Turkey hunting forum for turkey hunting tips

Ok. I will try and keep things somewhat up to date, but here we go. Youth day opens tomorrow, and my youngest boy asked to go. Of course, I went all out and located some gobblers and had grand plans of taking him to an area that holds a decent amount of gobblers for a serious hunt. I drove out this evening and found a gobbler, but on the drive back, I scrapped the idea of going after it.
Other than squirrels, this is his first real hunt. I ain't gonna get him up at 3:30, drive an hour one way, and then walk him a mile and a half just to be where we need to be in the morning. This is going to be a fun hunt. I know of a gobbler on public land near the house that likes to roost close to the road. It's an easy walk, and with a little luck, we will be pretty close to him come daylight. The downside is it's public. But since it's youth only, I am gonna take the chance and see what we can do. Hopefully, he gets to hear his first gobbler light up the morning from the roost. With a little luck, he will lay eyes on him, with a lot of luck he will get to pet him. Either way, fun is at the top of the list. Snacks are packed, and clothes are laid out. We will see what the morning brings.

Quote from: Happy on April 14, 2023, 10:46:29 PM
Ok. I will try and keep things somewhat up to date, but here we go. Youth day opens tomorrow, and my youngest boy asked to go. Of course, I went all out and located some gobblers and had grand plans of taking him to an area that holds a decent amount of gobblers for a serious hunt. I drove out this evening and found a gobbler, but on the drive back, I scrapped the idea of going after it.
Other than squirrels, this is his first real hunt. I ain't gonna get him up at 3:30, drive an hour one way, and then walk him a mile and a half just to be where we need to be in the morning. This is going to be a fun hunt. I know of a gobbler on public land near the house that likes to roost close to the road. It's an easy walk, and with a little luck, we will be pretty close to him come daylight. The downside is it's public. But since it's youth only, I am gonna take the chance and see what we can do. Hopefully, he gets to hear his first gobbler light up the morning from the roost. With a little luck, he will lay eyes on him, with a lot of luck he will get to pet him. Either way, fun is at the top of the list. Snacks are packed, and clothes are laid out. We will see what the morning brings.

:icon_thumright:

All kidding aside that sounds great, good luck.

Update: Up at 4:00 made some homemade breakfast burritos. Had rain move in at 4:45. In a holding pattern at the house and letting the boys sleep some more. He said rain was a no-go.

Good luck this morning, showers are scattered and moving thru our area also. Havent heard any shots around me ..yet. Hope my backyard flock is hiding somewhere.

Well...... we came close. My boy was a trooper. We waited until the rain subsided a bit and went after them. We found two gobblers that would answer consistently on private but not budge. With a bit of maneuvering and work, we finally got them to break, and when they broke, it was fast. It caught me in a bad position for having a rookie. When they went silent about 75 yards out, I knew we were being flanked. Was trying to get the boy swung hard right about 100 degrees when those warty heads crested the roll in the hill at about 30 yards. We needed about 10 more degrees to get the shot, and there was too much movement. They knew something was fishy and walked off putting. We didn't scare them badly, but it was over for the morning. The boy felt terrible, but I explained that the way we were hunting takes a lot of screwing up to get good at, and he wasn't the only one who screwed up today. By the time we were halfway home, he was vowing revenge, though. He doesn't want to hunt tomorrow as he has  breakfast with his friends scheduled for the morning. He has asked to be able to go again this year, so hopefully he will tag one.

You were both in the game, thats a great hunt!

Fun hunt and a great start.

There's other lessons to teach before getting back in the woods, going to have to learn to ditch most of  his friends until the season's over, cold turkey, clean break is easier.

the select few friends that are left after the first ditching he'll have to work on evasiveness in answering questions, learning to tell partial truths, half truths and sometimes zero truths, about where he's been, what was seen and how things were done.

