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Post by Hunter Legend on Dec 15, 2004 9:49:27 GMT -5
during the past 3 years, i have been seeing a monster tom in the off season, you would think this guy would be tripping over his beard, seeing as how it drags on the ground. i saw him one spring but he was too far out of range. 3 days later he was seen by my buddy, who took a shot at him but never got him. then during the second day of bow season this year, while it was still fall turkey season, i saw the big boy. i was not very far from my house so i ran back to the house and grabbed my shot gun and made an attempt to cut him off. i saw the other turkey he was walking with but not the one i wanted. never did see that turkey again. but i know he is still out there somewhere. he's mine this spring. my buddy, his dad, my dad, and i are the only people that have ever seen that bird. and we get quite a few people hunting those woods. that is one elusive bird.
i wanna hear your stories of some of the most elusive turkies that you have ever hunted!
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Post by Flhawghuntr®™ on Dec 15, 2004 10:18:57 GMT -5
I hunt State land so I don't get to see one bird like that very often as he gets killed to soon but their is a legand of a Big Ole Tom where I hunted last year and if it was the right bird he walked out about 80 yards and went back in the woods on me. The next morning one sat about 300 yards away and gobbled all morning at me and they told me it was the same one that he has done that for 5 years now. I think if I get to hunt that area next season I will go in after him as the way I see it he is smart and aint coming to me so I might as well mess with him on his on turf
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Post by Morgan on Dec 15, 2004 10:30:15 GMT -5
Legend...that would be the turkey I have hunted the last two springs...goes by the name of Clyde...I laid eyes on him twice last year...but worked him at least 15 mornings....one of the more vocal turkeys I have ever hunted...this one likes to gobble in one spot...get silent for an hour...while he is moving...set up and start the game all over...several years ago...I had another one like him in the same swamp...took three springs to kill him...
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Post by Morgan on Dec 15, 2004 11:17:33 GMT -5
Legend...until Clyde came along this was the most elusive turkey I have hunted and killed...
The Chief's home range was the same swamp and pastues as Clyde now has, probably his great, great, great grandaddy. He just showed up middle of the season spring of 1980. One of the most vocal turkeys I have ever hunted, that first spring I never laid eyes on him and some mornings I worked him for several hours from several different locations. One morning the landowner went with me, said he had never heard a turkey gobble like that sounded like an Indian on the warpath...hence the name.
The next spring my scouting revealed the Chief was the only bird gobbling in the swamp. I roosted him the night before the season opener, the next morning that old bird was gobbling a full hour before sunrise...at 10:30 opening day I pulled out with him still gobbling...I hunted that bird nearly nonstop...pulled out a few mornings and killed a couple in other places.
On Good Friday of the second year I saw him and would have killed him if he hadn't not been behind me when he got in gun range.That morning I never sat down until I knew he was coming, would call in a spot and move, give him the silent treatment and call again...we both got real fired up before the morning was over.
To cut a long story short...the third year went pretty much the same until April 20...that morning as I headed to the swamp, thunder rolled in the Southwest...I knew I would get wet...but so would he. I set up tight on him after wading a slough only to have that devilish turkey walk out of the swamp and head to a hayfield that I had just crossed..a new wrinkle, he never went to that field before. I waded out of the swamp hit a ditch row and setup in sight of the old bird just as the bottom fell out. The thunder and my calling had him gobbling non stop...twice lightning hit the pasture..he cursed it both times...I was praying to live through it...it was raining so hard I could not see the Chief at 50 yards. As the rain broke The Chief walked out from under the oak he had taken for shelter...at 30 steps I ended the hunt for The Chief...1 3/8 spurs,11 inch beard, right at 20 pounds. He had two different sizes of shot in his legs and back.
The next morning was the first morning I hadn't heard a bird gobble in that swamp in three years
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Post by addiction_to_spurs on Dec 15, 2004 12:22:15 GMT -5
Every one of them!!!!!  |
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Post by addiction_to_spurs on Dec 15, 2004 12:42:28 GMT -5
Seriously, its a public land bird that I hunted last year and plan to TAKE this year. I don't have a clever name for him, but he has gotten old by living in a small strip of hardwoods on the edge of a viscious swamp, which is the closest possible roosting area nearest the check station. So he holes up in there and is overlooked by every hunter there, as they follow the age old public land advice of get as far back as you can. I LOVE that people follow that advice because they leave so much land empty for me to hunt! Anyway, he has a very distinct gobble and likes the same tree to roost in every night. Its situated in a hard place to get in tight and setup on him, and even though he doesn't have many options on which ways to go, he slips off without me knowing where he went. Once he starts moving he usually doesn't gobble but one time so I know about where he was headed but I never catch up to him. I have gotten in close on him and NEVER heard him fly down or hit the ground, but I can tell by his gobble when he's there. I think he just glides down into a quiet spot............I don't know. Anyway, he was a mature bird last year and I saw him a couple weeks ago while deer hunting 300 yards from his roosting tree, so at least he is still around at this point. I am going to rake a path so I can sneak way on in on him real quietly early this season. The one day that I got him to come in to my setup was the one day I lost my patience and left to walk around and find another place or way to setup or get to this bird. An hour after I got up I had circled around to a small field 80 yards from where I was setup earlier. As I paused in the field for a second thinking things over he gobbles RIGHT FROM WHERE I WAS SETUP earlier!!! I never heard or saw him again that day. Patience sure would have paid off that morning!!! Anyway, he and I have a date on the morning of March 18!!
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Post by Flhawghuntr®™ on Dec 15, 2004 18:51:25 GMT -5
Anyway, he and I have a date on the morning of March 18!! Buddy I thought you were coming down here the 19th to hunt Osceola's?  |
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Post by Morgan on Dec 15, 2004 19:03:24 GMT -5
He is gonna kill him early and then drive straight through...I will applaud anyone that takes long spurred public land birds...I used to give them in Bienville and Tallahala days of my time...I try not to anymore...best call I used there was leaf scratching, clucks and purrs...
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Post by addiction_to_spurs on Dec 16, 2004 10:16:07 GMT -5
He is gonna kill him early and then drive straight through...I will applaud anyone that takes long spurred public land birds...I used to give them in Bienville and Tallahala days of my time...I try not to anymore...best call I used there was leaf scratching, clucks and purrs... RIGHT! Heres my logic, why wake up at four and start driving to Florida to try to locate a bird for the next morning, when I can hunt Friday morning and then still hunt Saturday morning, just kind of blindly probably but that has never bothered me. I always expect the first day to be hunting/scouting anyway regardless of if I locate a bird the evening before or not. |
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Post by TXbowhunter on Dec 21, 2004 1:55:36 GMT -5
The toughest bird I've hunted is a field turkey. I can set up on the edge of the property I hunt and call other birds to me now and then, but not him, even though he's closer than all the others. He doesn't even gobble. He doesn't move from his spot. I can see him from the road when I leave out there strutting and taunting me with a foot long black broom hanging off his chest. Biggest beard I've ever seen. I'll never kill him. I don't have permission to hunt on that land, and he won't ever leave that land. Some guys hunt that place, but they aren't the best turkey hunters around. My dad can call as well as anyone I know and has the beards to prove it, but he doesn't even mess with that bird. I hope he dies of old age.
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Post by olesixbeards on Dec 22, 2004 16:43:01 GMT -5
You can kill any bird out there on the right day. I love to hunt those unkillable turkey's. Makes it that much sweeter when it all comes together. I have hunted many turkey's like that, and the majority of them eventually have a bad day. You just need to be there when they do. Good luck!
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