sclancy27
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- Nov 23, 2022
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- 615
2023 spring turkey!
- Thread starter Gellar
- Start date
johnp
Well-known member
When I applied for Wisconsin's earliest turkey season I didn't realize it was going to interfere with recovering from my long anticipated Cataract surgery.
20 lb lifting restriction and shooting a 12 gauge was out.
I've heard a lot about 410 loads for turkey , found some TSS turkey loads for my old Topper .410 and by the last couple days of season I cleared myself to go .
Got to a pre scouted public spot on a fresh burn . This Jake cooperated nicely , the .410 did the job at 15 yards. Hardly any kick . Hard to believe the recommended shot size is no. 9 , but it worked !
20 lb lifting restriction and shooting a 12 gauge was out.
I've heard a lot about 410 loads for turkey , found some TSS turkey loads for my old Topper .410 and by the last couple days of season I cleared myself to go .
Got to a pre scouted public spot on a fresh burn . This Jake cooperated nicely , the .410 did the job at 15 yards. Hardly any kick . Hard to believe the recommended shot size is no. 9 , but it worked !
sclancy27
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- Joined
- Nov 23, 2022
- Messages
- 615
Thanks, I've had that since I was 13 or 14.Nice choice on the shotgun
Jamen
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KipCarson
Well-known member
I was a bit skeptical myself of using shot so small, but the ones I shot this year with the TSS folded up as if struck by lightning! I’ve seen quite a few people using .410 for turkey now, especially people taking kids.
LCH
Well-known member
This evening, on my property here in Indiana.
Mica Man
Well-known member
Finally got some days off and got to hunt for myself and with a few friends. Pretty good luck as we killed 7 birds in a few days of good hunting.
D
Deleted member 52098
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dang this thread is giving me an inferiority complex 
I need to find a damn mountain gobbler, and soon
I need to find a damn mountain gobbler, and soon
MNHunter67
Well-known member
A couple of western Montana jakes decided to follow a loud yelping hen that walked past our setup yesterday morning. I got to try out my new Winchester SXP that I won at a local RMEF banquet a couple of weeks ago and it proved to be effective. Got them processed and in the freezer and now it’s time to go chase bears
Weather was all over the board this past weekend from below freezing temps and snow to Sunny and upper 60s but it didn't matter the turkeys really wanted to play. Birds where I was were still in big winter groups
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okie archer
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My brother wasn't able to take off work for our regular trip to western Oklahoma so I took his 13 year old son along with me and my 10 year old son Drake. It was a semi business trip as I had 5 shoulder mounts and a life-size bear i mounted for a couple guys to deliver in the area. By the time we made the 4 hour trip and got rid of all the taxidermy we headed to the farm we were hunting a few miles away and camped in the truck about 1:00 am. Back up at 5:00 we headed to hunt. About 30 minutes after fly down we had a Tom and two hens headed our way. The Tom saw the decoys and couldn't take it and came running in. I let my nephew shoot that bird it was a great hunt.
We got that turkey clean and put on ice and went to town for some lunch. Then we headed back to a different area that I have hunted for a few years to try to fill my tag. I told the boys to be quiet I was going to lay down in the ground blind and take a nap and to not wake me up unless they heard a bird gobble. I was able to sleep for about 15 minutes before the boys made enough noise to wake me up. I was kind of aggravated because I was very sleepy but I looked up out of the ground blind and a Tom was about a hundred yards away coming in to the decoy. He was coming in silent but was committed. The Tom strutted and gave us a show on his way in. I chose to hunt with my 410 that day so when the bird got to 14 yd to fight my decoy I let him have it with one shot from the 410. Drake just came along for the ride he was already tagged out from youth season. So our turkey hunting was done. We walked back to the truck and I cleaned that bird. One of the guys that I delivered taxidermy to the night before called me to see how our trip was going. He is a guide and outfitter for hogs, turkeys, deer. He asked me if I wanted to bring my 10-year-old son Drake over for a hog hunt. He didn't charge me anything for Drake to shoot a wild pig. So I took him up on the offer. Our turkey hunt now had a strange twist to it since we were adding a pig hunt into the weekend. To make a long story short we went to his place and took his rifle with a thermal scope and walked up to a herd of wild hogs to about 100 yd. My son was able to shoot a sow out of the bunch. We got back to his place about midnight and I had a hog to clean. I was finally able to lay down about 2:00 a.m. and get some sleep. Back up at 7:30 a.m. to head home.