Thanks guys, it was fun. Up until this fall he never really showed a desire to hunt much. It's starting to shift now, but I ain't gonna push him. It might be a good thing we buggered those gobblers a bit. Come Wednesday, there's gonna be guys stacked in there like sardines and it ain't gonna be pretty.

Pushing back my hunting till later in the week. Weather isn't looking favorable and I can take care of work and hunt in better conditions

Good luck! Thanks for the hunt log

He's going to be hooked when the first one comes strutting down the barrel

Sent from my Pixel 5 using Tapatalk

Took some time and went out for a few hours this morning. Heard a few on the roost, but they were on private and had no intentions of leaving it. So I went exploring and covered some ground. It was steep country and I spent a good bit of time climbing mountains. On the bright side, I am glad I have been exercising a lot. On the not so bright side, out-of state hunters have flooded the woods. I can avoid them easy enough, though. Tomorrow, I will get a little more serious. Work Friday and try and help a buddy get one on Sat.(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20230419/cb0251bf5248cc0b939c7fe3edbb0ded.jpg)(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20230419/bc5c35723254a331750a576ba36b1eb6.jpg)

Wouldnt want to drag a deer out of there. Why I gave up on public around here. Good luck. Is your son getting back out?

He says he will. I told him to say the word when he is ready. I may wind up taking him down to my buddies farm. It has a lot of gobblers. We will take inventory of it on Sat

Went out this morning. It was gorgeous out, and I just made it to my listening point when I heard two gobblers about 500 yards out from me. I ain't gonna give any details,tips, or tactics, but it ended badly for one of them.(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20230420/4f82ba2b22f1bd249141062453454456.jpg)

Congrats

Congrats. I didn't know a .223 could shoot 500yds

Great work and a great photo! Congrats on a good one  :icon_thumright:

Quote from: crow on April 20, 2023, 09:33:36 PM
Congrats. I didn't know a .223 could shoot 500yds

It's a theory I use called accuracy by volume.

Good deal bro, congrats. Z

Great pics,...even better gobbler.  Way to go, buddy!   :icon_thumright:

Today was guiding day. Loaded up my backup 20 gauge and pointed the truck East. Made it to my buddies place before daylight. All I have heard from him the last two days is how many gobblers he was hearing. So it was only natural that we heard nothing at daylight, not a peep. We were sitting and listening(I hadn't even started calling) when we spotted a coyote headed our way. Told my buddy to get ready and shoot it if he could. At 27 steps, he rolled it with a chest shot. It managed to get its legs under it, and I put one in its ribs on the exit. I made it to a nasty privet and brier thicket, but judging by the blood, it's done.  After that excitement, we went and got on a high point and sat, listened, and let things calm back down. By ten, we still hadn't heard a gobble and went prospecting. We covered his entire property and finally found about 5 gobblers of strung out on 2 ridges off limits to us. They were anywhere from 300 yards out to barely audible. Sizing things up, I picked out our most likely candidate. He wasn't the closest either. I found a spot I liked, put my buddy in position, and went to work with an EZ wingbone and Sadler Mcgraw diaphragm. We had an hour, and long story short, the trigger was pulled at 11:44.
22lbs, 7 ounces, 10" beard, 1 1/4", and 1 3/8" spurs. (https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20230422/be553d49920287fd7002c130f156a884.jpg)

Nice job "Friend" on helping out a friend. See all your Grumpies are still sleeping, so i will say congrats to you and your friend, and since we are practically neighbors, which makes us friends, feel free to offer me a hunt on some of your private ground, "Friend"?!? And I wont even make fun of your terrible camera work... :toothy12: :toothy12: :TooFunny: :icon_thumright:

Thanks, I ain't the best photographer or cameraman. Took the boy out this morning had some good gobbling for a bit, but they hit a large, clear-cut with some hens. We tried circling them with no luck. By 9 the wind picked up and it was spitting rain. The boy was done, so we quit. It was his hunt, so his call.

