Gobbler Nation

I've killed birds in NC swamps that look more osceola than the birds I see killed in the northern peninsula.

Why is it that only birds with wet feet grow toe nails like that? That's the only situation I have ever heard of it, anyway.

The other goose is on a nest.

I'm a kitchen sink kind of guy. I have handled the Sitka vest, well made, my local shop has them hanging up for sale, but it won't carry enough for me. I bet my vest is easily 30 pounds when loaded to hunt. Sitka is good gear, I have a good bit, but I won't be getting one of these vests. It does loo...

With gas prices the way they are, I'll spend more on gas on opening day to go to and from the hunt, whether I shoot a bird or not, than I will spend on $12-$15 TSS shells over the whole season. I just don't get guys who go cheap on ammo. Yes, every bird I kill could be killed with the lead loads I s...

I know a group that hunts 4 to 8. 6 is their "best" number, I think, maybe 5. Anyway, they are very effective the way they do it. I went once. Not my style. But they had a plan. Somebody would kill the bird.

Had a fella do it to me last week. Same thing, light strike on primer. It was a rather newish benelli. I am familiar with the "benelli click" from not closing the bolt, but have never seen it strike the primer when that happens, and dont believe it allows it to strike. Thinking he needs to...

All easterns here. I'm surprised they are covering that much ground. That hen covering miles like that, was that in the spring? My hens might cover 5-10 acres once they claim a nesting territory. Some only cover a few hundred yards once they start sitting. Difficult for me to believe a hen planning ...

My two family pieces are about 300 acres each. They hold turkeys now. You should be able to hold turkeys on 500 acres if it is good habitat. Most of my birds seem to "claim" an area of 20-50 acres. Sometimes multiple birds use that "area", sometimes just one, but there area numer...

:thumbleft: Thanks for growing them turkeys for us! Seriously, thanks for doing the work. I'm in a similar situation on one piece. I used to be the only one hunting them around there and there were plenty. Now every farm either has someone sitting in a blind or pounding the property lines with a cro...

2 feet, 4 feet, and 4 yards are the closest I remember. Missed one at 3 feet as well, with a simple head bob when I squeezed the trigger, shooting a golfball, easy to miss. I did drop that one out of the air at 25 yards with the second shot. I've had jakes and hens step across my feet, though never ...

And for those states with only one tag, or a northern state (wisconsin?illinois?) where seasons/licenses are lotteried by the week, I feel sorry for those people. I'm sure those turkeys are very dumb/unpressured and that makes up for it a little bit, but very few people up there will ever have the o...

On large tracts of land hunted by one or a few I would actually agree with you, they don't need the state involved, they can manage for good hunting or suffer the results of their own folly. The problem is most of the me-me-me selfish greedy hunters with small tracts of land that will trespass on th...

Double post. Oops

I'm with poorcountrypreacher on most of what he says. Quality habitat has quality populations even today, unless it's public hunting ground. Too many people, too much pressure, too many disturbances, and turkeys leave. And that is the definition of public ground. I've enjoyed reading some tracking s...

I don't know what ground Roy hunts, but I could totally believe that possible. This year I've called in 14, know a guy at 20-21, and another guy at 30ish. And those are birds down. If Roy is counting birds called in, not necessarily birds shot, in an area with a lot of birds where calling in multipl...