2023 Strut Stoppers story thread

[Moore]

Congrats on the bird. Seems like you had a tough season

[aclawrence]

Congrats on the bird. Seems like you had a tough season

Thanks and yes I did. I'm going to try to squeeze TN for one more bird.


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[wvhoyt19]

Congrats!!


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[turkey harvester]

Outstanding!!

[Kygobblergetter]

Congrats!


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[birdman67]

Congratulations! Way to hang in there!

[aclawrence]

Let's go! Turkey Man is on the board!


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[Turkeyman]

An "As Found" picture.

I killed this bird on Monday the 16th in an area I've hunted before...not where I had done some pre-season scouting.
It was quite cold and the only bird I heard. He didn't gobble on his own, I had to raise him with some soft yelps about a half hour after sunrise. He came in pretty good...like they're supposed to! Shot him at 35 yards. He scored 51.5.


An "As Found" picture.

I killed this bird on Tuesday the 17th in my favorite spot where I've gotten several birds. It was very cold...30 degrees and I was leery of hearing anything. Normally in this spot I can expect to hear a few gobbling but this morning only this guy. Due to generally expecting to hear one sound off I set up in the dark so as not to spook them. Well...he gobbled darn near in gun range to my left. I didn't hear any hens so figured it may be a good morning. Well, he glided about 75 yards away from me and down into a dip. That's when I heard a few hens where he glided to. I ran a quiet string of yelps on my glass call and he immediately responded. He would gobble every so often telling me to join them and I called very quietly every so often telling him to come to me! Finally he broke and came in, strutting and drumming...my absolute favorite turkey sound. I shot him at 33 yards after he came from behind a big tree which enabled me to get my 835 up. He scored 55.65.

[aclawrence]

Congrats!  I agree drumming is one of my favorite sounds and I don't think I got to hear any drumming this year.


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[JeffC]

Congrats Trukeyman, that's a great 2 days of hunting.

[wvhoyt19]

Congrats!!


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[Kygobblergetter]

Man I'm getting my butt absolutely whooped in Minnesota. First day around 9:30 I was able to pull two off of private onto the public but they hung up at 80. Ever since then all the birds have been roosted and stayed on private. Got permission where I heard a bunch of birds on private then the landowner was mushroom hunting yesterday evening right where they had been roosting so they were all off the property today. One gave us some fun but ultimately wouldn't come in. Met and hunted with a really nice guy from Arkansas and he killed this morning on a different piece of public and said he heard some more birds so I'll be in there tonight trying to kill or roost one and that'll decide what I do for tomorrow morning


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[aclawrence]

Man I'm getting my butt absolutely whooped in Minnesota. First day around 9:30 I was able to pull two off of private onto the public but they hung up at 80. Ever since then all the birds have been roosted and stayed on private. Got permission where I heard a bunch of birds on private then the landowner was mushroom hunting yesterday evening right where they had been roosting so they were all off the property today. One gave us some fun but ultimately wouldn't come in. Met and hunted with a really nice guy from Arkansas and he killed this morning on a different piece of public and said he heard some more birds so I'll be in there tonight trying to kill or roost one and that'll decide what I do for tomorrow morning


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Sounds like a fun trip. Good luck tomorrow!


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[Kygobblergetter]

It's been lots of fun. My wife is tagging along too so lots of cool pictures and videos didn't get anything roosted tonight so we have a decision to make on where we're going in the morning. It's been a great trip regardless but I'd love to kill one to finish out the year


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[Kygobblergetter]

Ended my season on a good note. Tuesday morning we had to be out of Minnesota early to get my wife on a flight Wednesday morning. The bird was roosted close. Gobbled a few times on the limb then flew down and shut up. After 30 minutes I decided to sneak out and take a peak in the field. I stopped before I got to the edge to listen and after a couple minutes I heard a bird putt directly behind me. I slowly turned my head and could see his head over the hill. I think he was actually clucking looking for the hen he had heard. I was somehow able to get ahold of my gun and turn and shoot him at 35 yards. He ended up being a jake which I really hated as it was my second in a row. Which is more than I had killed in all my years of hunting before that. It was with my wife and she was pumped so it was still cool but I was pretty disappointed. No big deal. Made the ten hour drive home so she could get some sleep before her flight and decided to pick my brother up and turn straight around and drive 7.5 hours to wisconsin so we could be there in time to hunt in the morning. A flat tire made us late but we heard a couple birds that day and couldn't do anything with them. The next day was pretty uneventful so we only had a couple hours to make it happen this morning before I had to be home in time to get to work tonight. My brother went after a bird we had messed with the last couple days and I just decided to head in blind way back and try to find a bird to hunt. As luck would have it, I heard a distant gobble and took off. He was way farther than I thought but I eventually closed the distance and got to him after he was already on the ground. I had to make it up one last lip to where I wanted but it was covered with rocks. I slipped from rock to rock and made it to the top of the hill about 90 yards away from the bird. When I got up there I was on the edge of some thick under brush and he was in the pretty woods. He was HOT. Gobbling every 30 seconds. I finally got where I wanted and stood behind a tree and hit a call. After a couple seconds he gobbled but definitely wasn't hammering my yelps. I gave him a couple more soft ones and same reaction. I was really pressed for time because of how far back in there I was, so I decided to try and sneak 15 yards to a small drain beside me. The leaves were dry so moving quietly was impossible. I figured he'd hear me so I started scratching in the leaves every step as I moved. When I made it to the second tree on the edge of the drain I realized he hadn't gobbled in almost two minutes and figured that meant he was either coming or had picked me off. I stood up straight to be able to see and got my gun ready. Instantly I began hearing drumming and knew he was on the way. After 30 seconds or so of listening to drumming I was able to spot his fan coming up over the hill. He came in to view at probably 60 yards but couldn't pick me out cause he had been over a little hill and the under growth was so thick I was hidden pretty well. He slowly strutted and drummed his way closer and closer slowly. I finally decided he was in range but his head was behind a big vine so I just let him keep coming. Since I was standing up the butt of my gun was on my shoulder but my gun wasn't aimed at the bird. He finally stepped out into the open and I told myself the next time he went in to strut I would just raise my gun and that would probably be enough to make him raise his head. As luck would have it he never went back in to strut. At about that time, he tucked his wing and turned to start walking away. I knew it was now or never so I gave 3 yelps as I raised my gun and settled the dot on his head. He never even flinched and I pulled the trigger putting an end to my 2023 season. I shot him at 6:02, walked up to him and snapped a couple pictures then threw him over my shoulder and walked non stop back to the car. We started the drive home at 7:01 and I made it home in time for work. Couldn't have asked for a better way to finish off the season. I shot a bird on the last hour of the last day on my last 3 trips. As much as I love hunting with friends and family, it was special to me to end the season by myself. Just me and the bird. He wasn't an upgrade but he sure was special


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