(DONE) 2011 Turkey Contest - POST ENTRY HERE

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Black Squirrel
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Re: 2011 Turkey Contest - POST ENTRY HERE

Unread postby Black Squirrel » Fri Apr 22, 2011 4:05 am

Great hunt, MOBB!


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Re: 2011 Turkey Contest - POST ENTRY HERE

Unread postby G3s » Wed May 04, 2011 1:46 pm

Yesterday was the opener for the last season here in Michigan. I hunted the morning with a bunch of chances at birds that were tempting but not exactly what I was looking for. I ended that hunt with shot ops at 6 different birds, 3 of them were decent with beards around 10".
I went back to my brothers house yesterday afternoon ready to give it another shot. I was hunting the clover field behind his house where we have been seeing plenty of gobbler action. My brother and I dont get to spend much time together outside of fall deer hunting so I felt really good when he asked if he could tag along and do the calling for me. Because of work last fall we didnt get to share our usual hunt in the UP for gun season. So it was awesome to share this hunt with him, our first together since the fall of 09. We got out to the back corner of the field where it breaks over a huge hardwood ridge and set the decoys up. We were just sittin there hanging out, catching up when the deer started to roll out to feed. It was funny to watch the younger ones chasing each other around, kinda like playing tag.
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Eventually the deer settled in to eating and we were able to move around and get a better vantage point to watch them. At 7:30 we noticed the bright blue head breaking over the rise in the field, and he was headed straight for the decoy spread
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As he got closer I could see it was a pretty good bird with a nice beard, but he had an awful limp to him. He puffed up and strutted around the decoys for a bit and finally made his way to the closer side to us. I decided it was a good time to let my new bow eat its virgin meal. At 17 yards, i let him have it. When I drew the bow he caught me moving and perked right up, I released and the arrow knocked him off of his feet but man he was flopping all over the place, I ended up grabbing a big stick off the ground and thumped him one...the flopping ended and I didnt have to worry about getting spurred :lol:
He ended up having a 10 3/4 inch beard, his right spur is 1 1/4 and his left spur is only 3/4 and real blunt...makes me wonder if he broke it fighting, I found it weird that his spurs are 2 totally different colors...the longer one is real light and the stubby one is almost black.
It was a great end to a great hunt, made for a short season with only one tag.
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Re: 2011 Turkey Contest - POST ENTRY HERE

Unread postby Wrinkleneck » Wed May 04, 2011 10:21 pm

CONGRATS g3s!!!!
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Re: 2011 Turkey Contest - POST ENTRY HERE

Unread postby Liberty-Hunt » Wed May 04, 2011 10:47 pm

What a start!!!
All the 3 first did kill with a bow and 2 with a double!
You are amazing!!! Many congratulations Muddy, MOBIGBUCKS and g3'S!
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Re: 2011 Turkey Contest - POST ENTRY HERE

Unread postby cornfedkiller » Thu May 05, 2011 9:17 am

First off, I apologize for the long story, but I wanted to get all the details in it..

Rewind to last season: I started going to Nebraska with my step-dad last season. He and a bunch of friends go down there for the shotgun opener, and I bring my bow along. Last year was my first time every turkey hunting, so I did a lot of research and kinda had an idea of what to do, and ended up having a nice tom come in but I ended up shooting too high and getting nothing but feathers…it was the only bird I saw all weekend, and I was really bummed out.

Fast forward to this year’s trip: I felt like I was much more prepared for this hunt, as I had watched a ton more videos and read tons more articles. We left Thursday evening and stayed in Sioux Falls so that we wouldn’t have as long of a drive in the morning, and would have time to scout. Well Friday morning, a blizzard rolled through, and the drive was much slower than expected. We arrived in town early afternoon to about 3 inches of fresh snow on the ground and visibility of just a couple hundred yards. We didn’t get out to do any physical scouting, and just drove around and checked out a few properties we had permission for from the road.

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We decided that since we didn’t know where they were roosting or anything, we wouldn’t really try to be out there before first light, and focus on trying to find the birds mid-morning after the hens left the flocks.