Turkey & bacon sandwich anyone?
We got that turkey clean and put on ice and went to town for some lunch. Then we headed back to a different area that I have hunted for a few years to try to fill my tag. I told the boys to be quiet I was going to lay down in the ground blind and take a nap and to not wake me up unless they heard a bird gobble. I was able to sleep for about 15 minutes before the boys made enough noise to wake me up. I was kind of aggravated because I was very sleepy but I looked up out of the ground blind and a Tom was about a hundred yards away coming in to the decoy. He was coming in silent but was committed. The Tom strutted and gave us a show on his way in. I chose to hunt with my 410 that day so when the bird got to 14 yd to fight my decoy I let him have it with one shot from the 410. Drake just came along for the ride he was already tagged out from youth season. So our turkey hunting was done. We walked back to the truck and I cleaned that bird. One of the guys that I delivered taxidermy to the night before called me to see how our trip was going. He is a guide and outfitter for hogs, turkeys, deer. He asked me if I wanted to bring my 10-year-old son Drake over for a hog hunt. He didn't charge me anything for Drake to shoot a wild pig. So I took him up on the offer. Our turkey hunt now had a strange twist to it since we were adding a pig hunt into the weekend. To make a long story short we went to his place and took his rifle with a thermal scope and walked up to a herd of wild hogs to about 100 yd. My son was able to shoot a sow out of the bunch. We got back to his place about midnight and I had a hog to clean. I was finally able to lay down about 2:00 a.m. and get some sleep. Back up at 7:30 a.m. to head home.
Turkey & bacon sandwich anyone?
Gellar
Well-known member
Grind them together 80/20 turkey to pork and make 1/3-1/2 lb Pattie’s, season that with some Southwest spices smothered in melted pepper Jack and a fire roasted pepper. Best wild game burger ever!
Shangobango
Well-known member
I wrapped up my turkey season this past Sunday. I have to pivot all of the spare time I can muster to getting my house remodeled so that doesn’t run into fall.
I didn’t get a bird. I wouldn’t call my season a bust at all. It was a very odd one though. I was in birds consistently which is an accomplishment in itself where I hunt. I got to spend like 10 nights in a tent over the span of the season. A tent at night is one of my happy places.
My last hunt of the season on Sunday was fitting. I returned to where I started the season. There was no doubt that the birds I was after before were still in the area or had been until very recently due to the little rarely used narrow two track I use to access this section of the forest being absolutely wallowed out by vehicles in the 10 days since I had been there. I got to my camping spot about 1 PM. This spot is also at a point on the road where I haven’t seen anyone drive past or sign of such in 10 years. Not the case this time. I spent the hunting to the end of the road then making a loop back to the truck. Never heard a peep but found fresh scat and scratching. I got back to the truck right at sundown and set up the base and nest on my LBO for the night. I then drove out because I had heard the Forest Service had lit a huge block on fire for a prescribed burn and I wanted to see exactly what and how much they burned. Before I got back to the main road I see a truck parked on a pull off, backed in in such a way that I know that they had driven in to my truck, turned, around, and back tracked. A look at the tires and I knew this was the truck that had done the lions share of driving up and down this little road since my absence. I did thank him in my head for having the courtesy to not park and walk in where I was already at.