Congrats to you both and great job putting that yote down. There is no telling how many nesting hens and poults you might have just saved.

Nice day all around bro. Z

Went out this morning for a bit. Made a mile hike back in deep to a favorite ridge. Heard a few distant gobbles and had a gobbler and hen fly down right in front of me and mess around for a few minutes before getting suspicious and bugging out. Didn't even try to kill him as I hadn't even called yet that morning and didn't do anything to earn him. Snoooed around for a bit. Went back to the truck and drove around looking at some new potential spots. Ran into an old gentleman I used to work with on one of the backroads and spent the last hour catching up with him. Have to work tomorrow and Friday. More than likely, I will guide sat and Sunday. Weather permitting.

Nice bird you called in last Saturday.  :icon_thumright:

Made it out this morning for a little exploratory hunt on a section of public land I have never hunted before. Rain was still coming down when I parked, so I just sat in the truck until 7:30 or so. I decided to take my great grandfather's 1950 model 870. It is full choked and will give me a killing pattern with lead #6 shot to 30 yards. The fog was socked in heavy, so I moved slowly and sat a lot listening. I thought i heard a gobbler to my extreme right and extreme left once the fog started lifting, but wasnt 100% sure. I decided to make my way toward the "gobble on my left that was further out the ridge and below me. I never made a call until about 9 and had maybe made it 100 yards when he gobbled. He was pretty close, and I made the best out of the situation. I wasn't seated for 10 seconds when I saw his white head coming. He made it to the 35 yard mark and stopped. He was looking hard, I just held still, hoping he would break. He didn't, after a few minutes, he tucked his wings and walked away. I let him go, waited a bit and circled him. Set up in an area that was a bit better for hand to hand combat and proceeded to get him fired back up. I was set up on a bend on a dirt road leading to a piece of private land about out a half mile away. This is clearly marked as a private lane, and these fellows weren't local judging from the license plates. There was a dip in the road that started about 75 yards out, and it came back up about 25 yards in front of me.  I saw the gobbler go into the dip headed my way, and I got down on the gun and ready. About a minute later, a truck came up the road and proceeded to drive past me and stopped right in the dip. One fellow got out a cut loose with a box call for three of 4 rounds. Then he jumped back in the truck and took off. I decided to cut my losses and head back to the truck. My boy bailed on me for tomorrow, so I will be out weather permitting. My trigger finger is starting to itch so I might take one of my 40 yard guns. Once the leaves are out in full I will have a little more flexibility with my set-ups.

 :icon_thumright:
Good hunt

It's raining and I have to take care of some work issues. No hunting today.

Work again today

Work again today, but I am planning a short hunt Thursday morning, and then it's gonna be getting pretty serious from Friday on. There will still be a few days at work I can't miss, though.

No hunt today. Weather was bad, and I had some issues to address at work. Will be out in the morning though.

Hunted some new ground. Walked a bit saw some old sign. Never heard a gobble, and as Forrest Gump would say, "That's all I got to say bout that"

Ouch! A big almost...
  Same thing happened to me the other day. Guy gets out of his truck, walks in the woods 20 yards in his blue jeans wailing on his slate and he wasn't good at it. The bird I had cranked walked off.

Took my youngest boy out again today to a spot I knew would probably have some gobbling. I was right, we had to do a decent amount of walking and maneuvering, but we got situated with what I thought was a gobbler on our left about 300 yards off or so, and one on our right. It took about an hour and a half, but my boy got to hear a ton of gobbling, witness a gobbler fight, and have a very angry and vocal hen marching right at us. And to top it off, be taking aim at a gobbler as about 5-6 hens and jakes stood about ten yards behind us clucking and getting nervous. It was a tough shot for a 12 year old, and he was twisted pretty hard, the fight having kinda taken the party in a direction I didn't anticipate. He was right at about 40 yards, and only his head was exposed above a log, so I gave the green light. Things were about to go south with the turkeys that snuck in behind us to see what the ruckus was.Unfortunately, he whiffed, but we watched him sail down to the bottom and an hour later, we heard him gobble once. I feel pretty confident the turkey is fine. The boy amuses me. He was sitting and eating ramps with several gobblers being pretty vocal with a couple hundred yards of him like he had all the time in the world. After he got over the miss, we were catching tadpoles and salamanders in the creek. The funny thing is, as he was turned hard right to take the shot, I had my hand against his shoulder, helping him to twist, and his whole body was trembling.