The next morning, I threw my gear on my bag and headed down a fence-line for about a half-mile walk. I hit a crow call a few times and located some gobblers and kept moving towards them. I found a spot with an area I thought would be pretty visible to set the decoys, and quickly set up there. It was a little breezy, but since I was in a hurry, I didn’t figure I would stake the blind down (big mistake…read on). After only a couple minutes, I heard something behind me, and (not sure why?) just casually opened the back window in the blind to see what it was, and there were two toms standing about 2 yards behind me..It scared the out of me as well as them! I was trying to get my camera turned around and set up as well as get set up for the shot when a gust of wind picked my blind up, and I pretty much had to drop everything to catch it before it lifted completely off the ground…which spooked the birds…what a mess..

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It wasn’t more than a couple minutes later, I heard a bird gobble a ways off to the other side of me. I looked out in the pasture and there was a tom standing out there. He spotted my setup and started heading my way. I had him on a string, and he was making a B-line towards me.

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At about 35 yards out, he must’ve seen something he didn’t like and changed course. He circled around to the side of me and started to act nervous. I frantically shot at him, but never really picked a spot (as I was again trying to hold down my blind from the wind) and ended up with just a few feathers. I was really bummed (again), and was starting to lose confidence and faith in myself.

I moved my setup to a different spot not far away that afternoon, and got a few birds in close but could not get them to commit. I hunted the same spot the following morning, and the woods were very quite, and then decided to move back pretty close to my old spot.

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I changed up my setup a little bit as well, because I feel like I was putting my strutter too close to my submissive hen (as you can see in the previous photo).

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The birds became very vocal about 10:30, and a few gobblers started to answer my calls. I had a good feeling about it, and just sat back and waited. I could tell by their gobbles that they were getting closer, and they actually hung up for a little bit in the exact spot I had my setup the evening before and that morning – I thought to myself “I should’ve known…just my luck!”

Well after a couple mins, I saw a couple heads perk up over a ridge, and was pumped to see 3 toms heading my way. As soon as they saw the decoys, they immediately strutted and started heading towards my Killer-B. I was very excited to see the really light coloring on their tail feathers.

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I had the video camera rolling and got some good footage of them coming in (although I unfortunately didn’t get the shot on film). All three birds were facing me, and I picked my spot on one of the birds and released the arrow. The arrow hit its mark and the bird took off running with my arrow stuck in him…I thought to myself “Not Again!” Well after about 25 yards, he piled up. I was pretty excited, but a little bummed that he ran the opposite direction, since I probably could’ve doubled if he wouldn’t have gone so far. The shot on the next bird would’ve been about 40 yards, and I just didn’t feel comfortable with that.

I got this cool picture of the bird jumping up in the air with my arrow sticking out of his chest.

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I couldn’t have been happier at the moment I saw him drop! My first tom, and it was with a bow! A lot of people told me to get a few under my belt with a shotgun before trying it with the bow, but shooting one with the gun has never really been something that excited me, so Im glad I could finally get that first one under my belt, and I feel like Im over that hump, and it will be easier next time around.

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I didn’t weight him, but he had an 8 ½” beard, and ¾” spurs, which were really rounded and beat up, which makes me think he was probably a fighter..
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Re: 2011 Turkey Contest - POST ENTRY HERE

Unread postby Black Squirrel » Fri May 06, 2011 4:08 am

sweet! 8-)
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Re: 2011 Turkey Contest - POST ENTRY HERE

