Our spring season started May 1. I am taking off work and going tomorrow (I've been jonesin' to get out all week). Had a nice Tom strutting in front of my trail cam earlier today.

Anyone else been out and seen or taken any?

Sadly taking them in my backyard is officially frowned upon

Sometimes someone shots them on my lot.
Hopefully, a bear will give them a run for their money.

quote:

Originally posted by 41:
Sometimes someone shots them on my lot.
Hopefully, a bear will give them a run for their money.

Funny you mention bear. Reports from the area I hunt are that there is one wandering around. We usually do not see them in this area.

I've been out several times this year with no luck. I had court one day last week and of course two Toms were right at my set up when I was fighting for those oppressed by Iowa's traffic code. I got my first turkey ever last year on May 7th though.

We have some yard turkeys also, including a few big Toms. A neighbor has a son in law who tries with a bow.

I have nothing against taking a few, I leave them be. A local hawk family takes most of the chicks.

I shot a few years ago, setting up where they normally like to be was a favorite technique.

I'll only take one if a second tom wanders into the group since they'll try to kill each other anyway. Otherwise, they have free reign of the yard.

The last time I hunted them was 1985. Tom Roster developed goose loads that were listed in The Handloader magazine.

https://gf.nd.gov/hunting/nontoxic-shot-lethality

He tested a lot of loads and found that anything over 1 1/2 ounce of shot in 12 gauge was a waste due to the deformed shot leaving the pattern. At the time, he used flour as a filler. He tested loads well beyond 40 yards.

While living in Santa Barbara, we used newspaper rolls (60 inches) wide as a pattern target. We were testing at 80 yards using a Remington 870 with full choke. You could buy the end of roll for 50 cents which still had some newspaper left.

We had trouble at first getting the shot string in the center of the target since each shotgun shoots to a different point of aim. Also counting all the holes in a 30 inch circle was time consuming. We tested BB's and number 2's.

We hunted Snow Geese in the rice fields of northern CA. I was amazed at the success of using these loads compared to the commercial loads my friend was using.

One turkey I shot was flying straight away in a wooded area. I had jumped two turkeys and I missed the first one as he turned to the right as I shot. The other one was still in sight and climbing as I shot. It dropped and I went to find it. At first I had trouble finding it since it was further then I had expected. I marked the location and stepped off the distance to the shotgun shell. It was 90 yards and I could not believe it and had to check the distance a second and third time.

For years my father, uncle and I would head to our place in Northern Michigan. Coyotes were a major issue and turkeys were everywhere. I'd hunt coyote and they'd hunt turkeys.

It never failed, I'd have turkeys all around me, and they would see the coyotes just out of shotgun range.

I wanted to get out this season but work has other plans. Maybe Fall turkey will happen this year.

quote:

Originally posted by chbibc:
Our spring season started May 1. I am taking off work and going tomorrow (I've been jonesin' to get out all week). Had a nice Tom strutting in front of my trail cam earlier today.

Anyone else been out and seen or taken any?

Scheduling conflicts at work (read: people lied to me) caused me to push my plans back. Will be going for a few days starting Monday. I don't expect much, never do. I did actually SEE some last spring, for the first time in a few years. Haven't heard a gobble in several. Turkey numbers seem way down where I hunt. Lots and lots of fisher and coyotes though. Hmmm...

(I get lots of fisher activity on my cams, and had one come in to my calls last spring. Didn't put two and two together at the moment, or we might have given him the bad news.)

quote:

Originally posted by sourdough44:
A neighbor has a son in law who tries with a bow.

I wouldn't recommend this. A few years back, I put a broadhead right through the chest of one standing broadside to me at about 40 yards. It immediately dropped and flopped. Then, it stood up, looked at me, and proceeded to fly off...with the arrow still sticking through it's chest, broadhead out one side and fletching out the other.

They're tough sumbitches to kill.

I had a friend call in a bobcat while turkey hunting. The last time I saw that bobcat, he was setting on his coffee table.

Gustofer....you should have used your fishing setup. That would have been fun reeling in a turkey.

One of my fave ways to hunt, haven't done it in a few years. Wild turkey is delicious.

I've never used a bow, but they do have special arrow heads for anchoring a turkey, as opposed to a broad head.

My Irish Terrier believes Turkey season is 365 days a year.

Our area's season ends on 9 May and I haven't even wiped the dust off my shotgun. Sad state of affairs here gentlemen.

I do have some friends from work who have been traveling all over South Dakota and amazing New Jersey. I have heard some interesting stories about hunting in New Jersey too.

Completely different rules there about what is public land and what is private. Anybody well versed on this?

quote:

Originally posted by 41:
I had a friend call in a bobcat while turkey hunting. The last time I saw that bobcat, he was setting on his coffee table.

I called in a coyote once...and missed.