2022 spring turkey

[Gellar]

The only state I hunt with a 3 bird limit is Va. I've chosen to stick with 2 or 1 depending on the population. Maryland is a 2 bird state. 1 person or 2 in the spring if you didn't tag one in the fall.
2 bird limit I think is fine. For areas that are bird heavy.
I've said it before. Areas where farming has gone to no till the birds are way down in population. Across the country no till has be widely accepted. No where in these areas have I seen flocks one to 4 birds at the most. In the non farming areas. Horse country, woodlands and mountains birds are striving.

interesting that you think that. Why do you surmise no till farming is the culprit? I would think it would be the opposite.

 

[mdcrossbow]

interesting that you think that. Why do you surmise no till farming is the culprit? I would think it would be the opposite.

weed killer poisons, left over corn not going to discolor and birds will eat anything. One of the biggest Tells is no game in the fields. Geese, deer & turkeys here in the east where I a lot of fields over the past 50 years are empty of all game. Maybe couple birds passing through one. On my way to Pa through farm lands I only spotted one Tom in 137 miles. 4 years ago when I started hunting with my friend up around Raystown Lake in Pa I'd see small flocks of birds 2 years ago the farmers in the area went to No Till almost 100%. My friend who has 500 acres in Va has asked the farmer leasing the fields not to spray till after turkey season. Seems like were keeping more birds in that area but it's still down from seeing a couple flocks of hen 35+ to only seeing half dozen +. Birds are sharp. Coyotes and racoons and other preditiors have been around much longer and the birds learned to deal with them. The young birds raised near the farmers crop fields can't deal with poison. Just my observation.

 

[Pucky Freak]

Season is a wrap, total of 9 evenings out. The birds were less responsive to calling as the season went on. Walking out on day 6, saw this roosted tom at 100 yards right at the close of shooting.


Day 7 my daughter asked me to take her turkey hunting, so we headed out for a spontaneous trip. I taught her how to use the box call, and surprisingly she sounded pretty realistic. Only trouble was she wanted to call every 10 seconds I let her have at it for a fun sit. On the walk out she heard a hen cluck down in a ravine, and said, "Dad, it's a real one!" I got a good laugh, and was beaming that she identified the subtle sound.



Day 8 was 92 degrees. I stumbled into the biggest morel find of my life, and ignored the gobbles on the opposite ridge to pick a half backpack-full of mushrooms instead.


Last day, 94 degrees, went back to where the gobbles were the evening before, got as close as I dared but pushed it too close - I heard birds bust out of thick cover at my final approach, and the remainder of the evening was a bust. Time to head to MT for bears!

 

[Gellar]

Season is a wrap, total of 9 evenings out. The birds were less responsive to calling as the season went on. Walking out on day 6, saw this roosted tom at 100 yards right at the close of shooting.
View attachment 223265

Day 7 my daughter asked me to take her turkey hunting, so we headed out for a spontaneous trip. I taught her how to use the box call, and surprisingly she sounded pretty realistic. Only trouble was she wanted to call every 10 seconds I let her have at it for a fun sit. On the walk out she heard a hen cluck down in a ravine, and said, "Dad, it's a real one!" I got a good laugh, and was beaming that she identified the subtle sound.

View attachment 223264

Day 8 was 92 degrees. I stumbled into the biggest morel find of my life, and ignored the gobbles on the opposite ridge to pick a half backpack-full of mushrooms instead.
View attachment 223267View attachment 223269View attachment 223266

Last day, 94 degrees, went back to where the gobbles were the evening before, got as close as I dared but pushed it too close - I heard birds bust out of thick cover at my final approach, and the remainder of the evening was a bust. Time to head to MT for bears!

It sounds like a successful season! That heat wave kind of broke my turkey drive for this year. I heard a few gobbles still yesterday morning when I was mushroom hunting.

 

[Hem]

Last day to hunt for my season.
Badda-boom, badda-boom. Doubled up this morning, called these guys from private to public.

 

[fleabagmatt]

Turkeys: 3.5
Matt: 0.5

I wasn't planning to get out last weekend, but fleabagwife wanted to take a road trip and get into the woods. We loaded the pup into the van and headed for the area where I'd been chasing birds. It wasn't a hunting trip, but I brought the gear just in case an opportunity presented itself. We stopped at an alfalfa field adjacent to a thick stand of trees and a river. This is the same area I had previously been busted by a bird who had come in silently. We were walking along letting pupper bounce around in the alfalfa and I was periodically calling out toward the river, not really expecting anything as we weren't being stealthy by any means. Not long after, wife grabs my arm and points to a clearing in the trees. I look up to see that telltale red/blue noggin vanishing into the underbrush. Wife said she saw it walking into the clearing, and when it saw us, started running, so I'm fairly sure it was coming in to investigate my yelps. At least that's what I'm telling myself. Just like before, it never made a peep in response, just showed up. This was at about 4:00 in the afternoon.
So I give myself partial credit here for (maybe) calling a bird in and for wife getting to experience that burst of adrenaline when that dang Tom shows up and makes his presence known.

