Last Day Turkey

**41 mag** · June 2nd, 2012, 08:38 PM

19 Lbs. - 12 in beard with 1 1/8 in spurs..Anyone else score late in the season ?

**Snowy** · June 5th, 2012, 09:52 PM

WOW nice late bird!! Congrats

Yes, I usually do harvest a bird later in the season. A lot of the gobblers have their hens leaving them at that time of year. All the birds that no one could call in before now become susceptable.

**41 mag** · June 6th, 2012, 09:19 AM

HOPE YOU TOOK A NICE ONE THIS YEAR SNOWY. THIS BIRD WAS WITH 2 HENS AND A JAKE. THERE ARE A LOT OF BIRDS IN MY AREA AND EARLY SEASON THEY WILL ROOST TOGETHER AND ALL THE TALKIN IS OVER ABOUT 1HR INTO DAYLIGHT. LAST 3 YEARS I HAVE TAKIN MY SPRING BIRD THE LAST WEEK OF THE SEASON.

**Snowy** · June 7th, 2012, 07:48 PM

I did get a gobbler, but he was a runt of a 2yr old. 1/2" spurs, 6&5/8 beard. Smaller bird, but yeah I did get one

. I missed a slammer opening day

at only 30 yds!!! I believe my wad hit a small sapling I didn't see at about 15yds and scattered most of my shot.

**41 mag** · June 8th, 2012, 09:21 AM

Congrats on the bird Snowy. I heard 4 gobblers the first day. I called 3 of them within 30 yds by 8 AM and was not able to get a shot. Set up can be everything. Whenever I think I have made every mistake possible some longbeard makes a turkey out of me. This was the first year I took a bird with a decoy. It did keep him focused and I got to watch a lot of strutting .
Some folks keep the tail feathers and fan them if the gobbler is in sight and hangs up. Safety is an issue here , but I am curious about what decoy methods are successful .Do you use a decoy ?

**Snowy** · June 8th, 2012, 02:49 PM

Yes, I do use a deek. Most of the time I use 2 hens. Sometimes 2 hens and a Jake. Positioning is key. I never place my dekes further than 20yds from me. Most of the time they are within 15yds, but I position them to the side not straight inline with the approaching gobbler I do this because if he is coming straight into me once he sees the dekes he keeps eye contact on them. Well, directly behind those dekes is me. Much easier for him to spot any movement you make. Also it helps to position the jake closer to you when yo use one. He'll really want to run the jake off of those hens so chances are he'll approch the jake first and more aggressive.

I have had dekes in the past hinder my hunt. Prime example I have 2 gobblers at my place right now that are pushing 4yr olds and they yes did survive this year also. They are deke shy both of them. They will come in, but then hang up at 50-60yds when they see the dekes. They've done this to me 4-5 times for me to finally realize they are deke shy. I didn't have a lot of time this year to hunt, but if they are around net season I;m going to either not use dekes at all or place them about 40-50yds inback of me so when they hang up they will already be within range!