another 2017 recap----
2017 was another good year for me. Was able to limit out in SC and TX, but ended up sitting in the cabin watching it rain for our annual MO trip. Record floods out there the weekend we went, The river that runs through our property rose over 20’ in less than a two days, covering half of our lease in 2-6 feet of flowing water.
started the year on youth day by calling in two hot gobblers for a fine young man. he sealed the deal on one of them after watching them strut and gobble at 20 yards behind a big tree for 2-3 minutes. he held it together and made a perfect shot on a nice Edisto river swamp bird.
I followed up with two more SC birds shortly after the regular season started-
and found some signs of some older hunters---
Then it was off to TX. Three of us made the trip, and within a day and a half, we had all tagged out, and also called in a bird a piece for our hosts. TX was truly amazing this year. The area had been in a major drought for almost a decade, and three years ago they started coming out of it. Last year it was overrun with jakes, and this year it was over run with Two year olds. It made for some exciting hunting. I was lucky enough that two of my 4 birds had triple beards.
after we had all tagged out- we spotted this bird and another in a field with a bunch of hens and jakes… we didn’t have to pull his leg too hard to get him to go after him. I handed him my gun, and we grabbed a fan. we belly crawled to within 30 yards of 10-12 turkeys, neither of the gobblers would break strut. this guy’s heart was about to beat out of his chest. finally I gave him the go ahead and he smoked him. it was his first turkey……. ive kept up with him on snapchat and hes since killed a few more. I think we hooked him.
I came home and finished my SC season with a stud of a bird. hunted this turkey three mornings in a row. the third morning I went in super early and got where I needed to be. he was roosted in a half acre cypress pond. his hens flew down and walked right by me heading out to a freshly plowed field. he tree hopped from 80 yards to about 40. sat there in the tree looking at those hens work out to that field. I just knew he was going to fly over my head and land in the field, but after 10 minutes of him sitting there looking, he finally pitched down heading directly away from me and landed on the opposite end of the pond. I called to him for the first time and he answered. I wait 2-3 minutes and still hadnt seen him. I called to him again and he answered and was already about 40 yards closer. I just shouldered the gun and waited. soon after I heard him drumming, getting closer and closer. I finally spotted his white head coming through the brush around the edge of that pond, glowing like a light bulb. he finally clears some trees at about 20 yards and let him have it. Best bird ive killed in a few years. 1-7/16” spurs on both sides.
and like I said earlier, our Missouri trip was a bust, but, you cant win them all---
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Originally Posted by Griffin
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