5SHOT

Well my 13 year old son had a great youth hunt on Saturday. He and I have scouted this property at least 4 times before the season and each time there has been at least one gobbler in this field and at least 3 other gobblers on the property. I have been getting updates from the land owner almost everyday and he has been seeing them each day so I figured I didn't have to roost the night before because I knew they were there. Well Saturday morning we hear the 1st gobble of the morning and it is at least 200 yards away across a large pond and on a different property. Then the other 3 sound off all on the other side of the pond. My heart dropped. I couldn't believe it and to see the expression on my son's face made it even worse. I tried to tell him welcome to turkey hunting but he wasn't in a joking mood. After about a hour of hearing them gobble there heads off the woods got quiet. This is when the morning started to get better for us. I did a series of exciting cutts on my box call and I immediately got a response. I waited a few minutes and I repeated the same sequence and he responded again. I knew he knew where we were so I put the call down. He was coming from a long ways off but gobbling every 30 seconds or so. I threw in a few yelps and it really got him excited. Now I could tell he is in the adjacent field by sound of his gobbles. He must of gobbled 30 times in that field but I did not call back. Then it got quiet. It took alot for me not to call to him but I really felt he was coming in silent. Those 5 minutes felt like 5 hours but then the silence was broken. We heard a twig or branch brake but still didn't see anything yet. Finally there he was walking slowly thru the woods but his dark red head gave him up. He entered the field but knew something wasn't right. He started to putt and my son whispered to me if he was in range and should he shoot. I knew it was alittle farther then I would liked but it was now or never so I told him to place the crosshairs on the top of his head and he took the shot at 44 yards with his Mossberg 20Ga and he went right down. What a hunt. It was an emotionally roller coaster and ended on the high end. The stats on the bird where 22 pounds,1 inch spurs and 9 inch beard. Hear our a few pictures of the big boy:

My dad and I are looking to finish our last leg of our Grand Slam. It has been a long time coming. Got our first eastern's in 93, our merriam's in Nebraska in 03 and our Rio's in Oklahoma in 07. Now looking for the Osceola. Does anyone have any experience with any Osceola outfitters? I understand it is probably too late for next season but I would like to book a hunt of our choice for 2010. Any help would be appreciated. Plan on doing alot of research but if anybody had any first hand experience or knew of anybody that was successfull would be a great place to start. Thank you.

I would like to keep it under 40 if I can but would shoot at 45-50 if I had to. The farthest I have shot is 46 yards. Took him down no probelm but too much can go wrong at that distance.

I try to drill the bone marrow out of the legs. Just get a long drill bit and slowly drill down and carefully and slowly reverse the drill and most of the marrow should come out. I usually coat the legs and spurs with polyurethane. That will also protect and give it a shinny appearance. Congrats on your bird! Great looking bird!

Great Job! Congrats on a great season!!

THX!!!

I use inflatable decoys by Sceery. Have 2 hens and a jake. They work great.

Remington 11-87...

Congrats on your first turkey. He's a dandy!!

2 weeks left here in PA! The gobbling has really picked up here. Seems like the hens are going to there nest earlier which is making for some lonely gobblers! Just wish the weather would cooperate alittle better! Alot of rain in the forecast but I will still be out there!

Now that was a team effort!! Congrats to the team!

Thanks everyone!! Next week I have someone coming up from West Virgina to hunt with me. You might remember him from the old TSO days and the NWTF board. HOTROD. Him and I went hunting in OK together last year and made plans for this coming year. He is coming up late sunday night and we will be hunting Monday and Tuesday. Hopefully the gobblers will be as cooperative as they were this past week. Seems like the hens are heading to their nests quicker this year..

