Youth turkey 6a

[Green Bullet]

Heading up today with my boy to scout turkeys for the opener next Friday.

 

Anyone have any recent info on bird sightings or tanks theyre hitting? Shameless reuwlest for info I know lol. But Im still a virgin turkey hunter and want to hel him get in this year. Feel free to PM me.

[wildwoody]

Yup, therein the woods, good luck

[stanley]

Have seen some in the Stoneman Lake area. A little NW of the lake. Haven't been in there in a couple of years though, so who knows at this point. Might be worth a try though!

 

Duh..... Just realized you said 'recent'.

 

Well, good luck anyway!! Hope you guys get on to some!!

 

S.

[Ringer]

Buddy was up there last weekend and the gobblers were talking a lot. Maybe the warm weather has them up early. Best bet is to go higher in the early morning and set him up under a tree in the dark and at first light make a few hen clucks with a box call. If one answers wait a while then call again and see if he is coming to you. They can cover a mile real fast. Have his gun up on his knees and ready to shoot. I usually use a mouth call when they get in sight.

[IA Born]

If its not too late, consider signing him up for the youth turkey hunting camp sponsored by NWTF and others. It caters to kid with tags in 6A, 5B, and 5A and has mentors that know the areas well. Registration info is on the AGFD website.

[MT_Sourdough]

The only recent information is that the birds I am watching have seperated. Toms are not running with the hens. A month ago they were together, but it seems they split about two weeks ago. This is in the 6,000' to 6,500' elevation range.

The Toms seem to be scattered all over the place.

[Green Bullet]

I hit 6a this weekend to scout. Saturday was tough with high winds. We only got on birds in one spot aside from that it was tough. Hope my plan a holds up lol.

 

The gobblers were with hens at the time.

[brian390]

Does anyone have any updates on the youth 6a hunt or the youth 6a, 5b, 5a camp?

[IA Born]

Does anyone have any updates on the youth 6a hunt or the youth 6a, 5b, 5a camp?

 

Friday was horrible with crazy high winds, followed by snow. Only one youth shot a bird and that was after sitting water for 10 hours straight. Saturday and Sunday, the woods were on fire with gobbles. I had my son in birds both mornings, but a hen ruined everything Saturday and we accidentally bumped a couple of hot toms Sunday. The good news is that he's now hooked on turkey hunting and he's getting great with a pot call and starting to work a box call well. We had one family show up Thursday night and realize they had a modified choke in their kids' shotgun. Rather than driving to Phoenix to get the right choke, they were able to meet my wife in Flagstaff and use the extra choke I had that didn't work good enough in my son's shotgun. Saturday morning, their daughter killed a jake with it! I told her I didn't want the choke back. All told, I think we had five birds taken in the camp, a few missed shots, and lots of young, first-time turkey hunters who can't wait for next season!

[tjhunt2]

I sure missed not helping out this year at the youth camp because of other obligations but that won't get in the way next year I assure you. Congratulations to all the youth hunters who were successful and big KUDOs for are the organizations and volunteers at these camps.

 

TJ

[Green Bullet]

We were on birds fri, sat, and sun. On sat am I rooster some birds and figured we were going to make it happen. We setup <50 yds from the roost and they were gobbling and answering my calls very well...both hens and gobblers. For the life of me I wasnt able to call em in. It was kind of discouraging. I thought I was calling well.

 

We had the birds patterned pretty well and my son had a couple shots jumping out of the side by side but 50 yds is a long way for a 20g (no wounded birds FYI).

 

All in all it was a fun trip. Next time Im going to roost the birds and wait them out under the tree and blast away when they fly down lol j/k.

[Coues79]

We were on birds fri, sat, and sun. On sat am I rooster some birds and figured we were going to make it happen. We setup <50 yds from the roost and they were gobbling and answering my calls very well...both hens and gobblers. For the life of me I wasnt able to call em in. It was kind of discouraging. I thought I was calling well.

 

We had the birds patterned pretty well and my son had a couple shots jumping out of the side by side but 50 yds is a long way for a 20g (no wounded birds FYI).

 

All in all it was a fun trip. Next time Im going to roost the birds and wait them out under the tree and blast away when they fly down lol j/k.

You may not have been calling poorly.... those things have a mind of their own and do what they want to do. Real tough when hens are already involved in the mix.

[rossislider]

The Tom my son shot last weekend was brought in by his hen. He was quiet and not interested, but we had a clucking "argument" with his hen till she got mad enough to come looking for us and had him follow her in.

[IA Born]

The Tom my son shot last weekend was brought in by his hen. He was quiet and not interested, but we had a clucking "argument" with his hen till she got mad enough to come looking for us and had him follow her in.

 

 

When there are hens in the mix, that's the best you can do. Whenever there are hens, I figure out the boss hen and start a pissing match with her over who's more dominant. If you can get her to come in, she'll likely bring a tom with her or one in the area will hear the commotion and come check it out. It worked for me and my son Saturday morning, except that the tom came from behind the boss hen and walked right to her as I was calling her in. Game over at that point.

[120carp]

You've done better than I have finding them. I have found tracks and sign but no gobbles. I just hope they haven't moved out of our spot for good.