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Thread: The Official 2021 Turkey Thread

  1. #81
    Join Date
    Jun 2018
    Posts
    692

    Re: The Official 2021 Turkey Thread

    Headed to Trail area on April 15th with a new(ish) hunter buddy of mine who had never hunted turkey before and still has yet to pop his cherry for harvesting an animal. April 16th we hid the road hard and got into some less travelled areas, late in the day we got our first gobble from across a canyon. Using my crow call, I was able to locate him fairly decently and made a plan for the next morning. Woke up at 4am on the 17th, left camp by 4:20 and arrived at our location by 5am. Couldn't drive down the fsr due to too much snow in the shady area so we hiked down the 1km road. As we approached the bottom, the sound of gobbles lit up the area...we were on two good Tom's. Made the mistake of setting up under their roost tree at the bottom of a slope. Every call these gobblers were responding to, they were fired up. When the pitched out, the went uphill instead of downhill into my spread. I called for a bit and realized they were not moving much, so we packed up the decoys and moved our setup up the hill about 60 yards from the turkeys on a power line road. Started to call and they were responding but again not moving. I decided to slowly work my way towards them and caught a glimpse of a big Tom all puffed up strutting around but couldn't see the 2nd one. I had a shot at his blue head but instead passed to allow my buddy to move in next to me but by that time the Tom had moved behind a stump and was no longer providing a clear shot. I shifted over a foot or two to see if we could get a better line of sight and bingo, the 2nd Tom was looking right at me 20 yards away; again, I passed on the shot hoping my buddy would get a chance. The two Tom's disappeared after they spotted us and move up the hill in the woods. We backed out and went up the path that ran parallel to where the birds were headed. I moved in slowly to the treeline and about 10 yards away one of the Tom's gobbled and then nothing. We backed out again and looked down the path at our decoy spread, low & behold both Tom's were there inspecting my hen's!! Only if I had left my buddy in our bunker, he would have had a chip shot at these Tom's...oh well. Walked down towards them and about 40 yards out we both lined up on them and counted down 3-2-1 shoot! My safety was on and he missed, so both Tom's flew away down the hill. Sat and contemplated for awhile and decided we would shift the decoys into their strutting area and wait. Waited a while and nothing so I got up and circled down below and followed a trail a while. I came back to my buddy about an hour later and he said he heard the two gobblers pass up behind him gobbling away. If I had left him at his original spot, I likely would have bumped them right to him. Oh well, opportunity lost and lessons learned...or so I thought. Next morning woke up at 3am and headed down to the same spot, no gobbles and no sign. Decided to do some elk & deer recon in the timber above and came across a TON of sign and game trails. Marked the spot and kept walking, turn around and their is a tree stand all setup. I was thinking bow season in Sept but not sure if it is ethically wrong to hunt a spot with a tree stand setup. I figure they don't own the spot, who ever gets there first should have the right to hunt the spot. Any advice on that? We then headed up hill and hiked about 3km's up an fsr in 2-3 ft of snow; don't know what we were thinking but all we got was wet & tired. Headed back to camp after that and passed the hell out after doing our regular tick check, as we pulled around 50 ticks off us over the 5 days. Woke up around 6pm and went for a drive to a new area and came around a corner to a big Tom strutting around. He buggered off so we went up and inspected the spot. Drag marks, tracks, poop, feathers everywhere...this was his spot! We backed out and made a game plan for the morning. We woke up at 4am and left camp by 4:20 and got to our spot by 4:45am. Setup the decoys in his strut zone and got hunkered in, not knowing exactly where he had roosted for the night. 5:15 and gobbles rumble from the tree across the powerlines, right next to us. My buddy was facing him from his setup which may have given us away. I let out some hen calls but this was likely a mistake as it was pretty early and the Tom was likely wondering how hen's could already be down...I should have stayed silent. He pitched from his tree and flew way down the valley. Damn, he must not have liked something. We sat for a while and waited but nothing, decided to get our gear and pack up camp to head home. Get down to the truck and hear a gobble up the hill from where we just came. He circled around us and came in from behind, sneaky bugger. We went back up the hill with a .22 this time and poked around the corner with him right there 20 yards away looking right at me. He darted into the woods never to be seen again. This trip was a lot of fun and I enjoy the annual birthday hunt (April 14th birthday); learned a ton and hopefully won't make so many mistakes next time. I hope everyone else has better luck!! Cheers

