# This year so far



## marshal45

I live in Geauga county so can wait for Monday!! Went to portage county this past Monday and my buddy shot a real nice Tom at 6:30. Great start to the year really just a bonus week for us. I was in a field with a decoy in front of me and my buddy jumped in the woods behind me about ten yards. The gobbler came up the wood line towards me and before he could see he went in the woods and walked 30 yards from my buddy and wham. Went a couple more times without hearing a gobble. I have been to a few of my spots here in Geauga county to scout and have not heard a gobble. These are great spots where turkeys are every year. This has me quite concerned. What are you all experiencing out there right now?


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## huntindoggie22

Birds are really hen'd up right now. Watched one this morning that gobbled non stop on the roost for 25 minutes. Flew down 75 yards from me and headed the other way after his 2 hens. Only tom I saw by himself was on the way home.


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## snag

I've been out all week and saw two toms on Tuesday , talking a bit after light then shut up heading into private property, haven't heard any talking since then. Monday's suppose to be a gully washer starting early in the morning and windy. Hope you have a blind.


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## bobk

Saturday morning we had 3/4 different toms gobbling on roost. The weather turned horrible and that was it for long beards gobbling for the day. We did have 3 Jakes that came in to the decoys and would not leave.








Nasty day to be in the woods with the storm but it was good to be hunting. 

Sunday no gobbling on roost at all. Saw one hen for the first 2 hours and then finally heard one gobble. I fired off some hen calls and we just waited. 1/2 hour later with out a single sound we had a nice gobbler on the ground. No other birds seen or heard after the bird we shot at 9:00 am. Nice day on Sunday. 
My good bud Kelly shot the bird while I filmed it all. The big guy put on quite a show once he saw the decoys.


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## snag

Nice bird , the rains weren't as bad as predicted early on but the winds picked up quite a bit, nothing going today, be back at it on Wednesday .


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## marshal45

To this point in the season I can sum it up by saying that I have yet to hear a gobble and have been fu...d by way too many Hunters. I think Avian X TV has sparked some kind of turkey escapade and I'm hearing the same thing from others who spend time in the woods. Not good Clark!


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## jmciw17

where are you hunting try Salt fork st park there is verry low pressure i nailed a monster down there


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## marshal45

I'm up in northeast Ohio Geauga county the season just started here on Monday. I'm hopeful the pressure will calm pretty soon. The weather is not helping much.


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## Dillon Friend

Seen more toms than I could shake a stick at today on my way to the lake. All answered to the ki ki run from the truck when I stopped except one he was with 3 hens and had no interest in chasing. One was sporting an easy 12 plus but didn't have the body of the others. Seen a shorty that probably went 26lbs he was fat chested as they get.


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## Frostbite

Got a nice gobbler the first week but haven't been out since. Plan on Saturday and Sunday. Hopefully the birds are gobbling. This weather seems to have the hens on the nest so the love sick thunder chickens should be singing!!


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## chuckNduck

Just because you don't hear gobbling, shouldn't be any cause for alarm. More than likely, it's the weather. Wind and rain will have birds concentrating on more open areas. All the noise, and waving leaves and branches makes them skittish, and moving to places that enables longer lines of sight. Also, if you're hunting public land, there's a problem with guys who watch too many hunting videos, think they have to roost birds at night, call too much, too often, set up too tight in the morning,and walk all over them after flydown. Next week will be a different story. Go on a weekday, after opening week, tread lightly, and speak softly, and you can be successful. If you hunt private land, the same applies. Don't push your birds by doing desperate things. Be patient. There's still plenty of time.


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## slashbait

Yes desperate things! Chucknduck if you don't have em pinned to a roost tree , how often and loud do you call to them in the first 2 hours? Got plenty of birds were I'm hunting but there's hens everywhere. Heard more gobblin this year than the last 3 combined! But yet to get one to commit! Any advice would be awesome! Thanx


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## meats52

My son and I hunted private property, that we have permission to hunt, this morning. We didn't hear any gobbling and we weren't seeing anything either. A little after 7 my wife texted me some pictures that she took out of our kitchen window. I guess we should have hunted behind our house this morning.


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## chuckNduck

slashbait said:


> how often and loud do you call to them in the first 2 hours?


