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May 12........day 11

4416 Views 44 Replies 33 Participants Last post by  jmbear12
Well whos heading out? I just arrived to the farm I was at Tues and saw a great bird. Going to finish my coffee and start getting ready. Good luck out there.
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I'm heading out the door right now. Same farm that've have been hunting except this time I have my brother coming along as well. Hopefully between the two of us we can have something happen this morning. Good luck to everyone heading out this morning!
I'm going to slip into the woods by my house this morning to change things up and see what happens. Also I don't have to get up as early which is a plus this time of year as we're starting to near that grind. Good luck guys
First day of my 7 days off from work. Just got to my spot finishing my coffee and we will see how it go's. Hunting the same spot I called in 3 birds and nailed a Jake Saturday. Didn't get a good look at the other 2 birds but I know they were gobblers and one was strutting at one point. Stinks that the one bird somehow ended up seeing me and had to lay the hammer down on em before him and his brothers ran off!
Go to my spot around 5:00. Waiting to see what today brings.
Not a peep on the roost. These birds are starting to get me discouraged. I'm almost ready to go back to work so I can recharge for a few days.

That said, the day is young and the company is good. We'll see what happens.
I freaking missed. Ugggg! First shot in over 2 years on a strutter that I called in with 6 hens and 2 other toms and I make a rookie mistake by rushing the shot and not making him break out of strut!! I'm sick to my stomach! 30 yards was close enough but they were coming closer too. This is gonna hurt for a while. He was a beast!
Ouch man !

Sorry to hear that. We have all been there.
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Heard one on the roost then everything got quiet...trying some game lands today that I know of has birds on it...set up on an old road now waiting to see what happens.
I am taking Friday off and a buddy of mine is coming up from N.C. to hunt for a couple days. Some farmers mowed hay here last night so the weather must be looking good for a few days.
Adam said:
I freaking missed. Ugggg! First shot in over 2 years on a strutter that I called in with 6 hens and 2 other time and I make a rookie mistake by rushing the shot and not making him break out of strut!! I'm sick to my stomach! 30 yards was close enough but they were coming closer too. This is gonna hurt for a while. He was a beast!
Reminds me of yesterday, rushed the shot, but there's something we can both take from that.
Adam said:
I freaking missed. Ugggg! First shot in over 2 years on a strutter that I called in with 6 hens and 2 other time and I make a rookie mistake by rushing the shot and not making him break out of strut!! I'm sick to my stomach! 30 yards was close enough but they were coming closer too. This is gonna hurt for a while. He was a beast!
Been there and done that. I remember missing a big Tom in WVa once about 30 years ago at 10 yards with a shotgun.
A car was already parked where I wanted to be so I gave a new spot a try. Didn't hear anything and need to be into the office early for a meeting to I got out of there while the gettin was good. Still a beautiful AM out there.

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Adam said:
I freaking missed. Ugggg! First shot in over 2 years on a strutter that I called in with 6 hens and 2 other time and I make a rookie mistake by rushing the shot and not making him break out of strut!! I'm sick to my stomach! 30 yards was close enough but they were coming closer too. This is gonna hurt for a while. He was a beast!
Man......did the exact same thing 2 years ago. Just got tooooo excited and anxious after not having a good chance for a long time. I know the feeling Adam. Just reading your story make me weak understanding clearly how much effort you put into this. What I will tell you is that while the rest of my 'miss season' didn't end in victory, I did learn a little bit about myself as a turkey hunter. I didn't all it to shake me so much that it slowed me down. Instead I beared down and hunted hard every day to the bitter end. Let it motivate you to become a better hunter rather then tear you down. That's all up to you! Congrats on turning the tide brother....now stay on them. If that was a clean miss he'll be back.
I snuck into the woods where I heard a bird fly up last night. There were two birds there and I was 60 yards from them. They never gobbled, and they flew down at 5:40. At about 7:00 I moved down near where I shot a longbeard on Tuesday. I'm sitting about 10 yards from some fresh scratching a and heard some hens about 16 minutes ago. If I can't get a gobbler started in the next half hour. I think I'll go home and get to work making some turkey calls. I have orders for 9 that I need to fill.
These birds have me scratching my head. LOL yesterday had 3 going nuts on the roost and after fly down. Had to leave for work but knew how I needed to set up for today. Got in there before light and didn't call or anything. NOTHING. Heard one about 250 yards behind me. It was light so I decided to do a few tree calls after the crows went off. NOTHING. A hen fires up behind me and was cutting and yelping and not a bird to be heard. I got out of there and did spot checks on a few areas. Nobody home.

