neckringer
Senior Member
I set out this year to enjoy the woods even more than in the past and really better myself at fitting into the woods. I still am trying to learn about this turkey hunting and the habits of wild turkeys. They sure can throw you for a loop sometimes. One of the best lessons I learned this year is dont listen to anyone especially if what they tell you goes against your instincts or what you have come to learn to be true. The weak walk away throwing excusues over their shoulders as to lighten the load of denial. It is hard sometimes for me to stay the course as I was brain washed by hunting videos in my late teens and today there are turkey X perts jumping up everywhere. It is amazing! I am sure it has nothing do do with the amount of birds we have now and or the equipment. Why these fellas are pure honed woodsman.
And to think how long it took me to get to where I could walk through woods without squirrels runnin up trees and or barking at me. I am a slow learner however with a little luck and determination I hope to move on up to the next rung some day.
So it started on a buggy trip the day before season opened. my friends buggy lost a cylinder and plans got changed quick.
opening day woods were silent. so I went into turkey mode and began making my rounds in the area as if i was a turkey using the area. worse case senario i would look for tracks as I had not scouted it. i went to loaf early and sat down at a tree around 9:00 at 9:30 I hit call and bird gobbled bout 80 yds away. he ended up comming up behind me on my right and I shot him at 10 steps, left handed, with butt of gun on my bicep.
blew some feathers off em
here he is a hanging out
yup
So after dealing with a tore up buggy and moving camp my buddy was pretty discouraged and we were in an area we had never been too. The first morning there we heard nothing on roost again but I did manage to fire a bird up late. He gobbled once and I could not get on him. I was trying to get my buddy a bird and we did not get one that day.
next day back to same area and nada. so we moved to where we had seen some sign and loafed up. around 11:00 I heard a bird drummin and told my buddy to wake up and get ready. a few minutes later he smashed him
so we left on my buggy and back to town we went.
the bird that i fired up the one day but could not kill was burning a hole in my brain and causing me to loose massive amounts of sleep.
so I told my dad that we were going back the next weekend to get him a bird cause I believe this fool will not get killed.
we went. Nothing from roost. I fired him up around 9:30 there was 2. they were older. 30 yds shot. I was already cooking turkey when my dad shot and I saw 2 birds run. Im thinking dang there must have been 3. He looked like he was fixin to wrap his gun around a tree and I felt like I was going to cry.
I have no idea how I will do that again in that area for him but I am sure I will figure out something.
We found out what happened. He did not want to shoot em in strutt and one came half way out and took a step. When he did my dad shot and he busted him a nice cypress tree
here is an elusive everglades deer that kept pestering me and wanting to see what I was
after that. my brain started to boil as I had caught a slight case of turkey fever. I knew there was away to bring it down but how in the heck was I going to do this. A lot of people where crying that most all the turkeys were gone however most my firends were bangin them up and back at the ranches people were bustin em up. what to do. I went through my phone and gps and dreamed up a place where I saw a flock of turkeys once during deer season.
So I went on a staurday and heard 1 bird. I got on behind him but played bringing up the rear all mornin. This would not happen again. I left the woods that day threating thousands of acres and 1 turkey. We shall meet again. So the next mornin found me a long long long walk from the truck and I sat down at a tree I marked on my phone the day before but I was there about an hour and 30 minutes before the sun broke.
He was there running his mouth. I let him get down and he started the same game. he come right up there to me and I kilt em.
sure was some purdy country. I will prolly never go back there as I have scratched that itch.
Then I went to Georgia for the first few days of the season. I knew it was going to be flooded in my creek club and we had a bad front comming.
I figured it was going to be a tad tuff to get it done. I called some of the local X perts up there and low and behold they had put off their hunting plans because it was going to rain, be cold and everything was flooded. I said ya me too.
So the next 2 mornings I hunted in thunderstorms and flooded creek and only heard 1 gobble. I went home when it got real bad one day and my Dad was not back yet. He is 70 so when he aint where he says he is going to be you start thinking. I got out of my wet clothes then heard a knock at the door.
Seems my Dad was out in a bad thunderstorm trying to learn about turkeys.
