Spring 2018 Turkey Contest

[backstraps]

One common thing I am sure we all here on the BEAST share is the lack of time we would like to spend in the woods! This spring proved to be no different for me. However, my schedule as busy as it is, hardly compares to my daughter's! She is a full time student, works a two jobs, volunteers at local programs and still wanted to find time to get a few days in the woods to chase turkeys! So with literally finding blocks of times through the week where she would have 4 or five hours available proved to be a challenge in its own to get on a tom.

We are really blessed in my region with a strong population of Eastern Turkeys. This spring wasn't shaping up to be one of the better years for locating good flocks, or mature gobblers. I had a few areas where I felt like with the homework being done we may have a chance.

I was able to get out the weekend I had slotted with the Beast Pot call, worked and located two separate gobblers. I wasn't able to make things work, and decided these two birds were for certain workable and this is where I would try to get one in front of my daughter.

The first day we went after them, we were able to get in CLOSE! The gobblers were fighting and competing for one single hen. We couldn't get the hen fired up to drag the boys to us, and couldn't get either of the gobblers to leave the other alone with the hen. So lack of time and desperation is setting in...I decided to split this party with hopes that they all don't spoke in the same direction. I softly spooked the birds, and as luck would have it, the hen was the one that seen me!!! She went one direction in an all out sprint, the gobblers split and went off into a pine thicket. I set there for maybe 10 minutes and told my daughter to get set to shoot! I did a couple assembly calls and one of the gobblers came right back out of the pines in full strut. I waited a couple minutes and called him again, now he is coming in fast, strut,run, strut, run...I told Heather to wait until I told her to shoot, because I knew the other gobbler (if he seen this one acting like this would come in too) He was getting close and Heather asked to shoot, I whispered to her to wait...he was now so close I was worried about her pattern being too tight and she may miss, so I told her to hold a steady aim and kill him. BOOM! FLOP! this gobbler was down and done! Killed at 5 steps!

I started cackling hard and loud thinking the other would come in....he never arrived..... UNTIL we stood up to go to the dead gobbler HAHAHAHA he was only 20 yards away over a small rise and we couldn't see him. We just had to laugh and chalk him up as a lucky bird, What an awesome hunt, and we made it happen with over an hour to spare before Heather had to be at work!

To add one more really COOL thing to this story....we had some confusion and mix up on the BEAST POT CALL and I was able to keep the call a few more days...and the BEAST CALL was able to claim another victim

The gobbler weighed 23.7 lbs 10.75" beard and 1.25" spurs, The pug has to be included in everything we do since she is part of the family. Piper the pug enjoys us bringing home game as much as we do

[backstraps]

DAY #2 on the chase with Heather!!

We started this hunt out with a flop! We couldn't get the gobbler to cooperate at all. This was going to be a tough hunt. This old guy had a flock of ladies and 4 jakes with him. Geeezzz that is also a bunch of keen eyeballs to try and beat.

The temps were climbing and the sun had really started beating down on us. We decided to try and back out from the flock, circle the ridge and come down towards the spring branch that the birds we felt like we headed to. The setup we had ended up proving perfect because this was going to be a tight spot to hunt.

We waited for the birds to get in the "hollor" before we made any calls. We could see the gobbler was trying to hang back from 2 particular hens, but the jakes were also all over the gobbler not letting him get too far away. We finally had the birds close enough to our location and they were staying in the shade along the spring. We just made a few soft content calls, and the entire flock had heard the calls and we had their attention. As we patiently waited for the flock to make their way to us, the birds a few times wanted to turn and head back up the ridge. Each time we were successful in giving them just enough calling to keep their interest. It was so thick I felt like the birds would cautiously continue their path towards us even though they still have not seen a turkey, because we rarely even take a decoy with us, unless its planned we may need it.

As the lead hens were making their way closer to us, I realized that I had told Heather to position herself in what now will not provide her a shot! DANG! I whispered to her, to not try and move we would make it work! hoping I would not have to eat those words!!

