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Post by jwk on May 4, 2024 10:49:45 GMT -5
My son and I went to this farm without any pre-season scouting that “Always has Birds” according to him, but no birds roosting in the normal areas and no response from the owl hoot. He assured me we will find some birds. I am new to this so what do I know, except that this goes against everything I’ve read up until now. We setup near the corner edge of a huge open field with a creek bottom about 150 yds to our left. At first light I am waiting for him to call and nothing. I’m wondering why isn’t he calling. A good 30 minutes in he finally does a few soft yelps and that’s it. Another 20 minutes goes by and nothing from him or the birds. About 5 minutes after that I see a bird enter the field from the woodsline off to the left. It was about 200yds maybe. It looked very small and I am thinking that it isn’t a turkey. Next thing you know another one pops out and then three more. A couple soft yelps and a few puts and here comes a bird making a beeline towards me. I pick up the beard about 75 yds out wait for him to come in closer. He does and is starting to strut and BANG! The bird didn’t move I sat there in aw as he took a few trots to the right and then BANG! My son ended up dropping him right there. First thing out of his mouth is “why did you shoot so early, he would have came in at least another 20 yds or more”. I cleanly missed that bird and it was totally my fault for not shooting the new gun enough with the TSS ammo and totally mis-judging the distance. It ended up being about 50 yds away. It was a great morning that ended pretty early at 6:40 AM. Can’t wait to get back out. How the tables have turned, I used to teach him hunting and now he is teaching me.
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Day 1
May 4, 2024 12:37:20 GMT -5
jwk likes this
Post by acorn20 on May 4, 2024 12:37:20 GMT -5
Congrats to your son.
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Post by ridgecommander on May 4, 2024 14:06:09 GMT -5
Woke up to steady rain this morning so I brought the blind in case it didn't let up. When I arrived at my spot it was still raining steady so I walked in and set up in a small field for first light. I never heard a bird gobbling from the roost on the property I was hunting. There was some gobbling across the road I don't have permission to hunt. At about 7:00, I crawled out of the blind and slowly walked up a logging road into a large valley. I got one going across the valley from me but he would not work. Eventually he lost interest and I continued further in. About 8:00 I struck another bird that began to go ballistic. After several moves I finally settled into where I thought I could kill him. Several other birds joined him but they sounded like Jake's. After 30 minutes of very sporadic calling on my part and probably a 100 gobbles on his, I caught a white head coming in. I was actually standing up in a grapevine tangle as that was the only place where I had good cover to stand as the ground vegetation was too high and thick to sit down. Four birds were working in and once I confirmed a long beard on the first one, I let him have it at 30 yards. He had a 10 inch beard and 7/8-in spurs. This is probably the fifth or sixth gobbler that I've shot standing up.
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Day 1
May 4, 2024 17:08:05 GMT -5
via mobile
Post by bushmaster on May 4, 2024 17:08:05 GMT -5
Congrats!
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Post by Dutch on May 4, 2024 18:25:08 GMT -5
My brother and his buddy arrived at their parking area only to find my brother brought 20 gauge ammo for his 410. So, they decided to hunt together in a blind At the second setup, two gobblers came in. Fred shot and immediately ejected and reloaded, handed the gun to Jase and he killed the second bird, he said in less than 15 seconds!! Single shot Rossi 410.
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Day 1
May 4, 2024 18:38:47 GMT -5
Post by acorn20 on May 4, 2024 18:38:47 GMT -5
Hey Ridge, congrats on your gobbler.
And Dutch, I'm not sure what Fred "rejected" lol, but please extend my congrats to both him and Jase.
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Day 1
May 4, 2024 19:03:26 GMT -5
via mobile
Post by Dutch on May 4, 2024 19:03:26 GMT -5
Hey Ridge, congrats on your gobbler.
And Dutch, I'm not sure what Fred "rejected" lol, but please extend my congrats to both him and Jase. LOL, fixed it. Thanks
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Day 1
May 4, 2024 19:07:32 GMT -5
via mobile
davet and jwk like this
Post by Dutch on May 4, 2024 19:07:32 GMT -5
JWK, GREAT STORY!!!
Sorry you didn't connect tho.
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Post by jwk on May 4, 2024 22:48:23 GMT -5
JWK, GREAT STORY!!! Sorry you didn't connect tho. Thanks! I was very happy with the way it worked out, it couldn't have been better.
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Day 1
May 5, 2024 5:25:43 GMT -5
Post by davet on May 5, 2024 5:25:43 GMT -5
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Day 1
May 5, 2024 6:03:27 GMT -5
jwk likes this
Post by ridgecommander on May 5, 2024 6:03:27 GMT -5
JWK, anybody that does a lot of turkey hunting has missed their share of gobblers. Keep af them!
