Our GA season opened Saturday. I thought a new thread and a pic of my 1st bird with the 10ga W&C Scott and Son and 1st of the season might be appropriate...Geo

Well Done George!! Looks like a real nice bird. W & C Scott - Load? Shot size please. Best,
Dave

Nice mature bird George.

What's all that green stuff on the ground and in the bushes?

We call it grass down here where the sun shines all winter!...Geo

Dave, the gun is the Scott hammergun BrentD had in the for sale section here a few months ago. He included 30 nice brass cases with the sale for black powder loading. I haven't gotten 'round to the reloading project, so I bought some RST 10ga 5s. They worked just fine!...Geo

Nice start to your season. Hope you didn't have to chase 'em around much with the 10ga.

Are the snakes on the ground yet? That's my least favorite part of turkey season down here, having to watch where you step. If you told me I could hunt all day, find 3 ticks at the end between my legs, but not have to worry about the snakes I'd take you up on it.

Didn't see a snake, but it is warm enough for'em. That heavy 10 is a lot like having to drag a deer INTO the woods!...Geo

Geo, nice gun, bird and start to the season. Gil

Jesus Geo, you know how to surreptitiously rub it in. Have to wait until May 3 up here.

Yeah, it starts later up here but we don't have snakes!

Congrats George!! Nice bird and gun!! I too am perplexed by all that stuff, I think the color is called green?

You know, this was not meant to be a one man's turkey season thread. I showed you mine. I broke lucky again Friday afternoon and bagged the bird below.

I'd noticed some scratching and strut marks opening weekend in a small linear food plot in the middle of some young planted pines. The weather report for Saturday was a washout, so I played hooky from the office Friday afternoon to get my weekend turkey fix in. When I walked up to the two path road approach to the food plot I saw a hen and a gobbler already there.

I watched them a while with binoculars. Considered a sneak through the pines but just waited till they moved off into the woods. Then I walked in, placed a jake decoy and hid a couple of pine rows in to call. Within minutes I had a hen answer then two of them came in from my right and walked up to my decoy. I looked left and spotted the Gobbler, another longbeard, coming up the road in full strut. He came right on in front of me and I took him. Pic below:

Only one bird to go to wind up my GA season limit. I edited my last post to show pic. Many thanks for all the kind words! Think I'll go fishing for a while...Geo

George,
Good for you!!! In MI the earliest season comes in the third week of April so we are still several weeks away, but getting excited for it. Finally getting some good snow melt over the last week and seeing a little bit of that green (well, brown for now) stuff underneath! I am sure as the other states season's come in others will be adding their pictures. Add the gun, bore, load when you post pictures!

Good idea. I think I posted that the 1st one was taken with the W and C Scott & Son 10ga hammergun with RST low pressure #5s. For the second bird I backslid to my 'usual' turkey gun an NEF single shot 3.5" 12ga with 3" number 5s...Geo

We all have milestones to celebrate in our careers of hunting turkeys. The first bird. The 50th bird. The 100th bird and so on. Then there are the slams. On Sunday I achieved a milestone I have never equaled in 38 seasons. It was windy. I thought I should have stood in bed. At 7 a.m., a trickle of a gobble over the wind. I knew where he was. By the time I set up, he was on the ground. For over an hour, he traded gobbles for my clucks and yelps. I heard the hen go to him. I waited him out. He still answered. I heard the nearby drumming. Finally, there he was moving left to right. I put the .410’s red dot on his head—too far. He was at least 50. I watched his colors flash through the cover as he headed to the field. I held my ground and he answered. He was at least 100 yards out. Using the screen of brush, I moved up about 50 yards. I clucked. He answered. He came. He stopped at about 50 yards, craning his neck, giving me the eyeball. He walked off with the hen. He made it to the edge of the field. I could see his fan out about 100 yards. I moved up to within 40 yards of the field and waited. Finally, at about 10:15, I saw three birds moving towards the woods. He picked up two more hens unseen to me. I waited. Then he followed. I cut. He double gobbled and headed into the woods with me. When he was about 30-35 and behind a pine, I picked out the open spot and waited. With the red dot on him, I squeezed off a round. I achieved something I had never achieved with a .410. I had done it with a 10 gauge, often with a 12 gauge, and a few times with my 20 gauges. I flat missed the crinkled-ass sob. Photo below is one from last year.

