Clap33

Let me know if you want to hunt in Ohio next year. I have access to some pretty good private land and am working on getting access to over 10,000 acres of private land in southern ohio. Would be willing to take you and a partner out next year.

Well I went out yesterday and unfortunately I got out there alittle late as the birds were already on the ground. I got set up in the power line only to have the two birds walk back and forth on the opposite hill that I dont have permission to hunt. They walked back and forth for atleast 3 hours and would never come over to my side of the hill. Finally about 10:30 I made a move to try and get closer to where they were. These 2 birds gobbled their heads off for the first couple hours and then went totally silent. I got to the bottom of my hill and made a few calls to see if I could locate them and wouldn't ya know it they busted me. One gobble and they were gone. This brings me to today. I knew where these birds were going to roost so I got in there early and they were seperated. One gobbled from the left of the hill and the other from the right. I made a few soft tree calls and both of them exploded. When it came time for the fly down both birds went over the other side of the hill. Every fifteen minutes or so I would do some clucking and yelps and found out that there were actually 3 birds. I had 2 birds gobbling from the left and they were on their way. Some how they managed to sneak behind me without me seeing them cause the next thing I know they are about 40 yards behind me spittin and drummin. I finally got to where I could turn around without them seeing me and all I could do was watch them strut and walk off. I gave them about 30 minutes to make sure they were out of there and then I went back to the power line and set out my hen decoy. Out of nowhere 2 birds light the woods up behind me on the other hill. They gobbled for about 30 minutes and then went their seperate ways. The one bird I thought was going to come to me but instead he had other ideas. He walked so far away I could hardly hear him gobble. I sat there for about 45 more minutes when all of the sudden I caught movement in the power line on the next property over. I quickly noticed the size of the bird and saw the beard hangin down. He was on his way. I bought the new carrylite pretty mama feeding hen decoy and he could hardly look away from her. Once he got just underneath the fence he stood straight up with head out and I leveled him at 42 yards. I checked him in and they said he weighed 20 pounds but he is a lot bigger bird than the one I shot last monday that weighed 21 so I need to get a scale and weigh him myself. For know I will put what the check station said. 20# 10 1/8 beard and 1 1/8 inch spurs.

Congrats guys!! Nice birds!

Thanks guys!!! It was pretty tense for about an hour and I loved every minute of it. When it came down to it those 4 birds just couldnt stand it any longer. Going back down there next week to try for #2.

Well I headed down to southern Ohio yesterday for our opener and things started off rough. Bout 6:15 I heard the first bird gobble from the same hill that they are on every year. He was followed by 4 other birds gobbling and 3 of those birds were on the same hillside. After some soft yelps and clucks I shut up and just waited. Bout 30 minutes later I called again and to my suprise I had 2 birds gobble at me from the woods in front of the powerline I was sitting in. Got the gun up and got ready only to have them walk down the hill out of sight. I let out a few soft purrs and clucks and they came back only to leave again. They walked to the bottom of the hill and gobble so I called again and they came back up. Not once did they come out in the opening. They gobble a few more times and walked back down the hill so I called again only this time when they gobbled I heard the neighbor guy shoot. Game over after all that. Never knew those guys were there. So i picked up my decoys and headed back to the truck to figure out my next move. Once back to the truck I thought I heard another bird gooble from back across the road. I hit the box call and sure enough he gobbled again. Got in the truck and headed back down to the pasture by the barns. Got out of the truck and hit the call again only to have that bird gobble from the bottom of the pasture. Next thing I know I see his tail fan and then head pop up over the little knoll and he is within 75 to 100 yards of me standing at the truck. He strutted around for a few minutes gobbling like crazy. While he was standing there 2 other birds started gobbling and coming down the hill toward the first bird. Now I am penned down by 3 toms. The only thing I could think to do was circl around to my right on the back side of the hill and crawl to a spot and get set up. I put the decoy out in the middle of the trail and got set up. I called every few minutes and the birds just stayed at the bottom of the hill and gobbled. About 30 minutes in I thouhgt I had on coming cause he gobbled from just behind where the decoy was but I couldnt see him and he never came out. Just like that he was back at the bottom of the hill with the others. I shut up for the next 20 minutes and listened to them scratch around and gooble. When it sounded like they were walking away I hit them with some excited calls and brought them back up the hill. The funny thing was my right leg was totally numb so to get it to wake up I started moving it to make it sound like a turkey scratching in the leaves. Mixed with some soft calling 4 toms came up to where I could see them. I had my bead on the one that was in half strut and when 2 others looked like they were gonna leave I let him have it. The bird ended up being 21 pounds with inch long spurs and the beard was 9 3/8 inches long. Not my best bird but a great hunt to go with a bird I had to work for I counldnt have asked for more after the neighbor shot the other bird.

Great story!! I too hunt with an older guy any chance I get. He had a bypass surgery 2 years ago and although it takes us longer to get where we are going he still enjoys every minute of it. Congrats on getting the bird. We hope to do the same come Monday moring!!

All right guys and girls I need some input. I am going to assume that everyone here has seen or had first hand experience with the newer full body decoys. I have the Pretty Boy combo that I just bought last year. The question I have about it is what time of year are you guys seeing success with it. I live in Ohio where our season doesnt come in till the middle of April. By then alot of states seasons are almost over. I have been scouting around a few of my places and the turkeys are gobbling like crazy and have heard reports of lots of breading . For some reason our season comes in after the biggest part of breeding occurs. Seems to me that most of the videos I have seen that use the full body strut decoys tend to be in the south or western states where the season comes in late march or the first part of April. Last year I had 2 toms that could clearly see my decoys and they never gave them much attention. Could it be that it is because our season is later and much of fighting has already been done. Also Ohio is going to try something this year and let us hunt all day for the last 2 weeks of the season. Right now we can only hunt till noon. Do you think these decoys will have more influence when hunting all day when the toms are looking for another hen? Just trying to get some input on what others think. Thanks!!

Thanks guys! I think I will use the rage 3 blade from know on. Tominator I was hunting in pickaway county down by Mount Sterling. This cold snap had the deer moving out there too. I had just put a new card in my camera on wednesday morning and already had 25 pics by the time I got out there yesterday. Now its time to go out and shoot a couple does.

Went out this morning and froze to death for the first couple hours until the sun burned off all of the fog. Sat in the stand until almost 11 when I decided to get down and go get some lunch. Get to the bottom of the tree and 2 does are walking the fence row right down to me. So I climb back up and get ready for a shot. Both does cut into the fence row and go into the corn. About 2 minutes later I see antlers through the trees. He is walking the fence row on the corn field side. I drew back and as soon as he cleared the trees I released my arrow with the rage 3 blade and it hit the mark. It left the biggest blood trail I have ever seen. He ran down the first row of corn and it looked like someone took 2 paint brushes with read paint and painted the corn as they ran down the row. First time I used any mechanical broadheads and it worked wonders. Dont have any pics of him on the ground but I caught him on the trail camera last night. Not a bad 8 pointer!!

I just had the same problem and I took it to the pro shop and had a new string loop put on it and have not had a problem since. I would start there before getting a new string.

I use it quite a bit. I found that if I use it in the woods I have better results than I do in farm land. I would go through a 40# bag of corn and half a jug of Cmere deer in about 2 days in the woods where it would take almost 2 weeks at the farm. I have also talked to people that it never worked for. Guess it depends on what else the deer has to eat around there.

Hope everyone is safe and has a good time tomorrow. Hope to see some pics of early season success!!

I carry a backpack. I usually wear just my base layers while walking to the tree. A backpack allows me to carry all of my extra coats and bibs plus the regular stuff I carry in.

I have the same problem and it drives me nuts. I have to readjust my peep after every shot. Even though season opens on saturday I am taking it to the proshop and having a peep with the tubing put on. That sould eliminate the problem. Cant take the chance of it not being right when the big one walks by!!

I just got the rest of my stuff together tonight. The bows tuned up and shootin great. Got all my clothes washed last week and put into their tote and got some good deer hitting the corn pile. Saturday cant get here soon enough!!