The hens came in and slightly turned up the hill walked away from us, and if the others done the same thing, this could work! Well you know how hoping something walks just like you want it to rarely happens...hahaha well the strutter wouldn't come out of strut or even allow Heather a clean open shot. He was also too far away for her to be able to turn, aim and shoot before the gobbler spooked and got out of there!! So I told her to be patient but the birds were going to have to be right on us before it would work. At this point the closest bird was only 17 yards away. I called as soft as I could literally with my mouth almost closed, the four jakes turned toward me and began investigating...I told Heather to keep her eyes focused on the gobbler and when I said "kill him" to turn on him and shoot him.
One of the jakes made it to my foot!! He was inches away from my foot when the gobbler cleared the sapling that was blocked him from Heather. I said "KILL HIM" she was able to rotate her shotgun a foot to her right, settled and killed him within what seemed like one second!! The gobbler fell dead, the jakes almost took my face mask off flying directly over my head! WOW DANG what close tight action hunt that WORKED! Her gobbler layed dead literally feet from her position!

Two days in a row Heather killed her closest two gobblers, and both were nice mature birds! I am so very blessed to have the opportunity to hunt with my daughter. She has been in the turkey woods with me since she was 3 years old. I hope we continue to be able to share time and make memories for many many more years to come.

[Fdept56]

The 2018 season was definitely a season to remember. From hunting four states, to killing four myself, and being a part of another four kills, it just couldn't have been much better. Out of all the amazing memories I made that I will get to relive forever, my favorite part was the hunts I got to share with my grandpa.
My grandpa and dad got me started turkey hunting before I was old enough to even really remember, and I've been hooked ever since. The only thing I am more passionate about than bow hunting deer is turkey hunting, and I am lucky that these two feel the same way as me.
I only got to hunt with my grandpa a few times in our home state of Arkansas without any luck (the turkey numbers in Arkansas have been on a steady decline since the 2000s), but we both had such a great time hunting Missourri last year that we couldn't wait to get back. The first week of the season was tough, between the cold weather, all the hunting pressure, and a couple close calls at the 1:00 deadline, only one turkey was killed between our group of 7 hunters.
The second week my dad and I hunted a couple times but he decided to keep hunting Arkansas since the season went out that week. My grandpa and I both felt like we had a better shot north of the border so we hunted together quite a bit. One morning we started off where I had killed mine the week before since we knew there were turkeys in the area. With only distant gobbling and plenty of people in the area, we headed out for a different patch of public.
As soon as we got out of the truck we heard a gobble. We moved closer but after one more gobble we could tell he was across the valley on the next ridge over. I had a pretty good idea where he was from the week before, so we drove around to get closer to him.
We got out of the truck and before we could step away to listen he gobbled 150 yards from us. We hurriedly grabbed all our gear and set up within site of the truck. I yelped three times and he cut me off, we knew it was game on. We were set up facing down a logging road that he was straight down and I knew it was just a matter of time before we had one flopping in front of us. After a few minutes I purred softly and two turkeys answered! Now it was getting serious because the only thing I like better than watching a turkey die is watching two turkeys die.
I got quiet with them and right away I could hear them drumming from straight down the logging road. A few moments later and my grandpa said, "I hear them drumming." I knew they were getting closer then because over 60 years of gunshots and open cab tractors haven't been kind to his ears. We were sitting there enjoying the music, knowing any second they were going to pop out in front of us. Waiting, and waiting, and waiting...then all of a sudden he spins 90 degrees to his left and BOOM! I never saw them until they were both in the air, unharmed. Somehow, someway they had moved from directly in front of us to 30 yards down the ridge to our left while still sounding like they were in front of us. They had seen us before we saw them and took off running when my grandpa shot. Just more fuel to the fire.
A little disheartened, we took off to find another one. We got a few miles up the road and heard another one. We moved around a few times to try to get closer but ended up where we had started and the turkey had calmed down. He hadn't gobbled in awhile so I cut and got him to answer about 200 yards from the truck. We walked about 100 yards (all the while I was wondering why I had been walking 6 miles a day the week before) and set down. We waited a few minutes and I yelped softly, no answer. A few more minutes yelped a little louder, no answer. A few minutes later I decided to cut again to get his location. I cut and as soon as I finished my last note, a head popped up 30 yards away. He knew exactly where the hen should be and didn't see her so he turned around to leave. Three gobblers within range in one day and not one in the truck. That's turkeys hunting!
The next week was getting down to the wire and I found a new spot where I had heard 5-6 Sunday morning (no comment on that hunt). We headed back out on Monday with high hopes. It was a beautiful morning and as soon as it had gotten light enough to see through the woods one gobbled. We moved toward him and got set up perfectly. While we were working him we heard 4 other turkeys start gobbling. The one we had set up on originally ended up moving off but another was getting closer. He got to 150 yards and decided that was close enough. We went silent, jake yelped, gobbled, got excited, did everything and he still hadn't moved. We finally ran out of ideas so I started to crawl away to sound like the hen was leaving. Before I even got off of the tree, he started getting closer. I didn't get to watch it unfold because I was scared to move but I could tell he was getting closer. I heard a BOOM and then flopping. This was a special moment because my grandpa has called in several turkeys for me but this was the first time I had ever gotten to repay the favor.
While admiring one of God's greatest creations, we heard another turkey fire off. I took off toward him on foot and my grandpa went back to get the truck. The public was mixed with private and when I finally got close enough to set up, I could tell the turkey was on private. The border of public was close by and I had a good feeling he would be headed that direction so I headed that way.
I set down to silence. I waited awhile and tried to get him to gobble by calling and nothing. I figured I had somehow got to close while trying to work around him and spooked him. It didn't bother me because I was still excited about the morning I got to experience. I headed back to the truck, but on the way out I thought I heard a gobble. I knew if I did he was close so I set down. Sure enough, that turkey had somehow worked around me without me ever knowing he was there.
He made me work for it but he eventually came in on a string. I filled my second tag and was done in Missouri for the year. Tagging out is always a little bittersweet for me, but there wasn't much bitterness this time. Being able to walk back to the truck with a turkey over my shoulder, to meet my turkey hunting mentor, was the proudest moment I have ever experienced in my 24 years so far. Just don't tell my wife.