Fast forward to the next morning I woke up, drank a Red Bull, and commenced my final hunt of the season. I made a couple of set ups between 6:30 and 8:30. Hadn’t made it much more than a quarter mile from the truck. Might have been closer to a half but not much. Before I got to the spot that I was going to make my 3rd set up of the morning a gobbler flushed out of a tree about 50 yards in front of me. This was at 8:35 A.M. I stood there for a minute pondering the cause of this somewhat odd occurrence and chalked it up to the pressure that had been obviously applied here. I then turned around and walked to the truck and spent the rest of the hunt riding the perimeter of what looks to be about a 7500 acre prescribed burn of a burn unit that only had 1 full growing season on it since the last burn and that contained some of the best turkey nesting cover for miles. I know burning is great for maintaining turkey and quail habitat if used properly. I don’t think this burn fits that description. With the Turkey population on that place hanging by a thread it looks like the FS would do a better job of scheduling burns. There are 10’s of thousands of acres there that haven’t been burned for several years and are in dire need of it. Burning a block of 2 year rough that is great nesting cover because the fire lines were easy to establish due to still being almost viable from the last burn seems silly with all those units that are in dire need out there.
I didn’t get a bird. I wouldn’t call my season a bust at all. It was a very odd one though. I was in birds consistently which is an accomplishment in itself where I hunt. I got to spend like 10 nights in a tent over the span of the season. A tent at night is one of my happy places.
My last hunt of the season on Sunday was fitting. I returned to where I started the season. There was no doubt that the birds I was after before were still in the area or had been until very recently due to the little rarely used narrow two track I use to access this section of the forest being absolutely wallowed out by vehicles in the 10 days since I had been there. I got to my camping spot about 1 PM. This spot is also at a point on the road where I haven’t seen anyone drive past or sign of such in 10 years. Not the case this time. I spent the hunting to the end of the road then making a loop back to the truck. Never heard a peep but found fresh scat and scratching. I got back to the truck right at sundown and set up the base and nest on my LBO for the night. I then drove out because I had heard the Forest Service had lit a huge block on fire for a prescribed burn and I wanted to see exactly what and how much they burned. Before I got back to the main road I see a truck parked on a pull off, backed in in such a way that I know that they had driven in to my truck, turned, around, and back tracked. A look at the tires and I knew this was the truck that had done the lions share of driving up and down this little road since my absence. I did thank him in my head for having the courtesy to not park and walk in where I was already at.
Fast forward to the next morning I woke up, drank a Red Bull, and commenced my final hunt of the season. I made a couple of set ups between 6:30 and 8:30. Hadn’t made it much more than a quarter mile from the truck. Might have been closer to a half but not much. Before I got to the spot that I was going to make my 3rd set up of the morning a gobbler flushed out of a tree about 50 yards in front of me. This was at 8:35 A.M. I stood there for a minute pondering the cause of this somewhat odd occurrence and chalked it up to the pressure that had been obviously applied here. I then turned around and walked to the truck and spent the rest of the hunt riding the perimeter of what looks to be about a 7500 acre prescribed burn of a burn unit that only had 1 full growing season on it since the last burn and that contained some of the best turkey nesting cover for miles. I know burning is great for maintaining turkey and quail habitat if used properly. I don’t think this burn fits that description. With the Turkey population on that place hanging by a thread it looks like the FS would do a better job of scheduling burns. There are 10’s of thousands of acres there that haven’t been burned for several years and are in dire need of it. Burning a block of 2 year rough that is great nesting cover because the fire lines were easy to establish due to still being almost viable from the last burn seems silly with all those units that are in dire need out there.
And if you ask they trot out some nonsense about renesting after a burn is more likely to succeed than the pre-burn nest. They hope you overlook that renesting does not always happen.
PS: Gobblers fly up into trees later in the day for various reasons.
PS: Gobblers fly up into trees later in the day for various reasons.
KipCarson
Well-known member
If I had to rely solely on our LA public land for turkeys I would end most seasons empty handed. You ever put in for our lotteries?
Shangobango
Well-known member
Oh yea. Didn't draw one this year.
I hunt Arkansas as well. Probably going to add Mississippi back into the mix as well.
Arkansas ain't much better than Louisiana and from all indications Mississippi is on the downhill slide as well. I may pivot out west next season honestly.
Shangobango
Well-known member
Yup. One of them is a preponderance of predator pressure. I believe this to be the case here. I also believe the predators were of the two legged variety.
