2021 Strut Stopper Story Thread

[dzsmith]

Found me a hot one. Drug him across a black top road . From gobble to shot was maybe 15 minutes . Gobbled all the way to the gun. Broke the ice finally.

[fmf]

Found me a hot one. Drug him across a black top road . From gobble to shot was maybe 15 minutes . Gobbled all the way to the gun. Broke the ice finally.

Congrats!  looks like a good bird!

[turkey harvester]

Great bird, congrats

[aclawrence]

Well I have a story.  It's called, I'm an idiot for listening to the weatherman on opening day. The forecast called for 90% rain and thunderstorms all morning so I decided to skip. I'm having to be picky with my days so I didn't go. Hasn't rained hardly a drop all morning but from what I've heard I didn't miss much. I'll be heading to the woods Monday morning though. I haven't heard a gobble yet on my scouting trips but I think they're just not talking much in my neck of the woods.  Congrats to y'all who have already knocked one in the dirt. I can't wait to be toting my shotgun with calls in hand.


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[bornagain64]

Found me a hot one. Drug him across a black top road . From gobble to shot was maybe 15 minutes . Gobbled all the way to the gun. Broke the ice finally.

Nice, got to love those 2 year old birds.

[aclawrence]

I made my first trip to the woods on March 29th.  This was one of those rare mornings where everything just went so smoothly that you just had a good feeling about it.  I woke up about 3:30 before my alarm went off, slipped out of bed without waking my wife, got dressed quickly, and I was on my way.  It's a good thing because I would have been beaten to the gate.  I had one guy slow down and to pull in then went on down the road.  I was appreciative for this as this type of courtesy seems less and less common these days.  I've got almost a mile bicycle ride to where I get off and start walking.  I haven't heard or seen a gobbler in all my scouting trips so I'm going in based on the amount of turkey poop I had found in this area.  It's a full moon and it's bright outside.  I was surprised to hear the first gobble at 5:30.  After he gobbled again I start making my trek through the woods and get to a spot to sit down.  He started gobbling more often so I consult the map and move closer.  The property line started to become a factor.  It's amazing with thousands and thousands of acres how the turkeys seem to always be just across the line.  I'm sitting with a transition of pines to my rear and a big hardwood hillside with a stream down in the bottom in front of me.  The gobbler is roosted across the bottom and on the point of a ridge coming down to the bottom.  And he's on private.  I did a few soft calls, and he answers me right away.  He's probably 150 yards away.  He flies down at 6:22 and continues to gobble, but he's not answering my calls anymore.  After 15 minutes or so I decide he's not going to cross and come my way so I sneak back into the pines, and I start making a circle to get down into the bottom to his south.  After looking at the map I realized the line cuts across the bottom not too far from the gobbler so this is my destination goal.  In the process of getting over there I cross a different bottom, and spooked three turkeys off the roost.  This is at 6:53 so they've stayed up about 30 minutes past the gobbler.  This must have been why he was continuing to gobble.  Scattering the hens played in my favor, and I made my descent into the bottom.  The gobbler continued to gobble during this whole process so I knew I hadn't spooked him.  Once I got into the bottom and set up I realized I was in a really good position.  He wasn't very far away.  I made a few more soft series of calls.  He still didn't answer me, but he continued to gobble on his on.  He was getting super close.  I finally catch a glimpse of him, and my heart is starting to beat fast at this point.  He works in behind some thick privet looking stuff, and I'm struggling to get a clear shot.  I cluck a few times at him but he stops behind a big tree.  Now I'm getting nervous because I can tell he is looking hard for me.  I finally take a shot and this is where it gets real western.  At my shot he jumps into the air and flies across me.  I jumped up and took another shot.  He flies on across and I feel like I'm about to throw up.  Everything has went so perfectly and now I have screwed it up.  Then I noticed he has landed behind me on the hillside I came down.  I can tell he is hurt so I take a longer shot at this point to try to finish the job and this shot essentially anchors him, but he is still holding his head up.  I'm feeling terrible about the situation. Realizing I'm out of shells I run back across the muddy bottom to my vest and retrieve more shells.  I quickly run up to 30 yards or so and take one final shot to finish him off.  I've never been the guy to carry ten shells with me, but after taking four shots on this gobbler I may need to carry a couple more extras.  Now I'm super relieved and excited to have gotten this gobbler.  He played the game beautifully and I was able to take him home.  If I hadn't moved on him I would have never gotten him.  2021 is kicking 2020's turkey season in the teeth already.  I, my brother, and two of our friends have gotten birds.  Before the season I was feeling discouraged with the lack of gobbling and sighting but things are looking up.  Good luck to all of you this season.

[turkey harvester]

That did get western real quick lol. Awesome story and congrats on a great hunt.

[Dmason3]

Damn you guys are killing me with these stories. I still have 3 weeks before I can go


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[birdman67]

Awesome! Congrats guys! Nice looking birds! I'm finally going to be able to go a couple times this weekend. Looking forward to it!

[bornagain64]

Congrats on the bird. My next hunt is not until the 12th, hopefully gonna sneak out to a romp and stomp and see if I can get on anything.

[Kygobblergetter]

Awesome story! And congrats on a great hunt


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[wvhoyt19]

Great story! Congrats!!


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[dzsmith]

My best scoring public bird. Story later

[fmf]

My best scoring public bird. Story later

is that 2 beards that I see?  Either way, great bird!  Definitely a heck of a rope for around here!

[fmf]

This one is several days late and not a contest bird since it is smaller than my first.  Unfortunately there isn't much story.  No gobbling, dead quiet morning, silent bird that just seemed to appear out of nowhere. 

Very small bird, 8.75" beard, 5/8" spurs (both), 15.5 pounds.

trying hard for number 3, but these birds are flat wearing me out!