How did the NYers make out on the opener?


RangerClay

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My dad shot this decent 2 yr. old this morning...19.5#, 3/4" spurs and 9.25" beard. He came in with 5 jakes. Once they saw the decoys they literally ran in and he smoked him @ 20 yds.

dadsgob-2.jpg

I had a couple of jerks come in on me first thing this morning. They parked right behind my truck and came stomping up through the woods. These same two morons srewed up our youth hunt last weekend at another location about 5 miles from here. I'm getting kinda sick of running into them. Anyways, I had 2 birds that I had scouted out gobbling off the roost within 70 yds. of me. They were all into my calling and I thought for sure they were gonna head my way. I did that "wing flap" thing and they stopped gobbling. A couple minutes later I heard them hit the ground and one of them gobbled one time and that the last I heard of them. I really don't understnad what happened??? There were a couple more hammering further down in the woods and they seemed to be getting closer. There was a gun shot that was pretty close by and they shut up too. We worked one other bird at 10:30 that didn't seem to be too overly interested. All in all, not the best opener I've ever had but it wasn't too bad I guess. Lots of other hunters out there today. Will be back after them in the morning.

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heard nothing, had some hunters come in above us and shot 2 toms off the limb about 20 minutes before fly down. Ruined the whole morning. Went back out today but got out there late, didn't hear anything, but did call in 3 hens.

No big deal, get after them again in the morning.

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Had a pretty good opener. roosted some birds the night before but misjudged their distance. when they gobbled in the morning, they were about a half mile away. they were still answering my calls so we decided to close the distance. we covered about 300 yrds and heard them. they were less than 100 yrds out. my brother set up to shoot and i was behind a tree top. there was 8 birds (4 jakes, 4 toms) had 2 jakes at 10 steps. he shot at a tom he guesses was 40 yrds and it ran off. after pacing it out, it was 50 - 55 yrds away. got on another bird bout 11:30 but he went with a hen. all together, best opener i've ever had. looking forward to the rest of the season.

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Nope...we were not sucessful. I was proud of Joe not shooting at that Tom that came in.

He felt it was to far away for his effective range, and as hot as Joe was for a bird, he let this one walk. That bird hopped up a rock ledge that was about 40-45degrees and scaled that rock ridge like a billy goat. Not spooked,he walked away after getting bored, we were waiting for him to come in, but he just skipped calmly up the rocks. Must've been one of the them thar BillyToms:)

My boy is maturing as a hunter and a man. I am just as proud as if he would've let the hammer down and we were standing over that bird. You have to know when NOT to shoot and my son has shown me...he knows.

My sons and I will be back out there again this weekend chasing birds.

Good Luck to all and have a safe hunt!

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I think the block of woods where I hunted had more turkey hunters for the turkey opener than deer hunters on deer season opening day. Anyway had 6 hens and 1 longbeard at 80 yrds. He wouldnt even give me a courtesy gobble, just would go in strut when I called. Shortly after my neighbor thought he could shoot at 65 yrds, found out he couldnt ( took 3 tries) After that morning went quiet, except for 2 trespassers . Today ,had the whole block to myself, unfortunatly that meant no turkeys as well. Gosh i miss texas! I was spoiled there

tim

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Opening day, heard two, but they were on posted land!! Played with them until 8:45am, then it started to rain. Birds were henned up good, and didn't want to play. Called it a day by 9:00am.

Yesterday, I hooked up with a buddy of mine and we ended up getting onto two gobblers very early. As they came in silently, I could see that they were large birds, but due to the many treelimbs down and blowdowns in between us, kept loosing site of them until my buddy cut loose on the one. Figuring that he must of been a dandy, I cutt and the other bird came back and stuck his head up, bang!!! We were both fooled by two big jakes!! LOL!!

If anyone ever tells you that they can tell the difference between a jake gobble and that of a longbeard, they are pulling your leg!! These birds never went into strut, so I couldn't tell by their fans, but they sure looked decent in body size. 5" beard, 16 lbs. 1/4" nubs!!

First jake I shot since 1991!! Here's a pic.

Maytom1stbird2007.jpg

Went out this morning with the same buddy, and we heard two more gobblers sound off again early this morning in another area, but again, they were henned up and didn't want to commit to our calling. Long morning playing cat and mouse!!

Tomorrow's another day!!

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