Filled my Pa tag today! I started out at a familar edge of a field I have been hunting now for over a week. The probelm is the 3 gobblers never have roosted in the same spot twice and sometimes would't even enter the field. I don't know if I was the only one hunting these birds but they sure were acting pressured so I was going to try the quiet approach and not call until they flew off the roost or call at all. I put two decoys out but it didn't matter. The gobblers were nowhere to be found. I could hear distant gobbling in all directions but nothing I could hunt. Finally I heard a closer gobble that I thought I could go after. I picked up my decoys and started after the gobbler. Then I heard a much closer gobble. About 150 yards up the field in the woods. He gobbled a few times so I decided to cut the distance almost in half. Put one decoy out about 15 yards behind me and started yelping on my mini boat paddle. Nothing! Tried another series of yelps and he stopped completely. Now my confidence is shot! In desperate measures are started cutting and evening did a fly down cackle and he went nuts. I knew I was back in the game. He was now on the ground because the gobbles sounded much different. Did a series of clucks and this time he gobbled in the field. With the terrain of the field I could not see him and there was a big green picker bush directly in front of me which I estimated about 40 yards. I was laying on my belly because the stone wall was too low and I felt he would notice me quickly. It felt like forever but this time he gobbled like he was right behind the bush. Then suddenly I see his blue head sticking out to the left. Now he sees the decoy and takes one more step which now I can see his beard. He was streching his head and neck while I was squeezing the trigger and my 11-87 with remington Heavyshot #5's flipped him like a pancake. I paced it off at 38 steps. Nice two year old. 9 inch beard with 3/4 inch spurs. Sure was a great morning. I am still jacked up!

Thanks everyone!

Well my son had another successfull hunt last Saturday. This was only his second hunt and he has now shot two nice longbeards in two years. I am constantly reminding him that this is not normal and reality will strike very soon. April 19th was Pa's Youth hunt and you couldn't ask for a better morning weather wise. It was around 50 degrees and with clear skies and a full moon. We got to our tree around 5am. The light was breaking and there was no gobbling yet. I was getting a little nervous. The last time I scouted our spot I heard alot of gobbling by now. I was just about to give it a soft tree yelp but before I can get one out a turkey gobbled about 50 yards directly in front of us! Music to my ears. He gobbled about 4 more times with no other sounds. I was alittle surprised there were no hens yelping. There is always hens here. It was getting pretty light so I was anticipating a fly down soon. I wanted to call but I felt we were too close to the roosted gobbler. If he didn't see the hen yelping I thought he might not fly to us so I let nature take it course and boy did it get exciting. The gobbler let out another gobble but this time a chain reaction of 4 gobbles followed all directly in front of us. My son who was sitting in my lap said "WOW did you hear that"! This happen one more time. The original longbeard gobbled and the chain of gobbles preceded. Now is when all heck broke loose. The original boy flew directly down about 40 yards out and 4 more LONGBEARDS all fly into gun range. There are 2 strutting to our right about 20 yards but there is some trees and low brush partially breaking there view and three strutting almost directly in front of us. My son whispers which one should I shoot? I told him the one directly in front of him but I told him not to shoot him while he is in full strut. I was just about to give it a call on my mouth call to get him out of his strut and he let out a gobble and my son shot while he had his head stretched out gobbling. I didn't expect that but it worked. He went right down! He was using a 20ga Mossberg Bantam 500 with Remington Heavy Shot #5's. Shot him at 36 yards! The bird was a nice two year old with 7/8 inch spurs and a nice thick 9 inch beard. Here are some pictures:

My 11 year old son uses a 20ga with Remington Nitro #5's and he shot his turkey last year at 35 yards. A little farther than I wanted him to shoot but with the situation and the terrain he took the best possible shot and dropped him in his tracks. Still can't believe it.

Hunted turkeys for the 1st time in 1991 but shot my 1st gobbler in 93 and have been addicted ever since....

I missed the sign ups so if you still need an alternate I would like to partcipate. Thanks.

That is the greatest feeling! Congrats to you and your son and I hope you both have many more! Absolutely beautiful birds! Congrats again!!

Congrats on the bird! The smartest thing you could of done was to get her hooked! I wish I did that!

Great looking picture! Great looking bird and great looking calls!! Awesome!

Great picture! That stump was made for placing gobblers over!!

Great looking calls!! I am sure they sound as good as they look!

Great looking calls!!

Congratulations on your gobbler! Sounds like a great hunt!