, Baretta on my lap and a box call in hand. I give a few purrs and wait 15 minutes, a few purrs and wait 15 minutes. About an hour into this, I haven’t heard a turkey when suddenly, “CLUCK”. That was close, I thought and behind me. Another cluck. I strain my peripheral vision trying to see the bird. It must have taken me 10 minutes of very slowly turning my head to finally see the bird, directly under the deer feeder 8 yards behind me. I risk another purr, to be answered by a cluck. The seconds drag on and finally the bird circles to my right around the berm. I’ve got an easy shot but it is a smaller bird with a very small beard. It was going to be my first turkey but the beard is so short I feel sorry for it and let it go. The next 45 minutes this bird parades in front of me, answering my occasional purrs with clucks, dust baths and grazing. Finally it walks off to west, northwest and goes below the pond dam. All the while, I’m hearing its intermittent cluck.
I stick to my call routine, hearing its clucks. Suddenly, “CLUCK”. That was close, I thought and behind me. Another cluck. It has to be right where the first bird started. I strain my peripheral vision trying to see this new bird. But at the sound of a new cluck, the first bird answers and it is clearly excited. It is coming and fairly quickly. The new bird is answering. Through my peripheral vision, I see the first bird coming. It passes through my vision and there are excited clucks behind me as the two birds meet. “Great”, I’m thinking these two are going to have a party behind my back. So I’m trying to turn to see these two when up the lane 150+ yards away comes a thunderous gobble. Geez, that is an amazing sound. The tom comes into view a 100 yards away just on the other side of the fence. I’ve got two birds 8 yards behind me clucking away. My butt hurts from sitting on that stupid aluminum ladder, my shotgun laying in my lap and the call in my hands. The tom is trying to get these two to come to him. Being inexperienced, I’m not sure what the two behind me are up to but I’m pretty sure they aren’t mating.
I give a purr. The tom answers with another big gobble. He is all puffed up. The two behind me are clucking away. The tom comes through the fence. “All right, keep coming”, I’m thinking. But he makes a slight left turn and struts about 50 yards away in front of me. Over the next half hour, the strutting and gobbling continues, the clucks continue, the occasional purrs are made. My butt really hurts but I’m thinking this will be my first turkey if I can just get the tom 20 yards closer. Then the two behind me split up. One goes around to my right, the other to my left. Just as the tom is 50 yards out directly in front of me and the other two are 15 yards to my right and left, I hear “Cluck”. “That was close and right behind me again!” The tom gobbles in response to the third bird. The two to my right and left continue circling heading for the tom. I’m in the middle of four birds and they are oblivious to my presence. They get to the tom and those three start to head off to the lane. The bird behind me continues clucking and moves away to the left. I never got a look at him/her. I’m crestfallen and fail to entice the tom to come back.
They are just disappearing from view, a 100+ yards away. My butt can’t take it anymore. I stand up. At that, those three scream and run in terror. All I could do was chuckle and marvel at how that tom could make such a thunderous gobble and such a terrified shriek. I was in plain sight and as long as I didn’t move quickly, they didn’t care. Geez, I love hunting even if I don’t get anything.
Yep. I have had a whitetail doe hit me with her nose while setting on a river bank. No joke. Also had a coyote run over my legs as I sat there blowing a cotton tail call not 3 mins before. Turkey do the same thing, I believe all animals see a 2-d image so they need movement to register size/distance to a point....
I'm getting my Turkey from the smoke hill river not to far from Hays Kansas. Before I got ground to hunt on my own, around my area you can get a Tom this size even on public land. You want to learn to call right hunt public land, you have to sound like a turkey not just make Turkey noises...
I'm getting my Turkey from the smoke hill river not to far from Hays Kansas. Before I got ground to hunt on my own, around my area you can get a Tom this size even on public land. You want to learn to call right hunt public land, you have to sound like a turkey not just make Turkey noises...
WestKentucky
Member
I had a great morning today, part of it by accident. It was cool and overcast this morning. For sure a sleepy morning in the woods. Nary a gobble until the cloud cover finally broke. That didn't slow my morning down much though. I was set up, decoys out and at the ready around 6:45 and by 7:30 I had a single hen in the decoys, wandering around as if she was lost and fussing at the decoys each time they moved. I thought surely with all that carrying on that she would call in a fella to investigate, but no luck. She was in front of me for over an hour. So by this point I'm hurting, can not sit still any longer so I leave the decoys and make a lap of the two adjacent farms. I got back to my original spot and packed up. Needed to go potty anyway. So I went down the road to my parents house. Figured I would do some yard work just as a nice suprised for when they got home, glad I did or else I would have headed home. So I'm picking through the scrap metal pile sorting out aluminum from iron and notice it warming up quickly. The sun has finally found its way into the sky at about 10am and almost immediately I hear a distant gobble. I went to the truck, got my box call and hammered out a quick cluck as loud as I could. It was instantly answered. So I hit it again and get answered again...bird is moving my way and doing so quickly. I'm in the back yard, no hat, no gloves, no mask, no decoy, just me and the call. I grab the shotgun and load it as quickly as I can and rush down to a fallen tree that I know I can use as a blind. A few more clucks and the gobble is now so close I can feel it. I hear rustling, wing flapping, clucks, purrs, drumming...where is this joker at??? He is staying out of sight about 90 yards out and he is losing his mind. Finally he comes into sight for about 30 seconds, full strut and kinda twirling around looking for the turkey that's been yelling at him. I don't think he ever saw me, but he sure wasn't coming any closer until he saw a bird. He was for sure a big bird. I'm guessing he was 25 pounds or so, beard about 8 or 9 inches and thick. I'm hoping for a closer encounter in the morning. 20 GA can stay home, I'm taking the 16 and #5 pheasant loads. I'm confident with it to 50 yards, the 20ga, only to about 35. I really want this bird.
WestKentucky
Member
that's what I thought too, but I didn't expect that response, and certainly not so fast. I have a game plan for tomorrow morning. that gameplan should have started an hour ago with me being in bed.
- Status
