FSU_Seminole

Well I guess I just ran into a bad box call maker. Ugghhhh, beautiful but sounds horrible.

Only for it to sound like crap? I guess I made the mistake of not calling this company and listening to their calls over the phone or online. I don't want to bad mouth anyone but this guy makes a BEAUTIFUL and I mean BEAUTIFUL box call with turkey feathers on one side, tracks across the other curly maple lid with a hand painted gobbler head handle with my name and birth date on it. Its beautiful but sounds God awful. I got a few box calls from Wal Mart that sound better than this for 1/3rd the price. This ever happen to anyone else?

Honestly who much money do you want to spend? Believe me when I tell you the Benelli Vincis are worth their weight in gold. I have the standard Vinci with a 24inch barrel. It only shoots 2 3/4 and 3 inch shells but I feel like you don't need 3.5 inch shells for turkeys. Pros This shotgun feels great!!!! It weighs a mere 6lbs. You can run and gun with it all day & you wont know its on your shoulder. Well balanced, shoots straight Impervious to punishment. Mud, snow, ice, rain. Incredibly easy to break down and clean. You could train a monkey to clean a Vinci, the inertia system has no moving parts that are necessary to take off and clean regularly. I use heavi shot chokes with hevi shot #5 or winchester double x loads # 6s. Even the 2 3/4 winchester loads shoot great on paper at 40 yards with a hevi shot choke. Cons Price 1299..........BTW you do NOT need the kick off system if you use a ported choke, it greatly reduces recoil. The Vinci isn't an eye catcher, its sorta weird looking. Its not a pretty as some of the Remington Browning or & Mossburg guns.

Great story!!!!!! They aren't gobbling as much around here as they have in the past. Kinda weird. Do you think its because of the cold weather? We've had what I'd consider a very chilly spring so far. March was very very cold with several nights in the high 20s and low 30s. Even last week it was very chilly. Thats a very nice bird & shot gun set up. Is that a SBE II?

You guys are right. The high that Saturday was 69. That afternoon the breeze was perfect the weather was about 65 & the woods were quiet. Just couldn't help but going to sleep when it gets that slow. One other thing, not sure but this season has a weird start to it. I hunt 2 properties about 35 miles apart. Turkeys are gobbling but not like in years past. The first 2 weeks of the SC season they usually gobble all day. So far this year, a few gobbles after sun up then nothing until very late in the evening about a hour before they roost. Not sure if the leap year and this very chilly weather has anything to do with it.

Well guys, I killed a fine turkey yesterday afternoon. After 2 days of frurstration on Monday & Tuesday, I shot this big fella Saturday afternoon. He has a 10 inch beard and weighs 22lbs on the spot. Here's the story.I get up at 5 a m fired up and determined to shoot a bird Saturday morning. I get to my hunting land an hour before sun light. I slip into my ground blind. The land I'm hunting has been loaded with big turkeys the past 3 years so I'm thinking 15-30 minutes before sunlight its going to be goobles booming all over the place. The morning was very chilly 40 degress and as the sun is coming up I'm hitting my owl call. Not a friggin sound in the woods. An hour goes by no gobbles. I'm thinking to myself whats wrong. So at 9 am I hit my slate and sure enough I get a bird to start gobbling. I never see him but it sounds like he's moved from 200 yards to just 20 yards away over a hill. I'm thinking he's going to pop out any second & this is going to be a chip shot so I wait wait and wait some more. I hit my slate and he fires off a gobble but its about 100 yards away. Then I hit the old faithful Woodhaven real hen, NOTHING. Its about 9:45 & I say to myself I'm going to hunt until noon. Sure enough I get comfy in my blind & I fall right asleep!!! I must have slept and hour and my phone is set on vibrate & goes off in my pocket. The vibration wakes me up and a hen, jake and a nice goobler are standing 20 yards in front of me. I'm startled and lean up to get my shotgun all 3 see movement in the blind and take off. I feel sick to my stomach. I waited an hour to see if they'd come back. They didn't.I leave about 1 pm. Go home get some lunch and rest. I get back out in the blind at exactly 4 pm. I hit my box and slate, absolutely nothing at all, I sit for a couple of hours periodically calling, nothing. Believe it or not about 6 pm I start to doze off again. I think I had 4 hours of sleep the night before. So yea, I fall alseep AGAIN, this time I sleep for about 45 minutes. I'm nodding and I hear a faint gobble. I slowly opened my eyes and the same hen & tom where stading in the middle of a logging road where they were before, its 6:55 pm. This time I don't make any sudden movements & I slowly reach for my shotgun. As I'm doing this, a thunderous gobble comes from over my right shoulder & it did startle me. I slowly looked through my side peep hole and this huge tom is standing just behind me. He slowly walks right by the blind. The hen and other bird were 20 yards in front of me, the big gobbler walks and stops half way between the blind & them. He turns to his left & he's looking right at me through the opening of the blind at mayble 10 yards. He stands there like a statue looking in my direction. I freeze and try not to blink or look him directly in the eyes. What seemed like forever, he figures the blind was no threat. He then turned his attention on the hen and her suitor. So he hits his fan, still standing side ways looking some what at me and her. He slowly turns to her and drops his fan. I'm shaking like a leaf because I still can't bring my shotgun up without being busted. So he turns all the way around towards them. He hits his fan again, the other tom starts to back off like he didn't want to fight. The big guy puts on a show and while he had his fan up and back to me I quickly raise my gun & get the barrel outside the blind. Again what seemed like forever he put his fan down with all of his attention on her, he's at 15 yards. I'm steadying for a shot and he starts to look back at me, I pull the trigger and send some Hevishot #5, it buried him on the spot!What a nerve racking fun hunt!!!! I'm getting this guy full body mounted.

