I was once told " you very seldom miss a turkey , you just didnt kill it" that makes sense to me, i just didnt kill a few in my day too. :rotf:

1892 grade 0 hammer reporting from PA.

Turned the photo.

Nice one Harold❗️
See you at Ernie’s??





.

Nice bird Harold. Is that a slug gun you used? I see a scope mounted on it.:)

Dylan great job!

Harold looking good!

Saturday morning found me walking the lowlands with a Damascus 16 gauge GHE, a mouth call and 6 shotgun shells. The romance I vision involves no blinds nor decoys. A love affair, just me against turkey. The morning awoke to a gobbler in a romantic mood. He was gobbling on the roost at the river’s edge. I headed in his direction with the intention of flirting with him at first light. We had a great romantic affair underway when like flipping a switch he shut up, obviously not impressed with my “I love you”. I sat quietly for an hour enjoying the morning waking up all around me. Amazing creation we get to enjoy on mornings such as these. I finally decided to move a little closer to the dance floor, making my way towards the field that lay on the banks of the river. I spotted lover all puffed up dancing around a hen looking pretty. He quit talking to me because he found his true love. Knowing I had no chance to get within range I eased away to leave the lovers to themselves. The season is winding down. I have seen lots of turkeys the past few weeks but still haven’t been successful. Or maybe I have been.

I’d call that success. I spent Saturday roaming and calling blind. My watch told me I put in seven miles. I had several encounters, made some blunders, and enjoyed the heck out of the morning. Reggie, you are so right about the beauty of morning in the turkey woods.

Too much!
 

I’m starting to worry a little bit about my Parker brothers. First, we got Big Mike, in another thread, wanting to fillet a stripper and now Reggie’s flirting and romanticizing with a gobbler. What’s happening out there? Or, maybe I don’t wanna know. :rotf::rotf:

A testament to TSS shot. NH bird this morning with a Stevens single shot .410 using Federal #9 TSS. I killed the bird at 40 yards. He was stone dead and never moved.

Congratulations!

Steve that is a beautiful Tom, congrats!

Yea. TSS is great, killed a half dozen birds in past few years. They hit the ground dead, don't even flop. I'm a believer. Sure, I've killed probably 40 birds with lead, but TSS is amazing.

W O W !!





.

I had a local guy tell me last season that he’d slam dunked a gobbler at 70+ yards with a 20 gauge shooting the TSS stuff which he claimed he laser ranged before shooting and I thought he was uhm let’s say stretching the truth . But I suppose if it can be done at 40 with a 410 perhaps his 20 gauge claim was legit .

I bet it was. I laser ranged my shot today.

I talked to some duck guides on the upper Mississippi River that say tss #9 is amazing on long shot cripples. A bit too rich for my blood but I hate to see a wounded bird slip away. I’d love to try it on turkeys where you’re not firing a lot of shells. Nice looking bird

Rick, try it, you won't want to go back to lead.

Beauty! Well done.

April in the central west Alabama almost high hills in the early morning is a wonderful time.
No sounds but a Barred owl and a large Pillated woodpecker...sun rays catching the trees.
Then, almost a mile distant through the oak and hickory a strange almost muted gobble, then another- same bird.
Moving down toward a small field, I found a well located if not hidden spot and called to this forlorn turkey. He gobbled right back-the duel with this Eastern wild turkey was on.
No decoy or blind, just an older hunter challenged since his first gobbler at 14. ( Who says turkey hunting is not a disease?)
After more yelps and gobbling exchanged, at about 65 yards I caught movement through the wood thicket. He was definitely headed my way East to West, looking for a hen or a fight-or both. He closed still moving to 50 yards, but he was looking sharply as only an old gobbler can, and he was headed for a high bushed berm, 20 yards away. Decision time, as the berm would serve as cover for this denizen of the forest blocking shotgun #4 pellets. He was'nt coming any closer as he had made up his mind. Old gobblers get old by use of acute vision and trusting nothing until seen, preferably beyond any normal shotgun range.
But he had not figured on a 1924 Long Range LC Smith 3-in gun, or maybe a 1925 VHE
Parker 2 7/8 in shotgun with 3 in Long Beard #4s.At the shot-right barrel- he was stunned but not down or gone-standing... left barrel closed the distance**This morning it was the LC Smith and its 32 in full choke barrels that did the business at 51 yards. Longer range than I am comfortable with, but this 21 pound -10 inch bearded fine gobbler was about to leave...
almost. A noble Eastern gobbler. Maybe I can get a picture, if he will quit trying to run off with the LC Smith...

