gobbler one
 

today i got to go hunting this evening at about 2.00 pm i started gathering up my decoys and camaflage..i went to grab a gun started to take the parker 3 frame 12 but my sling was on a ithaca double that i got from russ jackson it will shoot 3 inch shells ok...anyway grab the ithaca and a way we went...by 2.30 i was in the woods had 3 hens and a jake gobbler i put out...i then got in my blind and started yelping...i scouted the big field often with my binoculars but nothing seen...at 4.00 pm something happened that has never happened to me before all at once a turkey buzzard swooped down and jgot really close to my blind i m talking 3 foot away..i think this buzzard thought i was a meal...hai m sure he thought those decoys were other buzzards and he was checking out the minue...i finally stood up and waved my hat at him but all he done was hop over to his woould be buddies..after he was not excepted by the other turkeys he flew off... i continued to call about every 10 minutes useing one box call then alternating to another old call that was by dads best call a box call to...at 5.00 pm i called pretty loud i thought i heard a gobble but was not sure at 5.10 i yelped and i heard a gobble for sure...the turkey took about 15 minutes to come about a hundred yards he would gobble and strut then watch too see if them hens were coming to him..i had a small creek in front of me that runs the coarse of the field i was hunting..i think this slowed him up some... he flew over the liitle creek i thought yes a turkey had but there was 5 gobblers instead of one...first three ran right up to the decoys the 4 th gobbler would fuzz up but was not saying anythig the 5 th turkey was slowly coming in all fuzzed up and gobbling and strumming...when the 5 th turkey was at 30 yards i pulled the trigger and for some reason i pulled the rear trigger it had the load of no 2 shot in it..well the big gobbler went down like a ton of bricks....i meant to shoot the gobbler with the right barrel which was loaded with no 5 s...anyway hes soaking in cold water at the moment...i looked at my watch it was 5.30 when the gobbler went down...the gobbler was a young 2 year old it had 1/4 inch spurrs and weighed 18 1/2 lbs probably the fattest turkey i ve ever took....was a good hunt....charlie

Charlie, great story thanks for sharing with us. I can't wait to go myself.

Charlie,

Good going. Now get some of the remaining four gobblers with one of the 8s!

got the light 8 ready to go shells loaded up...a no 6 for the right barrel and a no 2 for the left barrel..guess i will go saturday morning for sure..had to work on a old 4 wheeler this evening....charlie

Good luck Charlie! I am carrying my 8 gauge and the shells you loaded for me until I get one. Hopefully two!

got my fingers crossed for you mills make that two fingers...charlie

Great job Charlie. I still haven't made it out yet. Working on putting a lathe in. May be next week.

Wish we could use shotguns larger than ten bore here as I would love to shoot a gobbler with my old Belgium eight bore. Not many things we can shoot with one here. The only live birds I've ever shot with it has been pigeons, considered pests here. Must say two ounces of #4 shot did wonders for those birds than came in so high that an ounce of #8's only knocked dust off them.

did a little scouting this afternoon only thing i saw was a fresh hen track looks to have been made this evening....i ve got the lite 8 as i call it out and tried my new loads i made for it i loaded the winchester clear plastic hulls they really look good you can see every thing inside the hull except the powder...hope i get to fire one of these saturday morning...charlie

Three ounces of #5 at about 1000 fps shouldn't be too hard on a good eight bore. The powder should be very slow, like Blue Dot. Maybe such a load could be pressure tested for us. Nitro Company used to load a 3 ounce ten gauge load that was slow but safe. It was intended for dense patterns for turkey head shots.

bill i used blue dot powder 45 grains of it and 2 1/4 ounce of shot no 6 and no 2 s....did not have any 5 shot on hand....charlie

got up at 4.30 this morning fixed my self some coffee and toast gathered up my equipment and was off the the woods..i miscalculated my timing and it was breaking day light as i drove the old field road to my spot i was going to hunt this morning...it had rained and stormed a lot last night and the wind was way high and it was ver cool. when i got to the hunting spot i put out my decoys one of them would really spin around sometimes with a strong burst of wind.. i loaded the 8 ga with no 2 s in the right barrel and no 6 in the left..i then proceded to do some calling but no gobble was heard...i stayed till 9.00 and came home i had a funeral to go too. so no turkey for me and the 8 ga parker as of yet...charlie

I went out later in the morning and had a gobbler real interested and gobbling, but the brush I was in was thick and he didn't want to come in. Going to try again tomorrow

mills i have had the samething happen. one a creek kept the gobbler from crossing and another one a big brush pile..so i guess there s a few big boy s out there that expect the hen come to him...good luck...charlie

I had a repeat of yesterday today, except I was down on the Altamaha River. Went out late. Got a strong gobble from down in the swamp, but there was a big thicket between the swamp and the food plot I was on. Went to lunch at the local diner in Darien and one of the locals said all the avid turkey hunters were having a time this season. I guess that should make me feel better. Beautiful day to be outside which is what it is all about anyway. B&J's Steak and Seafood has the best rice and gravy anywhere around too, so lunch was good too.

