Turkeys of the year 2010

DS Bragg Bird #2 has more Rioish looking tail feathers and the bars in the wings look to be more white then an Osceola. Hoping to get into Florida with my son next year to get some Osceolas. Waiting for MJ's responce on his hunts.

 

Heres my youngest son Emil with his second year in a row youth season tom he took with his Uncle Tom.

 

dont know if this will work but this pic was sent to me the other day
http://whiteknuckleproductions.com/wrturkey.aspx
it is the new world record I guess.

 

Nice pics,I'm stoked for P.A.'s opener this saturday!!!

 

Congratulations to all the successful turkey hunters! I didn't get drawn this year, but my two sons and two friends are counting on me to do all the scouting, setups, and calling. So, I get to hunt without lugging around my 10# gun! Apparently, we have the "hen turkey curse" this year. It seems that is all I can call. At least one a day so far. Not much gobbling going on.

On a side note, am I the only one that see multiple beards as an abnormality, and should be measured as a "non-typical"? I guess I prefer a single 11" beard to several 6" beards, as far as looks go.

 

I like both.

 

To me, multiple beards are like a non-typical buck. I would love to get one, and would prefer to get one. But at this point, I am just happy to take whatever mature bird i can. I have only seen 2 birds with multiple beards while hunting but never could get them close enough.

 

Ive shot two multiple beard birds...and never knew till they were down. Im still waiting to kill a 12 inch beard bird, that would be my prize.

 

Yeah Bill, that's what I'm talking about! I've got nothing against multiple beards, just would like to see them in their own scoring catagory. Even a single 12" bearded bird would have to be 40# and have 4" spurs to compete in the same ranks as some of these multi-bearded ones, scoring wise. Heck, as far as filling a tag, I'd be proud to shoot a jake. I'll probably never have one in the books, and I think it's a very small percentage of successful hunters that actually shoot the one particular bird that they've been scouting. I asked this question just because I thought it was similiar to comparing a 170 class typical to a 205 class non-typical whitetail.

Now, back to more pictures! I'll post one when/if we get one.

 

Congrats on all the nice turks

 

I would also like to kill a mature, multiple bearded bird. The only multi bearded bird I have taken was a jake with 3 beards, didn't realize it until I walked up to it, had I known, I would have let him pass to grow another season or two(hopefully). The longest single bearded gobbler I have taken had an 11" beard and weighed 21.5#.

Great thread, keep the pics coming!

 

Look at that World Record Bird. i have one that is the heaviest, registered through NWTF, in ND but my beards are thin. Getting something 10 inches and over is pretty lucky, at least were I have hunted. Only one bird being 1 1/8 inch spurs. I would like a multy bearded but I want to get a rope beard in my hands some day with limb hangers for a change.

 

I dont weigh my birds, and to me, weight is not impressive. A large bird makes me suspect cross breeding with domestics in some cases. So weight is not a criteria for me. Also, I dont shoot jakes. I prefer to get a mature bird and our numbers are such that we can let jakes go, and still have a good chance at birds. Im not knocking it though, and I know theyre better for the table.

 

you going to mount your sons bird bill?

 

I've been enjoying the great pics folks! Each year I deliver mounts up to Nebraska and get in a few days of chasing Toms (Rio Hybrids) while I'm there.
Here's the first bird....a cold, rainy and windy morning. When the rain would stop the turkeys would come out as quickly as possible and get in some strutting action. This first bird came to the decoy and calling very quickly:

Here's the 2nd bird taken that afternoon. We had a hen march across the field about 20 minutes after setting up and attacked our hen decoy repeatedly. After knocking it off the stand she left and my buddy had to crawl out and reposition it as we had toms working all around us. Here's the 2nd bird of the day:

Best was yet to come, as I was asked to take the Landowner's 10 year old daughter out for her first spring hunt the next day. What a thrill watching this third gobbler work his way 200 yards across a field strutting the whole way. I thought my heart was gonna jump outta my chest when she pulled the trigger on that little .410. Here's the proud huntress!

 

nice job bird works. glad the land owners daughter took her first. sounds like you had a fun couple of days. my season is getting close to starting. i cant wait.

 

It looks like you had fun
It nice to see the kids get there first bird
My season starts Monday can't wait

 

You guys have shot some Pigs this season... Love to see dead turkeys.. Just got back from the jungle and we called in 12 ocellateds point blank... it is amazing how welll these birds work!!



slide show

 

Got back last Sunday from my annual spring trip back home to IL. We hunted Southern IL and Western KY. My 10 yr old (almost 11) son and I doubled on Saturday the 17th and I finished the trip up by killing a bird around 10 am on the last full day of the visit. I had never killed a multi bearded bird in the last 20 yrs of turkey hunting, but we killed two during this hunt.

My very exited and shaking son took out the strutter at 20 yards and I cleaned up when his sidekick stopped at 35. Isaac's bird weighed 20 lbs, had 3 beards 10 3/4", 4", and 5 3/4", and had 3/4" spurs. My bird weighed 19 lbs, had a 9 1/4" beard, and 1" spurs



My last day bird weighed 19 lbs, had two beards 9 3/4" and 4 1/4", and 1" spurs.

 

birdtaxidermy
Congrats on the ocellated !
Is that a photo decoy you're holding in one of your pics, what's the story ?