Well my NH turkey season ended this morning at 6:15 with my second bird with the Stevens .410. 45 yards. Fun hunt as I was hunting in big woods. White Mountain National Forest Land near where I bear bait. I have never seen another hunter there but it holds birds.

You are blessed (and obviously a fine turkey hunter). I hope your covers stay filled with game…and not people.

3 BIRDS EACH FOR AT LAST THE DOZEN YEARS OR MORE
 

I have been blessed as a turkey hunter. I retired in 2016 so no boss could tell me I could not have off in the mornings to turkey hunt. I pulled my old license back to 2015 and I have been lucky. Turkey hunting is to me just a gamble. You go to the right place on the right day to a turkey that cooperates. It may take a week for some, and minutes for another. The limit is three per season in Virginia and I won't even shoot at a gobbler in the fall. I save them for the best time of the year. The best spring ever was three years ago; three long beards in three mornings. But this year it took four weeks. Not as many birds and I am positive the ice that stayed on the ground for weeks took away a lot of turkeys. Anyway, I subscribe to the Charlie Cleveland philosophy: carry enough gun. Yes, I have killed them with Parkers. I've killed them with 20 gauges. But now I use different 3" and 3.5" guns with TSS. One this spring with a Winchester Super X2, carried a Franchi 912 Variomax for two weeks and decided it was bad luck then switched for the last two with Beretta A391 Extrema.

Turkey hunting in the spring really is the most enjoyable of hunting experiences. If you are on the River Road west of Richmond and before Dixie or Charlottesville, there is a small village next to the James River called Columbia. In that area of family in-laws, I have called up gobbling turkeys and slain them with a 1914 Model 1912 Winchester. Some shotguns are "lucky", especially those that pattern well.
Now, I agree with you and Robert Ruark, in using enough gun. This year, I alternated between vintage doubles and was fortunate: a 3-in Super Fox, a Parker VHE 2 7/8 in, and two Long Range Waterfowl 3-inch LC Smiths. All of these double guns were made in the 1920s. The LC Smith guns have both been luckily well-patterned on the appropriate mornings. This season was no exception in Alabama.
Unfortunately, TSS produces substantial recoil and may not sit well with 100-yr old stock wood...and sidelocks like Smith and Lefever.
But in my opinion, double guns balance and respond like they were made for hunting the elusive Eastern wild turkey. It does seem that some shy and elusive turkeys seem to respond just out of reasonable range, for those- TSS just may work well.
Then there are also Long Beard, Kent, and some remaining bismuth shotshells that are almost as effective in ancient fowling doubles.

Added one of my best hunts from this year. Had busted him out of the tree two days earlier. Let him rest one day and went back after him. Success!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWmVmkXbGgI&t=590s

I’ve chased Virginia gobblers in Giles, Highland, Bath, Augusta, and Charles City Counties and have some wonderful memories of hunts in my home state. While I’ve not hunted in the area you describe, I have spent many an hour canoe fishing on the James near your turkey haunts. All hours very well spent.

Dorothy and I worked this jake for almost an hour until he finally commited to coming in to my calls. He gobbling incessantly and I clucking, putting and yelping only occasionally to keep his interest. He finally spied my two decoys and more deliberately made his way to them.
I dropped him with 1 oz. of #6 shot but he didn’t think he was dead and tried to make an escape on his side with legs and wings flailing. The finishing shot wasn’t pretty because he wouldn’t stay still… until after I finished him off.
Dorothy wanted to carry him back to camp… but I had to carry both guns and both decoys. :whistle:

.



.

Congrats Dean. I'll probably bring some smoked wild turkey to Hausmann's

Well done!!