OhHeyThereBen
Active member
It's a little late to be putting this up, but I figured I'd start it in case anyone from old Sconnieland has anything to add!
My friend and I both traveled back to the valley that we grew up in for a fourth season turkey hunt. Saturday morning there were turkeys gobbling everywhere (we counted at least 10 different birds within listening range) but as soon as they left the roosts they went silent. Frustrated, we covered quite a few miles that day trying to locate some birds that wanted to interact to no avail. We got in a couple of stalks but didn't end up being successful.
Sunday morning found us in a different location with some birds that again were gobbling to beat the band, but mostly going silent after they left the roost. There were a couple of birds that responded to calling, but they moved in an opposite direction that we didn't have access to hunt. Frustrated, we waited by the decoys for another couple of hours and decided that we needed some coffee. We drove back to my parents' house, brewed up a pot, and took their side-by-side up to the top of the hill across from their house to enjoy our coffee and catch up before we had to part ways. We put the decoys down the sidehill a ways where they toms usually strut during the day and proceeded to enjoy some coffee and much needed conversation. Around 20 minutes later I heard a twig snap down the hill to the right and looked just in time to see an old tom rushing out of the brush to confront our tom decoy! He puffed up (showing one tail feather sticking straight up in the air), circled the decoy, and managed to not notice both of us scrambling for our shotguns, spilling our coffee, and getting our firing line in place. One well placed shot by my friend and he was sent back flipping down the hill.
I've never experienced anything like this before in my life! After spending the past day and a half working our butts off to try to find a gobbler, all it took was us giving up to make one show up
You can see in the pictures where we were sitting. All in all, it was a great weekend with one of my best friends that ended with a surprising exclamation point.
We didn't measure his beard or weigh the tom, but I can say that it was probably the heaviest bird I've ever lifted. I'd guess he was at minimum 25 lbs but possibly closer to 30. I'm not sure what happened to his tail but he was in the middle of growing it back. I would guess an encounter with a coyote last winter, but it could have been from fighting judging by his behavior. He looked old and had some good spurs on him (1 1/8 to 1 1/4 inches depending on where you measure them from). If I can get someone back home to measure the beard I'll update the thread to show the correct beard length, but I'd say somewhere in the 10" range.
I hope everyone has been having a great spring in the woods!
-Ben
My friend and I both traveled back to the valley that we grew up in for a fourth season turkey hunt. Saturday morning there were turkeys gobbling everywhere (we counted at least 10 different birds within listening range) but as soon as they left the roosts they went silent. Frustrated, we covered quite a few miles that day trying to locate some birds that wanted to interact to no avail. We got in a couple of stalks but didn't end up being successful.
Sunday morning found us in a different location with some birds that again were gobbling to beat the band, but mostly going silent after they left the roost. There were a couple of birds that responded to calling, but they moved in an opposite direction that we didn't have access to hunt. Frustrated, we waited by the decoys for another couple of hours and decided that we needed some coffee. We drove back to my parents' house, brewed up a pot, and took their side-by-side up to the top of the hill across from their house to enjoy our coffee and catch up before we had to part ways. We put the decoys down the sidehill a ways where they toms usually strut during the day and proceeded to enjoy some coffee and much needed conversation. Around 20 minutes later I heard a twig snap down the hill to the right and looked just in time to see an old tom rushing out of the brush to confront our tom decoy! He puffed up (showing one tail feather sticking straight up in the air), circled the decoy, and managed to not notice both of us scrambling for our shotguns, spilling our coffee, and getting our firing line in place. One well placed shot by my friend and he was sent back flipping down the hill.
I've never experienced anything like this before in my life! After spending the past day and a half working our butts off to try to find a gobbler, all it took was us giving up to make one show up
You can see in the pictures where we were sitting. All in all, it was a great weekend with one of my best friends that ended with a surprising exclamation point. We didn't measure his beard or weigh the tom, but I can say that it was probably the heaviest bird I've ever lifted. I'd guess he was at minimum 25 lbs but possibly closer to 30. I'm not sure what happened to his tail but he was in the middle of growing it back. I would guess an encounter with a coyote last winter, but it could have been from fighting judging by his behavior. He looked old and had some good spurs on him (1 1/8 to 1 1/4 inches depending on where you measure them from). If I can get someone back home to measure the beard I'll update the thread to show the correct beard length, but I'd say somewhere in the 10" range.
I hope everyone has been having a great spring in the woods!
-Ben
