2015...what a season!!

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mauser06
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2015...what a season!!

Unread postby mauser06 » Sun May 31, 2015 3:09 pm

i will try to keep this more pics than a story...i have a decently long story in the contest thread...


prior to the season i worked a midnight stretch...it cut into my scouting big time...i knew where the birds likely were..and started watching a few...but i didnt have any targets picked..didnt have any roosts nailed down..i based it all on passed seasons...but i havent turkey hunted hardly at ALL since 2009..

started off a little slow...

but quickly got into the action...

i quickly located a bird i dubbed "the boss" the 2nd time i saw him i hit him with binocs and saw his hooks and said "i want THAT bird!"


i hunted HARD all season...i commute an hour and 15 minutes one way to work...if i wasnt working or driving i was hunting...i honestly havent slept more than 5-6 hours at one time since the season started...i am run ragged..

the passed 2 days i literally slept through my alarms...which ultimately led to me killing my 2 birds...oddly enough...ive always said "everything happens for a reason" although maybe the reason will never be known...



i battled the heat..the extreme green up of this season...birds with lock jaw...bugs like ive never seen...half a day at the Dr getting an embedded deer tick removed and antibiotics...

i had countless long beards in range "dead to rights" but didnt like the shot or couldnt take the shot...twice i had houses in my way...i called in numerous hens..

i called in both birds i killed and had shots at both prior...

ive had horses chase birds...had a neighbor walk outside to talk on the phone and spook birds i was working...



i had this group pretty patterned...

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and still have foiled hunts..or the hens would come in and the gobblers were nowhere to be found...had other hunters after them and they changed roosts...


on the evening of 05/29/15 it was nasty hot...i didnt plan on hunting...

i went to the farm and let my coon dog run a while...when putting him up for the night it thundered...i thought i heard a gobble...

long story short....(you can read the contest story..)

i ended up calling in the group and dropped one...


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10.5" beard 1" spurs

i was happy...i havent heard those birds gobble in over a week...seen them a bunch...worked them a bunch...but they never gobbled that i heard..and i dont know where they moved to roost...

also...first evening bird i killed...we havent had the evening hunting long in PA and ive never hunted it till this season...i killed him at like 1915hrs...


05/30/15 i slept through my alarm..i woke up and i decided id devote the day to "the boss"

i hit the fridge and couldnt find anything suitable for lunch so i took a big water bottle and off i went...


i got there and as i opened the truck door a jake gobbled...


ran to the pasture and setup...

in right about 2 hours i clucked and purred exactly 3 times..i had trail cams out and i have pics of numerous different guys hunting the farm that i had no idea about...i knew from passed hunts that highly pressured birds...especially older birds...light calling and patience is what kills them...for me...


i sat tight when i bet 90% of hunters would have left or went after them...last i heard they were over 200yds away going away and completely shut down...my gut knew better...my mind wanted to chase them...or get aggressive on the calls...but my gut fought my mind...i let out the 3rd call series and told myself...sit 1 more hour...sit till atleast 0900...

i was well hidden behind a stone wall...i checked the time and sent a message to a buddy on another forum...

i peeked out around the wall and saw a longbeard standing there looking around trying to find the hen he heard...

i leaned back...grabbed my gun and leaned forward and dropped him at 40yds...

i took off running to see if it was him..."the boss" i didnt care either way...but i hoped it was...and by the beard i was confident it was...

i saw the hooks and my eyes welled up...i knew i just killed "the boss"...ive NEVER in my life been hit with such a powerful feeling....


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11.5" beard 1 3/8th" spurs...both my bests...




i cannot believe how the season turned out....absolutely amazing...2 birds in less than 13 hours on the last 2 days of the season...


both birds i targeted..hunted my but off for...


just an awesome season...long...frustrating...hot...buggy...some completely dead hunts...but the majority of my hunts i worked birds and brought birds in...


i thought id share...i think its a heck of a story...a heck of a season...and one that not only i can learn from...if nothing else the take away is "dont give up..."