This is just one TOUGH year. I started off slamming and the birds were hot, but nothing even close to hot since the second day of the season. Oh well. At it again tomorrow. I am off because of the wedding and will be out until 8 or so if I can. Then get kids ready and let my wife get ready. No Saturday for me.

Calling for rain tomorrow but I am not going to miss with an extra hour or so to hunt.

WE just gotta keep after them boys. I know ill catch a lonely one sometime. They are acting like its June though. Has me wondering if the early spring didn't have them on hens early and they are shutting down now. Or if they are that henned up still. Just cant tell. Who knows but all I can do is keep going out. I have to get on at least one more dumb one. LOL
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PA.Bone, if they mowed hay already it's probably for silage and going in the silo green...doesn't need dried like bales of hay....the weather certainly doesn't look good enough to Bale hay..


Adam, it happens! It hurts....
Another beautiful day in the woods. Bright sun, blue sky and it's already almost 60 degrees, but at 5AM when I started in it was 41.
Have not seen another hunter in the past 2 days except the guy I'm hunting with. Not sure if people are waiting till next week when they can go all day or what.
Every bird in the woods is talking, except the turkey.
Tomorrow is it for me so I need to decide if hanging around an area that never left me down before or if I need to set up tomorrow in a area I know from deer hunting but never sat for spring gobbler before.
Good Luck to you guys still looking to tag out on day 11.
TurkeyMike said:
They are acting like its June though. Has me wondering if the early spring didn't have them on hens early and they are shutting down now. Or if they are that henned up still. Just cant tell.
The early spring combined with our already late season is making for some tough hunting in many areas of the state.
TurkeyMike said:
These birds have me scratching my head. LOL yesterday had 3 going nuts on the roost and after fly down. Had to leave for work but knew how I needed to set up for today. Got in there before light and didn't call or anything. NOTHING. Heard one about 250 yards behind me. It was light so I decided to do a few tree calls after the crows went off. NOTHING. A hen fires up behind me and was cutting and yelping and not a bird to be heard. I got out of there and did spot checks on a few areas. Nobody home.

This is just one TOUGH year. I started off slamming and the birds were hot, but nothing even close to hot since the second day of the season. Oh well. At it again tomorrow. I am off because of the wedding and will be out until 8 or so if I can. Then get kids ready and let my wife get ready. No Saturday for me.

Calling for rain tomorrow but I am not going to miss with an extra hour or so to hunt.

WE just gotta keep after them boys. I know ill catch a lonely one sometime. They are acting like its June though. Has me wondering if the early spring didn't have them on hens early and they are shutting down now. Or if they are that henned up still. Just cant tell. Who knows but all I can do is keep going out. I have to get on at least one more dumb one. LOL
Ha, you sound like me. I decided to set up an ambush at the top of a hill on a field edge where I always see a couple unresponsive longbeards strutting. They never respond, always with hens. But they're there most mornings.

Put on my ghillie suit, took my gobbler lounger, and set back in the field edge and waited. I heard a hen give an assembly yelp, then later cut, but never came close. I don't know how many more were with her. The calls stayed in my pocket. Visibility was bad, I couldn't see more than 30 yards.

I'm confident that if I sit on that field edge enough, one will strut in front of me.
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