TM 4 No Jakes

[whitetail_joe]

Whitetail joe here, and psyched about Monday.

[shawneehunter]

Checking in. I have been waiting for this for 11 months. I'm PUMPED!!!

[Bawana]

Bawana here, ready to shake rattle and roll!!

[whitetail_joe]

Everyone going out Monday? Ill be out there for sure. Still haven't heard the first bird, but haven't listened much either.

[bud45601]

good luck on hunting them thunder chickens team #4

[Ohiobowhunter]

Looks like we have everyone ready to go. I'll be out Sunday night trying to roost a bird and then drinking my traditional black coffee on Monday morning at 5am in my truck.

Bawana....I'm not too far from you. I'll be in Coshocton County.

I need revenge on some birds after I missed one with my bow this fall. Tough set up....no blind!

[whitetail_joe]

I went to my "Go to spot" this morning to listen and there was one bird just hammering anything and everything. It was the only one I heard, and I didn't get there till 6:40am. He gobbled about twenty times in three minutes. Then he flew down and was somewhat silent for about five minutes before starting to gobble at everything again. I can't wait.

[whitetail_joe]

Hey guys, I forgot we are supposed to be coming up with a team name. So are there any ideas? Just quick thinking, I thought of "gobbler patrol", pretty simple, "Run N Gun" a little better. Whatever, I don't care, but we need one. Anyone going out youth season?

[Ohiobowhunter]

Team No-Jakes

(sarcasm) I think it really sets the tone and shows the others we mean business.

Go big or go home.

[whitetail_joe]

I like it. Team "No Jakes" gets my vote.

[Ohiobowhunter]

Whitetail Joe,
How do you see Monday going for you?

[Bawana]

No Jakes sounds good to me, that's a majority so lets go with it!

[whitetail_joe]

My original plan for Monday morning was to try to hunt with a bow out of the double bull due to rain. But I work 3rd shift and will get in late. Think it will be better chance to take shotgun and head right to the fields where they go when it rains. Everyone else going tomorrow? Went back to my "Go to" spot this morning and heard zero:cheeky-smiley-022:. Couldn't believe it, perfect weather and conditions for them.

[Ohiobowhunter]

Definitely going out tomorrow....rain, shine, snow, hail, etc.

Brought extra decoys to put in the field, just in case of rain.

I don't normally feel lucky, but for some reason I am feeling really good about tomorrow.

[Bawana]

Got to work tomorrow and Wed, other than that I'll be after them all week. Heard at least 10 birds Friday and Sunday mornings!

[whitetail_joe]

Awesome bird shawneehunter. Way to start the team off. I went out this morning and heard and saw nothing.

[Ohiobowhunter]

Left the house at 4:55am this morning. Got to the farm at 6am and watched it rain (hard enough to keep me in the truck until 8:30am). Headed out to the food plot at 8:45am. As I was walking down the logging road a hen ran out of the food plot. I'm thinking "Good Sign!"

Set up the blind and it started to really pour. Called, waited, watched it rain, (repeat for the next 2 hours). Rain finally quit close to 11am. Decided to leave the blind and go try another spot where I have taken birds.

Made it to the spot and set up and started calling. GOBBLE! But guess where it was.....the food plot! Made my way back there, but only had 20 minutes left in legal shooting hours. Went for broke and picked the high trail instead of the low one......ended up jumping the tom. Should've picked the low trail.

We would have been sitting pretty with 2 birds. GREAT JOB SHAWNEE!

Will be back out Sat. and Sun.

[whitetail_joe]

So whats been happening? Anyone getting out. I went out monday till eleven, tuesday and wednesday from 10 till noon. And today from daylight till about ten. Still havent even seen a bird, not even a hen, gobbling is mediocre at best where im at, but Im still confident in filling my tags.

[Bawana]

Same here, not getting out much and hearing very little gobbling. Won't really be able to hit it hard til the third week.

[shawneehunter]

I haven't been out since Monday. My work hours are screwed up right now and makes it hard to get out during the week. I went out today and heard nothing. I should be able to go up until Wednesday though. Good Luck guys.

P.S. I like the name also. No Jakes

[Bawana]

Seems like the first week "explosion" of people in their woods has shut the birds up in my area. Next week will be a little slow but they should be back to normal by week three.........or so I hope! Got out for a few hours both yesterday and today and never heard a thing.

[whitetail_joe]

Ive never seen a season start this slow. I hunted 6 days of seven, saw three hens, heard about five different birds gobble in those 6 days, for about 15 gobbles. Very slow. Ill be out of this coming week. Good luck guys.