I may get one last shot at a bird before the season ends at the end of the month, we're headed up to the North Central part of the state for the long weekend, hopefully I can sneak away for a few hours and chase birds up that way one last time.

 

[Wild Bill]

Our turkey season ends next Tuesday and with a couple tags left I was able to flex some work hours this week in order to get out one last time this morning.
I was able to find one willing participant, and a damn fine one at that.

 

[wihunter12]

Last hunt for me in WI today, spotted these two about 10:45am, would not commit for the longest time but once they did they were enthralled with my decoy. I was even able to snap a picture, they were so locked onto the decoy. Shot this one right after he hopped off the DSD.

 

[BrentD]

Last hunt for me in WI today, spotted these two about 10:45am, would not commit for the longest time but once they did they were enthralled with my decoy. I was even able to snap a picture, they were so locked onto the decoy. Shot this one right after he hopped off the DSD.

Way to hang in there and get it done!

 

[Bc1992]

Last hunt for me in WI today, spotted these two about 10:45am, would not commit for the longest time but once they did they were enthralled with my decoy. I was even able to snap a picture, they were so locked onto the decoy. Shot this one right after he hopped off the DSD.

Really pretty fan! Congrats!

 

[FairWeather]

Seasons just about over, and I’m out of hunting days. I was going to go camp out this weekend in a last ditch effort, but the weather and the wife had other plans that have put the kibosh on that

Best I can do now is hit the wildlife area close to town and hope I get unbelievably lucky.

 

[wihunter12]

Really pretty fan! Congrats!

Thanks, the fan is why I picked him over his buddy.

 

[Birdbander]

Used up nearly all of my season but tagged out this morning.
This is the second turkey I've taken through the years that had a messed up toe.

 

[Hem]

Used up nearly all of my season but tagged out this morning.
This is the second turkey I've taken through the years that had a messed up toe.

I have taken a couple over the years that have had a deformed foot, ...to the degree of being almost a club.
I always figured it had to do with the foot freezing on the roost.

 

[BrentD]

I have taken a couple over the years that have had a deformed foot, ...to the degree of being almost a club.
I always figured it had to do with the foot freezing on the roost.

could be bumblefoot. Common problem in birds (infection-caused).

 

[CowboyLeroy]

I’ve about had enough of you guys posting these mountain Meriam’s. Anyone want to teach me how to hunt them next spring?

Me and @RobertD Are going to new mexico next year to show those birds what a real turkey hunter looks like. Youre welcome to join.

 

[CowboyLeroy]

interesting that you think that. Why do you surmise no till farming is the culprit? I would think it would be the opposite.

One of the byproducts of conservation tillage farming (very few operations are pure no-til) is planting winter cover crop, which is just a plain run of the mill winter cereal grain disced in and left to grow through the winter to protect from rain and wind erosion. That belly button deep grass is unfortunately, perfect nesting habitat. As you would imagine almost none of those nests survive.

 

[Gellar]

One of the byproducts of conservation tillage farming (very few operations are pure no-til) is planting winter cover crop, which is just a plain run of the mill winter cereal grain disced in and left to grow through the winter to protect from rain and wind erosion. That belly button deep grass is unfortunately, perfect nesting habitat. As you would imagine almost none of those nests survive.

Never thought about that. The NRCS is making a push for cover crops around here. There is more of it every fall. Luckily there is plenty of crp and waterways for nesting too. Time will tell.

 

[Gellar]

Me and @RobertD Are going to new mexico next year to show those birds what a real turkey hunter looks like. Youre welcome to join.

Thanks for the invite. I’ll keep it in mind and see what shakes out this summer!

 

[BrentD]

One of the byproducts of conservation tillage farming (very few operations are pure no-til) is planting winter cover crop, which is just a plain run of the mill winter cereal grain disced in and left to grow through the winter to protect from rain and wind erosion. That belly button deep grass is unfortunately, perfect nesting habitat. As you would imagine almost none of those nests survive.

Cover crops here are very short - maybe 10" if that, and pretty thin. I doubt much nests in there. I don't know what the plants are. At least some of the common ones look like mustards of some sort.