# LFTB 5-6 BIRTHDAY EDITION!



## JSBowman (Nov 17, 2013)

Tractor came into the field I was hunting, as a couple of big toms were working my way. They're gone now.

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## Flight of the arrow (Feb 11, 2008)

Guess I will let it ride until 10:00, it’s been fairly quiet after the hen ninja Kung fu kicked my deke !
Flight


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## michiganoutdoorsman (Dec 29, 2010)

Textbook hunt this morning. I found a tom yesterday on a property I shot a bird at 7 years ago. I told my buddy to try and get permission and if he could then I’d call for him. He got the landowners number and he originally said no because a friend he works with was hunting it. Then 2 minutes later he calls back and says “go ahead, he only hunts weekends. There’s 5-6 toms out there according to my friend. They’re all smart.” Well, challenge accepted. And judging from my scouting there’s one tom but no need to go saying that on the phone haha. 

We got out there and setup where we saw him strutting. We heard a gobble probably 400-500 yards away way back in the woods. I looked at my buddy and told him it was now or never if he wanted to close the distance. We moved about 300 yards to a clearing and it was wide open. He was still 200 yards back in the woods but I barely got the DSD’s into the plot. They were 5 yards at the most off where my buddy was sitting. 

The tom was gobbling a few times a minute and fired up today. At fly down, a hen flew from way back in the woods into the large field behind us. The tom hit the ground in the woods and marched his way right to us. I’d call, he’d respond but close the distance after every response. Most of the time he was cutting me off so I knew it was game over for him. Normally I’ll call a lot less but I like reading the birds and how they are acting and this one was enjoying the sweet talking today! He hit the edge of the food plot and I still couldn’t see him but knew he was in it behind some of the bushes. My buddy raised his gun, I called a few more times and the tom showed himself at about 25-30 yards. He was getting ready to charge the decoys but being that they were 3-5 yards from my buddy he decided to shoot the tom at about 20 yards. He was in good cover but if that bird got on top of us he would’ve seen us for sure. All in all a great morning and we were done exactly at 6:30! 9 3/4” beard and both spurs measured 7/8”.


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## JSBowman (Nov 17, 2013)

Quick question. Will turkeys come out into a freshly turned field, after the tractor leaves? 

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## FREEPOP (Apr 11, 2002)

JSBowman said:


> Quick question. Will turkeys come out into a freshly turned field, after the tractor leaves?
> 
> Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk


Yes
Faster if they spread manure


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## old graybeard (Jan 19, 2006)

JSBowman said:


> Quick question. Will turkeys come out into a freshly turned field, after the tractor leaves?
> 
> Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk


I've seen them do it. I think they go after worms that get exposed?


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## old graybeard (Jan 19, 2006)

michiganoutdoorsman said:


> Textbook hunt this morning. I found a tom yesterday on a property I shot a bird at 7 years ago. I told my buddy to try and get permission and if he could then I’d call for him. He got the landowners number and he originally said no because a friend he works with was hunting it. Then 2 minutes later he calls back and says “go ahead, he only hunts weekends. There’s 5-6 toms out there according to my friend. They’re all smart.” Well, challenge accepted. And judging from my scouting there’s one tom but no need to go saying that on the phone haha.
> 
> We got out there and setup where we saw him strutting. We heard a gobble probably 400-500 yards away way back in the woods. I looked at my buddy and told him it was now or never if he wanted to close the distance. We moved about 300 yards to a clearing and it was wide open. He was still 200 yards back in the woods but I barely got the DSD’s into the plot. They were 5 yards at the most off where my buddy was sitting.
> 
> The tom was gobbling a few times a minute and fired up today. At fly down, a hen flew from way back in the woods into the large field behind us. The tom hit the ground in the woods and marched his way right to us. I’d call, he’d respond but close the distance after every response. Most of the time he was cutting me off so I knew it was game over for him. Normally I’ll call a lot less but I like reading the birds and how they are acting and this one was enjoying the sweet talking today! He hit the edge of the food plot and I still couldn’t see him but knew he was in it behind some of the bushes. My buddy raised his gun, I called a few more times and the tom showed himself at about 25-30 yards. He was getting ready to charge the decoys but being that they were 3-5 yards from my buddy he decided to shoot the tom at about 20 yards. He was in good cover but if that bird got on top of us he would’ve seen us for sure. All in all a great morning and we were done exactly at 6:30! 9 3/4” beard and both spurs measured 7/8”.


Nice bird congrats!


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## atp500 (Feb 6, 2007)

Birds started gobbling at 5:35. I let them talk until 6:20 when I saw 1 on the field edge at 225 yards. It was a Jake, but he was vocal. I had a hen come across the field. When she talked, I copied her. Toms' gobbling all around. About 6:45 I hear the tell tale "Thunder Gobble". It's a different Tom. When he makes it to the field edge, I glass him and see his beard. I have a full strut and a hen decoy out. Normally, I only use a hen. Something told me this morning to use both.
He is slowly making his way toward me. Once he got about half way across the 225 yards it was like someone flipped the switch. He wasn't going to let another Tom take the hen! He came in on a run up to the decoys. Boom! Dirt nap! 11 inch beard and 1 inch spurs.
Pics are on my phone. I have no idea how to get them from there to here. Just wanted to share.
Beautiful morning in God's creation.