I start with some soft tree calls on a diaphragm, and listen for any reply. If one hammers back, I'll answer with another couple yelps, not too loud, to let him know where I am. Resist the urge to yelp back after every time he gobbles, this way he's less likely to hang up, and wait on you. Just give him a couple yelps to keep him interested, and get quiet, kind of playing hard to get. I kill them all the time like that. If it sounds like he's moving away, give him a couple more, just a little louder to try and steer him back. If there's hens with him, and they start to get mouthy, that's the only time I will turn it up, but only to the same level as they are. Listen to the hens, and call back in the same sequence. I've had them come in to see who the new hen is, and bring big dummy strutting along behind them.
On those days when you hear nothing, I sort of do the same thing, starting with the tree calls, from a little before shooting time to about 6:15 or so. After that, if none reply, or walk in silently, I'll give a short series of 4 or 5 yelps, not full volume, about every 10-15 minutes. I can't stress enough how important it is to keep your eyes scanning, and don't move around when your doing this, and hearing nothing. I've had birds sneaking in through the woods, and catch me off guard many times. The bird I killed last year was a sneaker. I heard him, and another tom gobble, not too far off. I yelped at them, and they cut me off right away. I gave them one more, and shut up as they cut me off again. It sounded as though they were getting farther as they continued to gobble, so I gobbled back at them with the Haint, and they gobbled one more time, and shut up. 10 minutes later, I caught movement to my left, and here comes both of them, without a peep, and straight to the jake decoy. I killed one, and my son missed the other. Still don't know how, but he missed, haha! I had all but given up on them, but sitting still, and being alert paid off. 
Anyway, playing it cool has killed more birds for me. Give them just enough, and they will come. Eventually.


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## marshal45

Chucknduck I hear ya on the silence. This weather has shut them up around me. I went out this morning and didn't hear a gobble when I should have. After basically giving up, around 6:30 threw out a couple soft yelps and two gobbles followed. That was it. He was still in the tree and remained quiet. Set up for an hour thinking he might sneak in but he never did.


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## Carpn

Some good advice in here . Turkeys are a odd creature . They can be really easy to kill , or incredibly frustrating . Everyone has some good advice . Here are a few rules I try to live by . 
- Don't call to em much in the tree . They have a habit of sitting on the limb and waiting for the hen. If you call much by the time they fly down they've already lost interest . Call to em once at most to let em know your there . Otherwise wait . 
- It's alot easier to call em to a spot they wanna go to anyway. 
- It's hard to call in a bird if your behind them . If they have already been thru there take the time to get ahead of them . 
- Woodsmanship kills more turkey than great calling . Be smart , move fast when you need to , but know when ya need to be slow and quiet . 

- Be setup good before you make your first call . Don't sit back and hope to call him back or from a long distance . Take the time to get close , and in a good setup . I've killed alot of birds within a couple minutes of my first call to them . 

Hopefully some of this helps . Turkeys are some of the funnest creatures to hunt. Good luck


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## marshal45

Well said carpn


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## Reel blessed

2x what Carpn said


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## Reel blessed

Another tactic that has worked for me is if his hung up strutting back and forth I will play hard to get and if he goes the other way I will run to where he was just at and call he thinks I came to him and had them come back as long I didn't let him get to far out


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## slashbait

Got a real neat lesson Sunday Am. Set up on a flat above creek bottom were they occasionally roost. Didnt hear a gobble till 8 but it was on other side of valley up the hill. about a half hour heard a shot over there, they might of got that one. single shot. around 930 like every hunt this year the hens started cutting like mad in 3 different spots. This was first time i didnt hear a gobble when they started cutting this year. So I went about 100 up hill and reset up.Eventually all went quite and at noon I headed down hill the way I came. 40 yards below were I set up in Am on way down I busted a Tom out of a tree at 12.15! That son of a gun most have watched me set up first thing and digged in for the show! Im pretty sure I would of heard him fly up if he would have done that after day light. Guess lesson here is expect anything! Gonna come from other way Friday and surprise him!


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## Carpn

Killed longbeard #2 this morning . Just got permission to Turkey hunt there Sat .
Tried late morning Sunday and they were set up strutting in a spot that would of been tough to get at , so I just watched and didn't get aggressive
Tried Monday am and he skirted me heading towards where I observed them Sunday .
Walked in last night 5 and there were 2 strutters and a bunch of hens roughly in that area .
Fast forward to today and guess where I was ? Got in early and sat pretty close to where I've observed them and in the travel path I observed yesterday morning . I also put out a strutter decoy which I don't usually use...but I'd observed this bird acting aggressive.
Once again no gobbles off the roost. At 640 I hear a weak gobble in front of me over the roll of the hill . The way this bird gobbled he sounded like a Jake . Really suprised he ended up being a longbeard based on what his gobble sounded like . 
I wait and call and a minute later he gobbles slightly closer . I stay quiet and he gobbles closer . Now I can see him and see he carries a longbeard. 
Call one more time and he is working slowly toward me . I just shut up and let him come . At 100 yds he saw the strutter decoy and picked up the pace .

