I LOVE this stuff!

[Bwana]

Day 1:

Finally made it out last weekend in an attempt to find some ND turkeys for my family. Due to other obligations it was just the boys and I for the Saturday morning hunt. Though things started off slow things finally worked out our way. It took a bit of calling and sitting for the first one and then some sneaking around through the hills for the next two but we made it work and capped off the hunt with a tailgate dinner by the creek.

 

[Bwana]

Day 2:

Sunday it was just my girls and me out to attempt to fill my wife's tag.

Given most of the turkeys we saw & heard the day before were on the other side of the river the day before, that is where we headed the next morning. I picked a spot where I've learned that turkeys tend to frequent in the spring, set out our blind, and deployed the decoys. We could hear the gobblers doing their thing from the roost as well as coyotes greeting the day as we were settling into the blind. It didn't take long after a bit of calling before the sounds of one tom were growing closer and all of a sudden there he was all puffed up and strutting around hoping to impress the lady he had been hearing. As soon as he saw the decoys he came in like he was on a string and as my daughter and I were watching over her shoulder my wife closed the deal. It was a tough 10 minutes in the blind but somehow we were able to tough it out.

After getting our stuff back to the pickup my daughter wanted to go for a walk in the hills during which we were lucky enough to see another big bunch of turkeys strutting their stuff and she even found a whitetail shed to take home and add to her collection of stuff.

All that and we were home by 9:30 AM. It just doesn't get any better then that.

Can't wait to do it again!

 

[mtmiller]

Nice work on the long-beards.

 

[Buschy]

Bwana,

I never had any doubts! Looks like a fantasitic time spent with your wife and kids that you would be hard pressed to beat!! Congratulations.

 

[Big Fin]

Very cool. Not just the birds, but more cool to get the youngsters and your wife out with you. Congrats to all, Bwana.

 

[AKDrifter]

Great shots, big success for the family. Congrats!

 

[genesis273]

That had to be a great time spending with the family and bringing home some of the best meat in the woods/fields. Don`t get much better than that!

 

[Big Slick]

The turkey's are cool but the big smiles are the best part. Congrats, it's awesome to see the success but even more awesome to see that it included the family. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Sytes]

Very nice! Think my favorite pic has to be the young one dragging the gobbler away. What a smile! Says a lot about family values there!

 

[elk_hunter]

Congrats to you and your fam! Some good eats right there!!!

 

[Wally Dog]

Attaway Bwana, they look like eastern marked birds........???
Keep up the good work. I'm after them again this weekend. I was run over by jakes last week.
WD

 

[mdcrossbow]

Congratulations on a fine Bird. !!

 

[Bwana]

Thanks for all the kind words and it is VERY tough to beat a spring turkey hunt when it comes to a great way to spend time afield with the family.

Wally Dog: our birds do tend to mostly be of the Eastern looking variety though both my son's shot their first turkeys on this very same ranch and those birds looked more like a Rio/Merriams as the tail feathers were noticeably lighter in coloration. Maybe we simply have mutts.

Here is a picture of my youngest with his first bird taken a matter of feet from where my oldest shot his this year. For you gents in the know, what sub-species does this one look like to you?

 

[arffdog875]

Congrats to all of you! Wow you guys did well! Glad to see the kids out hunting with you!!

 

[Outdooraddict]

Great birds! Man, I can't wait until I can take the kids out hunting.

 

[TOM IN TENNESSEE]

Hell yeah!!! Great when a plan comes together!!!
Congrats to all!!

 

[Wally Dog]

Bwana, that looks to be a merriams. Just wait you going to have nothing but "mutts" around there.
WD

 

[Tom]

That's fantastic, lots of turkeys, that is very good.