Thanks to COVID-19, it had been too long since I'd been able to enjoy the pleasures of a spring hunt for wild turkey. My friend and I didn't get drawn for tags in Arizona, but a short flight to California allowed us to revel in the beautiful environment of coastal Central California, where the birds are abundant, the flowers are blooming, and when the day of hunting is done we can enjoy the culinary delights offered by the town of Cambria. Not only are there no tags or draws to contend with (just the costs of a state hunting license and upland game stamp), there's actually a possession limit of three birds!!!

The first day of the hunt resulted in a couple of two year old birds for us that came in to range pretty readily. Day Two, required more than four hours of calling at three different locations in the morning, before two old "Longbeards" (10" plus) were coaxed into range. Both birds were well over five years old, weighed over 21 lbs apiece, and certainly made the trip special. Great eating for sure, but if I had room in my home, I'd love to have had mine transformed into a full body mount by a good taxidermist. The colors of these birds are absolutely magnificent.

For the fellow turkey hunters among us, my set up consisted of a 28" barreled Beretta A400 Xtreme Unico in Optifade, using a Patternmaster Code Black turkey choke, a green dot Holosun optic, and Federal 3" 1 3/4 ounce loads of TSS (non-lead) #7 shot at 1200 fps. The Flitecontrol wad, tungsten shot, and choke combination is super tight and dropped the bird on the spot without a twitch.

Nice bird! I've got a couple of longbeards on camera but haven't been able to break loose and try to kill one. Spring always seems so hectic.

Beautiful turkey Puli. Man do I miss Spring turkey.

Great looking bird. I love hearing those springtime gobblers.

Michael

Good looking bird. Congratulations.

Gorgeous bird.

I haven't spring turkey hunted in many years but have had the itch to do it again. I don't have any dedicated turkey guns anymore. I used to have three. I had a Remington 870 NWTF edition 12 gauge 3" with a Advantage camo finish, a Browning BPS 12 gauge 3 1/2" (with long magazine), and my favorite, a Remington SP-10 10 gauge with 26" barrel. That was the softest shooting, best patterning gun I ever had, though it was heavy as a truck.

I still have all my vests and calls, my blinds and decoys. And I still see lots of turkeys in the woods I used to hunt.

Edit, I forgot I have a Benelli Supernova in advantage camo, 12 gauge, 3.5" chamber, 28" barrel. A little long would it would work well.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Micropterus,

Congrats on a great hunt. I'd love to get out and hear me some gobbling. They are sure fun to hunt. I use a Benelli M1-Super 90. 24" barrel with extra full Turkey choke. It does the job nicely for sure. Now where to go...