I jellied his noggin at 25 yds as he approached the decoys .

Perfect example of being where they wanna be .

Had a 11 3/4" beard and 1 3/8 spurs .

My first bird of the yr had a 12" beard and similar spurs .

It was dumb luck killing nearly 2 ft of beard in 2 birds considering I would of killed any birds with swinging Beard's . But it's still pretty cool .


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## T-180

Good work Jake !!! Sounds like you found a new spot that was well worth the work. Austin got a tom the second morning, after barely hunting the last few years because of school ; he was fired up to say the least. I'm still sitting on my tag but hope to fill it this weekend.


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## Carpn

Pass along my congrats to Austin and good luck to you . Ive had waterfowl permission for yrs at this spot but there aren't alot of turkey in the area , so seeing one strutting there Sat was a nice surprise . Was really nice driving 5 min to hunt instead of the normal 30-40 to my other spots . 
As awesome as killing 2 big birds was , the highlight of my season was my 7 yr old killing his first bird tho. Now to try to get him #2 .


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## slashbait

nice job Carpn!


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## Carpn

Thanks guys . Hope y'all don't mind a few pictures. 

Son's bird 


Bird 1 






Bird 2


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## T-180

Dang Jake, those are a couple beautiful gobblers !!! The hooks & beards are impressive & that pic of your son is priceless. You have a hunting buddy for life right there.


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## slashbait

You two are sure having a great year! Nice birds! Hope to nail one this weekend and it looks like there backing that rain prediction way back!


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## slashbait

Thanx for all the info on here! It came together today. Less calling and no dekes


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## Carpn

Great job man ! Congratulations ! Man turkey hunting is great .


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## marshal45

I finally got my first bird of the year this morning. It was an awesome hunt. Two gobblers one flew down real early and hung up around 80 yards. I knew there was another gobbler in the tree so opposite of how some of you have had success I had to be pretty vocal to compete with the hens. The second one flew down then the hens and he stayed about 50 yards away strutting for about 15 mins while the hens moved closer. They stared at my decoy for what seemed forever and then moved off. Meanwhile the gobbler moved a bit closer but behind trees. I started cutting and a faster yelp and the hen took off running right at me. I'm right handed and she moved off to my right and I was just hoping he wouldn't follow the same path bc I would have to make a swing. Well he did and started moving pretty fast. He jumped up as to pose on a big log and I swung my gun to the right and when he hopped down wham! Only about a 25 yd shot and stoned him. If I can figure out how to post pics I will.


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## marshal45




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## bobk

Congrats on the bird Marshal. Lots of movement today in the woods.


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## marshal45

A couple more pics


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## Reel blessed

Sounds like a awesome hunt ! Congrats on a good bird ! Not a peep here this morning.


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## Carpn

My 7 yr old killed his 2nd bird of the yr this morning . Great memories . 21# , 10.5 beard and 1.25 spurs.


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## slashbait

You guys are a turkey hunting machine! Congrats to both of you!


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## lawrence1

The two morning's I hunted this bird after finding him he would gobble at my calls then walk away. Hmmm, call shy, I needed a new plan.

Went back in the evening and set up near his roost area just back from a rise. Some crows flew in nearby with their rowdy raucous and I hit the gobble call one time. In less than 5 minutes he appeared at the top of the rise. He was in sneak mode though looking around and not displaying any colors on his head. With the leaves on it was somewhat dark in the woods and I couldn't tell for sure that he was not a hen. I held my fire while looking for some red as he started to peck at the ground. My heart was beating like a jackhammer when finally he stepped into a lttle more light and I could clearly see the red neck of a gobbler. As I raised my weapon for the shot he dipped back below the rise and disappeared, my heart sank as I lost track of him. After a few minutes I double gobbled and that brought him right back up. This time he was displaying all of his white and blue. Umadbro? BAMMM! Dropped him!

When I went to the edge of the woods where the sunshine was for a pic I spotted a crossbow bolt stuck in a tree and decided that is where I would hang him.
22lbs, 10" beard, 1" spurs. Rem 1187sp, Hastings .665 ext. choke tube, Winchester XR #5 shot.


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## slashbait

Nice strategy! Great bird! I'm tempted to get a second tag for this ending weekend.Friday am looking good with temps in the 50s after a night of thunder and rain.


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