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Day 1
May 5, 2024 10:22:40 GMT -5
via mobile
davet likes this
Post by Dutch on May 5, 2024 10:22:40 GMT -5
Jase said that gun barely recoils. Fred bought it for his grandson to use. This coming weekend Jase is taking one of the nieces out with his 410, hopefully he takes the right shells. 🙂
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Day 1
May 5, 2024 13:16:24 GMT -5
Dutch likes this
Post by davet on May 5, 2024 13:16:24 GMT -5
Jase said that gun barely recoils. Fred bought it for his grandson to use. This coming weekend Jase is taking one of the nieces out with his 410, hopefully he takes the right shells. 🙂 True story: A friend of mine who moved to NC several years ago called me and left a message on my phone. I kept it for several years as ...you just can't make this stuff up. He's on a mountain top and has rattle snakes to contend with on occasion. So he tells me he went to get some fireplace wood, always knowing snakes like the wood pile, and there is a pretty decent size rattle snake there. He goes back, grabs his 12ga pump and a box of shells, loads 3 rounds in it. First shot....BOOM....dirt flies everywhere and the rattle snake is looking at him. Pumps another....same thing. And the third.....same result. He toss's in 2 more rounds and gets 2 more snake looking at him. Then he looks at the shell box......it's a box of slugs. A few minutes later with a trip to the garage, and no more snake. Although I gotta give that snake a lot of credit.....I'm surprised he hung out after all that shooting.
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Day 1
May 6, 2024 8:08:40 GMT -5
Post by dougl on May 6, 2024 8:08:40 GMT -5
Congrats on the success.This weekend was a nogo for me.My mother fell back in Jan and has been stedily declining ever since.Last tuesday I took a ride to see her for the last time and figured she wouldn't make it til the weekend.My wife and I left early in the morning to get up to Dallas where she was was and passed about 20 minutes before we got there.Next weekend is the funeral so turkey hunting will have to take a back seat to family matters.
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Day 1
May 6, 2024 8:24:03 GMT -5
via mobile
Post by Dutch on May 6, 2024 8:24:03 GMT -5
Congrats on the success.This weekend was a nogo for me.My mother fell back in Jan and has been stedily declining ever since.Last tuesday I took a ride to see her for the last time and figured she wouldn't make it til the weekend.My wife and I left early in the morning to get up to Dallas where she was was and passed about 20 minutes before we got there.Next weekend is the funeral so turkey hunting will have to take a back seat to family matters. Sorry for your loss Doug.
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Day 1
May 6, 2024 10:20:11 GMT -5
Post by dougl on May 6, 2024 10:20:11 GMT -5
Thanks,It's been a rough road for her the last few months.
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Day 1
May 6, 2024 10:35:02 GMT -5
Post by ridgecommander on May 6, 2024 10:35:02 GMT -5
.My wife and I left early in the morning to get up to Dallas where she was was and passed about 20 minutes before we got there.. So sorry to hear this.
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Day 1
May 6, 2024 10:43:58 GMT -5
Post by fleroo on May 6, 2024 10:43:58 GMT -5
Very sorry for your loss Doug. Hang in there.
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Day 1
May 6, 2024 12:16:29 GMT -5
Post by jwk on May 6, 2024 12:16:29 GMT -5
Sorry for your loss sir.
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Day 1
May 6, 2024 14:48:29 GMT -5
Post by stroupy on May 6, 2024 14:48:29 GMT -5
I didn't make it out but last Saturday I had a gobbler gobble one time and had two more open up so I didn't know which way to position my daughter and the one that gobbled first and stopped gobbling came in silent and knew something was up and left. Was a exciting 15 minutes til they shut up again.
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Day 1
May 6, 2024 16:47:14 GMT -5
Post by rusty on May 6, 2024 16:47:14 GMT -5
Congrats on the success.This weekend was a nogo for me.My mother fell back in Jan and has been stedily declining ever since.Last tuesday I took a ride to see her for the last time and figured she wouldn't make it til the weekend.My wife and I left early in the morning to get up to Dallas where she was was and passed about 20 minutes before we got there.Next weekend is the funeral so turkey hunting will have to take a back seat to family matters. So sorry to hear, Doug. I lost my mom and dad 12 and 13 years ago and still think about them every day. Condolances to you and your family.
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Post by dougl on May 6, 2024 17:15:29 GMT -5
Thanks but I knew it was coming.My father was my hero and when he died 26 years ago,it was a hard pill to swallow.Internally it did something to me and made me kinda cold.Maybe some sort of defense mechanism.In any event,I was lucky to have such good parents.I had 29 years with a real father and 55 years with a good mother.Quite a few people never have one day so I should feel lucky.
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Day 1
May 7, 2024 5:24:32 GMT -5
Post by davet on May 7, 2024 5:24:32 GMT -5
I'm sorry for your loss Doug. Mom is Mom. It's tough to lose her. Someone told me when my mother passed away several years after my Dad...they said "Now you know what it's like to be an Orphan". Well, not in the strictest sense, but there's some truth to that.
Again, my sincere condolences.
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Post by Dutch on May 7, 2024 8:19:07 GMT -5
I'm sorry for your loss Doug. Mom is Mom. It's tough to lose her. Someone told me when my mother passed away several years after my Dad...they said "Now you know what it's like to be an Orphan". Well, not in the strictest sense, but there's some truth to that. Again, my sincere condolences. I never thought of it that way, but when Dad died, that's kinda how I felt.
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Post by Dutch on May 11, 2024 6:15:34 GMT -5
So far this morning, by 7 AM, my brother has called in 5 birds. One was at 45 yds, then the other four came in at 50.
Too far of a shot for our 14 year old niece.
He wants them a little closer. There is hope yet
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