One thing about turkey hunting . . . you can't beat the scenery. This is the Altamaha River floodplain.

http://i1306.photobucket.com/albums/...psbtqih9go.jpg

nice scenery of that back water probly a turkey close by...mills that old gobbler probably came to the food plot while you went to dinner..ha charlie

It wouldn't surprise me if he did

Mills: My nephew and other members at East Side Fishing Club frequent B&J's. They rave about all of the food. I may have to accept an invite from them just to check out B&J's on the visit. Bob

I have yet to try the shrimp, which I need to do, but always get sucked into the buffet. There is a shed addition to the back and when you park in back, there are always one or two people peeling shrimp under the shed. No imported shrimp here!

Wow! That is a great story. Now I am going crazy waiting for turkey season to open up here in the Tidewater area of Virginia. Just a few more days and I will be in the woods. I only hope I can be a successful as you.
John

Charlie ,as usual ,I am getting in on your Turkey Hunting Late but CONGRATULATIONS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I knew that Heavy 12 was a Shooter !!!!!!!!!!! She kicks a bit but as my Dad used to say , Cripples in the back but kills in the front ! Russ

hey russ that old ihaca is a great gun for sure....now i ve got to tote the big 8 ga for a while goita try to get a turkey with it too...mike and me gona do some serios hunting i hope the weather is good while we hunt...giving out rain for the next several days.... i will be going in the morning to see if i can locate us a turkey...gota get up early...charlie

Unknown bird nesting
 

I was in the woods this weekend and walked right up on this bird. I did not disturb it and just moved away but, it let me pull out my phone and take this photo. I was only about 5 feet from it and all it did was hunker down and watch me. beautiful sights like these are what keep me craving my hunting trips in the woods. On another note, I saw 13 Turkeys and two gobblers but they never got close enough for me to even think about taking a shot. The turkey is quickly becoming the smartest, most elusive and frustrating quarry I have ever hunted. It reminds me of what my Grandfather used to say when I would come home empty handed. "John, it is called hunting, not killing for a reason". Sage advise I have had to repeat to myself too many times...LOL!

You boys talking about food on here made me hungry for southern cooking. Had to make a run down to Mississippi for a little predator control shooting and managed a few good meals. Of course I had to stop for breakfast at the Blue and White in Tunica to pay homage to Mista Nash. A big plate of biscuits and gravy followed by one of their famous home made donuts was just the kind of road meal I needed. Next day we were down around Greenville and my friend suggested the Crystal Cafe. We opened the show with tamales, then both had a huge breaded pork tenderloin with sides and about a gallon of tea. What is it about that red tamale grease that makes a stain on your shirt you can't get out with straight Clorox?

This place didn't have the bill of fare I expected.

And Game Wardens in Mississippi have no sense of humor......

Jeeze DH, without the Nookie, looks like you gained most of it back down there. Predators get any attention? Hope you didn't see the inside of a Mississippi lockup.

Yes, my gut waxes and wanes like the moon I'm sad to say.

The predators suffered greatly.

I did not see the inside of the lock up, fortunately graft and corruption still prevail in our southern states.

well mike and i really hunted hard but with no sucess but came very close...mikes a great guy to meet and hunt with and old BUSTER his 10 ga is sure a nice gun and them roll you own shells will be pure death on a turkey....there neat brass shells with PARKER BROTHERS LOGO ON THIM.....a pargun with parker shells and a parker killed turkey it want get any better.....charlie all the rest of the hunt will be told by mike....charlie

Hey Destry I got some good pics of the massive Loomis 8 gauge Charlie got from you. What predators were you controlling?

