younggun308

I hunted on the 24th on the statewide TN youth turkey hunt,and it was awesome, my first time out hunting turkey.

The problem we had wasprobably that we got to our hunting spot that was 1 3/4 of an hour away, after most of the turkeys got off the roost, since we didn't know the sunrise time, but we still got there at sunrise.

We were walking toward the ElkRiver (No elk there), and we entered a tree line that has some woods sloping down to a clearing that's 50 yards to the riverbank, and we saw some hens, and a huge gobbler, so we set up at the top of the hill on the edge of the treeline, and I had my back to a cedar, facing the decoys,and I had my back to the turkeys.

My hunting buddy hit the calls, and that Tom just went in full bloom, but he wouldn't budge, since he was all henned up.

We were trying to call him for awhile when I was looking back around the tree at the Tom 100 yards away, when I we back to my reclining position facing the decoys, when I looked up, and these hens just had snuck up over the hill, and looked at our decoys, and moved on, but they were only 10 yards away! I thought that was awesome, but I wouldn't have minded if they were jakes instead of Toms.

The turkeys down by the river moved on, and we tried to follow them, and even saw them once, but they remained one step ahead of us the whole time, so we couldn't get to them.

We set up, and heard some turkeys every now and then far off, but not much at all, the only real excitement was trying to swipe off ticks!

We went and set up some blinds by the river for dusk, and never saw a turkey, just an occaisonal cluck from a little less than a mile behind us, so we packed up and left after that.

I will get a chance to hunt again on the 31st, and I'm pumped, since now we know when the sun will be rising, and we'll be able to know where they go right after the roost, on the river.

I also signed up on the alternate turkey contest thread, and I seemed to have been signed up, but I don't know where, since not all the teams have the team members listed.

fantail

What part of the elk river are you hunting? I hunt on woods and some on tims.

younggun308

It's just 5 minutes away from Fayeteville, TN.

younggun308

Yes, I just found out that I am going to actually leave on the 30th, and stay at a hotel 5 minutes from the hunting lease, so that I can get there well before sunrise. That way, I'll be able to catch them off the roost.

fantail

There is a restaurant called rachaels (spelling?) in Fayetteville that has all you can eat seafood every friday night. I'm pretty sure it's still there as it's been a while since I've been but when I did go all I would eat was catfish, froglegs, and shrimp. I think it will be worth checking out if you like that kind of stuff.

younggun308

Thanks, I'll look into that.