Hey Y'all,
I don't really hunt turkeys for myself here in Georgia. I'm usually out guiding folks for the duration of the season and I'll hunt when I take my yearly trip to the midwest.
I have gone to other states and hunted public land and have always found the way to seal the deal. I have never hunted public land here in Georgia because I have access to private land, but I set a goal this year of killing one on public land in Georgia.
I have hunted a piece of public ground about 45 minutes from the house for dove, but never chased anything else out there. Last night I start scouting the property using some aerial photos online. I find a spot that looks promising and I made plans to go hit the spot in the morning with the girlfriend.
As we are driving to the spot we start to pass hunters like crazy. Luckily enough, when I got to my spot, no one was there.
Fast forward.........we finally get to a spot about 1/2 mile from the truck and hear a few hens calling very softly, but no gobbles. We just sit there for 20-30 minutes to give any birds time to fly down and walk around a bit before we starting moving about. We walk another 1/2 mile deeper into this huge swamp and I make a call and a bird hammers way off. We start moving towards the bird and we find a nice buck skull. As we are standing there I call again and he hammers about 100 yards away. I quickly instructed the girlfriend to sit against a tree and I move up 5 yards in front of her. I sit down and take off my vest and put my shotgun on my knee, and when I look up I see him strutting 100 yards off.
He is behind all this cane thicket and small saplings and moves in to about 20-30 yards and I cannot get a clean shot. A hen follows him and keeps walking right towards me. He looks at the hen and turns around in full strut to about 55 yards. He finally come out of strut and picks his head up and I roll him. Those Hevi #6s really rocked his world because he hardly even flopped.
It was pretty darn awesome because this property doesn't have a ton of birds and its full of lazy hunters who drive the roads and call from their trucks and spook tons of birds. It was also my girlfriends first turkey hunt and on the drive there she told me that we'd get one.
Sitting around while we let the woods really wake up.
(http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i126/gatrapper/IMG_3815_zpseb4513c0.jpg) (http://s71.photobucket.com/user/gatrapper/media/IMG_3815_zpseb4513c0.jpg.html)
Of course, his only real flop comes when taking a picture.
(http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i126/gatrapper/IMG_3820_zps0a483741.jpg) (http://s71.photobucket.com/user/gatrapper/media/IMG_3820_zps0a483741.jpg.html)
8 inch beard and 3/4 inch spurs.
(http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i126/gatrapper/IMG_3824_zpsc3523d8c.jpg) (http://s71.photobucket.com/user/gatrapper/media/IMG_3824_zpsc3523d8c.jpg.html)
The girlfriend.
(http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i126/gatrapper/IMG_3825_zps833008a6.jpg) (http://s71.photobucket.com/user/gatrapper/media/IMG_3825_zps833008a6.jpg.html)
Good job, congrats! :icon_thumright:
Nice. Congrats.....
Congrats!!
Congrats!!
Well Done!!
Congrats!!!
Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk
WTG Congrats !!
awesome!
Nice hunt, Congrats.
Congrats!
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:icon_thumright:
And that is how its done :happy0064: !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Congrats from a fellow public land huntr in the upper piedmont of NE Georgia. Private (Oconee County) land for me this a.m. Heard a few weak, half-assed gobbles around 7:30. Maybe tomorrow.
Congrats on the trophy, especially public land. While I didn't hunt public land this morning I hunted a farm for the first time today as a guest. We didn't seal the deal as those birds were henned up we did manage to chase a bird and got circled around on him and it ended up being 8 hens and three long beards, they all skirted us at approximately 75 yards. There is always next time. I did see my first bearded hen, she got within 30 yards and we could see the 6-7" beard but new something wasn't right with the grey head and small body. Strangely she came running in to light yelps.
Nice bird! Congrats.
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nice :icon_thumright:
Awesome!! Congrats!!! :icon_thumright:
Congrats
Congrats! You southern guys are driving me crazy! 2 more weeks till I can finally get out. Might have to plan a trip to GA next year.
Outstanding!
Nice bird. Congrats.
:icon_thumright: :icon_thumright: congrats
:icon_thumright:
Congrats, you might need to bring your girlfriend along all the time if all she has to do is say you will get one and it works, nice work :icon_thumright:
congrats
Awsome Public Land gobbler!!! That's what I like to see... The only prob is you don't see it much on these forums Hmmmmmm...
Congrats
Congrats on your gobbler!
Congrats. Nice bird. Nothing like success on the first hunt the get your girlfriend back out there. Next time I expect she'll be doing the shooting.
Congrats on a nice bird and a fun hunt with your girlfriend!
:icon_thumright:
Nice!!
Congrats
Way to get it done! Its nice to see a someone else that brings out there girl with them. I'm a public land hunter myself. Its those that go the extra mile (sometimes literally) that usually get it done.
:happy0064: Very nice,congrats!!
Taking her back out tomorrow morning. We walked 5 miles tonight scouting for a spot for the morning hunt. She's a trooper. :you_rock:
Her "Gomer" picture that she'd kill me over if she knew I posted.
(http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i126/gatrapper/Gomercopy_zps8c579dad.jpg) (http://s71.photobucket.com/user/gatrapper/media/Gomercopy_zps8c579dad.jpg.html)
(http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i126/gatrapper/IMG_3641_zpscf58ddf2.jpg) (http://s71.photobucket.com/user/gatrapper/media/IMG_3641_zpscf58ddf2.jpg.html)
Those are awesome....you got yourself a keeper.... :icon_thumright:
Quote from: memert116 on March 29, 2014, 09:07:28 PM
Those are awesome....you got yourself a keeper.... :icon_thumright:
+1 :z-winnersmiley:
:icon_thumright:
Congrats on getting a nice public land bird. Better then a half dozen private land birds. And hang on to that little woman its a real prize when you find one to share in your hunting and trapping fun.
Congrats!
nice
Congrats!
Congrats!
Quote from: gatrapper on March 29, 2014, 09:00:43 PM
Taking her back out tomorrow morning. We walked 5 miles tonight scouting for a spot for the morning hunt. She's a trooper. :you_rock:
Her "Gomer" picture that she'd kill me over if she knew I posted.
(http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i126/gatrapper/Gomercopy_zps8c579dad.jpg) (http://s71.photobucket.com/user/gatrapper/media/Gomercopy_zps8c579dad.jpg.html)
(http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i126/gatrapper/IMG_3641_zpscf58ddf2.jpg) (http://s71.photobucket.com/user/gatrapper/media/IMG_3641_zpscf58ddf2.jpg.html)
YES, GONNA KILL YOU.