thanks for the info guys. I bought both and will use the owl early mornings and crow mid day afternoon.

Just wanted to get the opinions of you veteran turkey hunters. Over the past few years I've tried shock gobbling, it hasn't worked for me with either owl or crow calls. I was terrible with with either. But I've greatly improved so tell me. Most of your owl hooting is it done before sun up & your crow calling is that mostly done mid morning, mid day and in the afternoons to make these fellas gobble? Or can you use a crow call right at sun up?

Youngbuck I know EXACTLY how you feel. I'm 40 years old and I started turkey hunting in 2008. Oh my God!!!!! I never knew I'd love the sport as much as I do. I'm a deer hunting fanatic & I can honestly say my love for hunting turkeys is right there with deer. I'm from SC to and the wait is killing me. I feel like I felt 2 or 3 days before Christmas as a kid when those presents were under the tree. You're right, nothing like slipping in the spring woods, its about 50 degrees the sun starts to rise and all of a sudden the woods just burst with goobles all around you & you're talking back and forth with an old gobbler. At least thats how it is on the 400 acres I hunt. Tomorrow I'm going to stain and paint some deer stands then go check some trail cameras I put on some logging roads where Ive found tracks, scratching and droppings. Down in the low country of SC they started today, the wait until April 1st is almost surreal. Actually this year will be like 2 opening days. April 1st is Monday I'm taking that morning off, then the following Saturday will be just like opening day all over again. My wife thinks I'm crazy I've been driving her crazy practicing with a new box and slate call in the house & yard for about a week now.

Benelli Vinci 24'' barrel, in realtree AP camo. Using Winchester 2 ounces #6s standard Benelli modified choke. On my second piece of property I use heavy shot Hevi #5s with Briley super full turkey choke and they will reach out and get you. Killed a bird at 70 yards in 2011 with the second set up.

Another thing that is hurting Romney is 3rd party candidates. The media on the right and left have ignored this but its why you see Obama at 48% and Romney at 46% in several polls. Colorado has 17 people on the ballot running for president. Several states have several libertarians running & people who voted for Ron Paul will vote libertarian, Obama doesn't need 50% of the vote to win with so many people on the ballots.

Steve while you're entitled to your opinion, Fox News, Hannity & Limbaugh are partisans. I suggest you do your home work and research several sources for your news. If you only watch Fox and listen to right wing radio you're handicapping yourself. Independent polls and studies have the race right now Sunday night Obama has 237 electoral votes locked up. Romney has 206 locked up. Of the 12 swing states, Obama won in 2008 Romney can not win without winning Ohio. He's got to flip Ohio first, then Florida, Virginia, NC then flip Wisconsin or Iowa & Colorado or Nevada. Romney has an uphill battle. Obama only has to win 3 states. Ohio, Iowa & Wisconsin & the race is over, it would put him at 271 electoral votes. He doesn't need, Virginia, NC or Florida if he wins Ohio.

Their is no way you can sit in a stand here without a bug suit or a thermacell or that Permamone spray from repel. The nats and misquitos are unbelievable after all the rain we had in August. Saturday was like sitting in a south american jungle or something.

Now I see what the old timers were talking about. Today was opening day of rifle season here in my part of South Carolina. I had a MISERABLE opening day. Fellas I got up at 4 a m ate breakfast, got all excited for the first deer hunt of 2012. I went out in my garage and notice it was extremely warm inside. I asked my wife did she go anywhere while I was asleep for our 2 small kids, she said she didn't. Anyways I pull out of the garage drive 30 minutes to my land. I get out of the truck and the heat and humidty here nearly knocked me on my butt. It was 83 degrees at 5:30 a m with like 100% humidity. This stand is about 450 yards from my truck. By the time I got there I was drenched in sweat. Needless to say I didn't see any deer driving to or from this morning nor while I sat for about 4.5 hours. I went back this afternoon, didn't see a thing. I see why the old timers use to tell me once they hit about 40-45 years old they quit hunting in September & hit the woods in October. Its freakin hot!!!!!! I hope you all have better luck on your opening day & we all get some cool weather this season.

I bought a couple of bags of the biologic HOTSPOT. People swear this stuff. Its got peas, clover and buck wheat in it. Its suppose to be shade tolerant and withstands grazing pressure. Supposidly you can plant it with a rake and hand spreader for spots like you're talking about.