The hunting/fishing thread!

[Chuckie chicken]

Nice tom. What did he have for hooks? It's so difficult to hunt a 3+ yr old. Their hooks aren't as visible as a older bucks antlers.
Just put this cam out the other day. Got some options..

Yes, you do have options.

Here's one of his spurs, pretty typical I think.

 

[mowin]

Yes, you do have options.

Here's one of his spurs, pretty typical I think. View attachment 3469344

Nice two yr old. Was it one of those classic hunts where he hammered on roost and all the way in?

 

[Bac2wild]

Well, Turkey season is over here now, only wild boar left till Archery starts at end of July. Hunting season has spread out so much now that fishing season got really small, LOL. I have not gotten out to bowfish yet this spring

 

[Chuckie chicken]

Nice two yr old. Was it one of those classic hunts where he hammered on roost and all the way in?

STORY TIME

It was the evening before the last day of the season. I shot a jake opening day, then hunted the rest of the season without a good opportunity at a shot. Things had been quiet for several days, and I had figured the season was a wrap when I saw this tom in the small field beside ours while grilling on the back porch. There was an uninterested hen with him. I grabbed a gun and snuck to a little evergreen and tried calling, but he was following the hen and wanted nothing to do with the yelping tree. He strutted around all evening, trying to impress the hen, so I knew he would roost nearby.

The next morning I set up in the field south of where I saw him, thinking he would be roosted back there and easier to call to in that field. There is an overgrown creek with a small bridge that separates the two fields. The back field was uncut hay, so 1½ feet tall and the other side of the bridge (where he was the night before) was winter wheat.

When day broke and he started gobbling, he was pretty much straight across the hay field from me, about 150 yds. I saw him fly down and could see him for a bit, but lost him in the grass. The next time I heard him gobble, he was 80 yds to my immediate left, on the other side of the creek! He was in the south west corner of the winter wheat field strutting. I had seen him there the night before, but thought it was too open to set up there, and the hen was in the north east corner of the field the night before, so it didn't make sense that he would go there.

He eventually started to move east along the opposite side of the creek. I left most of my stuff where I had set up, but took a tail fan and a call and crawled along the creek towards the bridge using the tail fan and the odd cluck as a distraction. When I got to the bridge I tried to call him within range from the other side. By this time he was super fired up, gobbling non stop at me, but he wasn't coming, he wanted to fight on his side!

Around that time I noticed that the hen was out again in the north east corner. The bridge I was on is on the southeast side (I had crawled across by then and was on his side, but still on the bridge). He beelined it across the field to the hen, about 175 yds away. Beyond that is my neighbor's house and the road, so I figured he'd eventually come back my way.

When he got to the hen, she walked into the tall grass at the edge of the field and he followed. As soon as they were out of sight I moved off the bridge to some cover between the bridge and the corner of the field, so I could shoot to the edge of the field if they came out closer to me.

The hen came back out from the same place she went in surprisingly soon after she went in, and started walking towards me. I had been displaying the fan all while I was crawling along the creek and across the bridge, so I wonder if that was why. I was tucked behind a bare dogwood bush, so I was pretty well hidden, but had a good view. The hen came straight to me across the field with the tom following about 30 or 40 yds behind. I was well hidden until she got past the bush I was behind, then I was crouched in the wide open! She was maybe 10 yds away when she saw me, and immediately flushed and freaked out. She flew across the creek and landed on the far side of the hay field. The tom stuck his head up and froze at 70 yds and just stood there. From where he was I was still completely behind the dogwood. After what seemed like forever (probably 15 or 20 seconds) he continued on his way and walked right to me.

It was a great season, to shoot one on the first day and one on the last, with some close calls inbetween. I felt like I really worked for that one!

Here's a picture of the field. The trees cutting through diagonally are where the creek is, the little white rectangle is the bridge. I hope my windy story makes sense!

 

[Chuckie chicken]

For the opening day of turkey season I went to a semi-new place I used to call coyotes at a few years ago. The morning had several toms gobbling on the roost, and at least one came very close, but stayed in the trees rather than coming into the field I was set up in. After they wandered off I scouted the area they flew down into and got some great Intel for my next visit.

In the afternoon I walked our woodlot and the one across the road, where I sat and called some. This guy came in silently and gave me a short peek. After 5 minutes of raking the ground and calling softly, I thought he had skirted around me, but then popped up right in front of me at 15 yards. Anything over 20lbs is big around here, so I'm very lucky.

I've got 5 weeks to get another one, and last year I used every one of those days to get it done.

 

[mowin]

For the opening day of turkey season I went to a semi-new place I used to call coyotes at a few years ago. The morning had several toms gobbling on the roost, and at least one came very close, but stayed in the trees rather than coming into the field I was set up in. After they wandered off I scouted the area they flew down into and got some great Intel for my next visit.

In the afternoon I walked our woodlot and the one across the road, where I sat and called some. This guy came in silently and gave me a short peek. After 5 minutes of raking the ground and calling softly, I thought he had skirted around me, but then popped up right in front of me at 15 yards. Anything over 20lbs is big around here, so I'm very lucky.

I've got 5 weeks to get another one, and last year I used every one of those days to get it done. View attachment 3482039View attachment 3482040View attachment 3482041

Congratulations.. 20-22lbs is about normal for our area. My heaviest was 26.

Our NY season starts Monday May 1st. Weather looks like crap, and we're one of the stupid states that shuts spring turkey hunting down at noon.

 

[Shabby Chic-Hens]

Planning on making fly lures this summer. We have a brook on our property, which has a lot of fish, so fingers and toes crossed that there will be dinner!

 

[Shabby Chic-Hens]

For the opening day of turkey season I went to a semi-new place I used to call coyotes at a few years ago. The morning had several toms gobbling on the roost, and at least one came very close, but stayed in the trees rather than coming into the field I was set up in. After they wandered off I scouted the area they flew down into and got some great Intel for my next visit.

In the afternoon I walked our woodlot and the one across the road, where I sat and called some. This guy came in silently and gave me a short peek. After 5 minutes of raking the ground and calling softly, I thought he had skirted around me, but then popped up right in front of me at 15 yards. Anything over 20lbs is big around here, so I'm very lucky.

I've got 5 weeks to get another one, and last year I used every one of those days to get it done. View attachment 3482039View attachment 3482040View attachment 3482041

That’s a beautiful tom. We have one in the yard who would make an excellent meal (especially since he chased me after I threw some cracked corn out for his ladies), if some of last year’s turkey hatch hadn’t come along and de-bearded him!

 

[Chuckie chicken]

Called this young fella from a ridge top 250 yds away and convinced him to fly across the river, then decided to let him walk.

I can be a nice guy sometimes.

 

[NanaK]

Called this young fella from a ridge top 250 yds away and convinced him to fly across the river, then decided to let him walk.

I can be a nice guy sometimes.
View attachment 3485987

We call that leaving some for seed.