2023 Turkey Season

[northny]

Well I filled my second ( and last) tag this morning. It happened early and took 75 min from contact to kill. He responded to first yelp with a gobble. On the roost still about 250 yards away. He and another gobbler (even farther away) got in a calling match. When they would let me get a word in, gobbler one responded, two gobbles back at him and I am shut out of conversation.

Gobbler gets of rooste and enters field.

He had three hens with him, and two Jakes trailing.

Once again when I call Tom’s, I more often get hens coming in. (I don’t know how or why, I just do. I’m quite proud of it. I am calling Tom’s but hens flock to me. Others have listened to my calling and can’t hear anything tremendously different). They were 175 yards out moving away, and I coaxed two of the hens to turn. Gobbler didn’t like it, but he followed. He put on quite a show strutting and gobbling till he was close enough. 19 lb 6 oz with 9” plus beard.

After he was down, the two Jakes came in and beat up on him a bit. Payback I suspect. Second photo they approach.

 

[ccm75]

Spent a couple hours on that open pasture with my decoys.
Not a peep which is rare. Snuck over to the other side of the farm thru some mature oaks and struck up some gobbles around 8am.
Closed the gap and had them coming - they went silent as I think they ran into some hens. I saw them cutting through above me on the hill, 2 small jakes, too small to shoot.
Nice to get some action anyway....

 

[northny]

Nice to get some action anyway....

Always true.

 

[whacko]

Didn't kill a bird today but had a great morning. Didn't get any gobbles right away but.....at 7am I hit the box call and the woods to my right thundered. Estimate 4 to 6 gobblers. Awesome. We played the call and answer for about 20 minutes and I estimated I got em into about 75 yards of me and they went quiet. I was on a tractor cut between 2 fields. Last answe I got sounded like they were in the field to my right. I had stuff to do and had to be packed up by 815am. So.....I grabbed the mouth call and the gun and said to hell with it I'm gonna go sneak amd peak. It's private posted so I felt somewhat safe doing it. Walked on the edge of the tractor cut to where I heard them last. Got to the opening and hit the call......big loud gobbles back and they were CLOSE......right on the other side of a big dirt pile that was about 15 feet high (fill from an old construction project). So I got down and low crawled around it. I could hear them putting and chirping they were so close......just before I got around to the edge to be able to see them I heard a loud "cut cut" and then the whirl of feathers and flapping as some flew and some ran! There were half a dozen turkeys flying flapping and running away. They busted me. Lol. Good times! Learned alot.

 

[steveg241]

If you're heading out this week near Monson, be on the lookout for a Bobcat.

Monson police warn residents to ‘remain vigilant’ after bobcat attack

Monson residents are asked to "remain vigilant" after a bobcat attacks a person near East Hill Road, according to police.

www.masslive.com

 

[ccm75]

I thought I'd share this self-filmed video I made two years ago.
Took me hours to learn the software and piece together a 5.5 minute video.
Hopefully I will have something to film before this season is over.
Been slow so far.

And for all you long-beard only turkey slayers - yes I shot a jake with 2-3 days left in the season after lots of early mornings.
He tasted wonderful...

Volume up:


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1hMMt41kCoc&t=2s

 

[northny]

And for all you long-beard only turkey slayers - yes I shot a jake with 2-3 days left in the season after lots of early mornings.
He tasted wonderful...


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1hMMt41kCoc&t=2s

First, nice video. I enjoyed it.

Early In my turkey hunting career I learned any gobbler is a good one, and you pass on a small one at your own risk. The second year I hunted turkey I killed a jake 30 minutes into opening morning. On the next day I called in two jakes that chest bumped my decoys just after sunrise, and I let them go. Little did I know that it would be two years before I called in another gobbler.

My passing on the jakes above was more about not wanting my season to end. I had 7 days set aside last week to hunt and another 7 days next week to hunt. I just didn’t want my season to end on day 3. If my sons get up they can call their own, and if one of the grandkids want to go out their dad will do the honors. So I’m a little selective in filling last tag.

 

[steveg241]

I sat for 3 hours this morning before moving. I didn’t hear any Turkeys but if something was coming my way I got busted by some deer. It’s been very quiet in my experience lately.

 

[Mark from MA]

Had a Tom right in the woods behind the house this morning gobbling his head off. Could have picked him off with the bow out of the bedroom. LOL.

