Got my first turkey of the year today!

[SixFive]

Most don't care, but I'm proud of it, so I'll post the specs.

23 lbs
10.5 inch beard
1 1/8th inch spurs.

I'll try to get a picture on here later.

 

[Nole]

Glad you clarified that. I thought it took you all year to throw 3 strikes in a row!



Congrats!

:clap:

nole

 

[RexBudler]

How long until you get to gobble it up

 

[Wilson]

I've turkey hunted since I was a kid...of all game hunting...it is the most entertaining...calling them and having them come to you is a lot of fun.

Nowadays, at least in WV, there are so many of them...it takes away some of the thrill.

I remember deer hunting used to be shoot the first horns you see because you may not see another buck the rest of the season. Now, I see an eight pointer and I am letting them walk by me...knowing that a trophy is just up the holler.

Congrats on the nice beard

 

[kosar]

Do you guys use those cuzoo things to 'call' them? Or just your voice?

And what makes a beard 'nice'. The bigger the better? Or what?

What's a 'spur'?

Thanks and congrats.

 

[ripken8]

nice job, SixFive.

 

[trolln4walii]

Nice gobbler SixFive. Congrats :clap:

 

[taoist]

Great job, 6'5!!! When are you going to post the pics? My brother turkey hunts almost every afternoon and has recently moved up to hunting them with a bow and arrow!!! :scared


kosar: (regarding the beard) Just like Bahamamama would say, the longer the better.... :scared

 

[Nole]

kosar: (regarding the beard) Just like Bahamamama would say, the longer the better.... :scared

As Dick Enberg would say, "Oh my!!!!"

:mj07:

nole

 

[SixFive]

I'll get those pictures up tonight after all the kid running around :rolleyes

Kosar, I think I took a picture of everything individually so you will better understand.

On turkey calls, there are box calls, slate calls, and diaphragm calls. The latter are what I prefer as they are hands free. The diaphragm call fits right in the roof of your mouth, and you can make all the "hen talk" hands free.

Here's a picture of my favorite (Legacy Leading Lady).

and a .wav file of what it sounds like in use. http://www.gameacc.net/Leading Lady.wav

 

[Captain Crunch]

Nice work Sixfive. Today was the opener in Missouri, and I missed it. I'm leaving Wednesday night to head up to our farm and hunt Thursday, Friday and Saturday. That is one hell of bird you got today. I also prefer the diaprham call. Hopefully the mushrooms will be poppin when I get up there. Two years ago they found over 3000 two days after I left. :cursin: and found none last year. :shrug: Can't wait to leave as I am right in the middle of a job that has to be finished before I can hunt. Did you call him in and have you ever used decoys with any luck??????

 

[SixFive]

Nice work Sixfive. Today was the opener in Missouri, and I missed it. I'm leaving Wednesday night to head up to our farm and hunt Thursday, Friday and Saturday. That is one hell of bird you got today. I also prefer the diaprham call. Hopefully the mushrooms will be poppin when I get up there. Two years ago they found over 3000 two days after I left. :cursin: and found none last year. :shrug: Can't wait to leave as I am right in the middle of a job that has to be finished before I can hunt. Did you call him in and have you ever used decoys with any luck??????

Crunch, around here the gobblers are henned up something fierce. They seem to be about 1.5 to 2 weeks late in the breeding. Anyway, this dude or his brother was in a "loafing" area on Saturday, and I tried to work him, but he wasn't budging, and he had hens. I beat him to it today by about 1.5 hours. I hadn't heard anything and was dosing when I hear these flapping wings (whuh, whuh, whuh!!). I figured it was turkeys, but I didn't understand why they were flying. Well, guess what I see next? A 'yote! A beautiful blonde one at that. She had apparently scared the turkeys that were on the way to my setup in his loafing area. A hen nearly dive-bombed me next, saw my form and didn't like it, and landed on the next ridge. Tommy was still up in his tree where he stayed around 45 minutes. He landed about 125 yards from me, and I clucked at him softly occasionally. He was hungry, and was pecking as he came. Since he was coming, I shutup. It took him about 30 minutes to get 70 yards out, and he saw my solo hen decoy (I almost always just use one hen decoy and leave the jake at home). He gobbled at in, then slowly closed the distance. I had a small rivulet creek between us, and when he hung up on the far side, I slammed him. Range finder showed 42 yards. 'twas an awesome hunt. I learned patience last year, and that's what got me this bird. Shot him at 1000. Good luck on your place! Going tomorrow to try to nail one with dad.

 

[SixFive]

here's some pictures.

spurs

Most people believe that spur length determines the birds age. Anything over 1 inch is good and usually means a bird 3 or older. Spurs can be shorter in rocky terrain and are poor determiners of age in those conditions.

Head and beard. The head and neck on a turkey can go from red, white, and blue. A very patriotic bird indeed. A 2 year old bird will usually have a 9 inch beard. Over 10 inches is solid. As birds get older, their beards sometimes break on the ends which means an old bird could have a short beard.

Whole body shot

My clodhoppers got in the way. This is a big bird!

 

[DOGS THAT BARK]

Good Job Clint and thanks for report and photo's was quite interesting.Was never a good enough hunter to get close enough to get one the correct way myself.Had to shoot the one I got with 25-06 and target scope on fathers farm.No sport--- but tasted good

 

[kneifl]

Great Job Sixfive!! Nice looking bird!!

kneifl

 

[redsfann]

Nice going, 6-5...

Was reading the local fishwrap a while back and saw an article on turkey hunting here in the Hawkeye State. Talked about how its really increased in popularity over the last 10 years and that many women now are hunting turkeys as well.

If you ever decide to visit Iowa for a turkey hunt, I've got access to 200+ acres that we hunt pheasants on every year, I'm sure there are plenty of turkeys on the wooded part of that land.

 

[SixFive]

Nice going, 6-5...

Was reading the local fishwrap a while back and saw an article on turkey hunting here in the Hawkeye State. Talked about how its really increased in popularity over the last 10 years and that many women now are hunting turkeys as well.

If you ever decide to visit Iowa for a turkey hunt, I've got access to 200+ acres that we hunt pheasants on every year, I'm sure there are plenty of turkeys on the wooded part of that land.

Wow, thanks for the offer! I'm going to want to take some trips in the near future, and I might take you up on that!

 

[fatdaddycool]

Most don't care, but I'm proud of it, so I'll post the specs.

23 lbs
10.5 inch beard
1 1/8th inch spurs.

I'll try to get a picture on here later.

You sure it wasn't a Greek?

 

[bjfinste]

65-

Are you just a turkey hunter or an everything hunter? When I was living in South Dakota (Mitchell area), the area I was at was a real hotbed for pheasants. I don't hunt, and was unaware of this when I moved there. But as bird season approached, I ended up having to write a couple stories on bird hunting for the newspaper as we ran a special section just for pheasant hunting season (god bless the ranchers that helped me out with that, as I didn't have a CLUE). Apparently people come in from all over the country to hunt there. Seemed to be quite a lucrative business there.

I'm sure I'm not telling you anything you don't know, but just in case, if you're looking to take a hunting trip, you should look into that area.

 

[usbbroker]

Congratulations! :clap:

Bow or Shotgun?

Did the guys you were with haze you a little bit afterwards?