BY
MARCH 20, 2021 VIDEO HUNT #1
LOCATION: BALDWIN COUNTY, PRIVATE
PARTNER: CHASE FOWLER
AM HUNT: CALLED IN 2 JAKES
On opening day Chase and I would hunt our club in Baldwin
County. We heard two gobblers in
the distance but they were not close enough to feel we could call in. About mid morning these jakes came in
and did not want to leave. See the
footage on my 2021 video.
MARCH
22, 2021 VIDEO HUNT #2
LOCATION:
WILKINSON COUNTY, PRIVATE
PARTNER: Keith Smith
PM HUNT: CALLED IN 1 HEN
Keith Smith and I would hunt some private land
in Wilkinson County this evening.
We set up in a river swamp and called in a lone hen. See the footage on
my 2021 video.
MARCH
23, 2021 VIDEO HUNT #3
LOCATION:
WILKINSON COUNTY, PRIVATE
PARTNER: ALONE
AM HUNT: CALLED IN 1 JAKE
I
would hunt a small tract of private property in Wilkinson County on this
morning. After hearing a few
distant gobbles from one gobbler early, I finally called in this Jake who didn’t
seem to eager to confront the 2 Avian decoys. See the footage on my 2021 video.
MARCH
24, 2021 VIDEO HUNT #4
LOCATION:
TWIGGS COUNTY, PRIVATE
PARTNER: ALONE
AM HUNT: 1 GOBBLER KILL
I
would hunt my Twiggs County club the following Monday and after hearing a
gobbler with no success, decided to give it a day and go back on
Wednesday. I set up well before
daylight in a small doghouse blind in the woods near where the gobbler had hung
up on Monday. At daylight a hen
pitched out in front of me but eventually went the other way. I heard a gobbler off to my left quite a
ways and soon 3 hens came from my right and went directly toward the
gobbles. I figured it was over at
this point but kept calling anyway and soon had a group of turkeys coming from
my left. They got behind me where I
couldn’t see and began fighting.
I figured they were all jakes but to my surprise one was a mature
gobbler. They worked their way back
in front of me and finally saw the jake decoy. After circling it a few times the good
gobbler came directly toward the blind and was too close to try to shoot. As I watched the gobbler walk away I
could not get a shot as he almost ran with trees between me and him. After a short while he came back to the
jake decoy and eventually came close to me again and the shot was less than 15
yards. With all the excitement I
really never thought to look at the spurs but there are times when it’s
not all about the age and size of the bird but of the hunt itself. The gobbler weighed 18 lbs. had 1/2 inch spurs and a 9 ½ inch
beard. See the footage on my 2021 video.
MARCH
27, 2021 VIDEO HUNT #5
LOCATION:
BALDWIN COUNTY, PRIVATE
CHASE AND HEATH
AM HUNT: 1 GOBBLER KILL
While I was in Florida trying to kill an
Osceola, my two sons hunted our club in Baldwin County. I received a text and call before
daylight from Chase telling me Heath was late and then he had slid off the road
into the ditch just down from our hunting camp. To make an everything that can go wrong
story shorter, they eventually got pulled out of the ditch and made their way
to the blind long after daylight.
They couldn’t make it to where they wanted to set up because there
were birds already gobbling there!
What a nice problem to have, right.
Well, they set up a couple hundred yards down the road from there and
tried to call them up. Instead of
the birds gobbling, a different bird came in from their front and Chase made
the shot at about 45 yards. The
gobbler weighed 20.2 lbs. had 1 1/8 and 1 3/16 inch spurs and a 10 ½ inch
beard. Never give up, right? See
the footage on my 2021 video.
MARCH
30, 2021 VIDEO HUNT #6
LOCATION:
WILKINSON COUNTY, PRIVATE
PARTNER: Keith Smith
PM HUNT: CALLED IN 3 JAKES
Keith Smith and I would hunt the same private
land in Wilkinson County this evening that we had hunted the previous week. Again, we set up in a river swamp and
this time called in 3 jakes. See the footage on my 2021 video.
MARCH
31, 2021 VIDEO HUNT #7
LOCATION:
TWIGGS COUNTY, PRIVATE
PARTNER: ALONE
AM HUNT: CALLED IN 3 HENS
I
would hunt my Twiggs County club again on this day since this seemed to be the
only place I had heard any gobblers. I did hear 2 gobblers and called in 3 hens
but again, they went directly toward where the gobblers were. See
the footage on my 2021 video.
APRIL
1, 2021 VIDEO HUNT #8
LOCATION:
WILKINSON COUNTY, PRIVATE LAND
PARTNER: ALONE
AM HUNT 1 GOBBLER KILL
I
would hunt the some private property near the Baldwin and Wilkinson County
lines on this morning. Dad and I
had hunted this place only about one time each year but usually alternated
killing a tom. I had only saw hens
the year before but felt confident there would be a gobbler nearby. After not hearing any gobbles at
daylight, I didn’t give up.
After an hour a lone hen came across the lower end of the pasture and
left going away into the woods.
About an hour later she and two more hens came out with the gobbler in
tow. I called softly to keep them
interested and they eventually made their way across the pasture toward me. Once the gobbler saw they decoys he
dashed over to take care of business.
I again thought he was a better bird but succumbed to the pressure of the
hunt. The gobbler weighed 18 lbs. 7 oz. had 3/4 and 7/8 inch spurs and a
10 inch beard. See the footage on my 2021 video.