Thats a great story, awesome you have found some birds and got to see all that action. He will really appreciate it so much more when he does connect.

Those birds are his. I will hunt other birds. I told him I wouldn't hunt them this year at all.

Made it out to hunt this morning. I was starting to feel the itch, so I went and checked on a gobbler I have been keeping tabs on. He has always seemed to have 1 hen with him at all times. He strayed a little too far from her this morning trying to get some side lovin. It cost him(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20230507/0f8d0a4305f3bc79035d7aeb24f7abe1.jpg)

Yes sir nice work

Congrats on the upgrade! Hopefully you can get your son on one next.

That's the plan. Have to work most of this week, but I already told momma he won't be at school Friday.

So we made it out today. It was a pretty morning, and we were running about 15 minutes late, but I wasn't too worried about it. In these mountains, the turkeys aren't exactly predictable on where they are gonna roost. As long as I could hear one in on one of the ridges of the bowl we were hunting, we would be fine. We were targeting. Two typically ran pretty close together with the boss doing his own thing.  This was the boss that came running in last weekend when the other two gobblers came into my calling. Of course, he got run off, and my boy whiffed on one of the two after the fight.
Anyways, on the way in, we heard the boss open up way in the distance and down on the backside of the lip. I didn't pay him much mind as the other two opened up a few minutes later on the ridge on the opposite side from us. They typically had hens but it seemed like they could be coaxed in (At least it worked last week).
It wasn't ideal, but I knew they were gonna come into the bottom. So I got down in there and the boy and I set up with the gobblers about 300 yards out and above us. One was at about our 10 o' clock and one about 1 o'clock. I knew there were hens and they had already hit the ground but I started calling and they lit up. They gobbled at everything I put out there. It was perfectly call and within 10 minutes they were at 150 yards, still slightly above us. I could hear them drumming and an occasional hen yelp. After a few more minutes, they both gobbled. They were together now, still approaching, but drifting left. I had the boy shift a bit, I had quit calling and we were in wait mode. I made some subtle turkey sounds and a few minutes later the boy nodded hid head a little to the right of where his gun was pointed. 4 jakes came slinking across the edge of the clearing, looking guilty. I didn't pay them too much mind and kept looking more to the left where I expected the gobblers when the boy hissed "there's a fan  behind the jakes". Turning my head slightly, there they were, full strut, behind the jakes and following the ladies. I told the boy when it was safe to move and he started slowly shifting right. By the time he got the gun around the gobbles tail fans where all he could see as they worked past us. I let out a few soft yelps and the jakes popped back up over the roll in the hill. I whispered to the boy that he could kill one if he wanted and I heard him snick the safety off.

I whispered at him to shoot
The one on the left, 3 of them were grouped together pretty tightly, and that could have been ugly. The gun never shifted, so he must have been thinking the same thing. I waited for the shot, and it never happened. After about 10 seconds he put the safety back on and started to slowly lower the gun. This caused the jakes to slowly retreat back into the woods. "No shot?" I asked him. "Well," he replied," I wasn't real steady, and I really don't want to kill a jake, I want a gobbler."
We sat there for a bit and let the turkeys work off, whispering about the experience, and he asked me, " What's the next move?" I asked what he thought, and he hit me  with,"Let's circle them."
So circle them we did, back out of the bowl we went, circling around and setting up ahead of them. As we were slipping along the woods inside the powerline that followed the ridge, they started gobbling again. This allowed us to slip within about 300 yards of them where we set up, facing down into the bowl where the turkeys were.

