listening for the gobbler
 

fellows it only a week away for us adults in mississippi till the spring turkey season will be open...this is my favorite time of the year so this morning im off and going to listen for the gobblers call this morning....hope i hear several and hope some of you fellas are listening as well..i must be going its about time..... charlie

Good luck Charlie, we have another two months of waiting before the season opens.

I'm envious. Still 1 1/2 feet of hard foozen snow here. Spring seems soooo far away...

Good luck Charlie!

As Dean said all this frozen white stuff in our woods makes May seem so far away. Last Saturday I pulled a half a turkey breast out of the freezer and the wife prepared a couple of great meals with it. That really got the desire to get out in the woods going strong.

was very windy this morning i did not hear any gobbles this morning but i know thwey are there....last weekend a few gobblers were doing there thing but they were about a 100 miles south of me...all the trees are budding out and we are having a good run of warm weather so i should hear lots of gobblers before long...thanks for wishing me luck i hope yalls weeks will pass swiftly for yall....gonna try a 3 inch elsie my son bought for the opening weekend....good hunting all.... charlie

Charlie, Seen 12 Jakes and Toms getting a drink out of my windmill overflow by the pins where you opend the red gate. There was some beards around 7 inches. Going to throw out some grain today hope they stay around till season so Jett can get one. BoJack says hello! best ch

know right were that gate is...me old bo jack need to be setting there waiting for them long beards to show up.... cool here today hope it dont give them turkeys the lockjaw...usally does when we have a cool front come on... i usally shoot pop cans on sunday evening but to windy and cool i must be getting soft.... charlie

very windy and cool here this morning no turkeys heard gobbling....my dad was fornate enough to hear a gobbler at his house yesterday morning though....ive only got one more to wait and the hunt will be on..i went on myfirst turkey hunt in 1962 and now its 2011 still got a lot to learn and have never forgotten the excitement of hearing that gobbler talk at first light...ive seen seasons with no turkeys bagged and ive had seasons that i limited out but all the seasons hunts were good ones.. of all the game and birds that ive chased and shot at the old gobbler is tops in my book.... charlie

Turkey hunting is interactive - you're talking to him and he's talking back to you - that's what makes it so exciting. Do it right and he will parade right in front of you... Do it wrong and you'll see nary a feather or maybe you'll see a big black road-runner going straight away from you.

Big Gobbler
 

Yesterday while shooting with our SxS Club at Backwoods Quail Club we saw a huge gobbler with an extimated 10 inch beard strutting around with two hens. We got within 20-25 yards in our golf cart before they ran away. We frequently see turkeys there but this was the first time I saw one strutting. Tom

look for turkey sign today and i ran across a lot of sign...it had rained the day before so seeing a track was no problem...i seen at least 7 differant set of gobbler tracks today made early this morning i think..they could have been made the evening before but i didnt think so...all the tracks were good and long ecpecially one set of tracks....lots of hen sign also so things are looking pretty good for the morning hunt....supposed to be in the 70s tommorrow but it was cool this morning we had a pretty good frost last night so maybe them turkeys wont get the lockjaw in the morning.... im shootin a winchester no 5 out of the right barrel and a remington no 4 out of the left barrel...so like the old song ofif the right one dont get you then the left one will...gota get up early will tell the results tommorrow night.... charlie

Shoot straight.