  2. #82
    Join Date
    Jan 2020
    Posts
    108

    Re: The Official 2021 Turkey Thread

    Quote Originally Posted by Bubbacanuck View Post
    Headed to Trail area on April 15th with a new(ish) hunter buddy of mine who had never hunted turkey before and still has yet to pop his cherry for harvesting an animal. April 16th we hid the road hard and got into some less travelled areas, late in the day we got our first gobble from across a canyon. Using my crow call, I was able to locate him fairly decently and made a plan for the next morning. Woke up at 4am on the 17th, left camp by 4:20 and arrived at our location by 5am. Couldn't drive down the fsr due to too much snow in the shady area so we hiked down the 1km road. As we approached the bottom, the sound of gobbles lit up the area...we were on two good Tom's. Made the mistake of setting up under their roost tree at the bottom of a slope. Every call these gobblers were responding to, they were fired up. When the pitched out, the went uphill instead of downhill into my spread. I called for a bit and realized they were not moving much, so we packed up the decoys and moved our setup up the hill about 60 yards from the turkeys on a power line road. Started to call and they were responding but again not moving. I decided to slowly work my way towards them and caught a glimpse of a big Tom all puffed up strutting around but couldn't see the 2nd one. I had a shot at his blue head but instead passed to allow my buddy to move in next to me but by that time the Tom had moved behind a stump and was no longer providing a clear shot. I shifted over a foot or two to see if we could get a better line of sight and bingo, the 2nd Tom was looking right at me 20 yards away; again, I passed on the shot hoping my buddy would get a chance. The two Tom's disappeared after they spotted us and move up the hill in the woods. We backed out and went up the path that ran parallel to where the birds were headed. I moved in slowly to the treeline and about 10 yards away one of the Tom's gobbled and then nothing. We backed out again and looked down the path at our decoy spread, low & behold both Tom's were there inspecting my hen's!! Only if I had left my buddy in our bunker, he would have had a chip shot at these Tom's...oh well. Walked down towards them and about 40 yards out we both lined up on them and counted down 3-2-1 shoot! My safety was on and he missed, so both Tom's flew away down the hill. Sat and contemplated for awhile and decided we would shift the decoys into their strutting area and wait. Waited a while and nothing so I got up and circled down below and followed a trail a while. I came back to my buddy about an hour later and he said he heard the two gobblers pass up behind him gobbling away. If I had left him at his original spot, I likely would have bumped them right to him. Oh well, opportunity lost and lessons learned...or so I thought. Next morning woke up at 3am and headed down to the same spot, no gobbles and no sign. Decided to do some elk & deer recon in the timber above and came across a TON of sign and game trails. Marked the spot and kept walking, turn around and their is a tree stand all setup. I was thinking bow season in Sept but not sure if it is ethically wrong to hunt a spot with a tree stand setup. I figure they don't own the spot, who ever gets there first should have the right to hunt the spot. Any advice on that? We then headed up hill and hiked about 3km's up an fsr in 2-3 ft of snow; don't know what we were thinking but all we got was wet & tired. Headed back to camp after that and passed the hell out after doing our regular tick check, as we pulled around 50 ticks off us over the 5 days. Woke up around 6pm and went for a drive to a new area and came around a corner to a big Tom strutting around. He buggered off so we went up and inspected the spot. Drag marks, tracks, poop, feathers everywhere...this was his spot! We backed out and made a game plan for the morning. We woke up at 4am and left camp by 4:20 and got to our spot by 4:45am. Setup the decoys in his strut zone and got hunkered in, not knowing exactly where he had roosted for the night. 5:15 and gobbles rumble from the tree across the powerlines, right next to us. My buddy was facing him from his setup which may have given us away. I let out some hen calls but this was likely a mistake as it was pretty early and the Tom was likely wondering how hen's could already be down...I should have stayed silent. He pitched from his tree and flew way down the valley. Damn, he must not have liked something. We sat for a while and waited but nothing, decided to get our gear and pack up camp to head home. Get down to the truck and hear a gobble up the hill from where we just came. He circled around us and came in from behind, sneaky bugger. We went back up the hill with a .22 this time and poked around the corner with him right there 20 yards away looking right at me. He darted into the woods never to be seen again. This trip was a lot of fun and I enjoy the annual birthday hunt (April 14th birthday); learned a ton and hopefully won't make so many mistakes next time. I hope everyone else has better luck!! Cheers
    Omg this sounds exactly like the hunt I just got back from today. I was just west of trail and my buddy and I weren't able to bag a turkey. Man is it ever exciting to hear those turkeys gobble back at ya. It's like going on a ride at Disney Land when you're a kid. Can be very frustrating and sometimes I don't know why they respond to the clucks and other times they just go silent and bugger off but even though we didn't get a turkey it was a very good hunting adventure and great learning experience. I look forward to the fall.

