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How was your spring?

Matt

Active Member
932
61
Norton, OH
I had my best season ever this past spring. I have been chasing after turks for three seasons now and have had my ass handed to me each year. Well, this year not only did I harvest my first ever longbeard, I also had the opportunity to call in and harvest one with my older brother (lives in Alaska now) tagging along.

My first bird.





The one I shot with my brother along.



Fun stuff. Howdja do?
 

Gern186

Dignitary Member
Supporting Member
10,171
201
NW Ohio Tundra
Nice birds Matt.

I had an excellent year also. Killed 2 mature toms in Ohio in the first 3 days of the season. I came home on Thursday of the first week of Ohio and went to Indiana and set up a blind to hunt out of on Saturday......Took my 7 year old son with me for the very first time and killed a gobbler within the first hour!

3 birds in 4 days of hunting is all it took this year.

Our group of Ohio guys ended up killing 8 birds in 4 days of hunting.


 
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swantucky

The Crew
1,594
122
Swanton, Ohio
I katched warreye. We did have some decent sucess on our handicapped turkey hunt. Close to 50% sucess in two days of hunting, that was far better than me killing one.:smiley_cat:
 

rrr

Senior Member
5,065
0
I got home from College on Wednesday afternoon of the last week of turkey season (yay all day hunting?) and spent a frustrating two hours tearing our house apart looking for my turkey calls (thanks everyone for shuffling everything around in the house and my non-college belongings being in six different rooms). To sum, I hunted every day morning and night, and had hens at my decoys nearly every time ... and didn't hear a single gobble or see a gobbler. It was reassuring that I haven't lost all my amateur skill and can still sit tight and scratch a little bit to call in a big hen to kick my decoys and when another hen pecked out around the bush I was sitting in less than 4 feet away, nearly a replay of my best turkey hunt (shooting close to 50 pounds of gobblers with my best friend sitting in the same bush) it sure did get my heart racing. I also took some great naps and saw a couple deer, scared up pheasants, and saw three yotes.*

Oh, and read a break up letter...



Capt

*The story that never was online before (TOO exclusive!). I was walking out of the woods split and before they ended into bare corn field and crp, I saw two coyotes in the field. Watched them circle around, did a little calling on my slate, and had one within 50 yards that disappeared right before I was going to pull the trigger. Figures, but still cool. Waited a bit and gave up, walked out to the truck (1/4 mile), took my boots off, put the gun in the case, sat on the tailgate and made a phone call. Got in the truck, turned the key, looked up and watched a big red coyote run across the road in front of me and stop in the field 25 yards off the road. WTH! Hopped out, flipped the seat, pulled out the scoped .22 with banana clip, hit it behind the shoulder and sprayed and prayed! Didn't kill it but it did not appreciate getting sniped at...lol
 

Jackalope

Dignitary Member
Staff member
38,841
260
Any place but the woods a guy reading a breakup letter with a 12ga across his lap would provoke a level 1 response from the local PD. I love hunting... :)
 

jagermeister

Dignitary Member
Supporting Member
18,060
223
Ohio
Any place but the woods a guy reading a breakup letter with a 12ga across his lap would provoke a level 1 response from the local PD. I love hunting... :)

LOL, my thoughts exactly. That girl was cold as ice. :smiley_blackeye:


I had a decent spring turkey season this year, even though I didn't get out more than a few times. For the second year in a row, opening day treated me extremely well. Last season I at least had some reconnaisance from a neighbor to go by, but this year I didn't have squat. I drove down to the farm the day before the opener and scouted my butt off. I stood up on the ridge listening for the last hour of daylight and never heard a peep out of a turkey. I was pretty bummed out, but I stayed confident. The morning of the opener, I went up on the ridge to a spot where I had found a lot of turkey scratches. Just before I got to where I wanted to set up, I heard a gobble... not 100 yds from me! And man was he hammering away! I immediately set up my hen and struttin jake decoys and set up shop at the base of a big maple, about 12 yds from the dekes. When it got close to sunrise, I made a fly-down cackle along with some wing beats. Soon after, I heard him fly off the roost, over to the highest point of the ridge. With some yelps and cuts, I got him to turn and come right in... gobbling his head off all the way. He was fired up too boy! The last 60 yds or so he was basically running in to my set. Came sliding to a halt at the dekes, spittin and drumming, struttin and posturing up... pushin my jake deke around. Then I gave him some love with the trusty 870. It was all over... and it was only about 10 minutes after legal shooting time.





That was the only bird of the spring for me. I tried to get on another one but the farm I hunt just wasn't holding the longbeards like it usually does. Had an opportunity at a nice jake but I let him go.
 
I went out turkey hunting and messed up. The story goes like this.....
I was out at the hunting cabin enjoying the evening and a bottle of bourbon the night before a turkey hunt. I had taken the cable guide of my bow to wax the string and cables. Somehow the guide didn’t make it back on the bow. The following morning I had called in a long beard I drew bow back to notice that my control and bus cables were right in the way of my arrow. I lowered my bow and watched the big tom until he walked off.
Other than that I fished, shot my bows, and did some hiking.
 

huntn2

Senior Member
6,090
157
Hudson, OH
I had a great spring. Killed my first 2 toms ever.

Took the first bird in OH and the 2nd one on one wet morning in PA.