MT 2017 Spring Turkey Hunt Thread

[phutch30]

Just put my new turkey rig together. ...well 3/4 the way there. Waiting on my vortex venom sight and my tss #9 shot. Patterned it today with lead 5s and federal hvy weight 7s. Both will do the job out past 40.

Started as a stock 870 express 20ga 21" barrel



added a kicklite adjustable stock, synthetic forearm and rem SF choke.. waiting on a Uncle Mikes end cap with swivel
had to add some padding to the stock as it pats the cheek a little...went hi tech...1/2 foam pipe insulation
gunna try it out as is next weekend

 

[406LIFE]

Nice Phutch. I, too, have a dedicated turkey rig. I put some foam on the stock and then wrapped with that cloth camo tape, much nicer to shoot now too. You gonna camo it up?

 

[phutch30]

Yea but not till I get the sight/mount...its gunna be a hill billy camo job...couple colors of krylon. Plan on getting a real cheek pad later after the sights mounted. This will work for now though.

REAALLLY didn't need another shotgun but was able to sell the idea as a "family" gun due to the adjustable stock....so it will fit everyone....worked too

 

[Pagosa]

I've really enjoyed reading the posts and watching the video posted on this topic. I went out on Wednesday morning and I started the morning late by not leaving the house until 5:30 and it was already light out, even through sunrise was not until 6:15. As I was stepping off my deck I lost my footing on the frosty deck and busted my butt on the deck edge. It hurt bad and I took a slow walk to easy the pain.
When I got to my blind there were three or four toms already strutting out in front of it, I had roosted them the night before about 200 yards away. I set-up about 75 yards away and tried calling and two toms came within 55 to 60 yards, but too far to shoot. They feed away and chased some other hens and I got set-up in my blind. It took about an hour of steady calling to draw a tom within 30 yards. I waited for a close shot. I knocked the tom down, but he got up and flew away, I shot twice more but he continued flying.
Me and boy had a similar experience two years ago, and I thought about this time I was the worst turkey hunter ever. I went to work that morning and during my lunch break I took the kids and my one pointer/lab cross and my leopard hound to where I shot the turkey that morning. We did about a half mile loop through the area and as we near the spot where I seen the tom flying last he was laying dead in the wheat field. We were super excited to have some fresh turkey.

 

[phutch30]

Good Job pagosa, Nice Weastern!

 

[kansasdad]

Great job going back to make a sweet find. Congratulations!

You probably know this, but head/neck shots are what you are wanting with a shotgun. And if you are aiming directly at the head, as your pattern expands, you will send as much as half of your shot over your target. My aim point is just a touch above the neck/body junction.

 

[phutch30]

I managed to scam 4 days to go to eastern MT and enjoy being in the turkey woods. I sure did enjoy it. It went a lot faster than I had planned though.

Drove all night Wed and stepped out of my truck to a gobbling bird. YAHOO, went and got setup and suddenly found myself almost surrounded by gobbles...that a good thing right? I was pretty sure there were 2 mature toms in front of me an maybe one behind me but there were a bunch of jakes everywhere else. Sure enough 15 min after daylight here came a pack of 8 jakes lighting up the basin with every step....just about crawled up my nose before they realized something wasn't right. They ran over to the flock and the two toms spent 20 min chasin them all over the hillside. I realized pretty quick I wasn't gunna be able to make it happen where I was. So a quick move around the hill and here came the whole caboodle but about 80 yds away. I lucked out and got the subordinate tom that was bring up the rear to come over for a closer look and at 35yds it was over. The new 20ga with hvy weight 7s worked perfect



So now its about 7am on the first morning and I'm trying to decide if I call it good or keep hunting...duh. So I go into town and grab a snack and head out to look around. I drive to a ranch I have permission on and see the rancher who tells me they were gobbling on the other side of the creek this morning. I thank him and drive up the rd a bit to look around. About a mile up the ranch rd and I look across the drainage an theres 4 strutters and a bunch of hens up on the bare ridge. I had to think about this for a bit since what he calls a creek is only about 30 feet wide but is deep. I decide to go for it an 30 min later I'm wet up past my boys but on the right side of turkey......Long story short I got in front of the flock and they either came to check me out or decided they were going that way anyways either way at 30yds I pull the trigger....Heres a tip, always put a shell in the chamber before u setup. LOL On a positive note about 200yds upstream of where I waded across I found a riffle that didn't go about my lacross boots. Guess I shoulda looked for a crossing upstream.

