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.

Ok guys thanks for your help, sorry I didn't take a closer picture. Talked with the land owner today, he's not a farmer but he said he's 95% sure its peanuts. Now my question is, how many of you have hunted near or over peanuts? Supposidly deer love them but they grow like potatos in the ground. I guess I'm asking is it best to hunt them after the farmer has started to harvest them or will the deer kick them up from the soil to eat them?

I just got permission to hunt a new piece of land. Whoopi!!!!!!! One side of the property is planted in corn. The other side is planted in this stuff. I have no clue what it is. Down south, I'm used to seeing soybeans, wheat, cotton & peanuts. I think I've seen alfalfa 1 time in my young 39 years. Whatever this stuff is, deer tracks are all in it when we did some scouting yesterday. I was thinking some of you that happen to be farmers or guys from the midwest could tell me what the heck this is.Thanks.

QUOTE=fulldraw;1304336]Whats yalls thoughts on the best food source to plant in food plot in the south? Now that really depends on what your goal is. If you are talking year round nutrition I think clover and chicory mix is great. If you are talking attraction, nothing will attract a southern deer more than soybeans or peas. If you are talking major attraction when it gets cold and the beans start turning I've found that deer love oats. I started using Buck Forage oats years ago when they were the only company promoting oats. All the major food plot companys have copied Buck Forage and have come out with some sort of oat. Biologic, Tecomate, Imperial, Evolved all of them. If I had to plant one annual it would be oats for southern deer. I've also found at least here in SC deer here will NOT eat any type of brassica. I've planted several brassica types they've all come up with huge beautiful green leaves and deer here totally ignore it. Even after a hard frost.

I've had a wonderful turkey season this year. Got 3 mature birds on the ground and thinking of getting 1 of them full body mounted. Here is the problem I shot these 3 birds the first 2 weeks of the season basically when they were all dumb to the game. Here in SC turkey hunting gets pretty tough after the second week because the birds are wise to calling and seeing their friends being shot. For the past 2 weeks gobbling has slowly died out completely. On 4-21 I heard 5 gobbles all day mostly in the morning. That Sunday no gobbles at all. This past weekend I heard 2 gobbles in 2 days. Absolutely no gobbling on Sunday but my trail cams are showing turkeys every where. So what should I do? 5-1 tomorrow is the last day until next year. I got my prime time sweet spot on an old logging road where they travel to feed in an open pasture. Its a 50% chance they'll use this road back to the roost. Should I put out a tom decoy in full strut with a hen on the ground just shut up & hope they travel that direction to spot them? Should I use the decoys and call? Or should I not use decoys and randomly call? I haven't used decoys all season. We've been calling and they come looking for hens. The past 2 weeks I've thrown everything at them from box calls, crystal, glass, aluminum & slate nothing! I'm confused!!!!!

I would strongly urge you to look at a 280. The 280 has the zip and flat trajectory of the 270, kicks like a 270 but delivers the knock down power of the 30.06. The only reason the 280 isn't as popular as the 270 or 06 is because Remington screwed up the marketing of the calibur way back in the day calling it 7mm wild cat ect ect. Plus the famed writer Jack O'Conner was promoting the .270 all over the place when the 280 was introduced. I have a 280 and it will kill everything from the biggest elk all the way down to antelope. I plan to buy a few more.

Man its always a great day to be an American even on the of days in life. Today is A SUPER DAY to be an American if you love this country. I usually don't get into politics on forums like this. Hunting is an absolute pleasure for me and I love to share my thoughts and feelings with others without discussing politics. But you are so wrong my friend. I'm not preaching at you or telling you who to vote for or what side of the political aisle to lean. But 1. Barack Obama is NOT A MUSLIM, he's is a Christian who believes that Jesus was and is the risen savior. 2. He was not born in Kenya, and his birth certificate is NOT fake. Anyone who believes that is equally as stupid as the liberals who believe Osama bin Laden and W Bush plotted & planned 9-11 and bin Laden is the poor arab fall guy. 3. It took tremendous courage for Obama to authorize this strike inside another sovereign nation without a single American life being lost nor with anything being leaked. The mission was flawless and he authorized it. I thank President Obama for continuing the commitment of looking to kill or capture bin Laden started by the Bush administration. Both Presidents deserve some credit. I give special thanks to the 24 seals and the pilots who killed him!!!!!! Osama bin Laden like Hitler was an evil man that not only killed innocent Americans but killed thousands of his own people. He got a bullet in the chest and 1 over the left eye last night with 300 million American names on them. Bin Laden is dead while life goes on at the WTC, the Pentagon and is Pa. If you don't like Barack Obama thats fine, their are plenty of things like taxes and health care you can be mad at the man about, but don't mar this tremendous moment with the muslim birth certificate not giving any credit stuff. This is a symbolic victory for us all. You mess with innocent Americans you are going to die!!!!!! God bless the USA!!!!!!!!!!

