APRIL 2, 2024 VIDEO HUNT #1
LOCATION: BALDWIN COUNTY, PRIVATE
PARTNER: HEATH FOWLER
AM HUNT: CALLED IN 1 JAKE
On opening day Chase and I hunted our club in Baldwin County and
had a gobbler hang up behind us never to show. My youngest son Heath and I hunted on
this day and would try and set up in a spot that would possible advantageous
for the previous gobbler. The bird
gobbled good at daylight and after and sounded like a mature gobbler. There were 3 other gobblers sounding off
in the distance but this one was within a couple hundred yards. He finally showed and we couldn’t
believe it was a jake. Although I
didn’t try to talk him out of shooting the jake, he said he had rather
wait on a mature gobbler. None of
the other birds would cross the beaver swamp and we called it a morning about noon. See the footage on my 2024 video.
APRIL
9, 2024 VIDEO HUNT #2
LOCATION:
TWIGGS COUNTY, PRIVATE
PARTNER: ALONE
AM HUNT: CALLED IN 1 HEN, 1 GOBBLER AND 5 JAKES
I would hunt my Twiggs club on this morning. Chase and I had set up here the previous
hunt 5 days earlier and called in a bird….again behind us that would
never come around to the decoys. On
this morning I heard 3 gobblers including one that sounded like a jake. The birds continued to gobble and one
began to get closer. He either left
the others or came from my back right but was hesitant to come in quickly. Once he got close enough that he could
see the decoys he nearly locked it down. There were 5 jakes that were making
their way in from in front and I don’t think he wanted any part of their
company. Once he was in the clear I made my shot left handed. The jakes stayed around for a while with
a hen that had come in from the left.
The gobbler weighed 20 lbs. had 1 1/8 inch spurs and a 12 inch
beard. See the footage on my 2024 video.
APRIL
20, 2024 VIDEO HUNT #3
LOCATION:
DAVID KENTUCKY, PRIVATE
PARTNER: KEITH SMITH
AM HUNT: CALLED IN 1 GOBBLER
Keith
Smith and I would make our way to David Kentucky to spend a few days with some
good friends and hopefully tag a turkey as well. We heard lots of gobbling the first
morning but they all seemed to be under the hill below us and not very close. Of course the hills made us Georgia boys
stay put and try and call the birds from any distance to us. It was about the third day before we
figured we were going to have to drop down below the upper pastures to be able
to call one in. On this morning I
think we heard 10 birds gobbling and we felt sure we would be able to coax one
in. About 9:30 came and Keith
decided he had heard enough. He was
going to one. I felt the birds to
our left may eventually come in so I stayed put. Keith went around and chased one nearly
a mile from me. Far enough I didn’t hear his birds gobbling and he didn’t
hear me calling. About 12:20
without gobbling I had a gobbler drumming in front of me. I finally saw him and watched as he
inched closer and closer to my decoys.
He stopped at the first hen for quite a while but eventually made it to
the jake decoys where I finally took the shot. The bird weighed 22 lbs. 4 oz., had 1
inch spurs and a 10 ¼ inch beard.
See the footage on my 2024 video.
APRIL
21, 2024 VIDEO HUNT #4
LOCATION:
DAVID KENTUCKY, PRIVATE LAND
PARTNER:
KEITH SMITH
AM HUNT: CALLED 1 GOBBLER
Keith
and I would attempt to set up on the top side where he had heard and saw the
birds the previous morning. He had
a bird nearly in range on the previous day and was getting ready to shoot when
the gobbler picked up and flew right over him to the bottom below. Keith figured he would be back the next
morning so we took our chances on the roadside pasture where we felt we would
see vehicle traffic and hunters. There
were only a couple birds gobbling that we could hear and they only gobbled a
couple of times. About 7:30 a
hunter in a truck passed by and we just settled in for a long morning. About 9:30 a gobbler popped out from
from where we expected him to come from.