He heard 1 bird gobble and pulled his box out knowing he would only get 1 series of calls due to rain. He let it rip and bird showed up about 40 minutes later. He sais the last 40 yds the bird walked he gobbled 40-50 times at thunder and lighting in pouring rain as he was waiting for him to get in range
I was having a tuff time. I had not even heard a bird and a front came. We had a freeze 2 mornings in a row and I went back to creek club the last day of our trip. I heard one going off and waded to island he was on. when I finally saw him and was getting close he jumped to another island and then flew to another. I could not cross some of the water as it was over neck deep. It was 9:00 I had to leave that day so I figured I would give him a soar throat if nothing at all. I got him blowing the leaves off the bushes and 2 hens opened up. I stayed on em and believe it or not. they flew back to the island across from me. I called him to waters edge and shot him across open water.
Took me a while to figure out how to get over there but I finally did.
I took a pic of him near where he died then made a couple funny videos of me getting out of the woods. It was one of my top ten turkey hunts of all times.
here he is
here i am telling him the story of what just happened
here is me back at the house
here are 2 pretty funny videos of my rookie rear end getting out of woods
CLICK ON PICTURE OF WATER FOR VIDEO TO PLAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
another
.............................................................................
meanwhile my Dad rolled a bird that day on other side of club and never found him. due to the weather we were not able to get our farming done and headed home with 1 bird a piece.
This past weekend I worked friday on south Florida and left after work. Farmed till 3:00 am am got a couple zzzz's in. Had a good un on the ground by 7:20. shot him at 30 yds. 11 inch beard with 1 and 5/16 spurs. time for a nap.
I went back to the house and tried to take pictures the best i could by myself with the timer on my cell phone.
Good thing is I finally got a picture of my second personality.
So I farmed all afternoon and late into that night. I got up the next morning and headed to other side of creek club where my dad had rolled the bird. i was hoping one had taken his place and or I would hear a bird in another area I could get too.
I got to where I need to be and a bird opens up right where my Dad said his bird was. No big deal. Often a bird will move in after one drifts off to turkey heaven. So I start playin with this bird and he wants to get down deep in the last chapters of the book. He is gobbling enough to end up dead but he is acting like a real j erk. So i had to pull out some tricks. he got to where he was comfortable and then I had to get in there. It was open oak flat and I finally got him at 40 and dropped the hammer. One of the biggest body birds I have ever killed. he was a good bird too with a nice 10" beard and an 1 and 1/8 spurs. It was a fun hunt and I was 2 for 2 with the old humpback that weekend. I took some pics where he gave it up.
I called my dad on way back to farm. He told me to check him for shot.
I told him he looked fine to me and then as I started to clean him I noticed he was not ok.
big cut under wing with larve in it
#5 shot up aginst breast bone and green
also notice the black breast bone
it was a good fun weekend. I lost a lot of sleep but filled my tags in Ga. So I am looking for another state to go learn in.
persistance, patience and passion.
And to think how long it took me to get to where I could walk through woods without squirrels runnin up trees and or barking at me. I am a slow learner however with a little luck and determination I hope to move on up to the next rung some day.
So it started on a buggy trip the day before season opened. my friends buggy lost a cylinder and plans got changed quick.
opening day woods were silent. so I went into turkey mode and began making my rounds in the area as if i was a turkey using the area. worse case senario i would look for tracks as I had not scouted it. i went to loaf early and sat down at a tree around 9:00 at 9:30 I hit call and bird gobbled bout 80 yds away. he ended up comming up behind me on my right and I shot him at 10 steps, left handed, with butt of gun on my bicep.
blew some feathers off em
here he is a hanging out
yup
So after dealing with a tore up buggy and moving camp my buddy was pretty discouraged and we were in an area we had never been too. The first morning there we heard nothing on roost again but I did manage to fire a bird up late. He gobbled once and I could not get on him. I was trying to get my buddy a bird and we did not get one that day.
next day back to same area and nada. so we moved to where we had seen some sign and loafed up. around 11:00 I heard a bird drummin and told my buddy to wake up and get ready. a few minutes later he smashed him
so we left on my buggy and back to town we went.
the bird that i fired up the one day but could not kill was burning a hole in my brain and causing me to loose massive amounts of sleep.
so I told my dad that we were going back the next weekend to get him a bird cause I believe this fool will not get killed.
we went. Nothing from roost. I fired him up around 9:30 there was 2. they were older. 30 yds shot. I was already cooking turkey when my dad shot and I saw 2 birds run. Im thinking dang there must have been 3. He looked like he was fixin to wrap his gun around a tree and I felt like I was going to cry.
I have no idea how I will do that again in that area for him but I am sure I will figure out something.