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## Horseshoe (Oct 15, 2003)

I had an awesome hunt this morning. Met Kozbow at his place at 5:15 this morning. Drove off to one of his spots and walked a half mile or so across a field to set up where he thought a tom might pass in range while joining up with some hens. Ken was watching them the last few morning and trying to figure out the best attack plan. The moon was pretty darned bright while we were sneaking in. 
As it started to break day a few birds started sounding off. The ones I could hear were the direction we suspected them to come from. I turned to my right and noticed a couple of hens up in a tree about 50 yards behind us. Apparently we got in pretty stealthily to not spook them off. 
It was a good 20 minutes after shooting time and the hens were still in the tree preening themselves. We finally spotted the tom working out in the corner of the field. He was strutting back and forth there for a good 10 or 15 minutes. (I think) He kept gobbling and pacing around. A group of 6 deer came out of the west edge of the field and worked there way right up by him. Ken did a few subtle calls that had his interest, but he just didn't want to commit. 
Apparently there were 3 hens in the tree, but I could only see 2 from my angle. Ken could see three. Two of them pitched down into the woods, but the other one finally pitched out and landed about 20 feet from me. She started to work out in the field but Ken gave a couple of soft yelps that kept her pretty close to us. She was slowly working down the woods edge, away from the tom. That was about all he could take so he started following her, right into my lap. Well, the deer decided they would walk right along side of him. When they got to about the 40 yard mark they started getting hinky. The big does were sticking their noses up in the air and peering intently in our direction. They came about 10 yards closer and I knew I had better do something now or the deer were going to blow. I was able to get the gun up without blowing everything out, and the rest is history. 
The credit for the hunt all goes to Ken for putting me on him. It was a beautiful morning and a great hunt. I won't go into details, but he put a couple monsters in my lap Sunday. They're still out there somewhere.


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## Go Lions!!!! (Jun 1, 2013)

Horseshoe said:


> I had an awesome hunt this morning. Met Kozbow at his place at 5:15 this morning. Drove off to one of his spots and walked a half mile or so across a field to set up where he thought a tom might pass in range while joining up with some hens. Ken was watching them the last few morning and trying to figure out the best attack plan. The moon was pretty darned bright while we were sneaking in.
> As it started to break day a few birds started sounding off. The ones I could hear were the direction we suspected them to come from. I turned to my right and noticed a couple of hens up in a tree about 50 yards behind us. Apparently we got in pretty stealthily to not spook them off.
> It was a good 20 minutes after shooting time and the hens were still in the tree preening themselves. We finally spotted the tom working out in the corner of the field. He was strutting back and forth there for a good 10 or 15 minutes. (I think) He kept gobbling and pacing around. A group of 6 deer came out of the west edge of the field and worked there way right up by him. Ken did a few subtle calls that had his interest, but he just didn't want to commit.
> Apparently there were 3 hens in the tree, but I could only see 2 from my angle. Ken could see three. Two of them pitched down into the woods, but the other one finally pitched out and landed about 20 feet from me. She started to work out in the field but Ken gave a couple of soft yelps that kept her pretty close to us. She was slowly working down the woods edge, away from the tom. That was about all he could take so he started following her, right into my lap. Well, the deer decided they would walk right along side of him. When they got to about the 40 yard mark they started getting hinky. The big does were sticking their noses up in the air and peering intently in our direction. They came about 10 yards closer and I knew I had better do something now or the deer were going to blow. I was able to get the gun up without blowing everything out, and the rest is history.
> ...


Awesome!!! Nice work, Jeff! And great story! Another “close but no cigar” for us this morning. Congrats!


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## old graybeard (Jan 19, 2006)

Horseshoe said:


> I had an awesome hunt this morning. Met Kozbow at his place at 5:15 this morning. Drove off to one of his spots and walked a half mile or so across a field to set up where he thought a tom might pass in range while joining up with some hens. Ken was watching them the last few morning and trying to figure out the best attack plan. The moon was pretty darned bright while we were sneaking in.
> As it started to break day a few birds started sounding off. The ones I could hear were the direction we suspected them to come from. I turned to my right and noticed a couple of hens up in a tree about 50 yards behind us. Apparently we got in pretty stealthily to not spook them off.
> It was a good 20 minutes after shooting time and the hens were still in the tree preening themselves. We finally spotted the tom working out in the corner of the field. He was strutting back and forth there for a good 10 or 15 minutes. (I think) He kept gobbling and pacing around. A group of 6 deer came out of the west edge of the field and worked there way right up by him. Ken did a few subtle calls that had his interest, but he just didn't want to commit.
> Apparently there were 3 hens in the tree, but I could only see 2 from my angle. Ken could see three. Two of them pitched down into the woods, but the other one finally pitched out and landed about 20 feet from me. She started to work out in the field but Ken gave a couple of soft yelps that kept her pretty close to us. She was slowly working down the woods edge, away from the tom. That was about all he could take so he started following her, right into my lap. Well, the deer decided they would walk right along side of him. When they got to about the 40 yard mark they started getting hinky. The big does were sticking their noses up in the air and peering intently in our direction. They came about 10 yards closer and I knew I had better do something now or the deer were going to blow. I was able to get the gun up without blowing everything out, and the rest is history.
> ...


