Had a good year here in Ohio. I was able to pull off sneaking across an open field behind a decoy and have a great gobbler run across the rest of the field to challenge me. He ran right up to 10 yards. Turned out to be the biggest bird I've killed. It was an adrenaline rush for sure. Then Thursday I capped off my season and was able to shoot a bearded hen.
I went out a couple times about 7 years ago, ended up taking a jake at 40 yards. It was WAY more fun that deer hunting, but I don't really care for the taste of turkey (wild or domestic) so I never went again.
It has not been a good year here either. They gobbled tons until opening day and went silent on opening day (April 2). I hunted every day, except one when it was storming and managed to take two jakes. Season closes tomorrow. Huge spurs on your gobbler Sean. Really nice bird you got. I need to try the sneak with decoy method. I have seen several gobblers from 60-150 yards this year. They didn't seem interested in my calling. Hens were silent throughout the season, except for yesterday morning when one hen was cutting and yelping for 20 minutes 100 yds from me, and she only called in 4 deer.
My nephew shot a tom with 4.5" beard this year. I just can't get into turkey hunting-I have too much to do taking care of 8.5 acres of lawn and other things to get up at 4:00am-when I have tried it I am ready for a nap by noon!
I've had a few naps in the woods....around noon ( or 9:00 ish) this year. Hoped a gobble would wake me up. Nope.
First time out west this year, went with brother in law to Nebraska, chadron state park/forest for the Merriam, heard more gobbling in 2 hours than I have my whole life! No shooting but an awesome vacation, and got to see some new stuff! Definitely going back soon. The weather fought us the whole time, in a15 minute period it went from cloudy to snowing like I thought a whiteout was coming to a light rain to snow to rain and sunshine!!!
It was a lot of fun, I dont use decoys much but the strutter decoy can really work to fire up a turkey
Nebraska is a lot of fun, Ive turkey hunted there twice. The amount of birds was unbelievable, made the hair on the back on your neck stand up. This pic was the first day of Nebraska the last time we went
Last year was my dream season. I thought I'd turned a corner as a turkey hunter. I've been humbled in 2016. One week left in the season. I've been chasing them with my bow this year instead of a gun. A couple of times I've wished I had a gun...
Gorgeous birds! Me and the brother in law are going for the grand slam, he's already got the Merriam, there are definitely a ton of turkeys out there!
Archery? Wow, that is not for me. I'm a pure tree stand bow hunter for deer, but pure shotgun for turkey. I prefer to run and gun for turkey rather than sit in a static (or at least pain in the rear to move) ground blind. More importantly, I'm not confident enough in my shooting abilities and the stopping power of an arrow to ethically kill and retrieve a turkey (maybe a decap broadhead would be o.k.?). Too much room for wounding or failing to retrieve a killed bird. I know it can happen with a gun too, but it's hard enough to even get a shot at a bird where I hunt, so I'm not going to handicap myself any further. That's just my opinion. I know plenty of people who love the challenge of bow hunting turkey and are very successful and ethical.
This is one I got with a bow, Nebraska three years ago. We started in Kansas and finished our hunt up early so we drove to Nebraska and hit the jackpot with turkeys. It was still bow season there for the first two days. I ended up shooting two with a bow. This one a coyote ran up a tree and we tried to call the coyote in with a turkey call and the gobbler ended up flying right to us after the coyote left.