well i havenot reported in lately so i willtry to catch up on the up dates of turkey hunting..all last week i chased turkeys early and late...i was hearing and seeing turkeys every day but not till fiiday did my chance arrive..the previous day i was busted by 2 big gobblers that sneaked in from behind me they never had made a sound till they spotted me some way or another..i had a gobbler coming to me in frontnearly in shooting distance when they gave the put put sound and has all you turkey hunters no you might as well go to the house cause you been busted...gobbler in front also heard them and vanished.. but friday was the day i will not forget...i got the woods about 1/2 hour before daylight.. i carried my decoys and set them up in a field were i hunt sometimes.. after daylight i heard 3 gobblers 2 of them did not gobble much but the 3rd one was very noisy he gobbled at every sound...i would have guessed the turkey was a mile away but i know for sure he was 3/4 mile away.. i started calling to him at 7.00 he must have gobbled at least a 100 times or more on his way to me..i thought twice he must have hens with him he kinda got hung up and would not come closer..but finally he began to steadly close the distance..there was fog vapors rising in the air as the sun shone on that field finall at about 250 yards i saw him making his way to the hen decoys...he sure was a sight long beard hanging down sun catching every glistening feather...he would stop and stretch that long neck looking at those hens i would cluck to him and then he would spin and drum awhile..then he would stop motionless in full strut showing those hen decoys all of his beautiful self..then he wouldmake a few more steps all the while gobbling at every cluck i made to him...finally he was almost in shooting distance.. my decoys were at 30 steps i estimated him to be at 45 steps i thought for sure he would come in a few steps closer but during his spinning around and showing off in front of the ladies he had worked hisself out to 50 steps..finally he let his wings down and said heck with you ladies ..i had made a mistake i had laid my call a box call down so the hens were not saying anything so he lost interest in them...as he started watking off sideways leaviny the ladies behind i knew that he was leaving..i estimated the range between 45 and 48 steps so i made the decision to shoot... i was shooting a 3 in lc smith double using no 4 and 5 shot...i fierd the right barrel with the 4s in it and the old gobbler went down...he flopped around some and i started toward him and all at once he jumped up and started running then got on his wings i fierd the 4s at him hit him again he flew about 150 steps and crashed into a tree line..as i stopped and reloaded i said to myself hell be right there were he crashed...when i got there i was a surprized fellow no turkey.. i hunted him for a good while but never found him... i was a very sick hunter indeed...i re thought the hunt several times even re traced the shot this morning...all said and done ive killed lots of turkeys that far but i gues it was my fault..the range turned out to be 55 steps in reality just a little to far for no 5s...i will miss this old bird he gobbled faithfully every morning for me.. a turkey hunter does not run into a gobbler like this one very often...i believe as im getting a little younger now that my judging distances his getting bad....read this story and dont make the same mistake i did...im gonna get me a range finder...looks like rough hunting weather here for the next few days and being sick for crippling that fine old bird dont make it any better.... charlie

Nobody likes it but sometimes it just happens, wounding game makes one sad.

listen well this morning heard 1 gobblewr but he was 2 miles away...stayed in woods till 9.00 and noexcitement going on....drove by a big field going home large gobbler at half a mile needed some bodys cannon to get him...was coming home and large hen was standing in my drive... ive hunted hard but no success yet...but have not give up... charlie

Keep at it Charlie, keep at it.

Too bad about your lost bird - I've been there and I know just how bad you felt... makes you feel terrible.

This just in....

My cousin in northeastern Ohio manages his 50 acre farm for turkey and deer and this picture was taken with his trail-cam today near a small deer feeding station at the back end of one of his pastures.

Thay look delicious don't they?



.

would love to have been there in a good blind...i love to watch the turkeys do their thing... thanks for sharing pictures... charlie

Maybe we'll soon be showing pictures of big ol' gobblers posing alongside our Parkers.

amen brother ben to that..maybe they will let a picture of a off brand like lc smith be in a picture with a big gobbler... charlie

I've never hunted turkeys. This year I'm going to give it try. In the past here in Utah turkey permits were given on a limited draw basis. This year there is a still an early limited draw hunt that opened this weekend but we now have a general hunt that opens at the beginning of May.

I've been doing some pre-season spotting. I hope these birds I found last weekend don't get pushed around to much during the early hunt.

http://www.pbase.com/slowpokebill/image/133556167.jpg

http://www.pbase.com/slowpokebill/image/133556170.jpg

beautiful birds.. hope you enjoy the hunt and are successful...turkey hunting is like parkers more you go the better ir becomes... charlie

I think a longbeard posing with a nice old Elsie would be quite acceptable.

