I can multifocus ha. Yea 2 weeks left of archery deer here in Ohio, but still daydreaming about hammering gobblers and warmer weather.
Wont be long boys!!
Still have a long winter ahead here in Mo. and surrounding states. But it's around the corner!
My new farm this past fall has plenty of birds.
Already know where the blinds will be set!
Who out there bowhunts thunder chickens?
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My new farm this past fall has plenty of birds.
Already know where the blinds will be set!
Who out there bowhunts thunder chickens?
21 - 40 of 89 Posts
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13,299 Posts
Merriams are beautiful birds! Hunted, harvested in S.D.
I want to try and do a Merriams hunt soon. Living in Ohio, it's the travel time that's the challenge. Suppose I could fly somewhere, but would really like to get one mounted, if I was successful. Would prefer a diy hunt over an outfitter, but going somewhere blind it can take a few days to figure out a new location.
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11,353 Posts
Love turkey hunting. I'm still burning powder. Here's a photo of first bird I called in pre 1990. Here's another with best friend 30 years later. We've killed lots of birds together. Last pic solo hunt MS public land.
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Bear Agenda 7, spot hog 7 pin, Bee stinger 10“ sport hunter extreme.
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32 Posts
I am fairly new to hunting Turks so I want to get a couple good ones under my belt first. But I look forward to trying. Won’t get to hunt them at all this year as I just moved states and won’t have residency in time.
Bear Agenda 7, spot hog 7 pin, Bee stinger 10“ sport hunter extreme.
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32 Posts
All I have ever hunter is Merriams, I want to try and expand some day. Where are you looking at going?
All these years and I have never gotten a tag or hunted them.
I see them most times out up north.
I was thinking about going this year I got a decoy already.
More than likely this will be the year I don't even see them.
You know how it goes.
Good luck this year.
I see them most times out up north.
I was thinking about going this year I got a decoy already.
More than likely this will be the year I don't even see them.
You know how it goes.
Good luck this year.
I was thinking South Dakota or Nebraska. Seems like both have a fair amount of birds and public land. Anywhere you recommend?
For the experts is this worth using or should I be looking at something else?
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2,098 Posts
that would work just fine. You can kill a tom just by staking a fan in the ground. You should see the frankenchicken thing my dad killed a few birds over
I have one of those mad calls spin strutters like that primos one, never hunted with it. have 3 avian x's rarely used but did work, just don't feel like toting them.
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11,353 Posts
You'd be better off with a hen or Jake. Takes a special Gobbler to come in to another strutter.
I have one and it works well. I made a few adjustments. One, cut the beard down, so it looks like a Jake. A Tom decoy will scare off many younger gobblers. Second, I use real tail feathers from a turkey in place of the artificial fan. It comes with a piece of plastic you can put feathers in and attach it to the decoy. Finally, works best with a hen. Place the gobbler decoy 10 to 15 feet behind the hen, like it's following her. I have shot toms off the top of thst decoy, trying to spur it to death ha.
I have a real mounted turkey fan.
I was given, I gave it to a buddy but maybe I will take that also, he won't mind.
I was given, I gave it to a buddy but maybe I will take that also, he won't mind.
Bear Agenda 7, spot hog 7 pin, Bee stinger 10“ sport hunter extreme.
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32 Posts
Well I have only hunted in CO. And MT. Both states have lots of public and good numbers in places. You are hunting mountain birds, so lots of elevation and can have some snow and cold weather. Central MT is covered up in birds.
Bear Agenda 7, spot hog 7 pin, Bee stinger 10“ sport hunter extreme.
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32 Posts
I’ll second that. Specially pressured birds on public land
Are these heads ok? Or should I just use Sevr or Swhacker, the first one is wider .
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2,098 Posts
I have to get a picture of that one my dad made. 2d thing made out of wood with a real fan staked behind it. 3 longbeards literally ran to it across an open field trying to be the first to get there, comical as hell. He had a foam hen a few feet from it but they acted like it was invisible.
I wished I had brought a decoy several times over the years but alas I still don't feel like toting them. The tom below was taken in 2014 and I've bought 3 more collecting dust since then. Got him going about 200 to 250yds out on the last day of the season in Pa on pressured ground. Toned my calling down to nothing before he came into view and he was going to keep strutting down a ridge line to my right at 70yds. Debated calling again, but didn't and let the decoy work, when he saw it he didn't even break strut and trotted right to it.
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I wished I had brought a decoy several times over the years but alas I still don't feel like toting them. The tom below was taken in 2014 and I've bought 3 more collecting dust since then. Got him going about 200 to 250yds out on the last day of the season in Pa on pressured ground. Toned my calling down to nothing before he came into view and he was going to keep strutting down a ridge line to my right at 70yds. Debated calling again, but didn't and let the decoy work, when he saw it he didn't even break strut and trotted right to it.
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2,098 Posts
I don't see why not?, I've killed a few with spitfires.
