San Carlos success

[Couestracker]

Went out with a couple of friends on the early hunt last weekend. Saw 2 nice toms 1/4 mile from camp on the way in, so I was encouraged! But didn't see or hear any gobbles or yelps opening day.

Turned out that the hens were in groups and the toms were in separate groups.

Didn't have any luck Sunday, or Monday early morning. They weren't talking. Mid-Monday morning we drove into a different area and I heard some hens yelping up on a ridge. My friend Jorge got out there to work them, while Terry and I drove over a small hill.

That area looked great, had a meadow with a dirt area, we saw lots of tracks, strut marks and where they were "bathing" in the dirt. Called there for a while, then moved up into the tree line and found a nice clearing, leading to a grassy saddle.

Called there about 40 minutes, had to pee, so I got up, walked out toward the clearing about 20 feet. So I'm doing my thing when I look over to my left and see 5 nice toms feeding my way! Lucky for me, I was "done".

I just sunk down on my hands and knees and crawled back to my seat and shotgun, hoping the birds wouldn't see me. There was some brush they had to get by, and I was worried they'd be too close together to get a shot for the short time they'd be in the clear, so I decided to shoot the first bird as he cleared the bush.

It was a 29 yard shot, none of the other toms shock-gobbled or made a sound when I shot that tom. He weighed 19.75 pounds and had a 10" beard and long sharp spurs. 9:00 and I'm done!

Jorge ended up getting a small tom at 8:00, Terry had a couple of chances later that day, but couldn't seal the deal.

I stayed a couple of more days, we saw over 300 birds in 3 days, mostly hens. I saw 3 toms together on Tuesday, one had a huge and thick "paint brush" beard that I've only seen pictures of (back east birds). I know where I'm going opening morning next year!

 

 

 

 

 

 

[wildwoody]

Very nice

[Big Browns]

Congrats!!!!

[tjhunt2]

Congratulations Tommy. Good job!

[Will K]

Good job.

[TRKHNTR]

Congrats.

[Yoshi]

Great job!!! Congratulations Tom!!!

[PRDATR]

Congrats that's a nice looking bird, spurs even. None of the ones I have shot in the past had anything much past 1/2". Maybe I need to look into hunting SC instead of driving through it to my usual spot.

[rossislider]

Nice, glad you didn't get caught with your pants down!

[Lazy-H98]

Congrats! I'm still 2 weeks away.

[cramerhunts]

Congratulations on a great bird! I'm hoping to battle the wind this weekend and find a bird or two that wants to play the game.

[Couestracker]

Nice, glad you didn't get caught with your pants down!

Good one Sean!

[Couestracker]

Congratulations on a great bird! I'm hoping to battle the wind this weekend and find a bird or two that wants to play the game.

 

Thanks Phil, good luck!

[bonecollector]

Congrats

[8barrel]

Nice bird! Im heading up in the morning. This will be my first Turkey hunt on San Carlos. I plan on moving around until I find birds. Congrats on such a nice Tom.