Michigan Limbhanger - 5/2/16

Share and Showcase your hunting success stories.
  • Advertisement

HB Store


User avatar
Ack
Posts: 3030
Joined: Wed Mar 10, 2010 6:52 pm
Location: Michigan
Status: Offline

Michigan Limbhanger - 5/2/16

Unread postby Ack » Mon May 09, 2016 6:20 pm

Haven't been around here much lately, but thought I would post up a story for you guys since there isn't a turkey contest this year.....here goes..........

After a very long and frustrating season last spring, I decided that this year I needed a new approach.....to be a little more prepared. Last season was very humbling and I was able to see first hand how tough it can be when you cannot get onto birds regularly.

I told myself that this spring would be different......I ran trail cams, put lots of miles on the truck, and for a change did not wait until the last minute to shoot my bow and get all of my gear around. I started well ahead of schedule and had the bow dialed, gear ready to go, and even had some real good birds nailed down at a couple properties. I did, however, make a mistake that I will never make again........ buying a tag too early. A week or so before the first season I was planning on heading out to the property to check on my cam but, before I went, decided I would head to town to get my new fishing license and my 234 turkey tag, the same one I buy every year.

Image

So off to the hardware store I went, got the tags, then went on over to check my cam. Upon pulling into the drive I knew immediately that I had made a huge mistake, as there next to the drive was a real good tom breeding a hen, with three others in full strut off in the woods a ways. Up until this point I only had a few hens, a couple jakes and an "okay" tom on cam, so seeing this was somewhat unexpected. So there I was, holding a tag for May 2nd, with four good birds on the property NOW. Two of these birds were giants, and all I could do was hope and pray that they would stick around for a few more weeks.

Image

As the first week of season came and went, I kept close tabs on the birds that were still wandering the property. I figured they would move out closer to the farm fields as the weather warmed but, every time I looked, there they were, still hanging around and showing up on the cam regularly. As a couple of my previous go-to properties were seriously lacking birds, the steady action here made it an easy pick as my new opening day spot.

I could not hunt at first light on the May 2nd opener as I had to work until 7:00 am, but the plan was to head over right after work and hopefully not bump any birds on the way into the woods. It was a cool, damp and foggy morning, and things were really quiet when I stepped out of the truck at the property. Listening ever so carefully for gobbles while getting my gear ready, I never heard a thing.....pretty strange for such a calm morning. I slowly made my way back to the clearing where I planned on setting up, still hearing no birds and moving real slow as not to bump anything. I slipped into the clearing and quickly set up in one corner, a spot that would give birds good visibility of my decoy threesome no matter which direction they may come from.

Still not hearing any toms, I started some very soft calling on the Nature's Echo copper, as not to spook anything that may have been close and out of sight........still no gobbling. Calling off and on for the next hour I still was not hearing anything, but I knew sooner or later they would be around, as I had the pics showing they were frequenting the property at all hours of the day. Finally around 9:30 or so I heard my first gobble, which was quite a ways off from my location. He was shock gobbling to some crows that were obviously hassling him. Feeling confident about my setup I decided to try to bring him to me, so I ramped up the noise with the Fredrick mouth call. A few rounds of that and he finally responded.......game on. Not letting up I kept him interested, as he was responding more frequently, and obviously closing the distance to my location.

So now is when things got real interesting.........when he was maybe a hundred yards or so out, all of a sudden I get multiple birds answering my calls from the opposite direction! With a large thicket between me and the new birds, I fully expected to see the first bird come down the trail that ended at my setup location, and he totally read the script. I could see the huge white head coming down the trail, with him going in and out of full strut the whole way. I fired up the video cam and readied my bow as he marched in to face off with my full strut decoy, as they so often do. I could clearly see the hooks as he paraded around my strutter and knew right away that he was one of my target birds. And that is where everything started to fall apart. I drew on him and thought I had settled the pin on his head, but when the string dropped I had obviously rushed the shot. I'll admit, it was less than perfect.....a result that I didn't expect after the hours and hours of practice this spring. My sky-high confidence hit rock bottom just like that........I was crushed.

Image

Image

BUT, so was he........enough that it slowed him just enough for me to get another shot off before he disappeared into the thicket. I won't go into details about the chaos that ensued after, but in the end I was able to punch my tag on a bird that was sporting some pretty decent spurrage. We don't see many of birds of this caliber around the area, so it's a special treat when you roll one over and see hooks like these. I knew he was there, and in the end he was one of the birds I wanted to close the deal on.

Image

Image

Image

So my season came and went in the matter of hours....a total 180 from what I experienced last year. I'm left with a set of awesome spurs, but also with a little disappointment in how some of it went down. In time I'm sure I will look back at it and laugh, especially when I look at those spurs hanging on the wall. But either way, it was the preparation that brought early success this year, which is a lot less stressful than taking it down to the wire......and now it's time to relax a little.