We engaged them again, a diaphragm, Ezoltt wingbone, and the zelmo travel call were used to get them gobbling pretty good. They were slowly approaching and weren't gonna hurry as the hens were obviously calling the shots. I could hear one yelp occasionally, but they were pretty quiet compared to the Tom's. Once they hit about the 200-yard mark, they went quiet. We went quiet as well, just sitting there and waiting, I was hoping for a where are you gobble before they popped into view. There was nothing. After about 15 minutes, the boy was bored and starting to fidget. I hissed at him to hold still and be ready. After a few minutes, I heard it. Drumming, and it was pretty close. I whispered to the boy to hold still and slowly moved my head hard right to track it. I saw a hen slipping by, hard right, going up the edge of the powerline. I could still hear the drumming and knew the gobblers were in the rear. I whispered to the boy to slowly shift right a little every time I told him "now". Several hens and jakes had passed us by the time he was turned, and I could see the tail fan of the first gobbler. He had the gun up and ready but could not get a shot through the treetops that bordered the powerline. I saw the second gobbler coming and told him." Put the gun on safety, hand it to me, and when I say go, stand up."He clicked the safety on, and I slowly took the gun in my right hand. I gave him my left hand, and when the gobbler went behind a log, I whispered "go" and helped pull him up to his feet, handing him the gun back. He got the gun pointed in the general direction just as the gobbler popped into view.  He whispered, " I am shaking too much." The gobbler was almost through our window in the tree tops. I started softly yelping and clucking. This stopped him, and he started strutting in circles. "Still shaking, and there's some brush" my boy whispered. I whispered back and told him. "Lay the gun against the tree you're beside, and when he hits the next hole, I will stop him and raise his head." He did just that, and when the gobbler did his next spin, he hit an opening.  I cut hard on the mouth call, stopping him, and raising his head. The gun cracked, and my boy had his first turkey ever.
Thanks, Zelmo, I used your call in the most meaningful way I could think of. There was another call I had wanted to use as well for this hunt, but being scatterbrained, I accidentally left at home. This turkey meant a lot to him, and this season, he got to run the full gammet of emotions a turkey hunter experiences. We laughed and hugged.  We got to finish things out with pepperoni rolls in the woods with a gobbler hanging beside us.(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20230513/6b909d5dda7ce39af3cbb8092e27cec0.jpg)

Man that is one great hunt and your son did excellent holding it together thru all parts of it.
Big congrats to him and yourself on his first gobbler.

Congrats again on a fine Tom, you left me hanging last night, "Safety clicked off"....had to bail and go to bed, another early morning. Someone needs to let their kids tell the story, think it would be awesome to hear them tell it? Make sure you post some pictures of the plaque when you get it finished.

Sat was a close call, had a whole flock worked up. Two gobblers in the mix. Managed to pull the group in to about 100 yards or so. Couldn't see them but they were close. Then it poured the rain and I called it a day around 10. I got drenched.

Sunday
I heard one gobbler all morning. He was a good distance off so I started to him and had him coming. He got intercepted by a hen and I had to leave early for Mother's Day activities.

Monday,
Had a few hours to hunt. Called my buddy and told him to be ready this morning. Had work issues and was on the phone the whole way down this morning. Got on a gobbler at daylight and at 6:30 here is the result. He is officially tagged out.(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20230515/9b9cdd6e1435e21068975b60b5046afe.jpg)

