MARCH 30, 2013 VIDEO HUNT #3

LOCATION: JASPER COUNTY,  PRIVATE LAND
PARTNER: DAD
AM HUNT CALLED 3 GOBBLERS, 2 JAKES AND 1 HEN

Dad and I hunted the Cullum property on this morning. I took my Bow in hopes of getting an easy shot and kill at an early season unpressured gobbler. We had setup here on opening day but the only birds that gobbled made that day went away from us with hens.  We heard several birds on this morning but as they tend to do made their way across the line and pasture.  We hunted a couple of hours and debated whether to move when we heard another gobble.  The bird came in from our right side and dashed across in front of us to the Jake Avian decoy. I drew for the shot when the bird strutted away.  As he turned I centered his wing but waited a bit late to shoot as the arrow entered behind the wing on an angle away from the vitals.  We watched the bird fly for nearly a couple hundred yards.  We waited about an hour and then searched about an acre pine thicket hoping to find him but there was no luck to be had.  See this hunt on my 2013 video: Turkey hunting with Derek Fowler.

APRIL 8, 2013 VIDEO HUNT #4

LOCATION: LAURENS COUNTY, PRIVATE LAND
PARTNER: KEITH SMITH
PM HUNT CALLED IN 4 JAKES

Keith Smith and I would hunt the Ellington property on this evening.  When we arrived there were two gobblers and some hens already in the pasture.  We thought about it a few minutes and decided our best strategy was to have Mr. Ellington drive us down to a plot behind the field and then drive back out.  The figured the gobblers would probably exit the field and make their way through the pines near the plot.  We set up as quick as possible and probably waited too long before calling.  We called softly for a while and finally called up 5 jakes.  The jakes stayed with us for about an hour and finally left.  When they left I called some hoping to get the mature birds to come.  Well the jakes came back.  One of the jakes became love struck with the Avian hen and didn’t want to leave.  The other jakes made their way out of the plot.  Keith decided this would be a prime opportunity for a bow kill and may be the only way to end the hunt.  His shot was a bit high but made a pretty quick kill.  See this hunt on my 2013 video: Turkey hunting with Derek Fowler.

APRIL 9, 2013 VIDEO HUNT #5

LOCATION: TWIGGS COUNTY, PRIVATE LAND
PARTNER: ALONE
PM HUNT CALLED IN 2 JAKES

I hunted my Twiggs Club on this evening.  I set up with my back to the sun and called for about ½ an hour when I thought I heard a gobble on the opposite side of the club.  There wouldn’t be time to move so I thought I’d call a bit louder to see if he was interested. I thought I heard something a couple of times behind me but surely nothing could come through the thicket of briars.  All of a sudden a turkey flew up and directly over me into the plot.  Then less than a minute another one flew over from the same place.  The 2 jakes made their way to the Jake Avian decoy and were not friendly with the intruder. The jakes pecked and harassed my decoy for nearly an hour.  See this hunt on my 2013 video: Turkey hunting with Derek Fowler.

APRIL 13, 2013 VIDEO HUNT #6

LOCATION: BALDWIN COUNTY, PRIVATE LAND
PARTNER: A LONE
PM HUNT CALLED IN 3 GOBBLERS AND 1 HEN

Dad Chase and I made our way to my club in Baldwin County on the third Saturday of the season.  This would be Chase’s first hunt.  We set up in the same location as always and several birds could be heard down and across the beaver pond. We called and thought we had the bird in our pocket but as he approached his hen led him behind us and across the hill side.  We figured it was probably over when a bird gobbled directly in front of us.  Two birds appeared and came straight in to the decoys.  I could tell the birds didn’t want much to do with the decoy and got a little nervous.  Trying to coordinate a shot neither Chase or Dad would agree they could shoot.  As the birds walked away I decided to force the shot when I started counting.  On three Dad and Chase both shot.  I could see Dad’s bird was hit as feathers flew but Chase’s bird ran.  Shoot him again I told Chase and his second shot found it’s mark.  Unfortunately Dad only collected feathers.  Really not sure how his hevi shot load at less than 25 yards didn’t dispatch the gobbler but as the video shows, the majority of the shot only hit the body.  Chase’s bird weighed 17 lbs. had a 10 inch beard and 1 ¼ inch spurs.  See this hunt on my 2013 video: Turkey hunting with Derek Fowler.