Unread postby BackWoodsHunter » Mon May 23, 2011 1:37 am

Pretty pumped to be posting a kill! Nothing went right the morning of this hunt but I moved around the farm I was hunting until I found where the birds came off their roost. I was running late as I just moved back to my parents house for the summer from college late Wed night. As I was Walking in I scared a tom off the roost and watched him fly over my head out of sight. Then to make things better I must have set up on a fawn this morning because a doe came into view and headed right for me. She then circled behind me and sat in the brush for 20 minutes blowing and snorting away at me. She kept creeping closer until one time I looked over my shoulder and she was within 15 yards tip toeing towards me. At that I point I figured I was going to get my a$$ kicked so I picked up and moved. I moved slowly making two more "stands" until I heard some rustling in the small valley below me while sneaking through the pine stand. I had heard gobbling in the first few minutes of light and from my spring scouting for deer out here I had a good idea where the birds roosted. I quickly snuck up against a pine tree and hit the slate call. I bought this call 2 weeks ago and at the beginning of this hunt I couldn't make anything happen with it I couldn't even get it to make any noise. When I needed it most though I managed to find a sweet enough spot and let out some decent turkey noises. Three hens immediately came up out of the valley onto the small atv trail in front of me. They putted and made some noises and I just copied them. Then, just over a small rise in front of me I saw a fan and then heard gobbling followed by 2 more toms gobbling in the valley below. We all conversated they got bored and wandered off. I crawled closer to where the birds were and set the camera up on the trail recording and I snuck to the other side of a pine tree. We exchanged more "discussion" for over a minute until a dandy tom came sprinting over the rise and down the atv trail right for me. I dusted him! The kill and the calling back and forth is on video. Until this point of my life I pretty much hated turkey hunting it was just something to do but I have to be honest this was awesome I think I'm hooked. I went out there called, videod and got the bird all on my own all by 6:20 am. Then I called and woke my girlfriend up and she came out and took pictures! She is a keeper! I would consider this a run and gun hunt even though I was on a private farm and didn't drive around to locate the birds. I kept moving around the farm and got to the birds, snuck up on them and even made a nice kill all on video. I was late for my first day of work at my summer job so didn't monkey with weighing the bird. Later measured the spurs at just a hair shy of 1" and the beard just a hair shy of 10". I'd say its a dandy first bird. Attached is a pic and the video!

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My lovely girlfriend who was happy to be woken up to come take pictures!
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Classic Dan Infalt pose

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And the video of the hunt I even got a lot of footage of the doe who was after me! In the first turkey clip I got the hens on video and just out of view of the camera to the right of the screen I could see the tips of the fan as this guy strutted just out of range/sight. I crept up to the skinny pine tree where the hens were and thats where I shot the tom from.

[bbvideo=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOKjNMvK9QI[/bbvideo]
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Re: 2011 Turkey Contest - POST ENTRY HERE

Unread postby Black Squirrel » Tue May 24, 2011 3:40 am

8-)
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Re: 2011 Turkey Contest - POST ENTRY HERE

Unread postby Stuart » Sat May 28, 2011 10:44 am

" Ya!!!!!!!!" :lol: :lol:

Great footage and hunt
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Re: 2011 Turkey Contest - POST ENTRY HERE

Unread postby Ack » Wed Jun 01, 2011 7:50 pm

A Successful Spring in the Michigan Woods

After hunting hard the first few days of my Michigan 234 hunt and nothing to show for it, I planned to spend some quality time out in the field on Friday May 6th to try and punch my 2011 spring turkey tag. Earlier in the week I had some really good action and a couple close encounters with shooter toms, but as so often it happens things just didn't work out in my favor. Even before Friday came I had made plans to hunt a piece of property that has been known to produce good action during the mid-day hours, since I wouldn't be able to get out until after I got my son off to school. I knew there were also several toms hanging around this area, but coaxing them out in the open field where I am able to hunt proved to be a challenge in itself. After hunting this property earlier in the week I wanted to let this property cool off until Friday, when I knew I would be able to sit for several hours trying to wait out one of the shooter birds that roamed this area. Earlier in the week and had some exciting action at this spot with a group of "tough guy" jakes........

[bbvideo=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RU8CPhT-Y8o[/bbvideo]

So after wishing my son a Happy Birthday and getting him off to school, I still was not able to get out to the woods in a timely manner....Birthday presents needed to be wrapped, balloons needed blowed up, and a few shots needed to be fired at the target to be sure things were still "on." It was around 9:30 or so when I finally was able to get out of the house and headed out for my pre-hunt "scouting drive." Driving by a couple of my prime spots revealed toms still out strutting for a few hens, but with their position in the fields it would have been next to impossible to get in and get set up on them without being detected. As tempting as it was I reverted back to my original plan of hunting the "jake spot," or so I called it, and headed down to see if any birds were out in the fields there. Driving around the section turned up no birds, but I still pulled into the property to give it a shot anyways. I guess I just had that feeling that the birds would be back in the long field that they had been cruising several days prior. So as I loaded up the gear on my pack I hesitated when it came time to grab the full strut decoy that I brought along. Granted, I've had good success with it in years past, but I've also become reluctant to use it because honestly it can be a pain to carry around. Something told me to grab it anyway, so I got loaded up, grabbed it and my bow and set off to the back on the half-mile field.