The misses make good stories, Gil. We don't remember those we ate!

I am so shamed! I too have turkey hunted for many years and have missed my share. However, Gil now has a Grand Slam and I can claim only a half slam. I've missed with the 10s and often with the 12s, but never even shot at one with a 20 or a .410!...Geo

Geo, The Royal All Gauges Slam (Rags) would include the 28 and 16. Nit-pickers would include 24 and 32 gauges. Gil

Mr, Newbern, congratulations on your first bird with the Scott.


Gil, let me know when you want to borrow the thirty-two. I can't help you with the twenty-four ..... yet.

Here's my duck hunting buddy from Arkansas, last week, with his prize bird. I found the bird on Saturday, he was out in a last year's peanut field with six hens, in the rain. Bubba got here late the next day and just rode around and listened a little bit before dark. He hunted this bird everyday and finally took him at 3:30 p.m. on Wednesday afternoon. 22# with an 11" beard, and nice hooks. About a four year old bird.



That was repayment for letting me do this on his land three months ago.



Sometimes payback ain't that bad, eh?

SRH

What land? Looks like a happy friend and a fair swap to me. Nice bird by the way!...Geo

Sunday morning blind hog finds acorn. Two-year old bird, 11" beard, small spurs. After killing him, I felt it would be too much to deprive him of gaining weight after death, so I didn't weigh him. 20 gauge Baikal MP-18 single-shot, 1 5/8 oz. Tungsten shot, #9.[/URL]

Great looking bird Gil. Aren't those breast feathers something when the Sun hits'em right! I knew you'd come through at the end. I think I've quit; too hot and skeetery down here or at least that's what I told myself this morning when I cut off the 5:00 alarm...Geo

Fox Custom 12 gauge RST's number 6's. 20 yards. Gun was made in 1913. Call her the Abbygun as she is named after my 14 plus year old Golden retriever.

Wow, that's some Fox! Glad it is still doing what it was made for...Geo

A great great hunt Monday morning.  A little cat and mouse game around an island of brush and briars.

It has been an odd year for turkey hunting so far here in Utah. The birds have been pretty darn quiet and just not cooperating. Other than a bit of gobbling just before flying down of the roost the birds have been silent, both the Toms and hens. I'll keep trying when I have time. It is great time of year to be up on the mountain. Heck, black morels are beginning to pop so the time in the field has been a complete waste.

Momma snapped this pic of me on Sunday. The old Fox AE needs to get a chance at a Tom.

Fine looking Foxes. Nothing quite more American in the hunting world than using a fine old American double to hunt the American Wild Turkey....

You guys sure can make better pictures than I can! Our GA season goes out in a week (not a minute too soon), so I hope the boys from the Northern States will keep this thread going...Geo

Geo, Despite not being to hunt as much as I'd like this season, I am ready to see the season in the rear view mirror. In another two weeks I'll be looking forward to next Spring's gobbler season. Not to mention, September dove, November quail and snipe, and January-February Woodcock.

The Fox and the Turkeys

This is in my back yard and they are protected by my wife, the gamekeeper. The Fox comes near daily and will sit and watch the Turkeys and of course they watch her.

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Leighton, we have pretty creatures come by from time to time. In younger years I would react and shoot, but now I watch them and hope they come back. Thanks for the pictures.

I finished my AL limit a couple of weeks back with my Spanish sxs. I talked about the problems I had with the triggers and barrel regulation in another thread, so I won't call the name. But after some work, its made a nice little 20 gauge turkey gun. It had a poly finish that I hated, so I put a tru-oil finish on it. Now it shoots both barrels to poa and I have a tight pattern with the left barrel and a more open pattern with the right barrel that should still be lethal to 40 yards.

I will call the name of the gunsmith who fixed the triggers - Harvey King in Selma, AL. He turned the worst triggers I've ever had on any firearm into great triggers that break at 4 lbs with no creep at all.

Good luck to all still turkey hunting!

This year my turkey season ended at 5 PM on May 16.

