Alex and Melissa: April 2012

By now most of you know that Alex and I already bagged out for turkeys this season, but here are a few pics of the birds. We were hunting out at a guys property who goes to our church, he has a farm on over 200 acres of just prime everything. It has woods, fields, a great trout stream, and a backdrop of cliff overhangs to complete the picturesque setting. It was a brisk morning (about 30 degrees) and we headed out around 4:45 to get in the ground blind before the turkeys came down from the trees.

When we got there and started walking to our spot we noticed about 10 turkeys roosted high in the trees not 100 yards from our ground blind, so we had to be extra quiet getting in, but we did make it in unnoticed. Sitting in the blind that was actually in the cow/horse pasture we waited for them to come down and listened to them talk to each other for about half an hour before they finally decided to come down.

We watched them come right into the pasture and start casually feeding next to the cattle. There were probably about 6 hens, 4 jakes, and one really nice tom in the bunch. We watched them right in front of us about 85 yards out, eating, clucking, gobbling, and even sparring with one another for another half an hour. Then, after calling sporadically throughout the morning the big tom finally noticed out jake and hen decoy. Well, once he saw them, it was over. (For him, that is) *Side note* We had borrowed some really nice Avian X decoys from another friend and they were definitely worth it, they were so realistic. Anyways, 'ol tom turkey came right in to the decoy so close that he was bumping into it to see what it was all about. Not to soon after we decided to let Alex get a shot at it with his long bow at about 10 hards, and then I would back him up with the Benelli if he missed. Alex made a sweet head shot, though, and I was not needed and the bird went down about 15 yards off to our right.

Well, all this commotion got the attention of the group of about 6 jakes that had accumulated in the distance, and they came running over looking for a fight. We had spotted one other tom that was not as nice as Alex's but still better than a jake in the group of younger birds. All the jakes and one tom ganged up on this decoy and were just throttling it, it was the coolest thing to see in person! It looked just like footage you'd see on a hunting show, it was incredible. Then, the jakes pushed out the one tom and I waited til he had cleared the group and then made him a jellyhead. :) Our two shots had not been more than a minute apart, it was pretty cool to see that much action from the crazed turkeys!

Needless to say we were pretty stoked to have been together and seen all the excitement together, and agreed it probably will be the most memorable turkey hunt of our lives. We are planning on getting the tails, beards, and spurs mounted by a friend (the one who lent us the decoys) and then displaying our pictures right underneath the twin mounts. Alright, finally, here are the pictures:

Alex's nice tom-we didn't measure yet, but the beard is pushing 10" and spurs were a nice white, and about an inch

My tom, a younger bird, beard probably about 8 inches, and only one spur

Oh, and did I mention they tasted pretty good, too?? ;) We had some tasty fried "popcorn turkey" for dinner!

Sorry I'm so late in posting this, but we had the pleasure of Matt, Jennie, and Micah coming to visit us on Easter weekend! It was much anticipated and much too short! We had a great time, though, just wish they could've stayed longer...here's a few pictures of the weekend: