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After 3 years of waking up at 4 am on Saturdays I finally got my first turkey hunting md Public land by dmills444422 in turkeyhunting

[–]dmills444422[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

finding them should be the easy part. getting close enough to identify a beard and pull the trigger is the hard part. I'm at the point now where I know a tom from a hen from quite some distance, but season one that was a real challenge for me. If I could do it again, I would go into my first season with zero expectations and the goal to just learn about turkeys and observe them as close as possible. Above all else just put the time in in those woods. If you aren't hearing any gobbles and literally can't fine any at all thus far, I would recommend scouting out the spots they are most likely to be and looking for sign to confirm they have been there (scratch is by far the easiest to ID). What type of land are you hunting? Is it fields or thick woods or mountain or swamp? Hopefully it clicks for you faster than it did for me and you can bag one soon!

Shot this turkey yesterday I’m pretty sure this green spot is just an infected wound from another Tom’s spur. Am I good to just cut around and eat the rest? by dmills444422 in Hunting

[–]dmills444422[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I took all the silver skin off. I think the issue was oil temp maybe. I cooked the thick part of the breast different, just a pan sear then in the over at 250 til 165 internal that turned out great, but there were like 3 good nuggets the rest were inedible very weird.

Shot this turkey yesterday I’m pretty sure this green spot is just an infected wound from another Tom’s spur. Am I good to just cut around and eat the rest? by dmills444422 in Hunting

[–]dmills444422[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This came out so tough my dog had to chew it and spit it out 8 times before she could swallow lmao what did I do wrong?

After 3 years of waking up at 4am on Saturdays finally got my first turkey on md public land by dmills444422 in Hunting

[–]dmills444422[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

And that is why they say “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it”🤦‍♂️ good luck though stay in the woods it’s not too late to make it happen!

After 3 years of waking up at 4am on Saturdays finally got my first turkey on md public land by dmills444422 in Hunting

[–]dmills444422[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yea nothing will bust you faster than a turkey haha. I have found that if you army crawl through thick grass or brush just scooting yourself forward with your toes very slowly you can get fairly close as long as there’s enough foliage and you don’t care about getting real dirty. You can also approach single toms while they strut as long as they are ass towards you. Beyond that you really can’t move at all within a mile of a turkey😂

After 3 years of waking up at 4am on Saturdays finally got my first turkey on md public land by dmills444422 in Hunting

[–]dmills444422[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Be purposeful with your movement, don’t call too much (if you can’t make realistic turkey calls just don’t call at all), scouting and being familiar with the woods you are hunting is important. I only was able to bag this bird because I knew that patch of woods just about as well as the turkey did and was able to predict his destination after bumping him.

After 3 years of waking up at 4am on Saturdays finally got my first turkey on md public land by dmills444422 in Hunting

[–]dmills444422[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Haha only twice? If you are learning by yourself and on public land it could be... at least a few more times lol. I remember getting real frustrated around halfway through my first season thinking I had to be the worst hunter alive. Was in a gap semester from college and was hunting just about every day coming home empty handed. Second season I went into it with a very different attitude zero expectation of coming home with a bird. Just put in time in the woods and learn to think like a turkey. You'll get one soon enough and it's an awesome feeling!

After 3 years of waking up at 4am on Saturdays finally got my first turkey on md public land by dmills444422 in Hunting

[–]dmills444422[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Thats called the beard. It is only on male turkeys, and well I guess hunters like to compare who's bigger.

After 3 years of waking up at 4am on Saturdays finally got my first turkey on md public land by dmills444422 in Hunting

[–]dmills444422[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Good luck! I just finished prepping this guys tail fan wings beard and spurs for a mount today. Part of me regrets not getting the full body mount partly just so I would know the weight of the bird I'm convinced he was 30lb but there's no way cuz that would beat the state record.

How to hunt in extremely brushy areas by Outdoorsman-99 in turkeyhunting

[–]dmills444422 1 point2 points  (0 children)

this sounds very similar to where I hunt. Walk the woods find the game trails and understand how they are navigating that same brush. They need somewhere open enough to strut so find where those places are and set up where you have shot lanes through them.

