Spring 2021 recap

Stories of your favorite gobbler hunts.
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bottomlandassassin
Posts: 22
Joined: March 23rd, 2015, 7:42 am
Location: Mississippi

Spring 2021 recap

Post by bottomlandassassin »

Post season depression has officially set in 11 days after my last spring sunrise.

The first trigger pull I experienced this year was a special one. The young man in this picture is my cousin. He turned 12 years old this March and I have been taking him hunting since the spring of 2019. His late grandfather was my uncle and is the one responsible for my obsession with this sport so when Payden expressed an interest in turkey hunting, I had no choice but to start taking him! The previous two springs we had some close encounters but were never able to seal the deal. The last morning of youth season 2021 Payden asked if I would take him some more throughout the year. I promised him that I would not pull the trigger on a Mississippi turkey until we had gotten him one. The morning of March 16, 2021, we had what most would consider a "textbook" turkey hunt. The bird did everything you want on to do. Strutting and gobbling all the way to the gun barrel down a long hardwood ridge. What a blessing! I would venture to say I was much more excited than he was! Payden's first of many to come!
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A couple of days later I had plans to make good on a promise to a new friend from Iowa helping him to find a Mississippi longbeard to check off in his pursuit of the US Super Slam. Early season in the southeast is as tough as it gets. Add severe storms in the forecast and its near impossible. After an unsuccessful afternoon and full next day we made a game plan to play the waiting game for the second morning. Historically, this particular ridgetop has produced numerous turkeys over my career so when we heard nothing on the limb at daylight we eased our way around and set up camp on a pair of huge oak trees. At 9:40am the silence was broken by the unmistakable sound of drumming. A short few minutes later my new friend, now lifelong, was standing over a fine Mississippi longbeard.
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The next morning we returned to the property we had hunted his first morning in camp and I was on the gun. Another morning of silence until a mating pair of honkers sounded off apparently directly above the gobbler making him gobble one single time. Luckily, we were close enough I could pinpoint where he was. We slipped as close as we thought we could, sat down, and gave 2 sequences of light yelps. Ten or fifteen minutes later I could hear drumming. He tried to give us the slip but as he circled to my left, I would turn every time he stepped behind a tree. At 7:41am my first trigger pull of the 2021 season hit its mark.
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Number two was a much more exciting hunt. Finally hearing some gobbling was a nice change of pace. The only problem with this gobbling was that it was nearly 7/10 of a mile from where I was standing. The race was on as I was nearly running towards the gobbling in hopes to figure out where I needed to be sitting by flydown. As I got within a few hundred yards, I stopped to listen before making my final approach. They gobbled, two of them! I moved towards them another 100 yards or so and set up on the edge of a creek as I was unsure what side they were on. The next time I heard them gobble, I could tell they had hit the ground and sounded like they were inside 150 of me. I yelped, they answered, then I cut them off with some excited cutting. Within seconds, two white heads were sprinting right down my gun barrel. TOD 7:26am
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Number three came after a long four days of getting my tail whipped in south Alabama. Getting closer to home I kept looking at the temperature. 75 degrees, calm, and not a cloud in the sky in mid April. How could I not stop and get a Sunday afternoon hunt in before returning home? I parked the truck at 4:30, laced up the boots, and began walking. As I was walking, something caught my ear so I stopped to listen again. There it was again, a gobble! This bird was apparently desperate for a lady friend. I have never experienced an eastern turkey gobble in the afternoon as much as this one. I slipped in tight before every making a sound. When I did finally call, he ate it up so I sat raking leaves and doing some light clucking and purring. At 5:15, this fine MS longbeard broke whatever bad juju had plagued me the past few days in Alabama.
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Tagging out at home means it's time to travel! You’ll have to scroll to the next post to read the rest.
bottomlandassassin
Posts: 22
Joined: March 23rd, 2015, 7:42 am
Location: Mississippi

Re: Spring 2021 recap

Post by bottomlandassassin »