APRIL 15, 2013 VIDEO HUNT #7
LOCATION: WILKINSON COUNTY, PRIVATE LAND
PARTNER: ALONE

AM HUNT – CALLED 1 GOBBLER AND 2 HENS

I hunted the McEachern property on this afternoon.  Two hens came in before I even started calling. Not needing to call I watched as the hens made their way across the plot and to the other side.  As I scanned the plot I saw the gobbler standing there watching from the other end.  I tried to call him and the hens back with no luck. See this hunt on my 2013 video: Turkey hunting with Derek Fowler.

APRIL 16, 2013 VIDEO HUNT #8
LOCATION: WILKINSON COUNTY, PRIVATE LAND
PARTNER: ALONE

AM HUNT – CALLED IN 1 GOBBLER, 2 HENS

Knowing the bird from the previous day would probably be in the same location I made my way back to the McEachern property on this day.  The bird gobbled in front of me and made his way around the plot to the end he had left the previous day. Not paying a lot of attention and trying to glass to find the gobbler a hen putted to my right.  The two hens were behind me and had made their way within 5 yards of me.  They putted, clucked and purred for about 15 minutes.  I thought at one time about spooking the birds and have them leave but figured they would just make their way around to the gobbler so I just sat as motionless as possible.  They finally did go back and when I spotted the gobbler both hens had already made it to him.  I softly called and eventually the hens made their way back to me.  The gobbler spooked back into the woods on the end of the plot when a squirrel started barking behind me. The hens layed down and then dusted right in front of me.  Finally the gobbler came out and slowly made his way in.  He made it to within 45 yards as I checked with my rangefinder.  If he spooked now I would take the shot.  No more than that thought another hen coming up the road behind me started clucking.  The bird came out of strut and started walking away.  I shot and knew this had to be a good bird.  The bird only weighed 17 lbs. but had an 11 7/8” beard and 1 3/8” spurs. See this hunt on my 2013 video: Turkey hunting with Derek Fowler.

APRIL 20, 2013 VIDEO HUNT #9
LOCATION: JASPER COUNTY, PRIVATE LAND
PARTNER: BOBBY SMITH

AM HUNT – CALLED IN 1 GOBBLER

I was invited to hunt with Robert Russell, Bobby Smith and Mark Steed on the Russell Plantation on this morning.  We were a little late getting to the area we planned to hunt and walked right under a bird which flew out as we were discussing our set up.  Mark and Robert decided to leave this location for me and Bobby so we set up the pop up blind in the only place we could figure would give us adequate video.  After about an hour a bird started gobbling to our right and then another one behind us.  The bird seemed eager enough to come in but must have had hens. Another bird gobbled to our left and in no time I could hear him drumming.  The bird made his way to the decoys and I had told Bobby we may have to watch him a while before getting a shot to keep from shooting the Avian decoy.  The gobbler finally moved away enough for Bobby to shoot.  The gobbler weighed 17 lbs. had a 9 ½” beard and 1 inch spurs.  See this hunt on my 2013 video: Turkey hunting with Derek Fowler.

MAY 4, 2013 VIDEO HUNT #10
LOCATION: ALBIA IOWA, PRIVATE LAND

PARTNER:  MARK STEED
PM HUNT – CALLED IN 2 GOBBLERS

Mark Steed and I traveled to Iowa to hunt with Jack and Ronny Horosky and Frank McElroy. Mark and I arrived in Albia a day before the others only to find a blanket of snow covering the ground.  Not real sure about the morning hunt we didn’t get in a big hurry to set up.  The ground was sloppy and wet so we decided to hunt not far in front of the lodge.  W heard 6 or 8 birds gobbling but couldn’t get anything in.  We were to meet the guys in town later that evening but Mark and I decided to make a hunt on the opposite side of the farm.  We entered the top side of the property and heard a gobbler over the hill.  We made our way around the edge but could not find anywhere to set up to see very far.  We finally set up well beyond where we heard the gobbler.  Soon after he gobbled he worked his way to the hill above us. 

There he locked down until we gave him the silent treatment.  He worked his way down toward us but would come in from our back side.  We decided when we sat down to trust that the decoy would be the place to direct our attention. As the bird neared we could hear his drumming.  I finally picked him up from videoing behind my left shoulder.  He approached and then turned and went back.  We heard and saw another bird at about 500 yards and as we looked at our watch didn’t think we had time.  We called and watched him answer and it appeared he would come. He was answering every call and we weren’t leaving!  We sat back down and it wasn’t but about 10 or 15 minutes and he was in range.  We could barely see his head and knew he could see the decoy but he had locked down.  As he seemed to get a bit nervous Mark took the shot at about 25 yards.  This nice Iowa gobbler weighed 23 lbs. had a 10 ½ inch beard and 1 ¼ inch spurs. See this hunt on my 2013 video: Turkey hunting with Derek Fowler.

