Great opening morning in NY....
#1
Fork Horn
Thread Starter
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Steuben County, NY
Posts: 354
Great opening morning in NY....
Finally...it's May 1st again!!!!!!!!!!!1This morning my dad and I set-up in the same exact spot where we took our opening morning double on longbeards last spring. We heard a bird gobbling hard at first light but he was a ways back in the woods behind us. He flew down and before we knew it he was on his way in. A big rounded fan comes up over the knoll in front of us followed by a jake and the game was on! He must have gobbled 60-70 times out in front of us in the hayfield but wouldn't come any closer than 45-50 yds. Big boy sent his buddy, the stupid jake, in to investigate things while he stayed just outta range gobbling his head off. The darn jake was within 30 yds. for 35-40 minutes and has us totally pinned down. Both birds looked at the decoys but acted as if they weren't even there. To make a long story short…he wouldn’t commit all the way and they lost interest and finally moved off down into the woods. We'll be waiting for him in the morning with a different set-up.
We went home and got some breakfast, woke my brother up and headed back out to the local vineyard where we called in the jakes last weekend during youth season. Someone was already at the spot where we wanted to go so we headed down the road a little farther. We walked down towards the woods and called and a bird answered down in the woods. After setting up on him the gobbler seemed to lose interest and quite gobbling so we got up and headed down the hill to get closer to him. A different turkey gobbled off in the distance and me and my brother quickly setup again laying on a diversion ditch that runs through the vineyards with my dad calling back behind us. The original gobbler that we heard got fired up and started to come in. All of a sudden, the distant gobbler that we had heard gobbled off to the right and he was coming hard. We heard him walking through the vineyard rows and next thing you know…there’s a big white head and a big round fan out in front of us. He was gobbling and drumming within 40 yds. of us. I told my brother to get his gun up and get ready. The turkey headed to the end of the row of grapes and as soon as he got to where he was open for a clear shot…the 870 barked and Mr. Longbeard was down. Not too bad for his second turkey…just under 22 lbs., 9” beard and ¾” spurs. Although we still had an hour and a half to hunt, we decided to call it a day and took some field photos that should turn out pretty awesome (…sorry don’t have a digital camera yet). One of my uncles also called in a pair of longbeards first thing this morning and ended up killing a nice 19.5 pounder with a 9.25” beard and 1 1/8” spurs. Several friend around the area also took longbeards this morning. I can’t wait to get back out there and try again tomorrow morning and try to get me one before work. Good luck to everyone who’s still out there chasing gobblers!
We went home and got some breakfast, woke my brother up and headed back out to the local vineyard where we called in the jakes last weekend during youth season. Someone was already at the spot where we wanted to go so we headed down the road a little farther. We walked down towards the woods and called and a bird answered down in the woods. After setting up on him the gobbler seemed to lose interest and quite gobbling so we got up and headed down the hill to get closer to him. A different turkey gobbled off in the distance and me and my brother quickly setup again laying on a diversion ditch that runs through the vineyards with my dad calling back behind us. The original gobbler that we heard got fired up and started to come in. All of a sudden, the distant gobbler that we had heard gobbled off to the right and he was coming hard. We heard him walking through the vineyard rows and next thing you know…there’s a big white head and a big round fan out in front of us. He was gobbling and drumming within 40 yds. of us. I told my brother to get his gun up and get ready. The turkey headed to the end of the row of grapes and as soon as he got to where he was open for a clear shot…the 870 barked and Mr. Longbeard was down. Not too bad for his second turkey…just under 22 lbs., 9” beard and ¾” spurs. Although we still had an hour and a half to hunt, we decided to call it a day and took some field photos that should turn out pretty awesome (…sorry don’t have a digital camera yet). One of my uncles also called in a pair of longbeards first thing this morning and ended up killing a nice 19.5 pounder with a 9.25” beard and 1 1/8” spurs. Several friend around the area also took longbeards this morning. I can’t wait to get back out there and try again tomorrow morning and try to get me one before work. Good luck to everyone who’s still out there chasing gobblers!
#3
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: auburn new york USA
Posts: 2,050
RE: Great opening morning in NY....
sorry about my spelling i talked to some ik at basspro she said her husband got a 25 pounder i just said good but doubted it but then again it was raining so you never no im not saying its not possble to kill a 25 pound you all might get offfensive and or disagree
#4
Fork Horn
Thread Starter
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Steuben County, NY
Posts: 354
RE: Great opening morning in NY....
It's possible...but I doubt it too. Every year I hear people say that they killed a 25# gobbler...but I doubt most of the weights would hold up on certified scales. When someone tells me that they got a 25 pounder it usually just goes in one ear and out the other. My family is pretty hardcore when its comes to turkey hunting and we've taken around 80-90 adult gobblers (big family) over the past two decades and the average longbeard around here goes between 20 and 21 lbs. with the heaviest we've ever gotten being a couple at 23#. My dad's taken 32 longbeards over the years (all here in the Finger Lakes region) and his biggest went 23# and he's taken several more that went 22-22.5#. The all time biggest gobbler that was ever weighed in our butchershop DRESSED out at 25# and had 6 beards. He was a freak!
#5
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: auburn new york USA
Posts: 2,050
RE: Great opening morning in NY....
and its not like were in the midwest id beleive a 25 out there probably and my dad and the freinds we go camping with they said they probly got 60 in the past 20 yrs and only hunting 3-4 days a trip we go to delawre county which was #1 inthe state but now alot of pressure the road is about 6+miles long and they used to be able to hunt all of it now about the 1st 1/4 but the hunting in cayuga county is getting better ...cant complain just wished when im older id be able to bring my kdis down there like my dad bring me
ttyl -tim
ttyl -tim