Arriving at the location that I had decided would be the best spot to hunt these birds, I looked into the woods 70 yards away only to see a bird standing there looking at me. I quickly dropped to the ground, which hid me from them because of the higher bank between the shallow ditch and the woods. I was within 20 yards of where I wanted to be set up, so I started setting up the decoys and the blind. By 11:00 or so I was ready to go and started to give some yelps and excited clucks on the diaphragm..............nothing. By this time the winds had picked up considerably, so the volume of calling had to go up if anything was going to hear me from any kind of distance. I'm not even sure how much time had gone by....30 minutes, 45...something like that, when I heard a lone gobble come from somewhere. It was so windy I could not determine the direction if the bird, so I continued calling and scanning my windows, trying to locate the source of the lone gobble. I just happened to look out into the field to my right and there he was....a lone gobbler that must have come from the next woodlot over. He was heading down toward the end of the field despite my loud calling to him, but the bright side was that he could definitely hear me, and I could see him respond a couple times, even though it was too windy for me to hear him. He gets to the end of the field, then turns left into the CRP grass that runs along the edge of the woods. From earlier hunts I determined that the older birds on this property didn't like being out in the open field much, so I set up in the CRP grass about 20 yards off the woods...this was where these birds felt safe and had been traveling the other times I was out there. Once he gets directly south of me in the grass, he makes a quick 90° left turn and here he comes. As he spots the decoys he increases his pace into my setup, so I get the camera zoomed out and on the dekes, then get the bow up and ready. Just like that he is in my spread and focused on the strutter that I had almost left back at the car. As much as I wanted to get some footage of him interacting with my dekes, I came to full draw and settled the pin on his neck as he stretched out toward my strutter. At 8 yards the sound of the Bullhead tipped arrow was solid, and he went nowhere but down to the ground. I had just accomplished what I've been trying to do for about 3-4 years now....a head/neck shot on a mature bird. I guess in past years I got too nervous about waiting for that perfect shot opportunity with these large broadheads, but this time everything worked out perfectly from the start and I didn't have to change broadheads at the last minute. After sending all the texts to my friends to let them know that the beast was down, I went out to check him out. I knew when he was coming in that he was a portly fellow, and walking up to him confirmed that, along with the long 11 1/4" beard he was sporting.

So with that another successful season was in the books. I took all the trophy pics, packed everything up and set out on the long, and what turned out to be exhausting, walk back to the car. After getting home I found out why I had to stop and set this big boy down several times....turns out he weighed a hefty 26 lbs 9 oz. When cutting into him I discovered that this old boss had been shot at before, as I pulled several BBs out of his breast. Fortunately for me nothing hit the neck or above, that is until my hunt on Friday.

I'm sure glad that I carry the video camera with me on hunts these days.....I was able to capture some great footage this spring that will be fun to go back and look at in the future. This was one of those textbook hunts that I will never forget, and having the video will let me share this perfect hunt with others for years to come.

Stats.....

11.25" Beard, 1" Spurs, 26 lbs 9 ozs.


[bbvideo=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJvZbyBX0-0[/bbvideo]

The Setup
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The Aftermath
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The Hardware
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....and the Final Result!
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___________________________________________________________________________________________
After filling my only Michigan tag (we are only allowed one), I was fortunate to tag along on a few more hunts in order to get a little more of a "fix." Even though I wasn't the one pulling the trigger on these hunts, they were just as rewarding to me.

About 5 days after tagging my bird I was able to get my good friend on to a super hot gobbler who came in to the call like he was on fire. Turned out to be a very quick hunt that had us back to the car by 7:30 a.m.

