This may be a long one and hopefully the rest of the group will chime in to finish the story or start a hunt thread. What a weekend we had this past weekend!! We hosted our second paid turkey hunt (first one was last year) in which miket (he got the group together and was there last year), GroceryGetter and TX CHICKEN participated. In all we had 8 people in camp with the 3 hunters, myself, my wife, my dad (owner), my sister and my brother in law. Before I go any farther I want to give the biggest thanks possible to my wife. She completely rocked the weekend with cooking, cleaning up and a bunch of other stuff. She truly made it happen. I couldn't ask for anything more from a weekend other than maybe a little better weather as it was cold and rainy all weekend. But I'll take any rain we can get and I would rather it be cold than hot.
Leading up to the weekend we had been discussing weather and how bad it could get so I upped the arrival time a little to help get a jump on the birds. The 2 Mikes (Mike G - TX CHICKEN AND Mike T - miket) were the first to arrive before 1:00 on Friday. Cameron (GroceryGetter) was running a little late so I took the 2 Mikes to the cabin, got them settled in and then we headed out to get them hunting. Around 3:00 Cameron got there and I got him settled in and out to the blind. While they were hunting, my wife and I worked on dinner. Shortly after everyone was set up they were texting about hearing birds and seeing birds. Then the first bird went down as Cameron got a really good gobbler. Last one into camp struck first! Maybe I didn't need to make arrival time earlier, LOL. The evening ended with only 1 bird down but lots of action for all 3. I typically worry a lot about people getting animals, so Friday night I didn't sleep well worrying about the Mikes not getting birds. But, I was optimistic given the activity all 3 had. Anyway, here are the Friday pics:
I took this picture Friday morning to show how the weather was. There were better times and worse times but this was pretty typical
As I mentioned, as the hunters hunted my wife and I worked on dinner. Dinner Friday night was fajitas. I didn't get pics of all the sides but here is the meat and "veggies"
And here is Cameron's bird. I think it had 4 beards with the longest being about 9 inches. Also notice the hat as I made him take off his lucky hat and put his new ranch hat on (everyone got a new hat).​
We wrapped up Friday night with some good food, good stories, a couple of beers and a really great time. It rained most of the night Friday night. Saturday morning came early with a 5:30 wakeup to get coffee (super strong) going and a continental breakfast. As I mentioned earlier I didn't sleep well but we persisted thru. Everyone went back to the same areas as Friday evening. It was still raining pretty good when it was time to go so we waited a little bit and headed out. Even with the rain, we had everyone set up before the sun made it up. Again everyone saw and/or heard birds with some having more activity than others. Mike G was slower on the activity until he heard a lone gobble. He called, the bird sprinted in and bird number 2 was on the ground for the weekend. Another with a beard over 9". Mike G and Cameron came in for breakfast (no pics of breakfast food but we had bacon, sausage, eggs, hash browns and biscuits) and Mike T stayed out. Finally around 11 Mike T came in for a little break from the weather and some food.
Here is Mike G's bird
After shooting his bird Mike G decided to go visit an old friend he doesn't get to see very often. Before letting him leave I made everyone take a group picture, so here is the gang.
Shortly after taking the picture Mike T was ready to head back out. Around 3 I got Cameron back in the stand and shortly after that Mike T was on the board. He decided a turkey didn't need his head any more and removed it for him, shooting a bird with his bow. Cameron was covered up in birds again and before dark he connected on his second bird.
Here is Mike T's bird with body in right hand and head in left hand.
And here is Camerons second bird
As on Friday while everyone was out hunting we worked on dinner. I only got one picture of the chicken but we had, chicken, deer sausage, dove poppers and sides. Saturday we had more great stories, watched a little basketball and hung out. I slept a ton better Saturday evening knowing everyone was on the board and the pressure was off of me. Here is dinner Saturday evening.
Again Sunday morning came early. Cameron debated going out since he was tagged out on turkey, but he decided to go out and I put him in a spot where a big 3 legged pig had been showing up. He saw the pig, shot at the pig and watched the 3 legged pig runoff untouched. Hunting is hunting... Mike T went where Cameron was Friday and Saturday and saw some birds but no Toms. We wrapped up the hunt with a little breakfast and everyone went home.
Again, I can't emphasize how great of a weekend it was and I wouldn't hesitate to share a camp or hunt with any of these guys again. Thanks for making it a great weekend.