[Bawana]

Well I hope it's the heat and pressure that's got them shut up. I got out alot more than I expected this first week and it was really quiet. Friday and sunday before season I heard at least 10 birds each morning. I heard two birds tuesday, but they wouldn't do anything. Thursday,Saturday, Sunday, and today were quiet. I was only able to get out until 9 each day, but I would have thought it was the fourth week instead of the first week. I hope the front that comes through tomorrow will start things up again. But and it's a big BUT, we're babysitting our three grandkids from Wednesday til next Monday. And I know better than try to go out then:mischeif:

[Bawana]

One more morning, and then the turkeys should be afraid......very afraid:yikes:

[Bawana]

Well I warned them and one gobbler wasn't afraid enough! 10 inch beard, 1 inch spurs and he's got smoke phase wings! I'll get him posted later today. Yeah I'm pumped;)

[whitetail_joe]

Great job Bawana. I went out this morning also, last three days out, been all over birds, but no luck. Last night roosted one, went in this morning set up, he gobbled at 6:02am, few minutes later I noticed three hens roosted not 30 yds to my right. They flew to him, he shut up but I wasn't worried as the small wood lot I was hunting, I nearly could cover with my gun. Although, he stayed just out of range until I lost him. Ill roost him again tonight if possible, and set up earlier and different in the morn. This one is smart.

[whitetail_joe]

Well, I roosted him again last night. Went in this morning, setup, 5:58am gobble. Told my wife I would call her a 6:27am with a bird down. Shot, rolled him but he ran and flew off, totally bumbed. After my short chase, and eventually losing him, pulled out my cell phone, 6:27am. Hope I didn't mortally wound him.

[whitetail_joe]

Well I finally got one, my biggest to date, 23 lbs, 11 inch monster paint brush, and 1 3/4 inch spurs. Sat in the double bull this morning he ran by at the pretty boy at 10:50 am. Try to get the pics up today. Bawana did you ever get your bird posted?

[Bawana]

Congrats on the bird!! I'll try to get mine posted tonite.

[whitetail_joe]

I have no idea what other teams did but three big birds for us when there are only two birds on the third pager of pics has got to be pretty good. And we stuck by the name No Jakes:mischeif:

[Ohiobowhunter]

Boys,
I gave it my best shot. I hunted 6 days total on 350 acres of private land, through every type of weather you could imagine: sunny skies with no wind, cloudy skies with wind, cold fronts, warm fronts, and heavy downpours (opening day). I can honestly say that I would have bet you $100 or more (probably more now that a philly has won the Preakness on Saturday) that I wouldn't be the only one in our team that came up empty handed.

I hunt one of the best counties for turkey and deer and ..... well......that's why they call it turkey hunting and not "killing turkeys."

I can see the writing on the wall......I am about to get released and traded for a minor league right handed pitching prospect from AA.

I'll take my fate like a man. Congrats to the 3 of you. I think I am going to donate our farm to charity and sell all of my guns and equipment.

Great job boys.

Ohiobowhunter

[Bawana]

Don't worry Ohio, we'll go easy on you, I've got a quaker football shirt you can wear for a week and then a tornado basketball jersey, and after that well we'll come up with something else good!

[Bawana]

More good news, unless there are a bunch of late ckeck ins, we are winning by 28 points if I got everything figuired right!!

[shawneehunter]

Don't worry about it Ohio it was a bad season for alot of people. I got lucky the first day although I think I would have ended up getting him anyway.
There was another bird that to me sounded like a very old bird but I just could not get him to commit the last 30 yards mostly because of briers. It's unbelievably thick around here when it starts to get green.
I had a bird maybe 20 yards from for about 1 hour and I never seen him. That will aggravate the piss out you. Trust me I looked at every tiny opening and never seen him. He gobbled like crazy but it was so thick between us he couldn't
make it through. I ended up spooking him by trying to move around a little which I thought would happen.

I hope we win it.

[shawneehunter]

I got this bird in 2003. I'm still hoping to see one of his grandson's:biggrin:. At the time it was the 4th turkey the NWTF had on record like this. I know there are more now. The last I seen they had 7 on record and 3 are from Ohio. These are the only spurs that are not on my spur necklace.

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b45/ShawneeHunter/000_0019.jpg

[whitetail_joe]

I got this bird in 2003. I'm still hoping to see one of his grandson's:biggrin:. At the time it was the 4th turkey the NWTF had on record like this. I know there are more now. The last I seen they had 7 on record and 3 are from Ohio. These are the only spurs that are not on my spur necklace.

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b45/ShawneeHunter/000_0019.jpg
Is that what they refer to as double spurs, or triple? Never seen anything like that.

[shawneehunter]

The leg without the band had 3 spurs although the smallest was 3/8" and on the leg with the band the smallest was just over 1/4". It's hard to see them good in this pic. It blew my mind when I walked up on it after I shot it.

Oh and by the way Congrats on winning the contest.

[whitetail_joe]

We have stunned the world. Ok maybe not.

[Ohiobowhunter]

At least I came up with a good name :)