240 pounds of turkey

[Rafe Hollister]

[Rafe Hollister]

I'll tell the story later today when I have time. It was quite a weekend at the Tick Farm.

[Two Tall the Neanderthal]

I doubled up in one day this weekend too, but I got one with a shotgun and one with a bow.

[Rafe Hollister]

Saturday I arrived at the Tick Farm around 6:00 AM. The in-laws spent the night there and he was already in the timber with his shotgun. I decided to bow hunt until the afternoon. Walking to my stand location, I always move extremely slow, taking a few steps and looking and listening. I was moving from one setup to another around 9:00 and at the bottom of a little hill I could hear scratching in the leaves at the top of the hill. I got most of the way to the top and finally made out the turkeys. There were 5 gobblers and a couple got in range eventually, but no shot was taken. At one point 2 of their heads were side-by-side at about 35 yards and I was kicking myself for not having the shotgun. Finally they moved on down the hill and I continued on to where I was going. I did see some deer, but didn't get any shots. That afternoon I sat in a little 1 acre patch of timber in the neighbor's field, facing East along a fenceline at a different timber (away from the Tick Farm) where I know turkeys often come out. Within an hour a coyote came into the field about 100 yards to my East and returned to the timber. I figured the chances of seeing turkes from that direction were pretty slim so I turned and faced the Tick Farm. I occasionally turned to look East just in case. Well, about an hour later, there was a flock of 7 gobblers coming out where the coyote came out. They turned to the East and walked away. That was the last of the turkeys I saw on Saturday.

Saturday evening the in-laws left & I stayed the night. I thought it would be a good idea to be in that same little stand of trees early. I saw lots of droppings there and have often seen turkeys there at different times of the day. I knew they'd eventually be there.

I got there right at daylight and there was a forkhorn & button buck in the trees, about 70 yards south of me. I managed to get set up without being seen. About 30 minutes after they left, I heard a huge racket of cackling and squawking. I looked up and in that same location where the coyote & turkeys came out on Saturday, there was a huge flock of turkeys. They were all gobblers & were g holy he11. It was impossible to count them, but I estimate about 35 or so. They were fighting, spurring, strutting, gobbling, and kicking the chit out of each other. I've never seen anything on that scale before. The field was planted in wheat a couple months ago so when the rumble was going on, the dust was so thick in the air it looked like fog. After about 3 minutes of this, 2 distinct gangs emerged, one of about 2 dozen bird & one of about 1 dozen birds. The smaller flock, having been defeated, started walking directly towards me while the larger flock stayed put.

Remembering the missed opportunity of a 2-for-1 on Saturday, I was hopeful to get that chance again. As they continuted toward me, I had the gun on my knee, ready for the shot. The distance from the first bird to the last bird was about 20 yards. I waited until the first bird was about 25 yards from me and picked out 2 whose heads were very close together, via my vantage point, with one behind the other. I aimed directly between them & pulled the trigger. Unfortunately, neither bird went down. All of this flock scattered, running & flying in every direction. I pulled off 2 shots at running turkeys and when the dust settled there were no dead birds. I'm sure the shot was still tightly-packed & went between the birds. I only had 1 shell left in my pocket, which I placed in my gun.

The large flock in the field 100 yards away was unfazed by the commotion. I watched that flock for a long time. Two of the smaller birds from that flock stayed more-or-less separated from the others. They worked their way to about 70 yards to my East and acted like they may be heading my way. Suddenly they turned south, running straight back to the flock. The others began flogging those two and the squawking & cackling began all over again but was short-lived. Those two birds, having had their azzes handed to them, sulked back to my east. I clucked with my mouth call and they turned and came directly to me. When they were about 25 yards to my south, I clucked again and aimed at the front bird and pulled the trigger. *click* I had forgotten to chamber the shell when I loaded it. Both birds cooperatively stood there while I shucked the shell into the chamber and I dropped the lead bird. He died about 9:10 AM.

Now, out of shells, I began the 1 mile walk back to the cabin to drop off my bird and grab some more shells. I ate a granola bar & drank a water. I decided to walk back to that location on a different route, through the timber, hoping to intercept some of that first flock as they picked their way through the timber. I spotted a pretty 6 pt. buck in a food plot on the way, and watched him through the brush as he made a scrape & a rub. I backtracked & went back to the top of the hill and dropped back into the valley about halfway through the timber.

The rest of the walk was pretty uneventful. I approached that same location from earlier in the morning and was peeking over the hill, going a small, quiet step at a time. Finally I could see the south end of the small stand of trees and that corner was already full of turkeys again. I got on my hands & knees and crawled as slowly as I could through the ragweed. When I got to about 10 yards from the fenceline, I could see plenty of turkeys about 10-50 yards on the other side of the fence. I got on one knee & picked out a hen about 35 yards away. She fell when I shot and the whole timber erupted. There was easily another 30+ birds in that flock. Some of these may have been from that flock from earlier in the morning, but there were a lot of hens in the flock now.

So there's a crapload of turkeys at the Tick Farm & with at least 35 gobblers, it's gonna be a helluva Spring season.

[Two Tall the Neanderthal]

Rafe my brother, good show... but just an insight from a fella that's killed a few, wacking two with one shot is fun, but I never worry anymore about it. If you kill one and it flops the others never know what to do and you can just shoot again.

[PoisonSnake]

That is one of the best pictures of you that I have seen Rafe. You must be working out or laying in a tanning bed or something. Keep up the good work.

[Roscoe Dog]

Good job Rafe on the two birds.










Good job on the two birds Rafe.
Sounds like PS is hitting on ya Rafe. Watch your backside.

[Rafe Hollister]

Yeah, 2tall, I was kicking myself for not just aiming at one and seeing what happened. I'm sure I could've taken two at once with that many right there.

I wish you all could've seen the commotion when those birds came out and started fighting. It was unreal.

[Two Tall the Neanderthal]

I once saw a 100 bird flock break into fighting spasms in the deep of winter. It was pure mayhem. There looked to be no allegiances at all. Every bird for itself. It went on for less than two minutes but they were so darn loud that they could have drowned out the sound from a flock of geese. You would have thought they were all on fire the way they were jumping up and down and running in circles.

[LadyAngler]

Congrats. Nice pic. The backyard birds... formerly known as "my backyard birds" provided several fabulous group fight scenes. Bird fights are cool.

[Warmouth]

One openning day of deer season I saw more turkeys than I'd ever seen go all apechit on each other in a big bottom up near Kirksville. The sound was deafening with the fly down cackles, gobbles, purrs, etc. I didn't see any deer for at least an hour after that either.

[Jim Davis]

Is that a canary on the right? You are quite the conservationist killing a yearling turkey. What's next during deer season you going to kill bambi as well.

[Rafe Hollister]

If there was a season on canaries, I'd kill them, too. If Bambi gives me the chance, I'll skewer him with an arrow this weekend.

[Jim Davis]

On your property or someone else's? Let me guess 10-50 yards across the fence.

[Rafe Hollister]

Anywhere I have permission to hunt.