I keep cruising on the ranch and round about 11 I glass up what appears to be a lone tom strutting in a drainage beside a plum thicket. I move into about 300 yds and set up. First series of calls gets a gobble and here he comes. 30 min later hes still slowly coming my way in full strut, never gobbled again though. That's ok at 25 yds I whistle and he sticks his head up. This time the 20ga is loaded with lead 5s (I checked 2x b4 leaving the truck)...at 25 yds they are plenty of medicine. Its about 80 degrees now and I'm soaked in sweat, so I decide that's enough for the 1st day.



Day 2 finds me driving a little west to a new area. I get to the ranch and start hiking up a drainage. About 1/2 a mile up the drainage I get to where they usually roost and throw out an owl hoot and they light up the trees back where I came from. So I hustle back down the drainage and get set up They gobble great for about 45 min fly down and not a peep. No idea where they went or what. So after about 30 min I get up and slip down the creek a little and there they are in a little meadow beside the creek. I tried calling but no go, they gobbled a couple times but the hens weren't interested and the toms weren't leaving the hens. I was about 200 yds from them and I knew I had to get a lot closer. I was able to sneak about 100 yds and then crawl to a clump of brush but was still 70-80 yds away. Looking at the group, one tom was tight the hens and one was off on the sidelines a bit. I tried some soft calling that didn't seem to do anything so I started cranking it up. The more excited my calling got the more interested the sideline bird got. Pretty quick he was coming out of strut and periscopeing every time I called. About 20 min of this and he started shuffle stepping towards me eventually he periscoped one last time at about 40yds. The 3 1/2" 12 did what it does best.



Off to try an find a Weastern next weekend

 

[Pagosa]

Phutch great write up and very good hunting. That is some action packed turkey hunting. The Eastern birds in the Flathead have been gobbling steady. Good luck.

 

[hobbes]

That's getting it done Phutch. Congrats on a great couple days.

 

[Bugle 'Em In]

After getting taken to task by the turkeys the weekend prior, we were finally able to get things to come together over this past weekend. Headed down into the hunting area after work on Friday. We spooked a couple of lone hens in different spots. Once we got to the edge of a large field, we saw a tom standing in the middle with a bright red head, at least a couple of hundred yards away.
A couple of yelps revealed that he was more than interested. He gobbled and gobbled, hoping I'd come over and join him. I played hard to get with infrequent soft yelping, clucking and seductive purrs. This was more than he could handle. I had my son propped up over a log (the one in this photo as a matter of fact). We had a great show as he made his way along the edge of the field, gobbling while he closed the distance. When he hit 30 yards, I gave him some hard clucks to get the head up. The rest was history. It was a great afternoon in the field with my son.

 

[kansasdad]

Nice photography work. Congratulations on a great father/son adventure.

 

[phutch30]

Good Job! Cant beat taking the kids

 

[phutch30]

Buddys (Rat Fink) bird from 399 from 2 weeks ago. 1 1/8 spurs I'd like to say it was a long arduous hunt. But in truth we had to stand around in the cold waiting for camera light after the climax. It was fun hunt though.

 

[Bugle 'Em In]

That's a dandy bird phutch & ratfink. Great job!

 

[hobbes]

My parents are here visiting, so I bought Dad a NR turkey license. *He's not hunted turkeys the last few years, but I wanted him to finally kill a Merriam's.*

Dad's feet and ankles hurt too much to hike up and down steep terrain, so I*planned on hunting Monday to Wednesday in some riverbottom country that I thought he could handle. *

We moved slow, but the distance required to hike across the fields to the river was making him sore even in the flat ground. *We hunted Monday morning and evening then Tuesday morning.*We'd been on birds both mornings but they were loaded up with hens. *I typically assume that I can get something to work after some time, but I couldn't do anything with them early and Dad didn't feel like*moving on them or waiting for them to get lonely. *We started our drive back home after a short hunt Tuesday morning.