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___________________________________________________________________________________________
A week later I was able to spend some quality time out in the woods with my parents, and the morning was very successful with both Mom and Dad tagging birds. Two separate hunts, two separate limbhangers, and three very happy hunters. To be a part of two hunts that resulted in trophy birds for my parents only an hour apart was the highlight of my spring season. My Dad was the one who showed me the ropes of turkey hunting about 20 years ago, and to be out there with him (and Mom) while tagging their best birds to date was extra special to me......mission accomplished!

Stats......

Dad's bird......10.25" Beard, 1 1/4" and 1 5/16" Spurs, 22 lbs.

Mom's bird......11" Beard, 1 1/4" Spurs, and a light 17 lbs.


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Almost had Dad's bird on video, but I had to lean over at the last second so he could swing the gun to get the shot off, so the video was a bust.

Here is a shortened version of Mom's hour long hunt......my first time filming outside the blind.

[bbvideo=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fyIoMjsNK_8[/bbvideo]

So all in all it was a very successful and rewarding spring season for myself, friends, and family, and I really hate to see it come to an end. Next spring can't get here soon enough!
8-)
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Re: 2011 Turkey Contest - POST ENTRY HERE

Unread postby muddy » Thu Jun 02, 2011 7:09 am

Ack, nice.
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Re: 2011 Turkey Contest - POST ENTRY HERE

Unread postby dan » Thu Jun 02, 2011 1:53 pm

We are ending the contest... I was waiting for Ontario to close so Stuart had a fair chance. They ended Saturday.
You got till tomorrow if you did not post your entry yet...
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Re: 2011 Turkey Contest - POST ENTRY HERE

Unread postby lungbuster » Thu Jun 02, 2011 2:38 pm

It was Friday the 13th, my dad picked me up from school and we went up our field road but it started to rain. My grandpa told us there were a couple turkeys in one of the fields so we checked there, we saw two so we stalked them but by the time we got there they were gone. So we walked through the field to see if there were anymore but there weren’t. We used the fence row to sneak down to see if there were any there but there wasn’t, but we looked up on the hill and there were two gobblers so we thought we would sneak up there, on the way to the birds we saw a deer but it got spooked, then we had to cross a big puddle of water and my boots got soaked so I had to walk in drenched boots! By the time we got there they had already left so we walked a little bit farther and we looked out passed all the fields and we saw the two gobblers but now there were a long ways away, so we walked through the woods. We ran across a morel mushroom and we called it our good luck charm, we got to the point of the woods and we were going to call them down but when we were close we spooked two birds on the field edge, we thought we spooked the gobblers we had been stalking, so we were going to head back to the truck, (I was tired and cold from all the walking), but when we were at the edge of the hayfield we saw “our” gobblers at the top of the hill! They had their heads tucked under their wings, so we waited to see what they would do and one went to the left of us, but the other started coming right towards us! He was about 200 yards and walking right at us in the open hay field! He was coming to see what we were but when he came 20 to 30 yards he didn’t really mind us. Just then the other gobbler flew away, but “my” bird kept coming! It was hard because I was sitting on my side in the very wet hay field. My dad handed me the gun and by that time he was 10 yards away!! I was sitting on my side and my dad says shoot him, shoot him but I was scared the 12 ga. was going to kick back, but he kept telling me to shoot so I said okay and 1 2 3 BOOM I got him!!!! My heart was pounding very loud and I was so excited I didn’t even feel the kick at all. Because we were trapped in the open field, my Dad could not dare to get out the video camera to get it on tape, but we took lots of pictures and my Dad videoed me after I killed my very first Turkey!

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I am posting this for Hannah since she does not have an account (I don't feel she is old enough to join yet ;) )
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Re: 2011 Turkey Contest - POST ENTRY HERE

Unread postby Wrinkleneck » Tue Jun 07, 2011 7:39 am

Bump to the top so everyone can easily find this thread.
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Re: 2011 Turkey Contest - POST ENTRY HERE

Unread postby Carol » Tue Jun 07, 2011 8:04 am

It's a sticky so it will stay at the top until I remove the sticky. :D
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