2022 Turkey Hunting Thread

[Doco Overboard]

I went back and looked for some records- images, something to go by.
Looks like last year near the same time frame they were getting on with it some already.
Fan all drug out, ruffed up some on the tips. That didn't happen over night or in one day. Difference is the temperature that early in the morning. Not so warm yet so far.
Thinking it will wind up quick.
I have a slate call I'm going to try out, take the old girl along. Spray paint my shotgun again and all that.

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[BigCountry14]

I went back and looked for some records- images, something to go by.

Looks like last year near the same time frame they were getting on with it some already.

Fan all drug out, ruffed up some on the tips. That didn't happen over night or in one day. Difference is the temperature that early in the morning. Not so warm yet so far.

Thinking it will wind up quick.

I have a slate call I'm going to try out, take the old girl along. Spray paint my shotgun again and all that.



View attachment 337082

Ha i did that last night and saw this picture you posted in last years thread. My first gobbler sighting happened to be on March 15th last year, so they should be starting soon.

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[BigCountry14]

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[BigCountry14]

Heard one gobbling finally on Monday, but nothing since. Cameras have nothing, and the neighbors are putting a fence in their woods...going to be a long spring.

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[DaveP]

Heard one gobbling finally on Monday, but nothing since. Cameras have nothing, and the neighbors are putting a fence in their woods...going to be a long spring.

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Heard a few gobbling last Tuesday, midmorning, once it got warm and bright.
One on either side of the river.
I tried mouth yelping, as one was close,bbut hens near him got worked up and whisked him straight away!
Fishing was SLOW, so I at least got some entertainment.

 

[BigCountry14]

Finally something this morning. Too bad I can't hunt in this field. Not that any are gobblers, but he was close.

 

[Virgil Co.C]

Anyone get out . Son and I went yesterday and I did today .we had some action . Son still kinda new so he learn some lessons about being patient and not looking .well he had to look and got busted . I laughed been there done that.it was very cold then started snowing . This morning was a crunchy walk in . Again had some good gobbles this morning .in general it was quite and slow both days for the area in general. I was working 3 different birds though today .had a jake fly in hung around for awhile. Let him walk bird I wanted wasn’t leaving his hen . My time ran out , had to get down the road . Rainy snowy this morning . All in all I was shocked about how well things went because of the weather . Didn’t harvest anything but we had live action . Didn’t hear much across the valley and only heard one shot . Anyway I enjoyed it .

 

[OneGunTex]

Pulled a nice Rio Grande off the roost here in west-central Texas last week. Was a very different hunt, sweating down in the cactus, than the cold wet MD hunts the last few years.

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[gtodave]

Pulled a nice Rio Grande off the roost here in west-central Texas last week. Was a very different hunt, sweating down in the cactus, than the cold wet MD hunts the last few years.

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Nice! Congrats.

Cold and wet in MD? Nahhh.....

 

[outrider58]

Well heck, I worked a bird for over two hours this morning. We must have set up 4-5 different angles on him. We needed to drag this bird off an opposing ridge, across a creek(onto our property), and back up the other side, to us. Once I got him responding to some very aggressive cutting and yelping on a glass pot call, he was inward bound. Unfortunately, my buddy rushed his shot and missed him twice. I kept telling him "Let him come. Let him come".

 

[remrug]

I hunted hard from Tuesday to Saturday in Garrett Co,was my first time hunting there. In 5 days,I heard 3 birds gobble 1 or 2 times. I went 3 days without hearing any gobbles at all. I never saw any turkey while hunting. It was horrible to say the least.

My buddy had about the same luck except he saw hens on day 1 and day 3.

Finding any sign was hard.I found 2 spots that had a lot of scratching in all that time. I set up on one spot for the day and couple hours in the other and saw nothing.
Is all Garrett Co like that,or was I in an entirely wrong elevation?

 

[outrider58]

I hunted hard from Tuesday to Saturday in Garrett Co,was my first time hunting there. In 5 days,I heard 3 birds gobble 1 or 2 times. I went 3 days without hearing any gobbles at all. I never saw any turkey while hunting. It was horrible to say the least.

My buddy had about the same luck except he saw hens on day 1 and day 3.

Finding any sign was hard.I found 2 spots that had a lot of scratching in all that time. I set up on one spot for the day and couple hours in the other and saw nothing.
Is all Garrett Co like that,or was I in an entirely wrong elevation?

I deer hunted public land(Harrington Manor) for years out there. Deer season, you would see hundreds of turkeys. Come spring, sparse few. They get hammered, as any public turkeys do. It's been years. I'm not sure what kind of shape the flocks out there are in now.

 

[remrug]

I deer hunted public land(Harrington Manor) for years out there. Deer season, you would see hundreds of turkeys. Come spring, sparse few. They get hammered, as any public turkeys do. It's been years. I'm not sure what kind of shape the flocks out there are in now.

I wasnt far from Harrington Manor,I could hear the geese on the lake from the area I was in (Shaggy Mountain) and I saw deer everywhere....lol

 

[lazarus]

I deer hunted public land(Harrington Manor) for years out there. Deer season, you would see hundreds of turkeys. Come spring, sparse few. They get hammered, as any public turkeys do. It's been years. I'm not sure what kind of shape the flocks out there are in now.

