| Author |
Message |
Freddy McGuire (Vaturkey)
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 29, 2002 - 8:20 am: | |
Let's get a post going on what you think is the toughest turkey to deal with- an old swamp gobbler, a high mountain longbeard, a field bird, etc.
What type of gobbler do you think is the toughest and why? And also, how do you deal with him? |
TScottW99
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 29, 2002 - 8:52 am: | |
Well in my still rookie years... I will have to say a mountain longbeard. In the past years I have hunted two mountain longbeards both for a couple of years apiece. I have tried everything I could think of. Last year I finally got the one I was after to come in to 60 yards but that was it.. at least I finally saw him. On that day I sneaked in really early and got inbetween him and the hens. Besides that I'm at a loss. The reason he was soo hard was.. He never roosted in the same place twice when I hunted. It was always in the same 1/4 mile area but differn't. There were three big ridges and an old clearcut area and he would roost where ever he pleased. Also his hens would roost somewhere near by and he would not budge. His area was always a hard area to sneak to and I sneaked within his roosting area several times.. but everytime he went to the hens. After the hens left he would be on top of one of the ridges but never the same. I know I climed those three ridges over and around a 100 times each :-) Every time I tried to sneak to the ridge or a finger off of it he would stay put right on top (usually a clearing and never move) Maybe this year... My other mountain longbeard challenge was a tom everyone in the valley in Bland knew. He hung in a field with seven hens all year long... Come spring he would go to this one ridge with very steep sides that were covered in laurel and an open top. The ol' bird would give you one or two gobbles and that would be it. If you tried to sneak in he was history. I know several veteran hutners that finally said he was gay and not interestaed. If Mr. Throaty Gobble is still around this year I'll have to see if one of ya'll can take him if I havn't come the end of season. :-) |
GOBBLENOW
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 29, 2002 - 9:04 am: | |
and all that in ten words or less? If you do not know the terrain intimately the turkeys in swamps and mountains can be impossible, particularly after they have been messed with by another hunter. In the mountains they will simply glide to another ridge and in the swamp they always manage to be on a piece of dry land that you will not get to without wading or swimming. Having said that , there is enough cover in the mountains and the swamps that allows you to get at least close to a bird so that you think you are in the game when he gobbles, even if you are really not in it at all. BUT the toughest , in my experieince ,are those big ol easterns that hang out in the middle of 50 plus acre green field s in /Fla/Georgia /Alabama and some other places in the turkey world. They ususally roost in a tree line that has sparse cover and pitch out to the middle of the field at daylight and stay there until they work back out of the field at dark to another tree line. In alabama ,particularly, where you cannot use a decoy...well, they are nice to watch for a couple of days, but unless you essentially deer hunt them on the exit or the entry in to the field, you will not call many out of the middle of it. These are the toughest to kill by conventional set-up and calling , in my view. They have to be ambushed, as the Preston Pittman story goes about him digging a trench in the middle of a field and sleeping in it in order to be waiting on one of those field birds when it pitched out in the field a t daylight. You can really learn to hate one of the field birds in about two days...it might take a week or so to fall out that bad with a tough swamp or mountain bird. |
GN
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 29, 2002 - 9:08 am: | |
footnote-remmeber that you cannot use a rifle in any other state i n the south except Va( Ithink)...if you could use a rifle a big green- field bird would not be so tough. |
swampgobbler870
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 29, 2002 - 12:45 pm: | |
well freddy,
i'd have to say the swampers are but i guess i'm partial to those ol swamppy critters. seems they know just what side of the swamp to be on every time !! but then again, any ol cagey longbeard is a challenge. if ya were hunting out in the tool shed, he'd probably make himself look like a shovel !
74 days !!!!! |
Turkey576
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 29, 2002 - 2:06 pm: | |
I tried to kill this old field gobbler in my younger days of hunting. He would be out in the field every day. I tried to setup where I thought he may come but, he would not budge. I tried Decoys and aggresive calling, soft calling every thing I knew at the time, still he just would not budge. Being in the middle of that field made him invencable. Some people said kill him with a rifle, but that took the sport away, so I just passed him up after serveral days. |
Ryan Tucker
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 29, 2002 - 4:11 pm: | |
For me it is swamp gobblers in Alabama. The terrain is so flat the birds can see for miles. It is impossible to move! It is also illegal to use a decoy so the turkeys can see nothing yelping a long way off and they tend to get nervous. No visual reassurance of what is making the noise! |
shopson
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 29, 2002 - 7:06 pm: | |
Field turkeys gets my vote! They can see to much. If you set up in the woods, they will strut and gobble in the wide open where they can be seen. If they gobble in the woods along a field, they come to the edge for a good look. |
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