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Got my first gobbler of 2019!

M

megalomaniac

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Catch and release TN bird. Came up to visit with Dad on his Bday and we headed out to check the farms. This poor 3yo somehow got hung up between 2 panels of woven wire fence along the road. Took a bit to free him, then I walked him back across the road and released him on MY side of the road :)

Otherwise, birds were pretty fired up between storms. Flocks already starting to break up and toms are getting with hens and gobbling quite a bit
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You definitely need experience holding a live one. Most important thing is to keep their head away from yours, or you can lose an eye.... seriously. Hold them right where the wing drummy meets the body, farther out on the wing and you risk injuring their wing. Forget holding them upside down by their feet/shanks like a chicken or dead turkey.... it won't end well for either you or the turkey.

He must have gotten hung up within a couple hours before I found him. He was tired, but still plenty feisty. Never seen one run so fast when I turned him loose

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I thought the same as Andy when I saw the pic. I believe I've only handled one live one before (after I shot him) and I remember him just about taking my arm out of socket
 
[emoji41]
I would have given him some beard extensions and painted his spurs.


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Glad you found him Mega and glad your birds are looking promising. Only one I ever handled alive I threw a coat over him, he calmed down after that and we turned him loose, feathers in the cat set must have peeked his interest.
 
Pretty neat man. Could you estimate a weight when you held him?


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I'd estimate he was 22 to 23 lbs... hard to tell holding him like that, but he was certainly fat and healthy.


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Shanman, I never saw a bird on any of my farms until I released this one into my property.

I covered around 40 miles of what used to be prime Turkey land between my farms and only saw 4 gobblers. Hopefully there are some big flocks of 200 to 300 birds that havent broken up and weren't visible from the roads.

That's what I'm hoping for at least..... I'd rather hunt my own farms I grew up on, but I've lined up another couple thousand acres of private ground in Dickson that I may have to migrate to if there isn't a huntable flock here.

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Oh, was taking it that birds on your farms were looking good....atleast you have some land lined up, that's a plus. Had 13 fly across the road on me yesterday, 9 were longbeards.....not a place I hunt though.
 
That's really cool .
I'm sure neither of y'all will forget that lol.
My Brother happened upon a doe hung in a fence one morning on his way to class.
She about beat him into submission before he freed her [emoji1787].


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Throwing a cover over their head 'calms' them surprisingly fast. Guess they think they are dead. lol.
Grab both legs above the joint, around where the feathers start, and then the tuck their body close to yours while securing the wings. They ain't going nowhere. Those wings sure are powerful, left a slight bruise on my face once while releasing one.
 

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