Great bird ! Congrats!


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## LabtechLewis (Nov 20, 2008)

Great stories today! Thanks and congrats! Makes me want to get back out there again. Love these LFT threads!


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## bmoffit (Dec 3, 2007)

atp500 said:


> Birds started gobbling at 5:35. I let them talk until 6:20 when I saw 1 on the field edge at 225 yards. It was a Jake, but he was vocal. I had a hen come across the field. When she talked, I copied her. Toms' gobbling all around. About 6:45 I hear the tell tale "Thunder Gobble". It's a different Tom. When he makes it to the field edge, I glass him and see his beard. I have a full strut and a hen decoy out. Normally, I only use a hen. Something told me this morning to use both.
> He is slowly making his way toward me. Once he got about half way across the 225 yards it was like someone flipped the switch. He wasn't going to let another Tom take the hen! He came in on a run up to the decoys. Boom! Dirt nap! 11 inch beard and 1 inch spurs.
> Pics are on my phone. I have no idea how to get them from there to here. Just wanted to share.
> Beautiful morning in God's creation.


photos!!!! Or it doesn’t count!!!


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## Sam22 (Jan 22, 2003)

Success! Shot him as he was attacking my decoy! Full story coming up soon, including a miss mid morning.









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## old graybeard (Jan 19, 2006)

Sam22 said:


> Success! Shot him as he was attacking my decoy! Full story coming up soon, including a miss mid morning.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Great bird! Congrats!!


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## old graybeard (Jan 19, 2006)

About ready to call it a day. I've been into birds off and on all day. Earlier I was setup inside a pocket of mulitflora rose and every now and then I would do a little calling. Pretty soon I could hear a hen clucking real close. Next thing I knew she walked around the bush next to me, stopped, stretched her neck up and seemed to say "Your the ugliest hen I've ever seen" then she blew out of there with a couple other hens and a jake. It's been a rough season so far but I intend to kill a tom right here in the morning. I'm done being a spectator.


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## Former grunt (Feb 26, 2018)

Seen 11 different beards today out and about, pretty much all them had hens and seemed to stay with em for the most part. Think I've got my Tom from yesterday morning figured out so sounds like I'll be out even earlier tomorrow morning. Hopefully his ladies lead him right past me. I am convinced that the pheasant population around me is rebounding, I hear and see pheasants almost every spot I've been hunting.


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## Liver and Onions (Nov 24, 2000)

Former grunt said:


> Seen 11 different beards today out and about, ..............
> I hear and see pheasants almost every spot I've been hunting.


Sounds like you live/hunt in a game bird paradise. What county ?

L & O


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## Yankee#1 (Jun 3, 2015)

Great hunt this morning, my son finally notched his first spring turkey tag. Boy is tickled pink, lots of hours over 4 YEARS finally paid off!

We worked this bird for more than 2 hrs. He was not the dominant Tom we expected, those birds gobbled on the tree then headed in the opposite direction off the roost.

Instead, we had 2 hens milling around us by 7am and I was able to call him from at least 400 yards from across the street, right down railroad tracks.

He found the ladies and strutted around for them for 2 hrs until the lead hen finally broke for our dekes, pulling the tom in tow. To be honest, it was almost comical watching a tom try to strut and run that far while following a hen.

I eventually got him to stop and although I had used the rangefinder on the hen, the tom was moving to fast and my son ended up taking a 50 yard shot. Somehow the bird didn’t drop from the #5 shot, but when he took flight I knew he was hurt bad. We immediately set off tracking and eventually made the recovery. 

That bird was one tough SOB - I counted almost 10 pellets of Longbeard XR 5 shot that completely penetrated his chest, entering on the left and exiting just under the skin on the right. I’m still amazed he just didn’t drop, I’ve hit bigger birds with less and knocked them stiff.

His beard had a vitamin deficiency and was only 5” but he had thick white spurs 1 1/16” long. The fan has 3 feathers with white bars, really nice.

Beautiful morning and one I’ll cherish forever, I snapped the pic as he was walking out...








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## old graybeard (Jan 19, 2006)

Former grunt said:


> Seen 11 different beards today out and about, pretty much all them had hens and seemed to stay with em for the most part. Think I've got my Tom from yesterday morning figured out so sounds like I'll be out even earlier tomorrow morning. Hopefully his ladies lead him right past me. I am convinced that the pheasant population around me is rebounding, I hear and see pheasants almost every spot I've been hunting.


I believe your right about the pheasants. I've not see any around my place in 10 years but this year they seem to be popping up every. I had one scare me to death this morning when I almost stepped on him. He burst out of the grass. Cackling his head off.


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