2023 spring turkey!

[Chad Gus]

No turkey for the wife last week, for her season, we battled shitty weather and busy work/kids schedules. I did call one up Sunday afternoon to 20 feet, but it was on the neighbors side of the fence. We w seen him out in the neighbors field slowly working his way towards our property, so we set up, back to the neighbors fenceline, hoping to call him out into our field. Plan was working perfectly till the wife tried peeking around the tree to see him and he seen her and game over.
My son has a tag for this week, but 3 baseball games this week and practice made the first 3 days a no go. This morning he's umpiring little league baseball and then has prom tonight. Tomorrow he wants to sleep in after being out all night for prom and then he has basketball league in the afternoon. More baseball games on Monday and Tuesday, most likely not gonna get him out in the woods.
Wednesday my season starts

 

[Wild Bill]

Finally got on the board today.Soggy, cool, slow day. He came in silent and slow, as you’d figure. Haven’t been out much with the new kid, work, and weather, but was able to sneak out with an old friend from HS when I was back home for family stuff. Great day with an old friend.

 

[TheGrayRider]

Harrison County, Indiana. 4/28/2023. Eastern wild turkey.


Neat looking salamander (?) walking around the state forest. Happy hunting, TheGrayRider.

 

[wihunter12]

Had my first WI season this week. Was a able to get out for a few hours Wednesday morning, alot of gobbling but was not able to get any birds to play before I had to quit for some meetings.

Got out again Friday morning and was calling to a bird roosted 100 yards away. Had a couple others gobbling 1/4 mile away. The close bird didn't want to play too much but these two gobbled their heads off and marched right in. They were so fixated on my jake decoy I snapped a pic and let them beat on the jake a bit before shooting.

 

[Gellar]

View attachment 273983

Harrison County, Indiana. 4/28/2023. Eastern wild turkey.

View attachment 273984
Neat looking salamander (?) walking around the state forest. Happy hunting, TheGrayRider.

Eastern newt, related to a salamander. Biggest difference is the tail on a newt is different and their skin is tougher.

 

[DRS]

Got back from Nebraska yesterday. Had a fun successful trip.

 

[CowboyLeroy]

Tagged out I'm georgia. I took my first gun, a mossberg 500 my grandpa gave me 20 years ago.

The okapilco bridge was out, so I had to take an extended detour to get to the spot. I walked in well after daylight but an early morning shower had apparently kept the birds on the roost. Two gobblers flushed and flew west, so I made a wide loop and found a nice water oak to set up on between where they we t and where they'd left their girls. After about 15ish minutes I let out a few soft yelps and waited. Sure enough, two two year olds came in quiet as church mice. I drew a bead at 47 paces and a twenty year quest came to an end.

 

[Mainer207]

I got permission to Turkey hunt the farm behind my house this year. I wasn’t planning to hunt the PA opening morning (lazy), but spotted some birds working the fields in the light rain and steady breeze. I decided to grab my slate and the 12ga and see if I could sneak into the hedgerow that divides the two main pastures. It didn’t seem likely, but I had a game plan. I knew the wind and rain would help obscure the birds vision, so sneaking in on them seemed more possible than usual.

I walked across my back yard, ducked under the cattle fence, and worked my way down the drainage ditch between the two fields. I was able to stay low enough in the ditch that I was out of sight of the birds. When I last spotted them they were about 250 yards from where I wanted to setup.

The rain made calling with the slate tough, but I was able to get a few yelps and clucks in. After about an hour four Jakes came in. I decided to give them the pass but noticed they kept turning their attention up the hedgerow as they approached my calls. 15 minutes later, out of the corner of my eye I spot a strutter coming down the edge of the hedge row. He stepped into an opening at 20 yards to cut the Jakes off. I touched one off and that was the end of my PA season.

I hunted from 10-11:30am, was fishing by 3pm, and had a nice brown take a dryfly around 5pm. Perfect day in the Delaware River Valley.

 

[Deleted member 40728]

My 4 year old and I headed out around 9 am and were lucky enough to get a bird before noon. He did a lot of calling with his slate call and I helped a bit but in the end it was his first experience on a successful gobbler hunt. Sat on the ground without a blind. He was still and patient right to the last minute then the excitement got to him!! Hence the blown away tail feathers!!

 

[np307]

First time I've ever punched both of my tags. Struck this 2 year old while walking around. He was still in a tree. Came right to me but over shot and I had to crawl then stand up and shoot him at 40 yards. Gobbled, strutted, and drummed up until I pulled the trigger.