We found out what happened. He did not want to shoot em in strutt and one came half way out and took a step. When he did my dad shot and he busted him a nice cypress tree
here is an elusive everglades deer that kept pestering me and wanting to see what I was
after that. my brain started to boil as I had caught a slight case of turkey fever. I knew there was away to bring it down but how in the heck was I going to do this. A lot of people where crying that most all the turkeys were gone however most my firends were bangin them up and back at the ranches people were bustin em up. what to do. I went through my phone and gps and dreamed up a place where I saw a flock of turkeys once during deer season.
So I went on a staurday and heard 1 bird. I got on behind him but played bringing up the rear all mornin. This would not happen again. I left the woods that day threating thousands of acres and 1 turkey. We shall meet again. So the next mornin found me a long long long walk from the truck and I sat down at a tree I marked on my phone the day before but I was there about an hour and 30 minutes before the sun broke.
He was there running his mouth. I let him get down and he started the same game. he come right up there to me and I kilt em.
sure was some purdy country. I will prolly never go back there as I have scratched that itch.
Then I went to Georgia for the first few days of the season. I knew it was going to be flooded in my creek club and we had a bad front comming.
I figured it was going to be a tad tuff to get it done. I called some of the local X perts up there and low and behold they had put off their hunting plans because it was going to rain, be cold and everything was flooded. I said ya me too.
So the next 2 mornings I hunted in thunderstorms and flooded creek and only heard 1 gobble. I went home when it got real bad one day and my Dad was not back yet. He is 70 so when he aint where he says he is going to be you start thinking. I got out of my wet clothes then heard a knock at the door.
Seems my Dad was out in a bad thunderstorm trying to learn about turkeys.
He heard 1 bird gobble and pulled his box out knowing he would only get 1 series of calls due to rain. He let it rip and bird showed up about 40 minutes later. He sais the last 40 yds the bird walked he gobbled 40-50 times at thunder and lighting in pouring rain as he was waiting for him to get in range
I was having a tuff time. I had not even heard a bird and a front came. We had a freeze 2 mornings in a row and I went back to creek club the last day of our trip. I heard one going off and waded to island he was on. when I finally saw him and was getting close he jumped to another island and then flew to another. I could not cross some of the water as it was over neck deep. It was 9:00 I had to leave that day so I figured I would give him a soar throat if nothing at all. I got him blowing the leaves off the bushes and 2 hens opened up. I stayed on em and believe it or not. they flew back to the island across from me. I called him to waters edge and shot him across open water.
Took me a while to figure out how to get over there but I finally did.
I took a pic of him near where he died then made a couple funny videos of me getting out of the woods. It was one of my top ten turkey hunts of all times.
here he is
here i am telling him the story of what just happened
here is me back at the house
here are 2 pretty funny videos of my rookie rear end getting out of woods
CLICK ON PICTURE OF WATER FOR VIDEO TO PLAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
another
.............................................................................
meanwhile my Dad rolled a bird that day on other side of club and never found him. due to the weather we were not able to get our farming done and headed home with 1 bird a piece.
This past weekend I worked friday on south Florida and left after work. Farmed till 3:00 am am got a couple zzzz's in. Had a good un on the ground by 7:20. shot him at 30 yds. 11 inch beard with 1 and 5/16 spurs. time for a nap.
I went back to the house and tried to take pictures the best i could by myself with the timer on my cell phone.
Good thing is I finally got a picture of my second personality.
So I farmed all afternoon and late into that night. I got up the next morning and headed to other side of creek club where my dad had rolled the bird. i was hoping one had taken his place and or I would hear a bird in another area I could get too.
I got to where I need to be and a bird opens up right where my Dad said his bird was. No big deal. Often a bird will move in after one drifts off to turkey heaven. So I start playin with this bird and he wants to get down deep in the last chapters of the book. He is gobbling enough to end up dead but he is acting like a real j erk. So i had to pull out some tricks. he got to where he was comfortable and then I had to get in there. It was open oak flat and I finally got him at 40 and dropped the hammer. One of the biggest body birds I have ever killed. he was a good bird too with a nice 10" beard and an 1 and 1/8 spurs. It was a fun hunt and I was 2 for 2 with the old humpback that weekend. I took some pics where he gave it up.
I called my dad on way back to farm. He told me to check him for shot.
I told him he looked fine to me and then as I started to clean him I noticed he was not ok.
big cut under wing with larve in it
#5 shot up aginst breast bone and green
also notice the black breast bone
it was a good fun weekend. I lost a lot of sleep but filled my tags in Ga. So I am looking for another state to go learn in.
persistance, patience and passion.