Bill, just keep in mind that the worst thing we can possibly do in pre-season spotting and scouting is to try to get them to respond to a call. Never let them associate calling - either shock-calling or hen calls or gobbling - with the sighting of a man doing it.

was a nice morning to hunt here but turkeys did not cooporate so come to the house and worked in the garden... a fellow could lose a crop chasing after these old birds... charlie

had planed to go this morning but a dear friend passed away.. i will resume the hunt in the morning...hope you other boys are having fun this morning chasing these sharp eyed old fellas... charlie

I'm sorry for the loss of your dear friend. These things are never easy and the older we get the more often we are saddened by the loss of friends.

It always helps me to get outdoors and into the natural world where things come back into perspective.

wish i had wings this morning ..gobbler was at least a mile away..i would have paid him a visit it was to far a walk for this old fellow...but sure enjoyed the music..will close the gap on him in the morning if he still at same place...good day charlie

Charlie, are you putting those turkeys to bed in the evening?
My point is that when I hunt turkeys in Vermont I try to see where they go in the evening to roost. Usually where I hunt they spend a lot of time in the afternoon in the fields and meadows and I'll try to keep an eye on them to see which section of woods they head to when the sun begins to set. Once they're in the woods and the sun is about down they don't travel far before they fly up to roost. I've even herded flocks toward a particular woodlot where the chances of success tip somewhat in my favor for the morning. I don't try to drive them but I'll skulk visibly inside the edge of a woodlot where I don't want them to go. They'll see me there, not as an immediate threat but as a reason not to enter those woods, and head in a more desirable (for me) direction for roost trees. It has worked pretty well for me. Legal hunting hours in Vermont for turkey end at 12 noon sharp but I'm not in camo or carrying a gun so...

thanks for the info..i will try herding yhose turkeys if i ever get a chance..were im hunting is onlyforest lots of pine and hardwood..there is not a lot ofturkeys were im hunting...there is good hunting around me but those places have been leased...i know of a field that i can see turkeys in every time i go by butits posted and i cant hunt it...i have a few acres of mine own that im working on to hold more turkeys but evidenty i need to do a little better on my planing..mostly i get to hunnt in the mornings but i will start hunting some in the afternoon.. thanks charlie

heres pictures of turkey i got this morning..was very story and rainy
but a good day... charlie

the turkey was killed with a lc smith field grade 3 in long range gun...usedthe winchester 2x4 3 inch shell..distance was 29 paces... was a very stormy day it was lighting and thundering alot..the old gobbler gobbled at the thunder as if in defiance...old gobbler hung up at 70 yards and stayed there for a good 30 minutes he left the field and 2 jakes came into the field..the gobbler returnedinto the field the jakes run over to the gobbler but he payed them no mind..this time he had only eyes for theladies..i let him come as close as he would come then i let him have the load of 2x4s..i really like this load and it was the last one of them i had..was a real good hunt i will try them again next week gotta go to jackson tennessee to the bunny run tommorrow..have some more pictures but will have to wait till some one can help me post them... will be using the old 10 ga on the next hunt... old turkey weighed 19 lbs 10 1/2 inch beard and had 1 in and 1 1/16 in spurs...3 year old bird in my opinion... charlie

Congrats Charlie! I hope I fare as well just as you did. The season here starts April 25th.

hope you the best of luck..we still have a little over 2 weeks left maybe lady luck will smile on both of us.... charlie

Congratulations Charlie! Good one for sure! That's how to do it - any weather at all just so long as you keep getting out there - keep putting in your time and good things happen, especially to good people!

That's a nice one Charlie, good huntin. Save a leg bone for ol BoJack:) best ch

Congrats Charlie...Nice bird.

going after the the old birds in the morning hope they gobble...will be trying the old 10 ga lefever..my dads old gun its killed a lot of turkeys...its been semi retierd but thought i would give it a little exercise... charlie

Hoping the Red Gods smile on you Charlie.

they did not smile this morning...too cloudy...theres always tommorrow.... charlie