Opening Day Turkey

[pennywise]

I passed up 4 Jakes, then this one came straight to me @ 0900. He is getting mounted. Notice! I said "He is getting mounted" not I am mounting him! SO dont start it! He rated 66.25 on the NWTF points scale. Not bad! Come on turkey hunters post yer best! I know that poacher Rod Knight might have something to say. Peace out ! Jimmy

[Team Sergeant]

Nice bird, I thought hunting in "parks" was illegal?

[SF_BHT]

Nice bird....

[jbour13]

Nice bird!!

Serious question though, are the turkey just normally smaller here? I've seen them putting around while out at McKall, and they look to be full bodied, and healthy. Most that I've seen are a little smaller than I'm used too. I've noticed that since I've been out East, and work my way South, the critters get a bit smaller. I love turkey hunting, and have not done it about 3 years. What did he dress out at?

What load, gun and call do you use? I'm a 3in Winchester Super X 1 7/8 #4's out of a Winchester 1300, Ext Full, and the raspy old hen mouth call. Sometimes I use the Rem 1100 if the tags are plentiful in MO.

I'm from Missouri and those birds are friggin' huge. Biggest one I've got was a tri-bearded 21 pounder dressed out. He was eating alot of corn and milo the whole spring and summer, come fall, he was to fat too run. That one was taken with an old Sears and Roebuck, Break-open 10 gauge 3 1/2. No recoil pad, just a steel plate. That one will wake you up in the wee hours of the morning. I have no clue what he'd take on the NWTF scale.

[pennywise]

I use the Remington 3.5 magnum with .660 choke and Hevi-shot#6. 50MM Red dot site. No calls! The birds around here are super paranoid, especially near Mackall. You have been hunting in MO, dude you were in hunting paradise! The turkey population around here have just recently reached the numbers necessary to hunt them. They transplanted a bunch of birds behing the Mott Lake compound in the late 60's according to a couple of the oldsters in the area. Yep I know the animals are not of grand size around the area but there are a lot of them to shoot, so I figure its a trade off . I get to shoot more! The birds weight was 24lbs when I shot him, the dressed weight is unknown, I am getting him mounted. "NIce one" TEAM SGT!, the picture was taken at a buds house on the way to the taxidermist. That pond in the backdrop holds some nice bass! Got a 11 pounder on the wall from it! I popped a pretty nice coyote saturday morning . I had a friend and his son over to one of my leases hunting for their 1st turkey. I got him with one my match rifles!

[abc_123]

turkey hunting... that's on the plate for next year.

I don't know a damn thing about it other than I know of an area of Nat'l Forest Land that I've just started scouting for deer that according to others "has a lot of turkey and turkey sign" . I wouldn't know what that was or how to figure out where to plant my butt to either wait or call them up.

I have much to learn.