Hello everyone. Another successful opening weekend of turkey season for me in SC.A quick over view. I recently got permission of a very wealthy city slicker to hunt his property. Guy has over 400 acres of land and lives in a 8,000 sq foot house on it. Guess what he rarely allows hunting on his property. He "does not" like deer hunters at all and won't allow it. I got extremely lucky because he's good friends with my dad. He told me I could come and turkey hunt on his place "if I could find any". This guy knows nothing about hunting and such. He just had the property clear cutted in March. Turkeys are EVERYWHERE on this place and because he hasn't allowed any type of hunting there are dozens of mature birds on this place. Ive set up 2 trail cameras and have over 300 pictures of turkeys.Anyways we set up Saturday morning in a clear cut. We set up in the middle of the cut and it was a logging road off to our left. I sat out a jake with 2 hens. I took my wife and a friend with me. About 15 minutes before sun rise thundering gobbles were all over the place. But we didn't see the first bird until about 8;30. 3 big gobblers walked on the logging road and cut loose gobbling. They headed for my decoys and all of a sudden stopped. They were 50 yards from me and about 30 from my decoys as I had the decoys in front of me. They stood there for 15 minutes like statues. I was hoping they were coming closer, I guessed wrong. They turned to leave, I hit my slate call with some soft yelps and clucks. The biggest of these 3 ignored me and went back up the road in the woods. The last 2 stopped and turned back. I whispered to my wife its now or never. I picked out the bigger of the 2 aimed for the neck and BOOM!!! He dropped like he was hit with a 2 x 4. 70 yard shot with Heavy Shot 13 #5s!!!! I wrote here a few weeks ago about those shells. They are unbelievable, I doubt if I every shoot at a turkey again at 70 yards but HS is no joke!!! My bird weighed 24lbs 1.5 spurs and had a 9 inch beard. My taxidermist said he thinks he was 5 years old or older. We know the shot was 70 yards because we drove back to the house and got my range finder and ranged the distance to exactly 69.2 yards. The only draw back is we didn't have our digital camera so the only photo I have is with my phone camera. Hope you guys have the same success. HS/ briley chokes and you won't go wrong!!!!!

Ok here is my 2 cents. I just shot a box of this stuff over the weekend. I'm a heavy shot fan, been one since 08. Every turkey I've shot with it has done straight down like they got hit with a 30.06 or something. I have used HS 13 # 5s. When they hit a turkey they punish them. I bought a new shotgun in March. Took it out Saturday and shot the HS magnum blend. I was totally disappointed. I'm using a Benelli with a Briley super full choke. So I go home Saturday night I thoroughly cleaned the barrel, went back Sunday set up at 40 yards and the patterns with the magnum blend were AWESOME. I then ran a few rounds through at 40 yards with just Heavy 13 #5s and the pattern was again awesome. Me personally, if you are going to shoot out to 50 yards plus for sure or if thats a possibility on a logging road or a big open field I'd use the magnum blend. But if you are in normal turkey range 25-40 yards Heavy shot 13 with 4s, 5s or 6s are enough to punish any turkey in the woods. I was curious to see how the magnum blend would pattern but I'm going to stick with the 13 #5s. I feel confident out to 45 yards with them. BTW unless you have an 8lb + shotgun or a kick off system the magnum blend is going to kick you like a mule. My Benelli does NOT have the kick off and my shoulder is purple this morning from the recoil. The 13 #5s don't have the recoil as the magnum blend but just as lethal out to 45 yards.

Awesome thing you had those boots my friend!!!!! Poisonous snakes and black widows frighten me more than an 800 lb grizzly. I HATE SNAKES AND SPIDERS!!!!!

Sorry to read about your loss. Those reconyx are the best cameras on the market. I know how you feel I had my cuddeback stolen 3 years ago. I know exactly who did it but have no proof. Went to go get the camera after turkey season and it was gone. I'm going to check 3 cameras today. Keeping my fingers crossed they are still there.