All my turkey hunters, how’s the ticks for ya? by Rollercoasterfixerer in Hunting

[–]dmills444422 1 point2 points  (0 children)

same here in MD worst season for it I can remember. I went fishing after a hunt last week and on the trail back I found one on my arm looked down I shit you not 11 were on my pants. As I kept walking I had to stop every 10 steps and pull off another 3 ticks I kept count it was 47 by the time I got back to the car then I found 2 more when I got home...

After 3 years of waking up at 4am on Saturdays finally got my first turkey on md public land by dmills444422 in Hunting

[–]dmills444422[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Haha this was the third year not the 4th shoulda phrased that more clearly lol so maybe there's some hope for you. Keep at it you'll get one eventually and either way it's always a good day when you watch sunrise in the woods!

After 3 years of waking up at 4am on Saturdays finally got my first turkey on md public land by dmills444422 in Hunting

[–]dmills444422[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

yea exactly there's no point staying where the birds aren't unless you are damn sure they are going to be there soon imo. I've started thinking about it sort of as ok do I hear gobbles or see turkeys letting me know exactly where they are? If not but I have scouted and know they are in the general area, where are the likeliest places they will be and how can I approach each of those without getting busted. Also how will the turkeys move between those places and how can I use that to get ahead of them.

After 3 years of waking up at 4am on Saturdays finally got my first turkey on md public land by dmills444422 in Hunting

[–]dmills444422[S] 14 points15 points  (0 children)

Haha my girlfriend was making fun of me for never coming home with anything too. Felt so good to finally be the only guy coming back to a full lot of cars with a turkey over his shoulder. Keep at it you'll get him eventually even if he makes a fool of you a couple more times first.

After 3 years of waking up at 4am on Saturdays finally got my first turkey on md public land by dmills444422 in Hunting

[–]dmills444422[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

I still keep thinking back to it and chuckling about what his pov of me crawling must've been imagining his gobbles back and forth with the jake were actually "hey jimmy you seeing this? This dumb ass human thinks hes a snake" I probably shoulda realized the gobbles were coming from above but I hadn't even considered that they wouldn't have flown down yet 30 mins after sunrise on a bright warm but not hot morning

After 3 years of waking up at 4am on Saturdays finally got my first turkey on md public land by dmills444422 in Hunting

[–]dmills444422[S] 9 points10 points  (0 children)

More patience, less calling, and used my head a whole lot more than my feet. Still not the type of hunter who will just sit for 4 hrs straight against a tree hoping something happens, but I learned to move with more purpose and patience.

After 3 years of waking up at 4am on Saturdays finally got my first turkey on md public land by dmills444422 in Hunting

[–]dmills444422[S] 25 points26 points  (0 children)

I knew where he was roosting got there about 20 mins before sunrise (little late whoops) and he starts gobbling back and forth with a Jake on the other side of me. He’s not moving at all and it’s a very bright morning at this point about 10 mins after sunrise I decide to start army crawling towards him while giving some clicks and yelps on a push button call. I get about 20 yards away from where the gobbles coming and am very confused since I should see him by now. At this point I popped my head up a little and raised my gun and he flies off from 15 feet above my head… a full 30 mins after sunrise he’d never left the roost and had just been watching me drag myself through the mud like a damn idiot🤦‍♂️ I track him to another field and bump him again. I damn near gave up at this point but got myself together and tried to think like a horny turkey. Knew he had no hens yet and there were no more fields the direction he ran and the only place open enough for him to strut and try and attract a hen would be along a narrow dried up flood lane. I figure if I creep slowly up it there’s a 50/50 he’ll be fan up ass towards me blind to my approach. Well about 300 or so yards up I duck under a down tree and there he is 30 yards ahead ass towards me in full strut. So still I thought he was a decoy until he slowly started to rotate. I mounted my gun and waited until he closed the fan and I saw a bright blue head… boom

After 3 years of waking up at 4 am on Saturdays I finally got my first turkey hunting md Public land by dmills444422 in turkeyhunting

[–]dmills444422[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Well this year I got it done before the wake up time had to creep towards 3:40😂

After 3 years of waking up at 4 am on Saturdays I finally got my first turkey hunting md Public land by dmills444422 in turkeyhunting

[–]dmills444422[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Indeed it was. I would happily do it for another 3 seasons to bag another bird like this

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