I'm sorry this ended up being so long! I had a short story in mind but once I got to typing it was hard to stop and I still had to cut many details out. Thanks for having this contest and congrats to everyone who has entered!

[Gesell23]

Reflections on My 2018 Turkey Season

This season I wanted to get a few turkey hunts on film as last fall I had started to film mine and my families hunts for my blog. I thought that if we could just get some quality footage laid down and possibly a kill I would be happy with that. We haven't killed many turkeys (2 to be exact, one from my then 11 year old son Cole and 2 years ago my 9 year old Leighton killed one) as of yet due to us not having a big flock on the properties I can hunt. So getting a kill or 2 on film I knew was going to be a challenge...

The MN turkey season opened up this year on April 18th, a Wednesday. With the kids being at school and I at work I was hoping to get out that first weekend, but anyone who lives in the the MN/WI area knows that winter just drug on this year. Our main turkey spot was bean stubble from the previous year. After what seemed like 9 feet of April snow had finally started to disappear those fields were 100% mud... That made travel extremely hard as I went out that Friday evening hoping to roost a bird. That didn't happen, I saw some deer which was encouraging for fall but I didn't see or hear a single turkey. My first thoughts were possibly the birds were still in a winter location and hadn't moved into this area. I hunted that Saturday morning and again saw and heard 0 turkeys... Sunday evening I had a mishap. WE have a small chicken coop that my wife and I wanted to move and in the process of doing so I cut my index and middle fingers to the point of needing 12 stitches and a splint for 2 weeks. The major problem with the bad hand now is I was planning to bow hunt this season... With my grip hand now screwed up I didn't think I would be able to hunt now. I can't figure out how to post pics... I have a couple I would like to have shared.

The following Wednesday I hooked up with a buddy of mine and his sister who has a very advanced form of lymes disease, she wasn't diagnosed with lymes until about 18 years after she had contracted the disease. We had a great hunt that morning.

The video from that hunt is here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ggbsNanjpr8

The Saturday following Carla's hunt I tried to wake up the boys and neither of them wanted to go... Luckily I had tried t shoot 1 arrow the day before and I was able to get drawn, that said I wasnt confident in even needing to try draw because of the situation the week prior on the land we hunt. I got to the property late, forgot my wrist release and turkeys were already gobbling all over! I drove the truck to the back side of a ridge and raced to get the blicnd and decoys set up on the other side. Only about 50 yards from the truck I was able to fill my first ever turkey tag, also with a bow, with a bad hand and a new tension style release I had only shot a couple times!

The video is here
https://www.youtube.com/edit?o=U&video_id=obWtFJJTAzA

The next weekend brought some great weather and We were able to get my son Leighton (11) a bird with some friends. The footage is absolutely incredible as the bird worked the decoys just a few feet from my son Leighton. WE didn't use a blind that morning and the hunt lasted only moments. So this year went from extreme disappointment after my hand issue to the craziest season I could have imagined in just 3 short hunts with friends and family.

Leightons hunt
https://www.youtube.com/edit?o=U&video_id=1QU10Ci4RPI