My best turkey to date

[ryutzy]

today is the second day of the Ohio turkey season......AND I SCORED! Here is how it happened. My day started by leaving the house at 3:30 am to drive 2.5 hrs to my familys hunting ground. I arrived at 6am and it was pouring down rain. Lots of lightening and thunder. I ended up sitting in my vehicle for an hr and finally the rain let up. It was still lightening and thundering and with every thunderclap I could hear the Turkeys gobble back. It got me fired up! I went to my super secret turkey hotspot, (a remote deer food plot) and I bumped a turkey already there. (probably more than one) dadgum, well I set up there anyway as this spot is magical. I got out my box call and started singing turkey love songs. A few minutes later I got a Gobbler singing back at me and man was he fired up!! Everytime he gobbled he was a lot closer---he was coming hard. I had to get up and move to the other side of the tree I was propped up against as fast as I could to prepare for a shot. I still could not see him because he was on the fourwheeler trail and I could not see down it, but I was only a few yards from it. Due to the brush between me and the gobbler, I knew that as soon as I saw him it was gona be show time. I put down my call and got ready for the shot all the while praying that it wouldn't be a jake. All of a sudden there he was in full strut, long beard dangling and he was only 10 yards away!! Now this was way too close for my extra super duper full turkey choke. At this close distance that's almost like shooting a slug. The gobbler saw me and started to run, so I let him have it. I didn't hit him well the first shot and he just lifted off to fly and I drilled him with the second shot. As I mentioned, I was too close. The shot tore him us some, but I'm hoping my taxidermist will work his magic.

Now here's the important facts. 10.5 inch beard 1 and 5/16th inch spurs and weighed 22 pounds. My personal best to date.

Here is a photo at my taxidermist. (I went straight there from my property as it is on the way home) Sorry about the photo quality---poor cell phone.


My European mount from 2010 was ready so I picked it up as well. For those of you who have seen my previous post on shooting this deer with my bow, this is the buck that was shot at 7 yards.

and here is the same buck right after he was shot.

[Mike]

Congratulations and thanks for sharing the story. What kind of mount are you doing for the gobbler?

[ryutzy]

It will be a full body mount. I'm going to build a pedestal for it out of rustic barn siding. On top of the pedestal will be some scenary etc to create the habitat look. The turkey will be strutting, but I haven't decided on the exact pose yet. I may leave some of it up to my taxidermist as he is awesome at this type of thing. He won the National Turkey Competition this year.

[Mike]

Very nice. I'd love to see pictures when it's finished.

[ryutzy]

I will try to post them then. It'll be late summer untill it will be done.

[bullfrog]

Congrats on the fine gobbler ryutzy!
I just started hunting turkeys a few years ago, but I'm hooked. It's actually way more fun than it looks.
Our season in OR opened up last Friday and my buddies and I had 4 turkeys down by 8am. Mine was just a jake but one guy took are real nice one.
Hope your mount turns out well.

[ryutzy]

thanks bullfrog---and yes it's a lotta fun. Thats awesome! four turkeys in short order! I think I'll try to get my next one with my bow for a challenge. So far I've never used a blind, so it will be a challenge with a bow. Their eyesight is amazing. I've been fortunate as our property is a turkey heaven. I'm pretty much a self taught turkey hunter and I certainly dont call myself a professional caller, but it's worked well for me so far. I prefer to use cover such as brush, hills, or anything to block myself visually with the turkey as I call them in. I dont like not being able to see the turkey either, but my success rates skyrocketed by using this method. It usually creats a fast action up close shot just as it did with this bird.