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How has your season been so far?

Tennessee Lead

Tennessee Lead

Well-Known Member
Joined
Aug 8, 2013
Messages
6,481
Location
Putnam County, TN
Have you been successful?
Accomplished any personal goals?
Been successful with any new calls or gun/gear?
Hunted as much as desired?
Had any blown opportunities?
Learned something new?

My season has been short but rewarding. I haven't hunted like I hoped. No free time besides Saturday mornings. I've been on 5 hunts. 3 were great and 2 had terrible weather. I had a great opening morning hunt and was able to pull some hard gobbling 2 year olds across a holler away from another hunter to me.
The next outing I had to stake myself down to avoid blowing off the ridge top. It was a scary morning to be in the woods with that's kind of wind. 3rd outing I was able to get on a couple toms and worked hard and killed one. The 4th hunt should have been a slam dunk. I was 10-15 minutes later than I wanted to be. As I was making the climb up unfortunately for me 2 toms had roosted on the point I top out on. I was pinned down and was afraid of being seen to get all the way on the top. I skirted around them as far as I could and set up on the last shelf before the top. I knew it most likely wasn't going to work and as I expected they walked down the ridge and I was forced to watch their show. Got busted by a hen trying to reposition on them and ended that. Went out last Saturday for my 5th trip in a light rain and surprisingly found a very hot bird around 7:30. I closed the distance some and could tell he was on another property. He answered each call I made and I felt confident if I continued as far as the property line that he would work. Unfortunately a nasty thunderstorm hit with heavy rain and lots of lightning and I pulled the pin and ran over a mile to the truck through some ruff terrain and had a hard time getting out of bed the next day ha.
I've used some new calls and really like them.
Haven't used my camera like I normally do for filming kinda regret it.
Haven't really learned anything new but reassured myself that good set ups will kill more birds than sounding like a competition caller.
Should have 2 more hunts left hoping to be in the game one more time before it closes down.
I've heard a bird each hunt that gobbled to my calling which I feel makes the trip worth while. Heard and saw more hens in my short season than in years past. Scratching and dust bowls are all over the ridge tops. I'd love to have some time through the week after work to get out there but it's not worked out. Time in the woods is as important to me as filling tags. The chance to hear, observe and learn is important.


Well that's my season in a bad grammar and punctuation lacking short story let's read about yours.
 
Beard Buster":1axiqxvr said:
My season was short
learned some new ground
and got my older brother a bird
all in all it was fun
really would of liked to hunt more
Click to expand...
Congrats on the new ground.
I'm hopeful to find another place or two sometime.
 
Started off like a house of fire down south. Sucked the first week here, then killed 3 TN birds in 3 days. KY opened and killed 2 in 2 days. Back to TN and since April 18th it's been as bad as it has ever been for me here, I can't find a gobbling bird to save my life. Every morning it's quiet and there's little if any sign. Meanwhile 1/2 mile away birds are gobbling everywhere all day. Something is seriously wrong in this state in the area I hunt and it sucks.

Overall been a good season but I'm worried about our future turkey hunting
 
This has been my best season ever even though I missed juvenile and opening weekend due to foot surgery. In year's past, I might get 3 to 4 hunts in due to fishing tournaments nearly every Saturday. I would usually manage to get 1 or 2 to play the game every year which was my goal.

Last year ended way too early on the third week of the season and two birds down with a broke leg. I quit tournament fishing this year to spend more time in the woods and on the water with my son. I have been on 4 solo hunts and punched a tag on 3 of them. I have taken my son 5 times, played the game all 5 times, and after a couple of blown opportunities that wasn't his fault got to see him kill his first one ever this past weekend at 8 years old. I'm happy with my season if don't hear another gobble but gonna try to get him another and might be able to slip away for another solo hunt or two.

I am a mouth call guy by trade and added a Woodhaven Red Wasp this year but also bought a Crystal Mistress. Out of the four birds that I have seen die - 1 was with a Raspy Old Hen which is my old faithful but 3 was from the Red Wasp. I called a bird in that busted us getting set up with the Crystal Mistress and called another group in that we messed up on with the Red Wasp.

The biggest thing that I learned is that after a little practice in the yard that shooting targets that my 8 year old is fully capable of running and gunning which is my style. I learned that Hvy Wt #7s are bad news for a turkey out of a 20 ga and every turkey is different and don't like the same thing even though I already knew that. I also agree that the setup is key.

My number one goal this year was to get my son a turkey and play the game a few times myself. I thought at the start of the season that might not happen, but the Lord has definitely blessed us with all goals filled this year. I'm content for the year but do know of two gobblers that have been hanging together that we messed up on last week that I'd love to see a double on Saturday morning. I won't complain if I don't hear another gobble though as I have heard a bunch this year.
 
This season has had its ups and downs, but overall not bad even tho I have yet to kill one.

Will be back out hunting tomorrow
 
This season started out cool and windy so I didn't hunt as much early in the season as I usually, but as the weather warmed up I got after them. I limited out pretty quick. I was lucky and shot 5 Tss shells and killed 4 long beards and 1 coyote. I mostly use mouth calls but a few weeks ago I started turning and making pot calls. The pot calls that I have made adds a lot to the hunts. I am still going to try and call a couple birds in for my nephew and friend.
 
bigdoc":in05pkyz said:
This season started out cool and windy so I didn't hunt as much early in the season as I usually, but as the weather warmed up I got after them. I limited out pretty quick. I was lucky and shot 5 Tss shells and killed 4 long beards and 1 coyote. I mostly use mouth calls but a few weeks ago I started turning and making pot calls. The pot calls that I have made adds a lot to the hunts. I am still going to try and call a couple birds in for my nephew and friend.
Click to expand...