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2,098 Posts
I love turkey hunting because you never know how a bird is going to react to calls or what else you might see along the way. Wished I'd done it much sooner but I mounted a camera to my gun for the spring of 2021. Didn't get much usable footage of either of my 2 toms in Pa and was done early, 2 hunts, 2 toms. Wasn't on the gun again till I headed to NY during the last week or so of their season. Heard a tom going a few mornings on public, set eyes on him one morning and had him well within range on another but drifted by me and never even saw him.
The morning things came together is why I like hunting them so much. I heard him on the roost in the same area over on private again, he seemed interested and came about halfway in (bout 200yds) but then took a U-turn and headed down in a big ravine with a stream in the bottom, last gobbled bout 7am from there. The tail end of that season was rather hot and I expect he headed there to stay cool. At any rate, I knew I couldn't get down in there without being seen so I decided to stay put. 8:30 came and I never heard him again and decided to take a walk along the top of that ravine. Halfway down he gobbled on his own not more then 100 to 125yds from me, right about where I last heard him at 7 and he had been there the whole time!
I found a spot to setup and started calling... but he did not answer and never silently appeared. Approaching 10am he finally gobbled again, heading up the hollow and right to a flat across from where I had been all morning previously. I snuck back up the hill and began a cat and mouse game back where I originally started, with him being about 80 to 100yds from me. In light of my previous workings of this bird with less calling and him walking away, this time I threw the kitchen sink at him. He ate everything up I gave him but didn't much budge by 10:50am. I then decided to tone the calling back down and acted like I was going away before going totally silent. After going totally silent, he kept gobbling another 60+ times until it finally broke him nearing 11:30am.
The next time he gobbled he was maybe 50yds away, but he had skirted below an opening and drifted to my right. He spent the next 20 some minutes gobbling between 30 and 50yds from in a blind spot, right where I had walked down and snuck back up the hill. I gave him some more coy hen talk round 11:50 and he drifted further to my right and avoided yet another nice opening. Thought he was going to keep on going and a shot was never going to happen. I could hear him dragging his wings in the leaves under 30yds away from me as he strutted further to my right but he came up over a slight rise instead and sauntered to 25yds where I gladly took my shot minutes before noon. He gobbled 146 times in the last 2 hours I worked him and was one of the most difficult toms I've taken but also one of the most rewarding. He was beat up a little from fighting but sported some great hooks and was quite heavy for the tail end of the season at 23.97lbs. Figure he must not have traveled very far all season to still be that heavy.
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Got some nice video footage of a very preggo doe, jakes and a beared hen. Disregarded some deer I knew were behind one morning and almost didn't get any footage of piebald buck.
The 2022 season came and I tagged some more toms and captured some more memento's to celluloid, but the kind of footage I'm hoping to get and have witnessed so many times in the past of a tom has eluded me still, maybe this year it will happen
The morning things came together is why I like hunting them so much. I heard him on the roost in the same area over on private again, he seemed interested and came about halfway in (bout 200yds) but then took a U-turn and headed down in a big ravine with a stream in the bottom, last gobbled bout 7am from there. The tail end of that season was rather hot and I expect he headed there to stay cool. At any rate, I knew I couldn't get down in there without being seen so I decided to stay put. 8:30 came and I never heard him again and decided to take a walk along the top of that ravine. Halfway down he gobbled on his own not more then 100 to 125yds from me, right about where I last heard him at 7 and he had been there the whole time!
I found a spot to setup and started calling... but he did not answer and never silently appeared. Approaching 10am he finally gobbled again, heading up the hollow and right to a flat across from where I had been all morning previously. I snuck back up the hill and began a cat and mouse game back where I originally started, with him being about 80 to 100yds from me. In light of my previous workings of this bird with less calling and him walking away, this time I threw the kitchen sink at him. He ate everything up I gave him but didn't much budge by 10:50am. I then decided to tone the calling back down and acted like I was going away before going totally silent. After going totally silent, he kept gobbling another 60+ times until it finally broke him nearing 11:30am.
The next time he gobbled he was maybe 50yds away, but he had skirted below an opening and drifted to my right. He spent the next 20 some minutes gobbling between 30 and 50yds from in a blind spot, right where I had walked down and snuck back up the hill. I gave him some more coy hen talk round 11:50 and he drifted further to my right and avoided yet another nice opening. Thought he was going to keep on going and a shot was never going to happen. I could hear him dragging his wings in the leaves under 30yds away from me as he strutted further to my right but he came up over a slight rise instead and sauntered to 25yds where I gladly took my shot minutes before noon. He gobbled 146 times in the last 2 hours I worked him and was one of the most difficult toms I've taken but also one of the most rewarding. He was beat up a little from fighting but sported some great hooks and was quite heavy for the tail end of the season at 23.97lbs. Figure he must not have traveled very far all season to still be that heavy.
Got some nice video footage of a very preggo doe, jakes and a beared hen. Disregarded some deer I knew were behind one morning and almost didn't get any footage of piebald buck.
The 2022 season came and I tagged some more toms and captured some more memento's to celluloid, but the kind of footage I'm hoping to get and have witnessed so many times in the past of a tom has eluded me still, maybe this year it will happen
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9,905 Posts
If I was going to bring a single decoy with me it would be my DSD jake. They work very well and there is always the chance you will get a nice show when the tom starts to attack it.
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