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BigHunt
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Re: 2015...what a season!!

Unread postby BigHunt » Sun May 31, 2015 11:44 pm

nice season ...what are the weights on your birds?
HUNT LIKE A BEAST
mauser06
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Re: 2015...what a season!!

Unread postby mauser06 » Mon Jun 01, 2015 1:15 am

I never really weighed turkeys...in the end the only number I slightly "care" about is the spurs..beards break and wear and in the end 9.5-10.5" is the biggest average here...weights vary..especially late season birds like mine..

My buddy put the 2nd on a scale..its older than I so no telling how accurate...it gave him right about 20# that's a late season pig IMO...he was a big blob of jelly...

His breast was so worn from breeding he was missing a hand sized spot of feathers and had a big tough callous on his skin so tough my knife didn't like to slice it...

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hunter_mike
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Re: 2015...what a season!!

Unread postby hunter_mike » Mon Jun 01, 2015 1:24 am

Congrats, awesome dedication to your season

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“The master has failed more times than the beginner has even tried.”
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Stanley
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Re: 2015...what a season!!

Unread postby Stanley » Mon Jun 01, 2015 1:43 am

:handgestures-thumbup: :handgestures-thumbupleft: :handgestures-thumbupright:
You can fool some of the bucks, all of the time, and fool all of the bucks, some of the time, however you certainly can't fool all of the bucks, all of the time.
mauser06
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Re: 2015...what a season!!

Unread postby mauser06 » Fri Jun 05, 2015 4:08 pm

Thanx guys!!


The turkey forum here is a little quiet...if it were busier I'd have posted my hunts...Mike followed my season a fair bit...he can vouche for it..from the ups and downs to my relentless pursuit of those birds...

I literally exhausted myself....I had the last 4 days of the season off and was so tired from the last 3 weeks of the season I literally slept through my alarms those last 2 days...

I am finally feeling better lol...took a few "lazy days" to recover...


How the season ended just could not have been written any better...literally a blood and sweat to tears season...ive never teared up after killing anything...ive never been hit with such a powerful feeling when I saw those spurs and realized my season was over and I killed the one I dubbed "the boss" because of the way he acted and the set of hooks and beard I knew he wore...

When I first saw him he was in full strut and his beard hit short grass...I knew that was likely a good beard...2nd time I seen him was in season glassing...I saw him strutting and he turned and I saw those hooks...I knew they'd push 1.5" ...didn't quiet make 1.5". But I'm still fired up...

Already glassing for next season lol...I'm addicted to long sharp hooks...

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remmag
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Re: 2015...what a season!!

Unread postby remmag » Fri Jun 05, 2015 4:19 pm

:clap: nice bird and turkey gun! That first picture is pretty cool, did you take that through the lens of your binoculars? Makes me wonder now if that would work?.....

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mauser06
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Re: 2015...what a season!!

Unread postby mauser06 » Sat Jun 06, 2015 12:07 am

Thanx!


And yessir...through dirty binocs...ive taken a bunch of shots through binocs and scopes...


Checked photo bucket and can't find my good shots through the scope..

Takes a little playing around but it works!!

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mauser06
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Re: 2015...what a season!!

Unread postby mauser06 » Sat Jun 06, 2015 9:14 am

This guy was strutting and gobbling in the same field I killed the first bird....

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I had to go watch one last strutting show and hear one more gobble...dont know if it was because I had a black shirt on or what but I could have rolled him from where I stood lol...

Same as my first bird...it'd thunder and he'd gobble...just him and 2 hens left...dont know where super Jake went...and I know someone else shot the other longbeard out of that group...

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Jackson Marsh
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Re: 2015...what a season!!

Unread postby Jackson Marsh » Sat Jun 06, 2015 12:33 pm

Congrats on a great season! :dance:


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