He was across the fence but we hoped he would either fly over or make
his way down to the end we sat where the fence stopped. He slowly made his way
but eventually seemed to hang up before he got to the end which was really beyond
the point we planned to shoot anyway.
Keith shot once the gobbler started back the other way. His bird weighed 18 lbs., had 1 1/8 and
1 ¼ inch spurs and a 10 1/8 inch beard. See the footage on my 2024 video.
APRIL
21, 2024 VIDEO HUNT #5
LOCATION:
DAVID KENTUCKY, PRIVATE LAND
PARTNER:
KEITH SMITH
AM HUNT: CALLED 1 HEN AND 1 GOBBLER
In the process of scouting for the next morning
hunt, Keith and found an area where a reclaimed section of land was planted. We
set up in high hopes but little expectation. We settled in for what we though would
be an uneventful evening. We could
hear dogs running in the distance which we assumed were being trained to hunt
rabbits. A hen slipped out from the bottom to our left and made her way across
the opening. She fed to the
opposite end and then off to our right.
Not long after that we had a herd of horses nearly stampede toward where
we were set up before heading back the other way. By now we didn’t expect much at
all. But low and behold we heard a
gobble back the way the hen had come.
This may turn out to be an incredible hunt after all! Not long the gobbler made his way out at
about the same spot the hen had and strutted to the first hen decoy. At first sight I thought it was a jake
because he had no beard. When he
strutted his fan was full so I felt it was a mature bird. I eased my binoculars up and saw he had
good spurs so I decided he was a shooter.
He stayed with the hen decoy for the entire time and would not go to the
jakes. I finally decided to shoot
him once he ease just far enough that I wouldn’t shoot my decoy. The gobbler weighed 18 lbs. 12 oz., had
1 and 1 1/8 inch spurs and no visible signs of ever having a beard. See the
footage on my 2024 video.
APRIL
24, 2024 VIDEO HUNT #6
LOCATION:
WILKINSON COUNTY, PRIVATE LAND
PARTNER: ALONE
AM HUNT: CALLED IN: 4 JAKES AND 2 GOBBLERS
On my
first hunt back from Kentucky I would try a place I had hunted every year with
a lot of luck. I didn’t
expect a lot of gobbling but was surprised not to hear any. I would attempt to
get my 2nd Georgia bird with the bow. I had purchased some new arrows before
the season so that I could leave them uncut shooting full length with the 3 ¾”
Magnus Bullhead broadhead. The
arrows were fletched with 4 five inch feathers to allow stabilized arrow
flight. I shot fairly accurate up
to about 20 yards which would be fine anyway since that is about as far as I
have attempted shooting turkeys with the bow. I set the jake decoys at about 8
steps to help improve my odds even more.
It was after 10 o’clock when I finally glimpsed turkeys coming
through the high food plot grain.
It appeared to be all jakes but after they got a little closer I saw the
last two were mature birds. Once
they saw the decoys the 2 gobblers made a bee line to them. Almost too fast for me to video and
knock an arrow to shoot but they were obviously inundated with the decoy and
didn’t hear my fumbling around in the blind. Once I got drawn I waited for the bird
to get still for a shot. My shot
cleanly missed which was a shock to me.
Even though I’m aiming at the head I assumed with the 3 ¾”
diameter head that it would be hard to miss. I assumed I shot over him so after
knocking another arrow I held a little lower. The next shot was obviously too low as I
cut his beard off and many of the feathers covering his crop. He jumped up and ran as if he hadn’t
been hit at all. At this point I
grabbed my shotgun (which I carried in case one hung up out of bow range) and
took a shot at about 45 yards. I
dropped the gobbler and was relieved after I saw the wound I had made with the
bow. He would have probably
eventually died or been finished off by a predator. The gobbler weighed 17 lbs. had ¾
inch spurs and a 9 inch beard (what I could find of it!) See the footage on my 2024 video.
THE END