 

[42!]

Had a Tom right in the woods behind the house this morning gobbling his head off. Could have picked him off with the bow out of the bedroom. LOL.

I've got a tom that likes to help out when I sleep late on the weekend. He bang his head on my bedroom window, could reach out and grab him.

 

[whacko]

I sat for 3 hours this morning before moving. I didn’t hear any Turkeys but if something was coming my way I got busted by some deer. It’s been very quiet in my experience lately.

I've busted deer 4 times this turkey season. Seems to be a good herd in southern nh right now.

 

[HorizontalHunter]

I've busted deer 4 times this turkey season. Seems to be a good herd in southern nh right now.

They had a very easy winter this year. The trail cam pictures I have for Feb and March showed very healthy deer that carried a lot of weight throughout this winter.

 

[ccm75]

Finally getting around to posting.
Got this nice Tom a week before season closed.
Got out nice and early, got the decoys out and luckily, finally got some gobbling on the ridge above me at first lite.
After awhile, I was not sure if birds had come off the roost yet, so I scratched out three soft yelps, got a reply and then shut up and waited.
5 minutes later he sailed in from oak tree about 70 yards away, pulled up in front of me like a huey landing short and plopped down 10 yards to my front.
His head was bright red and my gun was across my lap.
He looked at me, looked at the decoys, looked at me again and decided to beat feet. Made a 45 degree turn and made a break for the brush.
Got on him at about 20 yards, with him going straight away, put the bright green bead on his apple red head and Kabooom....
As I was dispatching this flopping bird I had a crew of gobblers to my 6:00 watching the scene play out.
They scooted up the hill and I had to pass by them on the way back to my truck. I tried to bring them over but they were henned up and wouldn't budge.
It was a nice morning.
10" beard. Didn't weigh him:

 

[Mark from MA]

I've busted deer 4 times this turkey season. Seems to be a good herd in southern nh right now.

Wait til deer season....all you'll see is turkeys! They know!

 

[steveg241]

I may still head up to Maine next week for Turkey, but I didn't get anything in MA. I did see some cool stuff. The last day I went out I saw a moose. Even not getting a bird, it was pretty cool to see a moose walking about 35yds from where you are sitting.

 

[Garddogg56]

My Grandsons and mine

 

[ralphs]

Is it still turkey season? F*ckers didn't like seeing their reflection (or maybe they just didn't like my car).
First time it's happened to my car. They used to attack my daughter's dark blue Camry when she was living at home.

 

[Marty McFly]

Is it still turkey season? F*ckers didn't like seeing their reflection (or maybe they just didn't like my car).
First time it's happened to my car. They used to attack my daughter's dark blue Camry when she was living at home.
View attachment 813781

How deep are those scratches?

 

[HorizontalHunter]

Is it still turkey season? F*ckers didn't like seeing their reflection (or maybe they just didn't like my car).
First time it's happened to my car. They used to attack my daughter's dark blue Camry when she was living at home.
View attachment 813781

I would be killing me some turkeys for sure; and yes, it‘s still turkey season. Archery only at this point.

Fall season:
Zones 10–13: Oct. 2 – Nov. 25, 2023*
Zones 1–9: Oct. 16 – Nov. 25, 2023*
*During certain periods of the fall season, only archery equipment is permitted, get details.

 

[ralphs]

Is it still turkey season? F*ckers didn't like seeing their reflection (or maybe they just didn't like my car).
First time it's happened to my car. They used to attack my daughter's dark blue Camry when she was living at home.
View attachment 813781

How deep are those scratches?

The scratches basically just wipe off, beak residue only.
Over the weekend, the wife mentioned that it sounded like one of the neighbors was playing basketball- strange, as no neighbors within hundreds of yards have a hoop set up.
Went outside, turkeys were at it again.

 

[Parker Schreiber]

Eight turkeys in my backyard this morning. Two white-tails yesterday. Too bad my freezers are already full.

 

[Zappa]

Did a couple of stands this morning. A Chickadee perching on my shoulder was the extent of my bird interaction. We got 4" of rain and it's making quite a racket in the woods.

I remember duck hunting in a swampy area of NH many years ago, being swarmed by chickadees, one even perched itself on the barrel of my shotgun for a few minutes.