Continued……

Iowa was stop number one. We had an incredible hunt in Iowa killing three birds the first day in camp. We had an absolute blast! I will certainly be returning to Iowa in the near future!
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I had a day and a half to kill before meeting up with my buddies in Nebraska so I headed north for Minnesota. I arrived to the area I had been eyeing on the map around 1:30pm. Covered a lot of ground that afternoon on foot and by truck and found a spot with alot of fresh sign. The next morning, I slipped into that area and got lucky. That's the only way to honestly describe this hunt. Right place, right time, pure luck. I'd rather be lucky than good!
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From Minnesota, I headed west to meet up with my buddies in Nebraska. This was our seventh year hunting Nebraska together. I look forward to these few days every year as its a nice getaway from home and the hunting is always phenomenal. All four of us filled all our tags and we had a ton of fun doing so! I pray we can continue this trip for as long as our bodies will allow or the state of Nebraska permits. Nebraska 1, 2, and 3.....
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The last leg of my 2021 season took my to the Pacific Northwest. Oregon and Washington offer some of the most scenic landscape I have seen to date. Hunting was much tougher than I had anticipated. I lucked into a hot gobbling longbeard with two hens our first morning in Oregon. It took some enticing but once I got the hens good and pissed off they made their to see who was trying to steal their man. The beautiful rio pictured below was strutting right behind them with the whitest head I have ever witnessed. At 5:32am, I pulled the trigger for the last time for the 2021 season.
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From Oregon we moved north into Washington. While the landscape was absolutely gorgeous, hunting was tough. In my opinion, the turkeys were done. We found a hen with poults and 2 seperate groups of longbeards that had gotten back into their bachelor groups. They would not even acknowledge a call. The 3 days we hunted, we heard very little gobbling. What we did hear was right at daylight or fly-up. I will certainly be back! This ended the 2021 season for me. What a fine season it was! Counting down the days to March 2022!
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timbrhuntr
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Re: Spring 2021 recap

Post by timbrhuntr »

Finally a turkey story instead of another recipe lol Awesome season !!
spider316
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Re: Spring 2021 recap

Post by spider316 »

Thanks for the enjoyable reading. So how do you cook all the Turkeys, different ways or do you have a favorite and stick to it ? Asking for George, a guy I know !
The most experienced novice Turkey hunter the good Lord ever created !
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OLE RASPY
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Re: Spring 2021 recap

Post by OLE RASPY »

Most awesome season dude. If your pursuing super slam hats off to you. Don’t think I’ll finish that part of slam but I got my world slam this year. That’s what NWTF calls it anyway. Lol.
TURKEYS
COYOTES
DEER
SQUIRRELS
(all in this order)
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Hoobilly
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Re: Spring 2021 recap

Post by Hoobilly »

Great spring season!
Thanks for sharing
Don't start none, won't be none!

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soiltester
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Re: Spring 2021 recap

Post by soiltester »

You're fortunate to have the ways and means to go the distance on spring hunts, and enjoy and have the fun, like you're having!!
Congrats on all the good times and great memories that you had this spring, with friends and relation :thumbup:
ever wonder where the white goes when the snow melts??
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935
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Re: Spring 2021 recap

Post by 935 »

Great spring! Thanks for sharing.
Thank you Lord for creating these wonderful birds and allowing us to chase after them.
bottomlandassassin
Posts: 22
Joined: March 23rd, 2015, 7:42 am
Location: Mississippi

Re: Spring 2021 recap

Post by bottomlandassassin »

spider316 wrote: June 12th, 2021, 3:39 pm Thanks for the enjoyable reading. So how do you cook all the Turkeys, different ways or do you have a favorite and stick to it ? Asking for George, a guy I know !
Deep friend turkey nuggets is the fan favorite but I have slow cooked legs in a crock pot, baked breast, and grilled breast several times as well but I try to fry it most often.
bottomlandassassin
Posts: 22
Joined: March 23rd, 2015, 7:42 am
Location: Mississippi

Re: Spring 2021 recap

Post by bottomlandassassin »

OLE RASPY wrote: June 12th, 2021, 6:54 pm Most awesome season dude. If your pursuing super slam hats off to you. Don’t think I’ll finish that part of slam but I got my world slam this year. That’s what NWTF calls it anyway. Lol.
I'm not trying to rush it but the US Slam is a goal of mine. Congrats on your world! I've got a Royal and World on the list as well but the main focus is the US right now!
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