All finished in MD

[mdtkyhntr]

After finishing my slam with my Osceola in March, and floating on cloud 9 since, Maryland season has been quite good to me. I've hunted nearly every morning since the opener on the 18th of April and haven't gone one morning without hearing a bird gobble, and at least getting to work one for a bit. My first MD bird came on April 21st. I woke up early after a night of light rain and the forecast calling for a 15-20 mph west wind. However, when I got up the wind was in the 5-10 mph range and one of my properties is on the east face of the mountain, so I headed there. As I was getting my stuff out of the truck I heard one gobble close, not wanting to bump him I stayed back and let the morning unfold. That first bird didn't do much on the roost, but I heard another one about 500 yds away that sounded interested. I got set up on the edge of an oak flat sat out a single feeding DSD hen and settled in. Let out three soft yelps from my mouth call and he roared back. I had barely gotten my face mask up and saw him strutting at 250 yds across the wide open flat. I scratched in the leaves once, he locked eyes on the decoy and it took him about 5 minutes to strut his way into the set. At 20 yds and with 3.5 in longbeard 6's out of SBEII the bird stood no chance. Not even a flop. Only the second bird I've ever taken on this property and the other was a jake, so I was pumped and it felt good to get on the board early in my home state. Great bird too, matching 1 in spurs, 11 in beard, 21 lbs.

I've never limited in MD with mature birds, so I gave myself a new goal, but in the meantime I wanted to help some friends. I hunted a few times on my own between and worked one particular stubborn bird multiple times, but decided it was time to give him a break and headed to meet a friend about a 1.5 hour drive away with the birds he'd been working. We got in early and the birds started hammering right on time. I think it was 4 different birds, but it was hard to tell given the number of gobbles. I waited for the first hint of light and let out some soft tree yelps which were answered by a thunderous gobble inside 100 yds. I just went quiet and then watched as the gobbler walked under the tree four hens were roosted in. He gobbled at them until they flew down to him. Soft yelping and clucking was too much for his ladies and they had to come investigate. He followed them in full strut nearly all the way to the gun. My buddy has his bird, the 4th he's ever killed and first he'd seen strut to the gun. All over by 6:15 but totally worth the drive. Another great bird, 10.25 in beard, 1 in spurs, and 20.6 lbs.
Back closer to home I headed to a farm my brother and I hunt, primarily to scout as he couldn't come with me, but had encouraged me to kill one should the opportunity present itself. I sat back from the early morning action, letting them hit the ground and do their thing to set a plan for the next morning. We were going to bring his son so I was looking for a place to set up a blind on the field edge when I heard a few gobbles behind me across the creek. Just trying to keep them interested I walked toward them a bit. Then I scratched in the leaves a bit and yelped walking away from them and went back to clearing some leaves from the blind location. The gobbles steadily got closer until I realized I needed to get set up. I clucked twice and let out a short yelp series when I watched 6 black figures soar across the creek and land on the hill below me. Not knowing what had just flown the creek and after about 10 minutes of silence I called again and was answered by a gobble that seemed to last for a minute, and shake the woods. Knowing they were close I got down on the gun and waited for the show. I wasn't disappointed, as I looked down the ridge in front of me, 6 longbeards stepped out onto the logging road, 3 blown up in full strut. They broke strut, and all gobbled in unison, showing me the reason for the volume and length of the gobbles I'd been hearing. They were all at 35 yds but behind some briars that I didn't want to shoot for. They stood there for what seemed like forever (probably 2-3 min) taking turns strutting, but not moving an inch. They finally started to move off to my left through some thick brush I couldn't shoot through. I thought to myself that this could be the coolest hunt I've ever been on. That's not something you see every day. I was going to let them move off and reset, but they let me know they were still interested when they all gobbled directly behind me at about 50 yds. I slowly got to me knees using the tree to hide me, and sat up slightly to try to find them. I could see two heads at 35 yds. When they stepped behind a big tree I got the gun up the rest of the way and scratched in the leaves, which was met by another of the thunderous 6 bird gobble. The lead strutter couldn't take it and eased around the tree where his head was met by a load of longbeard 6's. He went straight down without a flop so I aggressively purred to keep the other birds from flying off and ruining our morning chances. They came back and gave my bird a beating flogging him into a blow down and pretty much destroying his wings in the process. Once they moved off I got up and found a nice 2 year old bird with 3/4 in spurs, 9.75 in beard, but a lightweight at 17 lbs.


I let my brother know that there were definitely a few birds on the property to hunt, and we set out a plan for the next morning. I would sit with his son and talk him through any shot opportunities, and he would sit about 100 yds away and watch the hillside where I had the show the day before. The next morning was alive with gobbling activity on the roost. I think shooting that bird out of the group must have opened up some tight lips as we heard 10-12 different birds all over the farm. One in particular was hammering on the roost. We had the dominant bird fly out of the tree 100 yds behind us, and he hadn't gobbled a single time. He was followed by three-four hens. I started on the bird across the creek that was hammering with some soft tree yelps, each of them met by a gobble. As the sun came up a bit I broke into a series of longer yelps which was met by a close gobble that sounded to be directly in front of my brother. I told my nephew to get ready to hear the gun crack because the bird was right in front of his Dad. 5 minutes and one more series of calling and we heard just that. Less than 100 yds away the birds had given my brother a show, 3 of them strutting along the logging road and gobbling every time I called. When he got them to separate he took the strutter at 30 yds. He was using my gun and anchored the bird's head, but it managed to flop off the road and 150 yds down an enbankment to the edge of the creek making for less than perfect picture conditions, but another great bird with 3/4 in sharp blonde black tipped spurs, 10.5 in beard, and 20 lbs.

So in about 2 weeks of hunting I've been able to fill my MD tags, call one in for a friend, and share a great hunt with my brother. It certainly isn't always like this so I'm cherishing every minute, but it's bittersweet. I've never been finished chasing them this early in the season, and don't want to be finished now. We'll still work on getting a bird for my nephew, but I think I'm going to have to take some time off and hit one more state before this season comes to a close. Best of luck to everyone who still has tags in their pockets.

[kyturkeyhunter4]

  Congrats! Nice turkey.

[alloutdoors]

Congrats!

[Gooserbat]

Good job

[Will]

Great story...good job

[mgm1955]

Way to go!!

[Snoodsniper]

Nice! Now slide across the border somewhere and kill some more.

[surehuntsalot]

good deal

[Wrangler95]

Very nice going,congrats

[crow]

good story, way to go, but it's too soon to quit

no birds in Pa., but I hear Delaware is loaded with 5 year olds.

[floatingboy]

First of all, great write up. Thank you. Lots of good info. Secondly, where are you in the state? Any chance of a very respectful hunter trying to bag his first ever bird hunting on your property??

[JLH]

Congrats on a great season!

[taylorjones20]

Great season! Congrats!