yep , i got my best turkey to date this year on opening day in kentucky! 23 1/2 lb eastern with an 11 1/4" beard and 1" spurs
the weather was unseasonably hot and the birds werent really doing much ( so i was told )i tried to roost a few birds sun. evening before the opening day with no success, being a little discouraged because i didnt see anything and hadnt heard anything encourageing from my buddies or the birds, i decided to hunt an area that has historically been a great place an i knew right where to go.I got to my cedar tree which is situated in a small clump of trees in the middle of an corn fied at 4:55 a.m. and was all ready to go by 5:00. my stategy was to try to locate a bird before daylight by listening to hear one gobble from the roost and then try to close the gap and set-up! and try to call him in, at 5:20 the excitement filled the air with the sound of a gobblers gobbling from the roost! I had three birds within 200 yrds of each other blow-up and gobble at damn near the same time and they seemed to surround me, typically i would try to get as close as possible to the bird gobbling and set-up for fly down, well with three birds all gobbling i wasnt sure what to do! so i crawled out of my hiding place and placed two decoys out in front of me in the field 1-hen and a jake! when the sun started to rise and the tree lines became more visible i was like a kid at christmas waiting to rip open presents but not wanting to spook or screw-up everything i waited to start callin, about 45 seconds later i couldnt stand it anymore and softly tree yelped! ....nothin ! so i waited a few more minutes and did it again and BAM !!! GOBBLE,GOBBLE! my heart beat went into overdrive and the game was on
after that everytime i touched the call he blew-up in a gobble! which seemed to get louder and louder, knowing i had his interest i continued until i saw his head comming up over a small rise in the field.I immediatly rasied my binos and confirmed that it was a very nice gobbler and he was commin if youve ever seen a turkey comming in like that ,they tend to lower there heads a bit and the closer he got ,that beard appeared to be draggin the ground and bouncing away from his chest that i was haveng to calm myself down.The turkey didnt waste anytime once he saw the decoys and began strutting back n' forth gobbling the whole time! and man, if youve never turkey hunted lemme tell ya thats what its all about right there! im not sure who was more excited me or that "tom" but after watching an absolutely awesome show i knew it was time, i clucked one time he streched his neck out and raised his head and well 18 yrds , a 12ga w/3" no.5's put that bird on the ground! knowing it was a very nice bird i quickly got to him and when i got there he seemd so much bigger than when he was in front of me strutting around! needless to say i was the happiest turkey hunter in kentucky having harvested the best bird that i have ever taken! and doing it in the first ten minutes of the spring season was also pretty nice i was real lucky and damn proud of this bird!
ther rest of the hunt was also pretty fun and exciting but ill have to tell those stories later, pictures comming soon!!!!!
the weather was unseasonably hot and the birds werent really doing much ( so i was told )i tried to roost a few birds sun. evening before the opening day with no success, being a little discouraged because i didnt see anything and hadnt heard anything encourageing from my buddies or the birds, i decided to hunt an area that has historically been a great place an i knew right where to go.I got to my cedar tree which is situated in a small clump of trees in the middle of an corn fied at 4:55 a.m. and was all ready to go by 5:00. my stategy was to try to locate a bird before daylight by listening to hear one gobble from the roost and then try to close the gap and set-up! and try to call him in, at 5:20 the excitement filled the air with the sound of a gobblers gobbling from the roost! I had three birds within 200 yrds of each other blow-up and gobble at damn near the same time and they seemed to surround me, typically i would try to get as close as possible to the bird gobbling and set-up for fly down, well with three birds all gobbling i wasnt sure what to do! so i crawled out of my hiding place and placed two decoys out in front of me in the field 1-hen and a jake! when the sun started to rise and the tree lines became more visible i was like a kid at christmas waiting to rip open presents but not wanting to spook or screw-up everything i waited to start callin, about 45 seconds later i couldnt stand it anymore and softly tree yelped! ....nothin ! so i waited a few more minutes and did it again and BAM !!! GOBBLE,GOBBLE! my heart beat went into overdrive and the game was on
after that everytime i touched the call he blew-up in a gobble! which seemed to get louder and louder, knowing i had his interest i continued until i saw his head comming up over a small rise in the field.I immediatly rasied my binos and confirmed that it was a very nice gobbler and he was commin if youve ever seen a turkey comming in like that ,they tend to lower there heads a bit and the closer he got ,that beard appeared to be draggin the ground and bouncing away from his chest that i was haveng to calm myself down.The turkey didnt waste anytime once he saw the decoys and began strutting back n' forth gobbling the whole time! and man, if youve never turkey hunted lemme tell ya thats what its all about right there! im not sure who was more excited me or that "tom" but after watching an absolutely awesome show i knew it was time, i clucked one time he streched his neck out and raised his head and well 18 yrds , a 12ga w/3" no.5's put that bird on the ground! knowing it was a very nice bird i quickly got to him and when i got there he seemd so much bigger than when he was in front of me strutting around! needless to say i was the happiest turkey hunter in kentucky having harvested the best bird that i have ever taken! and doing it in the first ten minutes of the spring season was also pretty nice i was real lucky and damn proud of this bird!ther rest of the hunt was also pretty fun and exciting but ill have to tell those stories later, pictures comming soon!!!!!