This years secret to success was to set out the decoys, take a nap, wake up and shoot the Tom standing a few yards away while he listened to three green lumps snoring in the bushes. My buddies and I had been up since 2:00 am. It was a great spring afternoon when we setup the decoys at 3:45pm. By 4 were all out take a needed nap. At five I woke up and notice a little cat stalking our decoys. I woke one of my friends and whispered there was cat to our left. He got out his cell phone to video the silly cat creeping up on the decoys. I needed to sit up and as I raised up a little I saw turkeys right in front of me. I quickly laid back down, slipped off the safety on the old Fox. I raised up as high as could on my elbow and took the shot at the Tom. My friend that was still laying down behind us in the brush asked me why the heck I shot the cat. I laughed and told him I killed a turkey. I'm not sure he believed me.

The Tom was close, more like feet than yards. I could have taken him with a 9mm garden gun.

This Rio Tom weighs just over 20 lbs. and has a 9 inch beard. He had little short, less than 1/2 inch, spurs.

Slowpoke, that A Grade Fox and big Tom make a good picture, but that hen decoy is the most realistic I've ever seen. What brand is that?

Since our season's over down here and I'm in the mood to buy some new turkey kit for next year while it's fresh on my mind, I've got to get me some new camo duds like Slowpoke Bill is wearing in his other pic on the last page above. It has been pointed out to me that no one can expect to successfully hunt 2014 Wild Turkeys wearing 1990's mil-surp rip-stop cotton woodland camo anymore.

Congratulations on the big Rio Bill!...Geo

Geo, all the gear right down to the Fox came from Cabela's over the years. Disclaimer...they also provide me with a paycheck which helps support may bad habits.

I'm pretty sure this was the decoy but not positive. It has a nice iridescent paint on the back.

http://www.cabelas.com/product/Hunting/Hunting-Decoys/Turkey-Decoys%7C/pc/104791680/c/104714280/sc/104663880/Avian-X-LCD-Collapsible-Lookout-Hen-Turkey-Decoys/1802374.uts?destination=%2Fcatalog%2Fbrowse%2Fturkey-decoys%2F_%2FN-1100085%2FNs-CATEGORY_SEQ_104663880%3FWTz_l%3DUnknown%253Bcat104791680%253Bcat104714280&WTz_l=Unknown%3Bcat104791680%3Bcat104714280%3Bcat104663880

George, each year when the season officially ends, my batteries are low, but not fully drained. I, too, start gathering equipment for the next spring. I piddle with making calls and am building another Baikal single-shot for another longtime friend and turkey buddy. I'll load some shells for the next season and make sure I have enough of my favorite mouth calls before next March. Just before the end of this season I did a room-to-room search for my old ripstop jungle fatigues. I planned on finishing the season in my old duds, but where in the hell did I put them? Today I washed my clothes, put my strikers in a drilled out piece of cedar on display upstairs, and loaded the remainder of my calls, cushions, clothes, ghillie suit, etc., shells, hats and gloves in a laundry basket which is placed inside a large blanket chest. Next season, third Saturday in March, 2015, I'll pull out the basket, grab the gun, snakeboots, strikers and head to the woods. The basket will remain in the back of my SUV until May 15, 2015. Hopefully, you and I will have many more of these cycles to come. Gil

wood awl o youse turkey hunters please go up to northern nh, and kindly kill awl o dem grouse egg eatin and grouse chick eatin, feathered lizards, so we can possibly have some decent grouse huntin north o de white mountains once again?

stan: is dat yo bss wid dah 30" barrels?

That is it, Ed. Gonna have a set made with 32" tubes if I ever find a damaged set of BSS barrels that I can have sleeved. Been looking for a couple years, to no avail.

SRH

Geo.
Thanks for sharing. Good stuff. Turkeys had a tough winter up here. Only had one tom respond in two weeks of season. We set snow record of 214 inches and it just about killed everything up here. Only thing that seemed to make it was ole ruff. Soft snow made for good overnight cover. Haven't been here for awhile, good timing to catch your post. Best to all. Later, RMC

Good to hear from you Randy! We miss your posts here. Hope all is well with you and your family...Geo