I told Dad that I was keeping my camo on because I was going to take a detour in a couple hours*and see if we could get a bird going close to the road for him mid-day. *Dad changed into a grey sweatshirt and blue jeans and said he'd just let me go after it if we heard one.

Two and a half hours later I handed dad a camo shirt and said "If we here one put this on and don't worry about the blue jeans". I was stopping in good listening spots along a dirt road and yelping loudly to try and find a mid-day gobbler. *I turned down a side road at about noon and got a bird to respond at my third series of yelps from a long way off. *Dad said "he's a long way...too far for me to go after". *I decided to drive the road another 1/4 mile and see what response I got. *I opened the truck door and the tom gobbled on his own still another 1/4 mile away in an area that I've hunted. I drove to my normal parking spot and told Dad " get the camo shirt on and we'll just drop off the ridge 75 yards from the truck to see if he'll come". *

I checked the bird after dad got his shirt changed and gun loaded and it sounded like the bird was closer so we rushed downhill to set up. *Over the next 30 or 40 minutes the tom made it to within about 100 yards but wouldn't come across a ravine and up on our side. *When the tom moved away and further right, I moved behind dad 50 yards or so and the tom moved back and into about 60 yards from dad but just below*the end of the ridge and out of sight. *He moved away and around another small ridge after 15 minutes which made him sound much farther. *

Dad thought it was over and got up to come back to me. *I quickly made my way to him and said "let's move ahead 75 yards where we can see the spot that he was gobbling from and see if he'll come back. He may feel safe enough to come back to a spot that he just was strutting in."
We quickly moved ahead and sat up. We were looking down at a grassy bench where the tom had likely stood, strutted, and gobbled earlier. *A few yelps later and the tom was coming back. *We first layed eyes on him strutting into*the open on top of the ridge across the ravine at 100 yards. I went quiet and after 5 or 10 minutes he started down through the trees into the ravine. *I could here him strutting and gave him a few barely audible yelps. *I didn't see him come out of the ravine due to a rock outcropping, but heard Dad whisper "oh man, here he comes", then "how far is he?". *To which I replied, " I can't see him." * Dad lost sight of him and he stood down there in range somewhere for 5 minutes and finally gobbled to the left and within 20 yards. *He immediately was in strutt, drumming, fan cresting 15 yards away at about the 10 o'clock position instead of the 1 o'clock where dad was pointed. *I whispered he's left dad, and just as I could see his head tucked into strut (I was slightly higher than Dad) Dad shifted his gun left. *He'd no more than shifted left than the tom' s head came into view for him and ever so slightly started to raise before Dad let him have it at 11 yards.

*

He*almost missed him because those #5 Longbeards should have taken his head off at that range. *They did take out a swath of back feathers and three tail feathers that were in line with his shot. *It made no difference, *we were thrilled with his first Merriam's.

I pheasant hunted with Dad last year and he had to take it slow and leisurely. I think his feet are bothering him more now than last year. While health wise he's in relatively good shape at 72, his feet bother him a lot. I suspect this will be the last turkey that I see him kill not because I'm expecting him to not be here, but due to his feet and ankles unless I can make it back home to IL in the spring and call one in for him at an easy access place there. I'm glad this was an exciting one.

*

 

[Hem]

Filled the 799 tag a couple of weeks ago and took a wide loop for some fly rod action.

 

[phutch30]

Well dun Hobbes. That's a memory that will stick with the both of u.


Hem- That might be the coolest MT turkey cast n blast ive seen.

 

[Hem]

Thanks PHutch
We had a great hunt,killed two birds and then chased pike for a couple of days.
Next year i join the ranks and take my daughter on her first hunt. Hopefully I can find some spots that dont involve endless miles of walking.

 

[phutch30]

Thanks PHutch
We had a great hunt,killed two birds and then chased pike for a couple of days.
Next year i join the ranks and take my daughter on her first hunt. Hopefully I can find some spots that dont involve endless miles of walking.

The gravy spots that don't require a lot of walking take a while to develop. One good way is to bring your daughter when u go ask permission.

 

[Hem]

Also wanted to congratulate all the successful Montana hunters...Good work hunters and huntresses!