MAY 6, 2013 VIDEO HUNT #11
LOCATION: ALBIA IOWA, PRIVATE LAND

PARTNER: ALONE
AM HUNT – CALLED IN 1 GOBBLER AND 2 JAKES

The other guys seemed to have a preference on this morning so I decided to go back over to the hillside where Mark had killed his bird and where I knew there was another bird to kill.  I heard several birds across the bottom after daylight but nothing close enough to work.  I knew sooner or later a bird would travel close enough to call to and about an hour later he gobbled behind me about 75 yards.  I could hear the bird as he came down the road on my left.  He came by me running to my Jake Avian decoy.  A couple of jakes were with him but stayed clear to the left.  He circled the decoy a few times and I decided to wait no longer.  The gobbler weighed 21 lbs. had a 10 inch beard and 1 inch spurs.  See this hunt on my 2013 video: Turkey hunting with Derek Fowler.

MAY 8, 2013 VIDEO HUNT #12
LOCATION: ALBIA IOWA, PRIVATE LAND

PARTNER: RONNY HOROSKY
PM HUNT – CALLED IN 5 JAKES AND 1 HEN

I hunted with Ronny on this morning.  We set up at what is called the “Bowling Alley”. The set overlooked a long stretch of open ground to our left and back and a nice hardwood bottom to our front.  Mark had killed his bird at this location on our 2011 hunt here.  There must have been 5 or 6 birds gobbling in front of us and as many to our left and back.  We were surrounded by gobbles. Surely Ronny would have no problem getting a bird but as the first bird appeared we realized it was a jake. He was roosted pretty close and may have seen us set up as he made his way across the opening and away from us.  Well the other birds were still gobbling and sounded good.  They had to be at least one mature gobbler in the group we thought.  Half an hour later 5 jakes appeared and all sounded like mature gobblers.  We didn’t get Ronny’s gobbler but we surely enjoyed the action. See this hunt on my 2013 video: Turkey hunting with Derek Fowler.

MAY 10, 2013 VIDEO HUNT #13
LOCATION: JASPER COUNTY, PRIVATE LAND

PARTNER DAD
AM HUNT – CALLED IN 1 GOBBLER AND 2 HENS

Mark and I made our way back to Georgia and I arrived home just after 11:00 PM.  I had planned to take the next day off from work but couldn’t see wasting it at home.  Jet lag or not I would spend my morning in a blind on the Cullum farm.  Dad and I set up at the crack of day and heard at least 2 gobblers in the distance.  The first bird to show was a bearded hen and had issues with our Avian hen decoy. Another hen appeared and then I heard the drumming.  The gobbler couldn’t have been one of the earlier birds we heard. He came in silent and we tried to decide if he was better than a 2 year old and if we were going to shoot or not.  It was hard to see his spurs for the plowed dirt but it appeared they were sharp and longer than 1 inch.  When we decided to shoot Dad thought the bird was too far.  When I ranged him he was about 38 yards.  Encouraged by a good challenge we tried to coax the hens back to get him a little closer.  When the bird was in a location good for my Dad and for the camera we tried to bring him out of strut.  I first cutt and called but he didn’t budge.  Dad greeted him twice but he still wouldn’t come out of strut.  He had moved beyond the location for me to see so we had to let him move across to the other decoy.  Dad too him as soon as he was clear.  The gobbler weighed 19 ½ lbs. had a 10 ½ inch beard and 1 1/8 inch spurs. See this hunt on my 2013 video: Turkey hunting with Derek Fowler.

MAY 15, 2013 VIDEO HUNT #14
LOCATION: TWIGGS COUNTY, PRIVATE LAND

PARTNER: DAD
AM HUNT – CALLED IN 1 GOBBLER

Dad and I hunted on my Twiggs club on this morning.  We made our way to the far side and setup in the edge of the hardwood. Two birds were gobbling and were pretty much out of range but were answering our calls.  The birds were getting closer but all of a sudden a gobbler had slipped in from our right front and gobbled at less than 50 yards.  He came right down the road I had set the decoys on and confronted the Avian jake.  He turned away and I decided to wait no longer.  My first shot was a click.  A misfire!  I quickly pumped another round which had alerted the gobbler and gave me a larger view of his neck.  At 15 yards all the shot were placed in his neck below his head and above his waddles.  The gobbler weighed 19 lbs. had a 9 ½ inch beard and 1 ¼ inch spurs.  This was a good ending to a great season.  See this hunt on my 2013 video: Turkey hunting with Derek Fowler.

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