Nice hooks

Yesterday was my next day to hunt. With season closing this coming Sunday in one of the States that I hunt, I was getting pretty serious about trying to fill my final tag with my Great-Grandfathers 1950 Remington 870. It is full choked, and only chambers 2 3/4" shells. When my grandad asked if I would try to kill a turkey with it, I jumped all over it. At first I thought about getting some 2 3/4" TSS loads for it but then decided against it. If I was going to kill one, it was going to be going back to the basics. I have carried this gun several times this year while out prospecting new ground. I even had a close call while carrying it but it would have been about a 35 yard shot and I let him walk. Hoping to be able to reposition and get a better shot. That didn't pan out when some other hunters were attracted by his gobbling on my second set-up and spooked him. Patterning that gun showed a max, sure-kill range of 30 yards with lead, #6 high brass loads. The gun also shot about 4" left at that range so I made a mental note to compensate to the right a bit.
Anyways, back to yesterday. I decided to commit completely on the two gobblers I had had a run-in with on Saturday. To do this meant giving up the high ground and I never like doing that unless I have really good reason. When daylight broke the gobblers opened up about 200 yards out and slightly below me. I felt pretty smug, I could get t the spot I had in mind and it was going be over quickly. Moving slowly towards the dip that was going to conceal me in these wide-open woods i had just about made it when I flushed a hen. When she flew out of the tree, I instantly gave a fly-down cackle, Hoping to keep the gobblers from getting suspicious. It seemed to work, they both gobbled back and i managed to make my tee and slide down into position. The toms kept gobbling and the next thing I knew, turkeys were pitching out of the trees in front of me and landing over the rise where the gobblers were. Realizing i was playing from behind now, i started calling to the hens. They responded and things were civil enough. Several started approaching but the toms held their ground. Gobbling but not moving. I shut things down, not wanting the hens to get in my lap unless they were bringing the boys along too. Twice I waited about a half hour and got them going and had the same results both times. Two hens would start approaching and the boys stayed behind, gobbling, but attending to more serious matters at hand. I decided to just sit tight and hope the hens would leave them. If they started gobbling, i was going to jump all over it. But about a half hour later a truck went through the dirt access road, moving slowly, and everything went quiet. I cut my losses and went and checked out a few other spots, looking for a willing gobbler. With no success I called it a day.

Thursday(Yesterday now).
I went to a different spot that I knew usually held turkeys. It was cold and quiet. I sat at my listening spot for about half an hour and never heard a gobble. I was full light, so I bailed on that spot and went back to check on the gobbler I had heard the day before. It's a bit of a walk but as I got close to where they typically hang out I heard him gobble. He was in the exact same spot as before. That was a problem. The woods there are extremely open. The hill sloped down towards him but it was so gradual that there was no way to get tight to him or call him up without him being able to see for a hundreds yards if not more. I stood and was weighing out my options when he gobbled again. I realized that he was moving from my right to my left. this gave me an opportunity. I headed that way slowly, I knew the ridge broke off sharper there and that there were some thicker spots out along the ridge. I found the general area I wanted and stood and waited. He was gobbling on his own every few minutes and I tracked him. Staying back far enough that when he went by the lip of the ridge covered me. when he was about to my 10'oclock position and about 200 yards out I moved forward to my chosen spot. The ridge broke sharper here, but it still wasn't enough to give me the 30 yard or less shot I needed. However the clump of saplings and greenbriers on the lip of the ridge gave ne exactly what I needed. I set up on the backside of it. With him directly across and downhill from me. I had two lanes to shoot through. one to my left, before things got really thick and one to my right, the edge of the clump of brush. The ridge broke off there and I banked that I could have him on top of the ridge before he drifted that far right and would be visible and still in range. My hope was that I could get him in my left shooting lane and have a perfect shot. I let him gobble a time or two and drift a little further left. Then I gave a few yelps on the my homemade wingbone and he cut me off. I waited a bit and hit him again. He responded immediately and I came back with some cutting. He loved it and started working my way. He was gobbling hard, every minute or two and all I had to do was give a few yelps now and again as well as some clucks from my grandads old box call to keep him coming. Grandads old box call has a warped lid so the yelps don't sound good at all. This hunt was about using all old style guns, ammo, camo, and callers. Preferably sentimental ones, so I used that box in the best way that I could. At about 60 yards, I could hear the rattle in his gobble, I gave a few soft clucks, he gobbled again, I could tell that he was probably going to drift right, so I slowly shifted that way, keeping an eye on my lane to the left. I could hear him drumming now. I caught a flash of a full tailfan and then a flicker of movement headed slightly to my right. I was down on the gun now. my bead covering the opening in the saplings and greenbriers ahead of him. He went through it quickly, so I shifted ahead to the next opening. I could see most of him now and tracked him with the bead. He went behind a small dead tree but brought his head up and stopped for a second, staring hard. He was about 10 feet from coming out into the open but at 25 yards, I had a good shot and took it. Holding to the right of his head a few inches, I squeezed the trigger. It was confusion for a moment, There were wings flapping and leaves flying, I jumped up to get a better view behind the tree and he was down, flopping hard but obviously dead. I still made my way to him quickly and got a foot on him. He had beat himself up pretty good on the rocks and briers but he looked pretty darn pretty to me. It's been a memorable year. I may kill another turkey this year or I may not. It doesn't really matter. I got to call in some gobblers for a good friend, I got to call in my boys first gobbler and I got to be the first to kill a turkey with a shotgun that has seen use from 4 generations of my family. It's gonna be pretty hard to top that.

