Turkey Season 2021

[TOWM]

I know turkeys will do what turkeys do, but gosh dang it...opening weekend kinda sucked. I had one lonely hen respond to my calls. Last weekend, while scouting, I called in and roosted a gobbling fool of a tom turkey. I went back during the week and confirmed he was still in the same area. Opening weekend...nada...nothun...not one gobble. I had the woods all to myself, so it’s not a case of over pressure or another hunter boogering the birds. Did anyone have success this opening weekend?

[ddb]

Mine was a bust as well. No sign/sound whatsoever. Drop in temp and windy.

[DWilliams]

Nothing...Not a peep. Probably put in 25 miles walking.

[Danibeth]

Saturday sucked because of the wind....didn't even see a turkey track.

Sunday was much better, though I didn't hear any birds early in the morning. This fella came in about 11 but he only gobbled 4 times.

[TOWM]

Nice picture! Thanks for sharing. You give me hope

[Hollywood]

We had a fantastic hunt on the Saturday of the youth weekend, my son took his first gobbler and I managed to get it all on video.....here's a picture of my son and the gobbler and a link to the video!!!

17lbs
7/8 spurs
9 7/8 beard

https://youtu.be/NpfMtq5W9DY

[flatsbroke22]

Sounds exactly like my hunt. Called in a couple hens and they didn’t stick around but a second and was gone. Haven’t heard or seen a Tom this year. Like they disappeared.

[TOWM]

I was only able to get to the woods one day this week...today, Sunday the 28th. It was worth the wait, but not because I killed a tom. I hunted the same woods I hunted opening weekend. This morning, right on cue at the crack of dawn, a gobbler rocked the woods! He was at least 200 yards away, and I was sitting in a popup blind near the intersection of an old logging road and firebreak, which runs parallel to a creek bottom. I found turkey tracks in the firebreak last week, so I figured that was as good a place as any to start listening.
I started soft tree calling and working two different calls at the same time. I know I got his attention because he double gobbled a few times and sounded anxious to get on the ground and meet up. After 15-20 minutes I heard a fly down. Our conversation kept going, but I could tell the tom was moving to my right and not getting closer to my location. I decided I needed to close the gap. I was a little bit concerned the tom flew down on the other side of the creek and needed to be coaxed back onto my side. Well, after I got to within 80 yards of him gobbling I could tell he was definitely on my side of the creek. I quickly found a tree that had good cover around it but also had a good view of the open woods in between me and the gobbler.
At this point, I am mostly just soft clucking. Just enough to let him know I am close, but not too much as to overdo it. Around 8:30 the tom gobbled and he sound like he was about 50 yards away. I had my gun barrel pointed in his direction, safety off, and heart pounding like a jack hammer. But then he stopped gobbling. Everything went quiet. I didn't hear another gobble the rest of the morning. I sat on the ground next to that tree for an hour expecting that tom to make an appearance. He never did. He was just Poof...gone.
Anyway, around 10:30 as I was making my way back to the truck I heard a hen yelping. She was in the vicinity of where I last heard the tom. I yelped to the hen on a push button call and she replied back. She liked the push button call. After 5-10 minutes she went quiet, and the wind started to gust, and I had to get home to attend to other business. Today sure was fun, even though I didn't bag a long beard.

[Danibeth]

It's exciting isn't it??? I had something similar on Saturday happen to me but my bird was scared out of his tree because he was close to a dirt road that someone stopped at. He pretty much shut up as the truck was coming down the road and then never made a peep the rest of the day. Ah well. I know where he is, generally.

[Danibeth]

Hollywood, congratulations to your son!!!

[TOWM]

Today, I hunted the same area where I have been pursuing a talkative tom the past couple weeks. This morning my setup was about 100 yards from where the tom was roosted. He gobbled several times before flying down. I saw him leave his tree and pitch down, but out of range. He replied to some soft yelps and seemed to be alone. I was thinking he would for sure come to my setup. Unfortunately, after waiting what felt like an hour but was only about 15 minutes, I heard him gobble at least 300 yards away. That tom walked away from my setup and made a beeline for a nearby creek bottom. The creek meanders in a east to west direction. I couldn’t tell which direction the tom was going. He stopped gobbling in response to my calls. I still hunted until noontime trying to get a response from the tom, or another, but no more turkeys were talking. I am beginning to think I need more free time in order to kill the tom I’ve been pursuing.

[TOWM]

I know where the turkeys were not this morning. Hunted diligently until noontime and couldn’t find any birds. It got very windy around 9:00 which made it difficult to hear. I’ll try again tomorrow.

[TOWM]

I had two hens pay me a visit this morning. No toms. The hens came in silent and didn’t respond to my clucks. They were totally preoccupied with feeding and then disappeared after a few minutes. It was super windy! I treed an opossum during my walk into the woods. I wanted to kill it, but instead gave it a stern lecture not to raid any turkey nests. I also saw an owl and a rabbit. It was an active morning.
I also crossed paths with another hunter. He drove in after me and he wanted to hunt the area I sat in. He was a gentleman and agreed to hunt the other side of the road. I heard a gunshot at 8:00 from the area he was in. His truck was gone when I left. I wonder if he got lucky and bagged a gobbler?

[Danibeth]

So, how'd the last day go for you? Didja bag your gobbler?

[TOWM]

Nope...not this year. I had fun trying though.