Grand Slam | Hunting Outdoors | Tips & Discussion on Deer, Turkey, & Elk Hunting

Opening Day Turkey Season

It’s also hard to forecast success rates this spring, considering the terrible nesting season we had last year. Spring 2009 had far too much rain, diminishing hatching success and chick survival. Second-year jakes — males born last year — could be in shorter supply, though, making the hunt far more challenging. Wild Turkeys need a relatively dry nesting season for optimum reproduction. Hopefully they’ll get that this spring. Enough said!

I had my doubts about the spring season as well, listening to everyone make their predictions of this spring’s wild turkey population. I was hearing a good amount of early morning gobbling. This past Monday morning I put the accusations to rest as daylight approached and started to set up on a roosted gobbling tom. Before I ever set up I received a text from a friend who had a big bird on the ground already(21lbs). Less than 5 minutes after that another text, this one from one of my sons he too had a long beard on the ground(22lbs) .

I continued to my setup zone and got ready to call. The first call I made the big bird answered along with several hens cutting back at me. Less than 15 minutes later he and the hens were standing in range of my 870 and my hunt was over(24lbs).

I than sent out my own text of a successful hunt to my buddies and started to pack my bird out of the woods when received another text from my hunting partner hunting the same farm I was on, he had just dropped a big Missouri long beard sporting 5 beards. This bird would have probably been close to record book scoring but it had no Spurs!! What is up with this I thought? He just never grew any spurs, but he did weigh over 25 1/2lbs.

I guess mother nature wasn’t that bad on the Wild Turkey flock in our part of Missouri. We headed to the house, boiled the water, sharpened up the knives and butchered all of the birds.

Share/Save

Turkey Hunting – Spring Turkey Hunting Season

“Best Time of the Year”

I have been turkey hunting now for 37 years and every year is an anticipated high for me as the first blossoms start to appear. I make many trips afield to

hear the first gobbles of the morning in early spring as the sun is just starting to rise. For me turkey hunting has become an obsession to get outdoors and chase the infamous long beard around. In the last few years I have even challenged myself to hunt with archery equipment, that’s a whole new ballgame.

When daylight is breaking and the birds start gobbling I make my move to get as close as I dare staying in the shadows and close the wood lines avoiding my silhouette to be seen by a roosting tom. I set up in relatively open woods to allow the turkeys feel comfortable. After several minutes I will give a fly down sound to imitate the hen that I am trying to mock and do nothing more than purr and cluck to sound like I am feeding and scratching in the leaves for breakfast. Hunting turkeys is challenge in the sense they can see 90 percent around them without turning their head. not to mention their head is always moving. Start calling softly to get the big guys attention. if he answers, great I still call softly to get him more excited.This makes bow hunting extremely tough when they get close enough to shoot, which for me is inside of thirty yards. Hunting from a portable blind gives a slight edge to drawing my bow when the long beard struts into range.

I’ve found out the hard way that is close to impossible to sneak up on gobblers. Watch the way the birds are constantly moving their heads around, ever alert, and you will understand why stalking a gobbler rarely works.

Turkey hunting has long been among my favorite of the hunting sports because there are few things as thrilling as hearing a big tom gobbling away in the woods on a quiet, sunny morning. Especially if you can tell it is getting closer to you every time it he gobbles.

When a gobbler does start coming in, slow down your calling and make it softer, not louder or even quit calling so they come looking for you. You want to play hard to get for that tom, and sounding like you are too eager sends the wrong message and can get a mature bird too nervous and he will want the impatient hen to come to him.

Big gobblers don’t get to be old birds by being reckless.

Share/Save

NWTF Its That Time of Year

Late winter brings makes for a dull time of year for most hunters, me included. I surf the net looking for places to hunt in the upcoming season. This map that shows the different species of the wild turkey and where they live. Doing this helps decide where to start looking for property to hunt on.

Several organizations are also preparing to have annual banquets to raise money for there cause. The “NWTF” National Wild Turkey Federation has been doing this for years. I am a firm supporter of the NWTF. They do alot for conservation and habitat for wild turkeys.

They are boasting they have helped increase the national turkey population from 1.5 million birds to more than 7 million. The NWTF website offers tons of information to review for anyone wanting to increase their knowledge of the wild turkey.

The ultimate goal of avid turkey hunters is to complete the Grand Slam of turkey hunting , which means harvesting all 5 species of wild turkeys. Chasing the Grand Slam starts in Florida with the Osceola moves north and east going after the Eastern which is typically the largest species of the five. The Rio Grande starts its population in Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas. The Merriam turkey is sparsely spread through the Rocky Mountains. The last of the five North American Grand Slam is the Gould which is located in Mexico in the Sierra Madre Mountains. Use this time of year to do your research for your upcoming hunting season and remember the NWTF is stating the wild turkey population is at an all time high so you should be able to find a good place to hunt this spring.

Share/Save