The old ways still work.(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20230519/9161ddf05f23a0a5eaa08d3cb5f59401.jpg)

Hunting wasn't so great today. Heard one gobbler way out there gobble exactly 3 times. He was off limits. Did call in a pair of bald eagles with my exceptional wingbone talent. I hope they don't hang around, though. My buddy is adamant that I kill a turkey on his place. We will see if it works out or not.

Nice pics Happy. You've definitely had some memorable hunts this season and you have some lasting memories. That's what it's all about!

Great read and picture, getting your son his 1st Tom would be a great season by itself, getting a Tom with a piece of family history just takes season to a whole another level, Congratulations again.

Great stories. A proud season for sure, your dedication to help others created treasured memories for family and friends. Well done, congrats!

Looks like you are having an great season, Nick!  Good stories and pics,...keep 'em coming if you go out some more...   :icon_thumright:

Great story and hunt, my heartrate went up 15% reading it.
Nice job using your Grand Dads gun and call, I know that is special for you, very cool.

You've had a great season sharing it with your son and friend, nicely done.

I like your camo, that pattern is still a good one once the brush gets some leaves on them

Hunted a bit this morning. I think I found a problem child. He has the nerve to roost within 100 yards of the gate on public land. After 5 weeks of season I think he knows a thing or two. I think I am gonna concentrate on him for the final two days. He may very well beat me, but that's fine. My year has been made already

Gobbler was not roosted there this morning. On to plan B for tomorrow. Last day for me.

Good luck with Plan B, I am on Plan Y maybe Z... :help:

Good success tomorrow, sometimes plan B turns out to be first string

Well, it's over. I heard a few gobbles at daylight. Only one that seemed to have any heart. And all of them were tucked away on private land. It seems like we got hit even harder than normal by resident and nonresident hunters alike. It seems like everything on public is keeping quiet. Thats ok. If I was going to kill one, he was going to be coming in gobbling and strutting on public ground. I ended the season where about 5 weeks ago, I started it. It's where my boy had his first hunt and "almost" moment. When all we had in front of us was optimism and excitement. The cards had not been played and the possibilities were endless.I sat for quite a while and just reflected on things. Other than working a ton more than I was supposed to, it was about perfect. The main goals I had hoped to accomplish were taken care of. In hindsight, I am glad my boy didn't get to kill one his first time out. It was good for work for it a little. I had fun. I hope that's all what we are seeking when we are in the woods in the first place. It's time for me to get back to real life and start dreaming of next spring to pass the time. Thanks to all, and I hope everyone stays safe and takes care.