Official PAFOA Harvest Thread (WARNING may be considered graphic by some)

**Gyoas759** · April 28th, 2018, 12:48 PM

Spring turkey season is here! 6:40 this morning. Heard several gobblers on the roost last night and laid my game plan. Tossed and turned half the night. After a 4 am wake up, I was below a strut zone that was frequented last spring. Gave a pair of soft tree yelps at first light. Birds were hammering on and off the roost. Crows, owls, distant trucks, they were going nuts! They flew down a little before 6. Gave some soft yelps and got a response and I went silent, but after about 20 minutes they started to drift off a bit. I gave a few more spirited yelps and soon had them coming. Saw them walk across a flat about 70 yards away. Three long beards. I stayed still and quiet. They worked across the bench toward me. They dropped down the hill below me but still closed the distance. Thick and brushy there. First one that gave me a clear shot, put the sights on his head and pulled the trigger. Folded at 35 yards. 3/4 inch spurs and 8 1/4 inch beard. Great opening day of the season. Meat is chilling the fridge now. I bought the "Special Spring Turkey" tag so I have one more tag for the spring season.

**gghbi** · April 28th, 2018, 01:11 PM

Congrats! The turkey is arguably the most difficult of the PA Triple Trophy to hunt successfully. Looks like you got a good one.+

**Walleye Hunter** · April 28th, 2018, 01:15 PM

Congrats on the turkey, you make it sound so easy.

**Gyoas759** · April 28th, 2018, 01:28 PM

Thanks! This is only the second turkey I've ever taken. I chalk it up to scouting and some luck. Locating their roost site last night combined with this being the first day and the birds have not been called to all year probably tipped the odds significantly. But I'm thrilled. My last turkey was a jake. This is my first mature bird.

**pahuntnfool** · April 28th, 2018, 09:16 PM

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Was a quick morning 6 birds gobbling on the roost. They flew down a little after 6. I got a little more aggressive with calling and they came in. Had 2 come in at 30 yards it was over by 6 30.

**Qtrborecrazy** · April 28th, 2018, 11:32 PM

You turkeys are killin some turkeys.

**ar15jules** · April 28th, 2018, 11:35 PM

Nice job on the birds guys. It was steady rain here so I trout fished.

**TooBigToFit** · April 29th, 2018, 11:36 PM

Good job guys!

Not quite as much luck with me... I had 2 males run in within 20 yards or so at around 6:30 yesterday... I had my gun shouldered and ready to go, but I didn't take a shot on either because I wasn't too sure if I saw their beards... The way the elevation was made it hard to see if they had them. They went down the ridge to my left. I had clucked back and forth with them for a couple of minutes after that (was desperately hoping to get them back up so I could have another look). Alas, off they went...

So the question is, as a relatively new hunter, did I make the right call? Or should I have taken it?

**eatmydust** · April 30th, 2018, 06:41 AM

I'm planning a day trip up to the Poconos Wednesday to hunt gobblers, I'll update after the hunt.

I love Spring gobbler hunting, for those of you who hunt but haven't hunted turkeys, I liken it to a cross between goose and deer hunting. You get to be out stalking around the woods and enjoying the beautiful Spring leaf out and weather and then once you locate a gobbler, you hunker down and call a bit and wait for him/them to come in while the anticipation mounts. You need to be patient to the Nth degree, these things a warier than a ten point buck and their vision is second to none, thank God they don't have a great sense of smell or they would never get harvested.

Fall turkey hunting is a bit different and a good bit harder, but it still incorporates the stalking/still hunting and calling of Spring gobbler hunting. I highly recommend both seasons.

**eatmydust** · May 2nd, 2018, 09:04 PM

New entry to stay atop the forum.

I day-tripped up to the Poconos for a Spring gobbler hunt and had one of my best days in the woods ever! The weather was gorgeous, 50s to 70s, little to no wind in the morning and abundant sunshine. After leaving our house in S.E. Chester Co. and driving 3 hours to the south Poconos between Jim Thorpe and Blakeslee, I arrived at my destination about 6:15 am. Within 20 minutes, I had a gobbler answering my yelps and had him coming in on a string. About 5 min. into my duet with the gobbler, a hen started cackling and cutting off to my right and continued to close. Well, she ended up intercepting the gobbler within sight of my location and they strolled off in the same direction, not to be heard from again, for the next couple of hours!

While calling to the 1st gobbler, I had heard a 2nd gobbler directly behind me within 150 yards or so. I turned my attention to gobbler #2 and closed some difference between he and I. He started to work his way toward me faster than I expected, so I plopped down in the middle of some thick stuff, just off of a trail and kept up the dialogue with bachelor #2. He kept gobbling and getting closer but never showed himself and eventually strolled off, still answering my pleas. I then decided to change locations and try calling bachelor #2 from another direction but to no avail, not a peep.

Around 8:30, everybody was quiet, so I decided to go back to the truck and take a nap since I awoke at 2 am. After resting, snacking and a short nap, I decided to get back to hunting and chose to go sit between gobblers #1 and #2 and tnrow some yelps out to see who might answer. Nothing, nobody, nada for about 30 min., so I chose to try gobbler #1 and strolled off down a trail in the direction he and bachelorette #1 headed off in earlier in the day. Still hunting, or as I call it in turkey hunting, trolling. I Slowly strolled and stopped every 50 yards or so to yelp and cut, 100 yards, 200 yards, another 50yds. or so and I saw a slight rise with a hunter's stone stack at the base of a tree, which I decided I would take a seat in and give a couple of yelps.

After the second set of cuts and yelp, a gobbler answered from 100+ yards away, from the other side of the path I has been on., Yelp, gobble, yelp, gobble, he was hot and within about 5 min., I could tell he was headed my way. Answering every one of my yelps, he kept coming and showed himself about 75 or 80 yards out. He was fanning, strutting and gobbling, looking side to side and expecting to see the object of his amorous intentions any moment. I decided that once he crossed the trail about 40 yards away, I was going to drop the hammer on him. Of course, he hung up just on the other side of the trail and kept fanning, looking brilliant in the morning sun.

Eventually, he crossed the trail and I hit him with a 3" load of #4 shot just a little low. It took his legs out from under him and broke 1 wing. He wasn't going anywhere but his head was up and he flopped and kept trying to takeoff. I watched him for a minute or 2, confident he wasn't going to get away and waiting for his head to go down and expire. Well, I decided to put him out of his misery with another load of 4s and he stopped flopping and lay still. From my best estimate, it was right about 11:15 am.

Sorry about the picture quality but my phones .jpeg files are too big to post, so you got a cropped pic of the head and beard.

Thank you Lord for a great day in the PA woods!