this morning i was up at 4.00 am eat a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and headed to the woods...the wind was really blowing this morning we had quite a nite of rain and wind...no gobbler was heard or seen this morning i hunted till 10.30 and went home and eat a real breakfast ..2 eggs 3 pieces of bacon and 2 sauage s and 2 big bisquits...after eating i loaded up the old lawn mower and worked on my daughters yard...itwas about a foot high...yep low gear and high rpm s......i then came home and unloaded my grass cutting stuff and jumped into my hunting clothes it was now 3.30 pm was not long till i had the decoys out and climbed into the blind...forgot as iu walked in to the field i was hunting there was a big gobbler grazing in a far corner the big bird seen me about time i seen him...he was a large bird for sure...as i settled in the blind i called about every 20 minutes with no success...then at 6.00 2 bird came out of no where to my right i said to myself i ve got to shoot left handed...i put the gun to my shoulder took aim and pulled the trigger to my surprise the gun jumped almost out of my hands.i guess i had tripped the other trigger under the recoil... after recovering from the recoil i was surprized the turkey was only crippled by the time i got up and found a shell the turkey was into the woods i looked for a long while but never found the bird he was a good one 9 or 10 inch beard nice ...the bird was at 37 yards..i was using whinchester ammo in 3 inch mag no 6 shot...the other barrel was a load of no 2 shot federal shell...boy them things are bad on the shoulder when both barrels go...i shot the turkey at 6.00 and i hunted till 7.30 for it i guess some varmint will have a good meal tonite...boy i hate crippling that bird i have praticed shooting left handed a lot it should have been a bird in the bag....charlie

Charlie,

I know that feeling all too well. After the cripple on opening day I have passed two times on birds at 40 yards, afraid of doing the same thing again. You just can't explain it but shooting paper targets and a big tom are two different things.

It always stinks to cripple one. I would much rather miss completely or not get a shot, but it happens.

Jerry, hope your season is doing well otherwise

up at 4.00 this morning eat a bite checked my equipment then headed for the woods..arrived there at 5.20 daylight was coming fast...i got the gun out of its case got all the decoys out of the truck then relized my seat was left at home this woulda not been to bad except all 3 of my turkey calls were in the seat...not enough time to go get them so i went on...i found my crow call in my pocket as i was walking i gave a call on it yep you gessed it a gobbler answered me was not 200 yards from where i was putting my setup..i got all 4 decoys out grabbed a plastic bag i was carrying and tore off a piece of it to use as a turkey call. only thing i was a little rusty some good calls some like a jaybird..any way turkey gobbled a lot at every sound made if a crowed called or if i gave a loud call with my imprivized caller he would gobble..i come out of the woods at 7.30 tommorrow is another day...hope i don t forget something...charlie

Charlie,

It happens so I have a dozen calls, three masks, three seats, multiple boxes of shells, three pairs of gloves, a half dozen hats, two guns; if someone breaks into my truck I am in trouble. Half of a Gander Mountain in there.

Left my gloves and mask in the woods the other day and got on a gobbler at the next stop. It was pretty hot in an insulated mask in the rain at 70 degrees for two hours. Could barely breathe. But I stuck it out. Put two additional thin ones in the truck that night.

up again at 4.00 oclock it had turned cool this morning with wind blowing pretty good..i had to get my winter coat on...i was in the woods by 5.00 oclock daylight at 5.30 now...after setting up my decoys i got out my locater call a crow call and gave a coupla loud calls no gobbler answered ...tayed till 10.30 nothing seen or heard...did not get to go back this evening grandson was playing his last band concert in high school this evening so wife and i went to it....but i will be up at 4.00 again in the morning...i m about wore out getting up and chasing birds that never show up...charlie

Hi Charlie Don't feel too bad. I went out yesterday evening for a couple of hours and when I returned home and went to unload my gun guess what? I had forgotten to load it. I did get to see something that I had never seen before .About 6:30pm an extremely loud noise very close. Some large trees were down to my right so I began to look for him on the closer logs. I leaned to the right to see farther down and there he was sitting on a log.He would turn around every little bit and get off the log and then back on. After trying to focus on him for so long my eyes began to hurt. This is very far south for grouse but there he was. That was worth the trip even though my gun was empty. The gobblers have been very quite here for two weeks only the hens are talking. Good Luck. Gerald PS Hard to believe that little bird can be so loud.

Word gets out quickly among the ol' longbeards that there are hunters out there making "turkey noises". Where I hunt, by about two weeks into the season they are pretty clammed up except while they're still on the roost early in the morning. Once they fly down they're pretty silent for the most part. Oh, they'll sneak in on you silently and bust you while you're calling.... that's how they get so soon smart.

up at 4.00 againin the woods by 5.00 this morning...made several moves this morning trying to get a turky to gobble but no luck...quit at 8.30 this morning..then went to the store and got some deasel and poured it in the bulldozier and worked on a new roar i m slowly building around the farm..its rough going in a field of stumps...takeing off hunting tommorrow going to a small engine and tractor show lots of them hit and miss engines there i love the sound of them old engines...be back in the woods monday...charlie