Leading up to the weekend we had been discussing weather and how bad it could get so I upped the arrival time a little to help get a jump on the birds. The 2 Mikes (Mike G - TX CHICKEN AND Mike T - miket) were the first to arrive before 1:00 on Friday. Cameron (GroceryGetter) was running a little late so I took the 2 Mikes to the cabin, got them settled in and then we headed out to get them hunting. Around 3:00 Cameron got there and I got him settled in and out to the blind. While they were hunting, my wife and I worked on dinner. Shortly after everyone was set up they were texting about hearing birds and seeing birds. Then the first bird went down as Cameron got a really good gobbler. Last one into camp struck first! Maybe I didn't need to make arrival time earlier, LOL. The evening ended with only 1 bird down but lots of action for all 3. I typically worry a lot about people getting animals, so Friday night I didn't sleep well worrying about the Mikes not getting birds. But, I was optimistic given the activity all 3 had. Anyway, here are the Friday pics:
I took this picture Friday morning to show how the weather was. There were better times and worse times but this was pretty typical
As I mentioned, as the hunters hunted my wife and I worked on dinner. Dinner Friday night was fajitas. I didn't get pics of all the sides but here is the meat and "veggies"
And here is Cameron's bird. I think it had 4 beards with the longest being about 9 inches. Also notice the hat as I made him take off his lucky hat and put his new ranch hat on (everyone got a new hat).​
We wrapped up Friday night with some good food, good stories, a couple of beers and a really great time. It rained most of the night Friday night. Saturday morning came early with a 5:30 wakeup to get coffee (super strong) going and a continental breakfast. As I mentioned earlier I didn't sleep well but we persisted thru. Everyone went back to the same areas as Friday evening. It was still raining pretty good when it was time to go so we waited a little bit and headed out. Even with the rain, we had everyone set up before the sun made it up. Again everyone saw and/or heard birds with some having more activity than others. Mike G was slower on the activity until he heard a lone gobble. He called, the bird sprinted in and bird number 2 was on the ground for the weekend. Another with a beard over 9". Mike G and Cameron came in for breakfast (no pics of breakfast food but we had bacon, sausage, eggs, hash browns and biscuits) and Mike T stayed out. Finally around 11 Mike T came in for a little break from the weather and some food.
Here is Mike G's bird
After shooting his bird Mike G decided to go visit an old friend he doesn't get to see very often. Before letting him leave I made everyone take a group picture, so here is the gang.
Shortly after taking the picture Mike T was ready to head back out. Around 3 I got Cameron back in the stand and shortly after that Mike T was on the board. He decided a turkey didn't need his head any more and removed it for him, shooting a bird with his bow. Cameron was covered up in birds again and before dark he connected on his second bird.
Here is Mike T's bird with body in right hand and head in left hand.
And here is Camerons second bird
As on Friday while everyone was out hunting we worked on dinner. I only got one picture of the chicken but we had, chicken, deer sausage, dove poppers and sides. Saturday we had more great stories, watched a little basketball and hung out. I slept a ton better Saturday evening knowing everyone was on the board and the pressure was off of me. Here is dinner Saturday evening.
Again Sunday morning came early. Cameron debated going out since he was tagged out on turkey, but he decided to go out and I put him in a spot where a big 3 legged pig had been showing up. He saw the pig, shot at the pig and watched the 3 legged pig runoff untouched. Hunting is hunting... Mike T went where Cameron was Friday and Saturday and saw some birds but no Toms. We wrapped up the hunt with a little breakfast and everyone went home.
Again, I can't emphasize how great of a weekend it was and I wouldn't hesitate to share a camp or hunt with any of these guys again. Thanks for making it a great weekend.
Attached Files
. Rained close to 1.5" overnight Friday with majority of it coming right before we woke up...total slopfest out there but we managed. With the nasty weather Saturday we ended up dropping three birds in the day with one being decapitated by Mike T. Where Craig put me I was covered in birds from jump street. Bully groups of jakes, small groups of hens, lone hens, lone and tandems of gobblers. It was a pleasure just watching those wacky birds come to the decoys and answer to my box call. I'm very proud to land two birds, especially after not turkey hunting since 2022. Both of my birds were around the 19.5lb mark. The bird that Mike G bagged was close to 24 lb and it showed as soon as you drove up on it. I went out on Sunday morning (read: freezing and windy) to land the boar they call Tripod. Bastage came out like clockwork at 7:15 and he gimped his way to the hand corn at close to 90 yards. I pull out the Mini 14 with the open sights and squeezed one off...miss. He still lives to this day. Those cutters would've been great on a Euro mount.
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