 

[Gellar]

My 4 year old and I headed out around 9 am and were lucky enough to get a bird before noon. He did a lot of calling with his slate call and I helped a bit but in the end it was his first experience on a successful gobbler hunt. Sat on the ground without a blind. He was still and patient right to the last minute then the excitement got to him!! Hence the blown away tail feathers!!
View attachment 274072

I like this times 10!

 

[Gellar]

My 4th season Iowa tag opened last week. I went out a few afternoons with a bird or 2 gobbling. Saturday night I scouted a freshly drilled oat field and saw the birds were using it. The next morning I got up at 4:45 and went outside to cold, wind, and spitting rain. This field is on top of a hill and I knew the birds would be down the hill out of the wind and probably not come out until the afternoon. Sure enough they were gobbling as far away as one could be without crossing the road, but I don’t have permission to hunt where they were and only the field I was in. So I packed it up about 7:30 and hiked to another drainage on public land where I’ve killed a few birds in conditions like this. I got set up and called. About 10 minutes later a jake showed up and looked around all dumb for 10 minutes trying to find the hen. I packed it in and moved 200 yards every 20 minutes for the next couple of hours but didn’t see or hear anything. I hope to be out again this week.

 

[shrapnel]

Highs in the 30's and miserable conditions, but I did call in a jake and ruin his day...

 

[glass eye]

Got a tag for the White Mountains Apache NF in AZ. Went out for opener, saw lots of hunter camps but no birds.
Parked on a short lengthed spur road with my camp visible from the highway. Just over the hill from camp where the road dead ends there was lots of scratchings and droppings but no gobbles.
Was discouraged with the lack of talking (heard one gobble) and when some drove past my camp and parked 200 yards from where I was hunting I decided to call it a short camping trip and head home.
Put 1,100 miles on my truck round trip so I don't think I'll be going back. Season ends May 25.

I think next year I will travel to places I want to see and if there are OTC turkey tags and talkative turkeys it'll be game on, and if not it'll be on to the next place.

 

[vanish]

My wife and I drew 2nd season tags here in CO for a unit we've done well in the past. We wouldn't have much time this year and it would be complicated by a 15 month old daughter.

Friday night we set up the new popup camper near the SWA. I was up first, so at 430am I left the family asleep and drove over. Oops, my phone thought I crossed the timezone and I was an hour early. Slept on the dog bed for 45 minutes and headed out.

Birds were not roosted where i hoped, but half an hour of gobbles let me know there were some around. Calling has not been useful on this property, too many birds, and it played that way again.

Around 7am I found a flock 400 yards out in the great wide open. I snuck along the fence line, sometimes on hands and knees to get where I hoped they were headed. Luck worked in my favor, except I was in plain sight of the hens and the gobbler was out of sight. I was just lyung face down next to a yucca. Finally, at 8am I saw a fan, lifted myself up a few inches and pulled the trigger.

Looking from where the tom was back at my hiding spot.





Unfortunately, we had to bail before my wife could get out due to some unrelated circumstances.

 

[phutch30]

I helped out a couple new buddies from Illinois this weekend. they were done the 1st morning by 830. These two birds are some of the biggest ive seen in the last couple yrs. 21.5 and 22 lbs respectively. One had 1 1/4" spurs and the other had a paintbrush 10" beard.

 

[okie archer]

I helped out a couple new buddies from Illinois this weekend. they were done the 1st morning by 830. These two birds are some of the biggest ive seen in the last couple yrs. 21.5 and 22 lbs respectively. One had 1 1/4" spurs and the other had a paintbrush 10" beard.

Do you need another"new buddy?" Just kidding, congratulations to them on the beautiful birds.

 

[Gellar]

Live look in from the turkey woods. I thought I was going to get one to play at first light but I never could see him. I’m working on making a big circle around a bird to get in front of him. He’s been gobbling every 15 or 20 minutes but is going away from me down the valley.

 

[mdcrossbow]

If he Gobbles after 12 he's a dead bird. If you know the birds roosting area your % goes way up on taking that bird. Just my 2 Cents.

 

[Gellar]

If he Gobbles after 12 he's a dead bird. If you know the birds roosting area your % goes way up on taking that bird. Just my 2 Cents.

I agree. I like to hunt in the afternoon. There were to many turkeys this morning. I was in between 2 groups of Toms and had hens in close too. 3 jakes came within ten yards of my decoy. I’m bird watching, mushroom hunting, nature hiking right now. I keep hearing a turkey gobble but he’s on private property I don’t have access too.