I previously reported on a couple of one-bird crow hunts that took place during our MI Feb.-Mar. crow season—those were OK but not great, as they each resulted in one bandit down each time. TBC did get better as the season progressed and I’m getting ready for our “Part Two” crow season during Aug.-Sep. However, this one-bird hunt a couple of days ago went entirely as it should.
On 3 May, at 0754, I ended my MI spring turkey season that I had only begun for me an hour or so earlier, in a familiar blueberry field. FYI: MI has a two one-week seasons during the second half of APR and a third season covering all of May. My schedule dictated that I had to take the May season which was not my usual preference. However, the cold rainy weather worked out. The first nice sunny day in a while appeared on 3 May.
Convenient parking about 300 yards to the east, but very wet, following days of rain—though nothing like our friends further south in IN and elsewhere. After setting up in the dark and listening to trucks loudly pass by on Interstate-196 only 250 yards distant, the sun rose at 0638 and the atmospheric conditions deadened the traffic noise a bit, so I could hear my own pot caller and more importantly—gobbles in response. Nothing much happened for a while, but then four hens passed southward, to my right/west and then returned 15 minutes later to the tree line from which they came. A couple of geese orbited as they always seem to do at this local pond. Then at about 0745, my ol’ pot caller produced a response gobble to my rear (north), and close! I was about to be assaulted by a love-crazed Tom, so the only recourse was to call more and make him think that “love was just around the corner.” It worked, as he continued to gobble back, more closely each time. He must have spotted the decoy set to my right/west, first, as he came out of the tree line from behind me moving to my right/west; appearing in-between the decoys and my blind. He was headed for the “Jake” decoy about to mount the “lower hen” decoy. He was strutting so cool-ly to intimidate the rubber “Jake,” that he was almost too cool to shoot. He really looked fine strutting about. However, I relented and he flopped around for a minute or so. Following an initial couple of photos, I moved him from the watery spot in which he was flopping for a couple of more photos. He now resides in my freezer. 19 pounds, 12 oz.; 9.5 in beard; 1” spurs. The post-mortem indicated that he had been eating the small roots from "chufa grass" and also some leaves. I am recycling his large wing and tail quill feathers to make “ball-point quill pens” for the kids at church.
Next: on to marauding ground hogs and possibly crop-thieving crows with the new .17 Hornet. Will report if the latter happens.
Used to go with a special friend, he's 77 now and was excelant on these Bama Tom's. I'd just post up and listen as he worked and called one in. I knew his ways and could even tell when he was belly crawling to get set up (lol) He stayed red eyed the whole season. I got to enjoy the hunt and not break a sweat, good times for sure.
Wonderful report OA! It would i think be exciting to call one of those bad boys in from afar and take his head off with a 12 gauge. Much like the heart pounding experience of rattling in a buck.
Ted
__________________
Life's tough... It's even tougher if you're stupid. John Wayne
Wonderful report OA! It would i think be exciting to call one of those bad boys in from afar and take his head off with a 12 gauge. Much like the heart pounding experience of rattling in a buck.
Ted
Thanks. Great fun and a fine hunt. But it simply didn't last long enough. On the other hand, I've had hour-long "conversations" with a gobbler who was "stuck" out there 70-100 yards out. Maddening! That makes one want to fix bayonet and charge!
Win some, lose some. There are really a lot of turkeys around here, however.
__________________
"Arms are the only true badges of liberty. The possession of arms is the distinction of a free man from a slave." -- Andrew Fletcher 1698
Just a question, all Tom's are Trophy's but what is your largest ( weight, beard and spurs) ? And on a lighter note it may just be me but it seems your season is short as you tag out rather quickly Congrats again
Just a question, all Tom's are Trophy's but what is your largest ( weight, beard and spurs) ? And on a lighter note it may just be me but it seems your season is short as you tag out rather quickly Congrats again
Butch
Well, I was spoiled for life, because my first Tom was also the largest so far. "Turkzilla," as I call him, was 28 lb., 9.5 beard, and 1 1/4" spurs (not curved). A big boy.
First photo shows just after I fired; the three hens that were with him were not, it seems, enough "in love" to remain behind. He had come up (no kidding) about 5'-10' around the right side of my blind (!) out onto the sandy flat area with the rubber jake in front of me, facing me, 20 yards out. Second photo shows his tracks as he circled the rubber jake--then took a round. The third photo is the "scrapbook shot." However, you are correct, that any Tom is a trophy, especially if you called him in.
Forgot to add, that hitting it early, beats sweating it out until the last day--done both.
-- Edited by Old Artilleryman on Saturday 13th of May 2017 01:49:04 AM
OA, what choke and shell combo do you normally use?
It began as a "stock" (no pun intended) setup. A big-box (Dunham's) purchased Mossberg 500 12 ga. with two barrels (field and slug). Additionally bought a "Super Turkey Choke" from Cabala's. I have used only Remington "Nitro Turkey" 3 inch/#4s. But...
I didn't like the standard cantilevered scope mount on the stock "Slugster" deer barrel, so I traded it at my local gun shop for a conventional rifled Mossberg barrel and had the gunsmith put a Picatinny rail on the receiver (no charge--even swap). Added the BSA 2.5X/20 scope. Pretty quickly, I found after removing the scope that the rail got in the way while aiming at crows. So, that's when I bought my vintage (1926) Model 12, which became my crow gun. Ted (M12Shooter) guided me to the right path in that search. Now, I simply swap the barrels out for turkey or deer and check the zero before deer season.
Around here in SW MI, turkey hunts (and deer) are pretty standard ambush setups in tree lines, as with this original posting, or clearings like "Turkzilla." I don't know anyone who runs and guns as do so many others in different parts of the US (as seen on TV). We have tons of turkeys around here. You just set up before dawn where you see lots of them, after listening to the farmers and scouting about. Been pretty successful with a bird or two each year. However...
Congrats again
