2023 JFT Turkey Tour

[Passthrough]

I was referring to KS. You can PM if you don't want to advertise......or tell me to F off

I was hunting southeastern Kansas. I have spots in about 3 different counties in that area all within same unit.

[ClayW]

I was hunting southeastern Kansas. I have spots in about 3 different counties in that area all within same unit.

Must be nice

[ClayW]

Work's had me slammed this season. Trying to wrap up 6 project before the end of May.
South Texas: worked a bird for over 2 hours to get them across a high fence.

Hill Country: ever since they moved us to the North zone last season turkey hunting has been really tough they're pretty much done by the time season opens up. But was able to sneak into range of a good bird.

Headed to Mexico next week to hunt Gould's.

Sent from my SM-S906U using Tapatalk

Good luck in Mexico!

[eradicator]

I was hunting southeastern Kansas. I have spots in about 3 different counties in that area all within same unit.

Population is certainly way down in this part of the state

[Passthrough]

Must be nice

Says the man with more turkeys to hunt in TX than should be allowed

[MooseontheLoose]

Eastern Recap

Good story. Congrats again on the pine chicken

Taking pregs out again this weekend to try to get her a bird. She can't walk for too long these days, so it's gonna have to happen fast off the roost if it's gonna happen at all. We'll probably get poured on, which will only add to the experience

[ClayW]

Good story. Congrats again on the pine chicken

Taking pregs out again this weekend to try to get her a bird. She can't walk for too long these days, so it's gonna have to happen fast off the roost if it's gonna happen at all. We'll probably get poured on, which will only add to the experience

Good luck! Keep her cool

[diamond10x]

Absolutely beautiful bird, flawless fan on that guy, congrats on the repeat!

[diamond10x]

Work's had me slammed this season. Trying to wrap up 6 project before the end of May.
South Texas: worked a bird for over 2 hours to get them across a high fence.

Hill Country: ever since they moved us to the North zone last season turkey hunting has been really tough they're pretty much done by the time season opens up. But was able to sneak into range of a good bird.

Headed to Mexico next week to hunt Gould's.

Sent from my SM-S906U using Tapatalk

Congrats. I hope to read an update on the Gould’s.

[ClayW]

Northbound 281

Need to dodge a storm or 2 this evening but then should have good weather til Wednesday

3500 acres….surely we can find at least 1 or 2

[MooseontheLoose]

Northbound 281

Need to dodge a storm or 2 this evening but then should have good weather til Wednesday

3500 acres….surely we can find at least 1 or 2

Get 'em!

Had one of the slowest weekends I've had in years this last weekend.

Took pregs on a hike and we got set up about 100 yards from the roost Saturday AM. One bird gobbled 3 times on the roost on his own. I started calling and got a hen talking. When she pitched, she flew straight up into the air, and right into my lap, cupped up like a big bull widge. When she did that, with as vocal as she was, I would have bet the farm we would have had killed him within minutes.

As it ended up, I kept her around for almost 2 hours and called her back in 5 different times. I guess the gobbler wanted nothing to do with either of us though. He never made a sound again after she flew the roost. Never saw nor heard from him again.

Pregs decided she would waive the white flag on the birds. They won against her this year. Sunday morning I went out solo and made about a 4 mile loop up and down the creek. Didn't hear a single gobble on either side. They didn't fire off at cows, yotes, or the heron. Weird morning. I know they were in there, just acted like some public land birds

Camera grab from the one I had to beat off with a stick.

[ClayW]

Been on birds since yesterday evening and all but killed em. Had a triple within 15 early this morning but I couldn’t get a shot without killing all 3. Couple hours later I had a Tom and a hen come in and I misjudged the distance. Watched em leave and then realized he was within 40

[MooseontheLoose]

Where’s the Gould’s pics txtrky? Where’s the Wichita Falls updates?

Thread's been dead for too long. We need updates!

Anyone have any luck to close out the season? This last weekend I went and set up again on that weird bird I’ve been chasing for the last few weekends. I know the exact tree he sleeps in, but I couldn’t get him killed.

Over the last few weeks we’ve had tough hunting weather. Hot, overcast, dry, and windy. This last weekend we actually got rain. Some mornings there were no gobbles and others there were only a couple. Gobbling hasn’t been good since mid-April.

I killed his running buddy on opening weekend, but I’d been in on this bird three different weekends. Sometimes he gobbled on the roost and sometimes not. He roosts in an area that he doesn’t have to fly down at all. He could drop straight down from the tree and continue on his way. After each of the morning hunts, I got down into the roost area to try to figure out where else I could set up to try to get him.

I figured I wasn’t hearing him fly down due to wind, but I blew that bird off the limb 3 times, all mid-morning. The first time was between 9 and 9:30, the second was between 9:30 and 10, and this last Sunday, it was at 10:30. He had been up on the limb quiet for several hours each time. I didn’t think he was still there each time, but I was wrong.

Sunday after he shut up for a while, I went and chased other birds for a bit. Everything else I heard was deep into the neighbors, and nobody wanted to play. I had lines out and needed to go pick up everything to be back in time for Mother’s Day. When I paddled past that bird in my yak at 10:30 in the morning, I blew him off the roost limb and across the creek. He had been sitting on the limb and hadn’t gobbled in 4 hours at that point.

No chance he saw me any of these weekends. Several times I had hens around me, and in between me and live decoys he still didn’t fly down. Sunday morning I was in between two different hens and not far from him at all. A couple mornings I didn’t even call, just wanted to hear and see what he was doing, and he still didn’t fly off the limb. Really peculiar bird.

[J-Bone]

It was an extremely rough year for me. I think I saw license plates form 10 different states opening weekend. I never even sat down and called it was so bad. I was about to sit down on one gobbler opening morning, but had a husband/wife come running up looking for the bird. He was carrying a crossbow locked, cocked, and ready to rock. Told me they were going to set a tent blind on the bird for the rest of the weekend. I figured I’d save my blood pressure and let the crossbow boy have at it and just drove around looking for areas with no people. I got into a few after the opener, but they were so pressured it was hard to work them. When I started hunting out there, the shed hunters would be the ones I’d have walk in on me. Now, the entire country wants a “calendar slam”. I think with the added pressure and the drought the last few years, New Mexico needs to go to a one bird limit. I’ll be hunting completely different areas next year, or will just take a year or two off completely and let the bozos get burned out running those hills.

Colorado had so much snow, my usual spot there had a foot of snow still on the ground. I called an audible and threw a dart at the map. Took me a day and a half to find the birds. I didn’t have enough time to seal the deal once I found them (just one quick morning hunt), but I was able to put a new good spot in my Rolodex for future trips out there.

[TwoHighways]

I only managed one in NM, but should have filled my second tag. Literally had one strutting inside of 10 yards behind brush as I was waiting for a different bird to break. Only managed one in Texas as well and should have gotten another. Could see the tail fan of two toms just over the rise (with a hen gobbling just enough for me to keep tabs on them) and was too chicken to crawl, rise up, and shoot. Sometimes you’ve just gotta force yourself to make the last second move to get into position to shoot the Turkey and not worry about getting busted.