They were fired up in and around my place this morning,. hens yelping,cutting, purring and the gobblers gobbling their heads off. Not seeing any deer,.. so that really got me fired up for spring!!
This is an old gobbler that I shot in Wayne County a couple of seasons ago. Hunted him for four days on two seperate weekends before killing him. His longest spur was 1 3/8 inches long and the other was broken down to a 1-inch nub. He weighed 23 pounds and had an 11-inch beard. My family was camping at Davey Crockett State Park during spring break. I skinned the gobbler in the camp site and had several other campers come by to watch. As much as the anti-hunters rag on us, it's surprising how many times I've dressed a wild turkey in a public area and had a crowd gather around to watch. The kids are fascinated, and I give them a feather as a keep-sake. A lot of the adults make comments about being invited for a turkey dinner. It's always been a good opportunity to tell non-hunters about the benefits of hunting, wildlife management and how hunters are responsible for bringing back several wildlife species.
Here's a few from last year. I hunted 5 states last year, Tn, KY, KS, NE, and MI and ended the season with 12 longbeards if memory serves me correctly. Oh yeah, Kelly, some of those KS pics look really familiar to me, almost like Ive been there or something!