Opening Day Double!!!

[rossman]

My hunting partner and buddy went out today for NY's opening day turkey. Had an awesome time and some great hunts. We each killed a Tom and got em both on camera.

It was the greatest day of turkey hunting in my life!!!

Here's a picture!!!!

Story to follow after I get some work done!!!!

Thanks--rossman.

[toddyboman]

Nice looking birds Congrats to you both!! cant wait to read the story!

[Turkeygirl]

Great job!!

[Rhino]

Congrats to both of you on your opening day double.

[beagleboy]

That's a great day. Congrats to both of you on some fine gobblers. My day out comes Thursday.

[Guest outdoorgirl]

That is so cool ...congrats to both of you sounds like you guys had a great time.

[rossman]

Here's the story!!!!

Opening day for turkey finally arrived for my hunting buddy, Mike Burline and I. This year was different, we had a GL2 to video our hunts and we were ready. The morning before opening day I woke up early to go out and scout. I found a flock of birds including three great Toms in the field we deer hunt. I watched and acquired some great footage as they came off their roost and walked ten yards past our ground blind. This made our opening day destination a no brainier! I woke up opening morning, stopped for a little dunkin and some doughnuts, picked Mike up and we were off. After we settled into our ground blind, I made some soft yelps and purrs, to be cut off by one of the Toms. They came off their roost and were in the adjacent field about 100 yards away. Game on!!!! After getting my “Vietnamese accent” going, you know, “me love you long time”! We heard some hens behind us, so I decided to stop calling and let the hens draw the Toms in. The hens were calling and the Toms were gobbling. One of the Toms made his last mistake and started towards us. At about 40 yards, I took my safety off, asked Mike, “you got him”. Mike said, “yep, smoke him”. I pulled the trigger, and bird number one, my best bird to date, is in hand. He weighed about 22 pounds, 8½ inch beard, and 1 inch spurs. Things couldn’t have gone better. After some exit interviews, some high fives, it was Mikes turn. The shot was long but I was confident I could make a clean kill due to patterning my gun the week before.

We decided to go to another area on the same farm, where we got into them the week before during the youth hunt. Then things got frustrating. The turkeys shut down! We set up a couple times with no luck. With about an hour and a half left of legal hunting time, we headed towards another hot farm. We arrived, and the turkeys still were not being vocal. This is when we decided that we needed to stay patient because a gobble could roar through the trees at any moment. We walked the perimeter while Mike was making some soft cuts and yelps. Then from out of nowhere we heard a gobble, and he was close. Game on again! We sat down immediately, Mike started to get his “Vietnamese accent” going and I got the tape rolling just in time. About a minute later he showed up at the edge of the field about 15 yards. Mike took his safety off, shot and killed his best turkey to date. Bird number two, so we thought? He was an awesome bird, weighed about 25 pounds, 9 ½ inch beard, and 1 ¼ inch spurs. After a second exit interview and more high fives, it was time to check in with my dad who hunted earlier.

I called my dad to tell him our good fortune and asked how he did. He calmly said, “Well, I woke up around 6:30am, went to my spot, called, got cut off with a gobble, had three Toms run towards me. I tried to shoot, and heard a click, realizing I didn’t put a shell into the chamber. So, I quietly pumped one in, and shot a Tom.” Acting as if it was easy!!! Got to love it!!!!

--rossman

[Randy]

Congrats to all three of ya!!