APRIL
3, 2021 VIDEO HUNT #9
LOCATION:
JASPER COUNTY, PRIVATE LAND
PARTNER:
CHASE FOWLER
AM
HUNT CALLED IN 3 JAKES
Chase and
I would hunt Jasper County on this morning. We only hunted this property one time
the year before as Chase killed a gobbler and we didn’t want to over hunt
and kill any more. We heard 3
gobblers this morning but I think at least two of them were these jakes. Two Jakes came in and left and came back
but left again. A little while
later a third jake came in. See the
footage on my 2021 video.
APRIL
22, 2021 VIDEO HUNT #10
LOCATION:
WILKINSON COUNTY, PRIVATE
PARTNER: ALONE
AM HUNT: 1 GOBBLER KILL
I made numerous hunts with other
hunters between the previous video and this day with very little success. On this morning I decided I would hunt
some property I hadn’t hunted and take my bow to try and get my last
Georgia bird with archery tackle. I
had barely got set up as it was breaking day and heard a gobble. I noticed a dark object about 150 yards
away in the plowed field that turned out to be the gobbler I was hearing. It was too early to be calling in the
open field but I had to get his attention so I called softly. He continued to gobble but slowly made
his way away. Soon after a hen came
out and went in the opposite direction.
The gobbler came back and followed her. They left the plowed field and went into
a food plot and came out again in the plowed field. The hen came within 75 yards but the
gobbler stayed over 100. They eventually went back to the grain field
again. Thinking they were gone I
was about to give up but noticed they had returned to the plowed field again. I
called a little more this time and kept the hen interested. She finally worked her way toward me and
the gobbler followed. Once he was
close enough to see the Avian Decoys, he wasted no time coming. Once he got to the decoys I started
ready my bow and as he turned away I raised it to shoot. He may have caught a little movement
because he seemed a bit nervous. I
released the arrow and the bird only went a few yards. Patience killed this bird. The
gobbler weighed 17 lbs. 8 oz. had 7/8 inch spurs and a 9 1/2 inch beard. See the footage on my 2021 video.
APRIL
25, 2021 VIDEO HUNT #11
LOCATION:
YECORE MEXICO, WINGSHOOTER OUTFITTERS
GUIDE: JUAN FRANCISCO
AM HUNT: 1 GOBBLER KILL
Well, I finally decided to make a
Gould’s Turkey hunt to Mexico.
Kevin Farr had invited me to go with their group earlier in the year and
after a little persuading, I found it hard to pass up. We traveled from Atlanta to Mexico City
and then to Hermasillo and on to the town of Yecore Mexico on April 23. On the first two hunts on April 24 we
saw 8 hens and 4 jakes. On this
morning (3rd hunt) we traveled up the mountain to a very nice
location where we set up well before daylight. I had been a little skeptical about taking
only one of my Avian Decoys but that would turn out not to be a problem. Once it began to break day there was hen
chatter and gobbles several hundred yards in front of us. But as the birds flew down they all seem
to go the other way. This seem to
bring back memories at home from the early days. Thinking they were all gone I continued
to call in hopes a lone bird might break away from the group and come out
way. Not long numerous hens and one
gobbler did find their way to us. They
came directly in to the Avian Jake and I wasted no time bagging my first
Gould’s. The gobbler weighed 18 lbs. had 10/16 and 8/16 inch spurs and a 9
1/2 inch beard. See the footage on my 2021 video.
APRIL
26, 2021 VIDEO HUNT #12
LOCATION:
YECORE MEXICO, WINGSHOOTER OUTFITTERS
GUIDE: JUAN FRANCISCO
AM HUNT: 1 GOBBLER KILL
The evening after I killed my first
Gould’s we hunted a different location and saw 6 hens. We roosted a couple that were gobbling
and decided to go back the next morning.
At first light there was no gobbling to be heard. We had slipped in
quietly and well around where they had roosted but they just weren’t
gobbling. We were sure the hens we
had seen were with them but could not call any in. We left there and went back to the
location we had went on our first hunt.
We got set up a little past mid-morning but had confidence the birds
were nearby. We eventually saw a
line of birds crossing the upper end of the opening we were watching. There appeared to only be one mature
gobbler with the flock. We thought
it over a bit and decided to go after them. Not the tactic I generally use when
hunting turkeys, but Juan, the guide indicated he know where they were
going. We slipped around to try and
get a better angle to where they were and Juan spotted one and then more. We crept behind his fan to get a little
closer. After getting the camera
going and getting in to a reasonable comfortable position, Juan called a bit
and using his fan brought the gobbler in like he was on a string. The was the
first time I had ever witnessed the “reaping” tactic but this
definitely pulled the gobbler away from over 20 other turkeys. As the bird made his final approach, I
struggled to make myself shoot past the fan Juan was holding. I know the blast would deafen his
hearing…..at least temporarily.
The bird nearly made it of the video screen but it was a most successful
hunt. The gobbler weighed 17.2 lbs. had 8/16 and 9/16 inch spurs and a 10
inch beard. See the footage on my 2021 video.
APRIL
27, 2021 VIDEO HUNT #13
LOCATION:
YECORE MEXICO, WINGSHOOTER OUTFITTERS
GUIDE: JUAN FRANCISCO
AM HUNT: LOTS OF TURKEYS!!!!
I had decided to continue hunting and
to take a third Gould’s gobbler if the bird was better than the
others. On this morning Juan and a
young guide in training went along to a new spot we hadn’t been to. We heard nothing on the roost but about
an hour after daylight they flocked in.
There were several good mature gobblers but nothing I decided to
shoot. This was excellent footage
to complete what had been an excellent hunt in Mexico. See
the footage on my 2021 video.
THE END