I actually didn't see any Turkeys during early gun in Greenridge this past season. Which was odd. First time I've been there and not run in to at least ONE turkey.

It doesn't look likely I'll get out this spring. I was really hoping I'd hunt the May portion, but I found out from my boss Friday morning they are moving me between offices at work. Doing most of the same work, but just in a difference office and organization. My boss moved the workloads over there a couple of months ago with a promise to keep me leading the team I was leading. Turns out I am too critical as I am one of the few people who are experts at the work and she can't fend off the other office demanding me.

So with a new job (even if it is mostly doing similar work), needing to drive to a new office (much further away, also actually start going in. I've been teleworking 5 days a week, that isn't an option in the new organization) I doubt I am going to have the energy or time this spring for Turkey hunting. Fortunately the office is relocating to our headquarters where I had been working at some point here in the next few months (I haven't talked to my new boss yet, for all I know they've already moved).

A whole of "gee, thanks for making your live easier by moving the workload and now making my life much harder!"

The two silver linings are our senior advisor went over there a couple of months ago to help train people up and run the workload, but he is retiring soon. So with my move, there is at least a chance now I can get his job when he retires (yay promotion). Because I was told about 6 months ago in the organization I am in (for a few more days) when he retired they would not be backfilling his position. In the new organization, they very well might (critical workload, only a handful of people are experts at it and even training people, its hard to also covey +/- 20 years of historical knowledge in a matter of weeks or months). And I figure I've got some leverage since the new organization can pretty much only keep me so long as I don't find a job elsewhere, which would knee cap them when this senior advisor retires. I have a LOT of contacts over almost 20 years and a lot of them would certainly like to get me for my project management and leadership skills even if it has nothing to do with my business/technical knowledge that this organization wants me for. So I'll leverage what I can to try to turn my shitty situation in to a better one.

The other silver lining is, it'll be a technical expert job rather than a program manager and team leader job. So my "leading others" job card gets a lot of a break (though I'll be training people and have some people working with/for me. But it isn't a formal leadership job like my current one is). They pay me the same, but less responsibility. I won't mind a bit of a break there for awhile. At the same time I'd rather someone want me and have me for what I can do (skills), not what I know (knowledge).

50% longer commute and having to go back into the office (which even for this new job, I don't NEED to do, to do my job. But I am being required to. Which pisses me off). Well and an organization I really, really don't want to work for, even if my new boss is a pretty decent person as I've worked with him before. The organization itself leaves a huge amount to be desired. Also pissed since those first few weeks of a new job and getting used to it means I am just not going to have the energy or spare personal time to go turkey hunting now.

Anyway, sorry for the vent. Back to whacking gobblers. Good luck all!

 

[BigCountry14]

Man, this season has been off to a crappy start. It was supposed to be great, was gonna hunt my family property in Dorchester opening day, maybe get a morning at home, and then head to SC with my dad to hunt hogs and turkey over the weekend.

Easter Sunday I woke up with the runs and a stomach bug swept the whole house. So much for Monday. 6am on Monday neighbor texts me and says there's multiple gobbling by their house, grab gun and call, run out, sit down. Immediately get back up and run back to bathroom... wife ended up really sick, so I had to take my son to school on Tuesday, which gave me a couple hours to sit. Had 4 gobblers sounding off, one started coming but he hung up near a house below the ridge I was on.

Tuesday night to Wednesday, sick again. Trip in jeopardy. Started feeling better Wednesday night, scheduled to leave at 7am Thursday. Went out at day break, had 6 gobblers going. Most I've ever heard at home, but couldn't sit long enough to work them.

SC turkey hunting was an absolute disaster, and I was a little upset with the guide after Saturday, especially when he blew up a group of birds moving too fast in the woods. Did end up with a hog though.

So now I'm stuck at work all week getting reports of gobblers from the neighbors. Probably taking off Friday, hopefully something works out.

 

[gtodave]

I went on Saturday on a river trip. The day went according to the plan (move till we found birds), but couldn't pull them in. We saw two, and think they were both hens. Didn't hear one gobble, but did hear a shot a few hundred yards away around 9am (public land).

 

[BigCountry14]

Pulled a nice Rio Grande off the roost here in west-central Texas last week. Was a very different hunt, sweating down in the cactus, than the cold wet MD hunts the last few years.

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Nice bird!

 

[gwchem]

Had gobbling on the ridge the whole time until we set decoys and sat down. Then dead silent. Watched one fly off the roost.

I called in a hen after talking with her for about an hour. Then she flew off. Four Jakes walked into the decoys 10 minutes later. Three ran away.

 

[BigCountry14]

This thread has been slow this year. Ton of birds in my area, they're just kicking my butt!

 

[remrug]

This thread has been slow this year. Ton of birds in my area, they're just kicking my butt!

I went for 5 days the first week of the season and the only Toms I heard gobbled once or twice on the roost and that was it. Made for a really tough hunt.
Are they gobbling better now? I may get a couple more days to hunt later this week