Thunderflight
04-27-2008, 03:40 PM
The last two weeks have sucked. Avon park was a bust, my truck died, my wife ggot sick so I had to stay home instead of turkey hunting with Lee in SC, and because of all the above this years NC turkey season hasn't been a exceptionally difficult. Just when I was ready to throw in the towel on this years season I got lucky. http://www.bearbaytraditionalarchers.com/forum/images/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif
On base we can hunt on Sundays so this morning I hooked up with a friend and headed out to try our luck. At first things weren't looking good because there was hardly any turkey sign in an area that just a few weeks ago was HOT. Around 0700 we heard a bird waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay off and tried to get to him, but the woods just became to thick so we backed out. On the way back to the car we heard him again and were about to make another run at him using a different route when we heard a gobble in much closer in another area, but we couldn't chase him because we were only signed out for the location we were currently in. We decided to check out of the location we were currently in and head over the area (impact area for a tank range) with the closer bird. 30 minutes later we were ready to go and he was still around.
He only gobbled a few times and after a cat and mouse game we finally got set up. It took about an hour for him to finally make his way to us. I had actually dozed off and woke up to see a full fan about 75 yards way in the brush. 10 minutes later he closed the distance to 30 yards and was greeted with some hot Wichester #5 12 gauge shot turkey shot. http://www.bearbaytraditionalarchers.com/forum/images/smiles/icon_wink.gif
He weighed in at 15 pounds and had a 10 inch beard with 1 1/4 spurs. The birds the Greater Sandy Run Training Area tend to be small and rarely weigh more than 17 pounds. It's amazing because an hour down the road are some NC game lands with BIG birds.
Anyway, he's breasted out and I'll be smoking them later.
http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b150/baughncr/2008NCSandyRunTurkey.jpg?t=1209328701
http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b150/baughncr/LimbHangerII.jpg?t=1209328733
http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b150/baughncr/LimbHangersdff.jpg?t=1209328760
http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b150/baughncr/Turkeywalk.jpg?t=1209328787
On base we can hunt on Sundays so this morning I hooked up with a friend and headed out to try our luck. At first things weren't looking good because there was hardly any turkey sign in an area that just a few weeks ago was HOT. Around 0700 we heard a bird waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay off and tried to get to him, but the woods just became to thick so we backed out. On the way back to the car we heard him again and were about to make another run at him using a different route when we heard a gobble in much closer in another area, but we couldn't chase him because we were only signed out for the location we were currently in. We decided to check out of the location we were currently in and head over the area (impact area for a tank range) with the closer bird. 30 minutes later we were ready to go and he was still around.
He only gobbled a few times and after a cat and mouse game we finally got set up. It took about an hour for him to finally make his way to us. I had actually dozed off and woke up to see a full fan about 75 yards way in the brush. 10 minutes later he closed the distance to 30 yards and was greeted with some hot Wichester #5 12 gauge shot turkey shot. http://www.bearbaytraditionalarchers.com/forum/images/smiles/icon_wink.gif
He weighed in at 15 pounds and had a 10 inch beard with 1 1/4 spurs. The birds the Greater Sandy Run Training Area tend to be small and rarely weigh more than 17 pounds. It's amazing because an hour down the road are some NC game lands with BIG birds.
Anyway, he's breasted out and I'll be smoking them later.
http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b150/baughncr/2008NCSandyRunTurkey.jpg?t=1209328701
http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b150/baughncr/LimbHangerII.jpg?t=1209328733
http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b150/baughncr/LimbHangersdff.jpg?t=1209328760
http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b150/baughncr/Turkeywalk.jpg?t=1209328787