Opening morning 2020

[Willfish4fud]

11” beard n 1” spurs at 7:15 am.

 

[BuckDoeHunter]

Congrats! Nice Turkey

 

[HC]

That’s a Dandy!

 

[ENCORE50A]

Congratulations! That's a good one.

 

[WV Hunter]

Awesome! Man its early... we still have a month till it opens

 

[Hatchet Jack]

Congrats on a nice bird. What state are you in? Our season doesn't start 'til April 18th. I am counting the days.

 

[Willfish4fud]

Thanks. I’m in Mississippi

 

[sdporter]

Nice Turk!

 

[DESPERATE LEE]

WILL
Nice bird. I get a chill thru my old bones on a spring morning when still dark and a gobble cuts the air. Hope i never quit getting that chill.
DL

 

[03mossy]

Congrats!! Every year I say I’m gonna try turkey hunting but never do. Maybe this year.

 

[michiganmuzzy]

Congrats!! Every year I say I’m gonna try turkey hunting but never do. Maybe this year.

Me too. Just never works out.

 

[Willfish4fud]

Be careful. Its pretty addicting

 

[DESPERATE LEE]

If you do it once then it is a life time commitment.
DL

 

[ENCORE50A]

Congrats!! Every year I say I’m gonna try turkey hunting but never do. Maybe this year.

I'm likely to end up getting my butt ripped to pieces with this response, but it won't be the first or last time.

I drew my first permit here in MI in IIRC was 1995 in Antrim County. A good friend who lived close by, was extremely good at calling and didn't have a permit himself, so he volunteered to call for me. My first hunt lasted, maybe, the whole sum of 10 to 15 minutes. Not much excitement, just the bird came strutting in, got within range and it was over. That quick.
I got a couple permits after that, and quickly found out I was no match for calling like my friend. So I took off a few years of applying, then decided to apply again in 2004. Second morning out and I had a great tom.
However, as much as I love hunting, I just couldn't bring myself to want to hunt in the spring. It just didn't seem right for some reason. After retirement and we built, I did try it here on the property, which lasted about 30min of the first day. Just lost all interest after that.

Quite frankly, I now consider them vermin.

They are all over the place like rabbits. I run them out of the yard on an almost daily basis. There's a group of 21 long beards that try to get under my bird feeders and ship all over the place. Not just the yard either! All over the blacktop, on the sidewalk, everywhere you walk its turkey ship. I've even had a buddy and his son over hunting and set them up well away from the house and feeders, so baiting wasn't even a consideration. Their hunt lasted about an hour, when I heard two shots simultaneously.
I'm glad others get that "chill" though and I love reading about others success and seeing photos.

Thought I'd edit and add my buddy and his son's photo and birds. His boy is grown now and also a fireman/paramedic like his dad.

 

[DESPERATE LEE]

Encore if i had them like that in my yard i would more than likely feel the same way. I have a 180 mile trek to my lease and then 180 back. So this is like maybe 3 weekends a year for me to turkey hunt. When we deer hunt that is all of Nov, Dec, and first 2 weekends in Jan. So out of maybe 12 weekends i hunt about 1/2 of them. When i have deer present at my feeder and then i see a rafter of birds coming down the road, i completely forget about the deer till i scope out the turkeys first.
DL

 

[ENCORE50A]

Encore if i had them like that in my yard i would more than likely feel the same way. I have a 180 mile trek to my lease and then 180 back. So this is like maybe 3 weekends a year for me to turkey hunt. When we deer hunt that is all of Nov, Dec, and first 2 weekends in Jan. So out of maybe 12 weekends i hunt about 1/2 of them. When i have deer present at my feeder and then i see a rafter of birds coming down the road, i completely forget about the deer till i scope out the turkeys first.
DL

 

[Ninering62]

11” beard n 1” spurs at 7:15 am.

I'm likely to end up getting my butt ripped to pieces with this response, but it won't be the first or last time.

I drew my first permit here in MI in IIRC was 1995 in Antrim County. A good friend who lived close by, was extremely good at calling and didn't have a permit himself, so he volunteered to call for me. My first hunt lasted, maybe, the whole sum of 10 to 15 minutes. Not much excitement, just the bird came strutting in, got within range and it was over. That quick.
I got a couple permits after that, and quickly found out I was no match for calling like my friend. So I took off a few years of applying, then decided to apply again in 2004. Second morning out and I had a great tom.
However, as much as I love hunting, I just couldn't bring myself to want to hunt in the spring. It just didn't seem right for some reason. After retirement and we built, I did try it here on the property, which lasted about 30min of the first day. Just lost all interest after that.

Quite frankly, I now consider them vermin.

They are all over the place like rabbits. I run them out of the yard on an almost daily basis. There's a group of 21 long beards that try to get under my bird feeders and ship all over the place. Not just the yard either! All over the blacktop, on the sidewalk, everywhere you walk its turkey ship. I've even had a buddy and his son over hunting and set them up well away from the house and feeders, so baiting wasn't even a consideration. Their hunt lasted about an hour, when I heard two shots simultaneously.
I'm glad others get that "chill" though and I love reading about others success and seeing photos.

Thought I'd edit and add my buddy and his son's photo and birds. His boy is grown now and also a fireman/paramedic like his dad.

View attachment 8049

Great pic, awesome story. Thanks for sharing it with us. Kind regards