  3. #83
    Join Date
    Aug 2016
    Posts
    599

    Re: The Official 2021 Turkey Thread

    Great stuff guys! Lots of season left and some of the best hunting is yet to be had. Good luck everyone.

    Heading out tomorrow with a couple other hunters for a few more days of turkey action!
    "The farther one gets into the wilderness, the greater is the attraction of its lonely freedom."

  4. #84
    Join Date
    Jul 2005
    Posts
    1,542

    Re: The Official 2021 Turkey Thread

    Well we have had no shortage of action our first 2 days. First morning we got my buddy’s 85 year old uncle into the blind close to some birds we’d roosted the night before. They didn’t fly down until 9:30, by far the latest I’ve ever seen. The birds finally came to our setup and a gobbler was struck with an arrow by our senior member.
    This morning I had 8 birds launch directly at me from the roost when something from the other direction spooked them, 3 of them landed within 3 metres of me but hit the ground running and I wasn’t able to get an opportunity with my crossbow. The afternoon had us spot several birds in a spot we were able to put a short stalk on and get into position on. My buddy let an arrow fly and gobbler #2 hit the dirt. We’ve had lots of other opportunities but just couldn’t close the deal.
    Hoping for more action tomorrow!
    Last edited by Krico; 04-22-2021 at 10:44 PM.
    Twist and pull.

  5. #85
    Join Date
    Jun 2015
    Location
    Top of the 395
    Posts
    1,691

    Re: The Official 2021 Turkey Thread

    My trip was less eventful. Heard not a single gobble. We did flush a single bird while walking a power line, but that’s all we saw. No big deal. I took three out of that flock last year, so I’ll let them grow up big and strong and see them in the fall!

    Good luck to the rest of you!
    If we’re not supposed to eat animals, how come they’re made out of meat?

    BHA, BCWF, CCFR, PETA, Lever Action Addict.

  6. #86
    Join Date
    Jul 2005
    Posts
    1,542

    Re: The Official 2021 Turkey Thread

    Well day three was just as action packed as the first two. First we got busted at about 5 yards from behind, we never even saw the gobblers come in and all we heard was putting. Then we struck up a real hot bird a few hours later that came in hard, but when his head came into view he instantly spooked, turned and burned like the roadrunner hahaha. Oh well. A couple hours later a longbeard with hens in tow was spotted - we put the stalk on him and our hunt was done within minutes.

    Good luck to everyone else out there!
    Twist and pull.

  7. #87
    Join Date
    Aug 2016
    Posts
    599

    Re: The Official 2021 Turkey Thread

    Great stuff, Krico. Sounds like a couple great days and can't wait for the pictures. Thanks for sharing.

    Was back out with a couple family members the last few days. We put bird #4 on the ground last night and had a great morning today with a pair of call ins that should have resulted in a dead bird. Off to the EK tomorrow for a week and we will be getting my nephew out to try for his first bird.

    Cheers everyone!
    "The farther one gets into the wilderness, the greater is the attraction of its lonely freedom."

  8. #88
    Join Date
    Sep 2008
    Posts
    3,082

    Re: The Official 2021 Turkey Thread

    I took my 7 year old daughter with me for her first weekend trip. Only spotted three birds total but managed to get my first turkey with her. The birds were not answering calls and we heard no gobbles at all.
    the hunt turned into a running and gunning style hunt with me finally shooting my bird out of a tree. It was quite exciting and a hunt my daughter and I won’t forget.
    laying in the wall tent right now procrastinating taking the tent down in the rain. I hate dealing with wet gear
    WSSBC Life Member
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    CCFR Member

  9. #89
    Join Date
    Mar 2020
    Posts
    28

    Re: The Official 2021 Turkey Thread

    Some awesome stories on here all portraying the inevitable struggles that come with hunting these fun birds! I'm heading on a four day hunt starting on my birthday this Wednesday...some turkey schnitzel would make for an awesome bday dinner in the bush

  10. #90
    Join Date
    Sep 2008
    Posts
    3,082

    Re: The Official 2021 Turkey Thread

    I just got home and ground up my turkey with bacon, garlic, green apples and black pepper. Tastes amazing and I hate store bought turkey. My only complaint is I wish my bird was bigger. There ain’t going to be any leftovers.
    WSSBC Life Member
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