It has to feel good knowing you made the call that killed him
Congratulations
 
This season I had a goal to get tagged out as quickly as possible. My reason for that was because my wife was expecting to have our first born child (a boy) at any moment in April. I knew once he got here my time would be very limited when it came to hunting. Luckily for me, I had some great hunts and tagged out during the first week and before my baby boy was born. I met my goal and have a future hunting buddy. Now I'm hoping to get my wife on a bird before it closes and now that she is feeling better.
 
Fantastic but interestingly, not really because I enjoyed successful hunts. Years of sweat, sore muscles, and countless hours in a tractor seat or toting a chainsaw thru the hills finally yielded the desired outcome. I honestly got more satisfaction with the realization that all that hard work was a success...way more than just pulling the trigger.

This was the first spring I could proclaim with certainty, "We did it...we helped Ma'Nature grow turkeys again."
 
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My season in one picture... Nah I'm kidding. It's been a pretty good season so far. I've been able to tag one really nice bird and come close on several more. Most of all I've enjoyed just spending time outdoors in God's creation. That's the real reward.
 
I'm glad this has been brought up because it's been the toughest season I've seen in 10 years. Maybe we have a problem.

Statewide, harvest numbers have not really decreased this year, but sightings of adult birds are down. I found a dead gobbler on Nov 24 and didn't think much of it. It had a dark head that had been pecked at by other birds, the feet were yellowish and breast was drawn and had no meat on it. We ended up finding another bird several weeks later in the same condition. During the deer season we were seeing large flocks of birds. Sometime between last Dec and present, they're gone. I understand what happens with big winter flocks, vrs. birds disperssing in the spring. Normally, we hold a lot of birds on our property. 2 years ago we killed 26 birds on our property and last year 16, this year we've killed 4. There has been a steady decline in bird numbers over the last years, but the way people choose to hunt birds (tents, fanning etc) has resulted in static numbers. We hunt 4000 acres and go to great lengths to trap and shoot predators, so they are not the problem.

I spend a lot of time on the road for work and I'm always looking for strutters. I didnt see many birds at all this spring. I attributed it to an early breeding season and assumed the second half of the turkey season was going to be better. That hasn't been the case. I talked with some folks around middle TN, all the way down to GA and most have not seen the numbers of birds we are accustomed to seeing. After much discussion, it seems there is an outbreak of Blackhead disease. From what I have learned recently is that birds with Blackhead will show a black or blue-ish head, rotting of the feet, the bird will appear to be sluggish and later become anorexic, leading to significant weightloss.

As I memtioned, we don't have very many foxes, coyotes, etc, so we have found some of these dead birds, rather than them being eaten by predators. I'm wondering if anyone else has seen this condition in their birds as well. Take a look at the pictures below, it's here in Middle TN and I'm sure our statewide harvest numbers next year will show it.





 
Have you been successful?
Somewhat. I killed two birds in two hunts opening weekend and have had some great hunts, but shot a tree and whiffed the other morning, so things haven't gotten "bad" as far as turkey sightings go, but my luck has definitely taken a turn for the worse.

Accomplished any personal goals?
Yes. I called in my first two turkeys. the 2nd bird was strutting gobbling the whole way in (2nd accomplishment).

Been successful with any new calls or gun/gear?
Yes my new Crystal Mistress Its been great so far.

Hunted as much as desired? Nope

Had any blown opportunities?
Yep missed 2 so far. should be out of tags, but don't really care about that anymore. I get to keep hunting so that is a positive. If i see another, I'll try again.

Learned something new?
Yeah I learned how to call turkeys to me, Now i have to learn to stop messing up my opportunities. :oops:
 
My season?
I've had a blast. Worked on my calling. Called in one Tom and two jakes. Couldn't shoot the Tom wouldn't shoot the jakes. Got a new lease which I really like. Haven't taken a bird yet but have learned a lot. I've asked a lot of questions here and I appreciate the help. You all will know when I shoot a bird!
 
I hunted 8 days, 3 in AL with no opportunities (early season), TN 1 day with my granddad. We had a few birds just out of range. 3 1/2 days in KS with one kill and 1/2 day in Missouri with a nice tom working for a while but I had to leave.

Least amount I have ever hunted but it was great.


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Have you been successful? Yes
Accomplished any personal goals? Yes, kill one on land around Lake X by boat and kill one from behind a fan
Been successful with any new calls or gun/gear? No, unless new camera/tripod or tail fan counts.
Hunted as much as desired? Never...but hunted a lot
Had any blown opportunities? Always
Learned something new? Always

I hunted 2 lakes I had never hunted before, got on birds on both of them, missed a bird on each as well.

Learned through people here I need to practice shooting my gun a lot more than I do.

Got a tom to come at me while fanning behind the house.

Killed a 4-bearded tom which wasn't even a goal, it just happened that way.

Killed my opening day bird in the field next to where I killed my first turkey ever.

Hunted 3 farms and 4 public properties in 4 counties, was on birds on all properties, killed each bird on a different property, 3 public and 1 private.

The season was a bit slow, gobbling wasn't as good as I had hoped except for a select few days.

But it was a good season and I have no complaints other than my shooting ability.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
I have had a good season. Only killed 1 but it was a personal best on spurs and my first double bearded bird. I should be tagged out but rushed the shot on 2 different birds under 25 yards and had another at 40 breeding a hen but spooked mid hump lol. Got to take the first kill pic with my 5 month old son. But not got to go as much because of him but it's worth it.
 

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