Image


User avatar
BigHunt
Posts: 12159
Joined: Mon Jun 20, 2011 9:50 am
Location: Wisconsin
Status: Offline

Re: Michigan Limbhanger - 5/2/16

Unread postby BigHunt » Mon May 09, 2016 9:41 pm

:clap: :clap: ACK attack strikes again
HUNT LIKE A BEAST
Outdoor814
500 Club
Posts: 1620
Joined: Fri Dec 04, 2015 12:36 pm
Location: Pennsylvania
Status: Offline

Re: Michigan Limbhanger - 5/2/16

Unread postby Outdoor814 » Mon May 09, 2016 9:53 pm

Awesome congrats

[ Post made via Android ] Image
Joe™
dirt nap giver
Posts: 2123
Joined: Wed Jun 16, 2010 2:29 pm
Location: SW Michigan
Status: Offline

Re: Michigan Limbhanger - 5/2/16

Unread postby dirt nap giver » Mon May 09, 2016 10:52 pm

Nice work Ack! Congrats

[ Post made via iPhone ] Image
hard work trumps talent, when talent fails to work hard
User avatar
Edcyclopedia
Posts: 12605
Joined: Tue Jul 20, 2010 12:54 pm
Location: S. NH
Status: Offline

Re: Michigan Limbhanger - 5/2/16

Unread postby Edcyclopedia » Mon May 09, 2016 11:03 pm

Sweet!

[ Post made via Android ] Image
Expect the Unexpected when you least Expect it...
User avatar
Jackson Marsh
Moderator
Posts: 19547
Joined: Tue Aug 17, 2010 3:11 am
Location: SE WI
Status: Offline

Re: Michigan Limbhanger - 5/2/16

Unread postby Jackson Marsh » Tue May 10, 2016 12:44 am

Congrats Ack! Dandy gobbler! !

[ Post made via Android ] Image
User avatar
seazofcheeze
500 Club
Posts: 3860
Joined: Wed Sep 18, 2013 1:13 pm
Location: Billings, MT
Status: Offline

Re: Michigan Limbhanger - 5/2/16

Unread postby seazofcheeze » Tue May 10, 2016 12:49 am

Nice bird! Congrats

[ Post made via Android ] Image
User avatar
Ridgerunner7
500 Club
Posts: 1486
Joined: Thu Mar 11, 2010 5:34 am
Status: Offline

Re: Michigan Limbhanger - 5/2/16

Unread postby Ridgerunner7 » Tue May 10, 2016 2:03 am

Congrats buddy!
User avatar
Hawthorne
500 Club
Posts: 6217
Joined: Mon Dec 15, 2014 2:13 pm
Location: michigan
Status: Offline

Re: Michigan Limbhanger - 5/2/16

Unread postby Hawthorne » Tue May 10, 2016 2:22 am

Nice shot!! Congrats

[ Post made via Android ] Image
User avatar
Lockdown
Moderator
Posts: 9957
Joined: Fri Jul 18, 2014 4:16 pm
Location: MN
Status: Offline

Re: Michigan Limbhanger - 5/2/16

Unread postby Lockdown » Tue May 10, 2016 2:42 am

Very nice! Congrats!

[ Post made via iPhone ] Image
User avatar
oldrank
Posts: 6158
Joined: Wed Nov 27, 2013 7:32 am
Location: USA
Status: Offline

Re: Michigan Limbhanger - 5/2/16

Unread postby oldrank » Tue May 10, 2016 4:14 am

Nice bird!!!

[ Post made via Android ] Image
JoeRE
500 Club
Posts: 4576
Joined: Thu Oct 18, 2012 5:26 am
Location: IA
Status: Offline

Re: Michigan Limbhanger - 5/2/16

Unread postby JoeRE » Tue May 10, 2016 9:28 am

Congrats Ack on a awesome bird. Way to connect shooting those frisbees at him too! :D
User avatar
kurt
Posts: 2219
Joined: Sat Aug 07, 2010 9:10 pm
Status: Offline

Re: Michigan Limbhanger - 5/2/16

Unread postby kurt » Tue May 10, 2016 10:37 am

Awesome bird congrats...

[ Post made via Android ] Image
User avatar
whitetailassasin
Posts: 3404
Joined: Tue Sep 25, 2012 12:34 pm
Location: Michigan
Status: Offline

Re: Michigan Limbhanger - 5/2/16

Unread postby whitetailassasin » Tue May 10, 2016 11:52 pm

:clap:

[ Post made via iPhone ] Image
User avatar
muddy
Posts: 8770
Joined: Tue Feb 23, 2010 5:04 am
Location: Hawkeye State of Mind
Status: Offline

Re: Michigan Limbhanger - 5/2/16

Unread postby muddy » Wed May 11, 2016 1:00 am

Good job Ack, like clockwork for you. Do you guide? =)

[ Post made via Android ] Image
http://www.iowawhitetail.com
Leading the way for habitat and management information

"It's a good thing you don't need commas and colons to kill deer" -seaz


  • Advertisement

Return to “Kill Zone”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 16 guests