Team #5....Limbhangers

[MAKEemQUIVER]

Royce I hunt in Lincoln Co. Ky mainly around the McKinney, Stanford, and Highland areas. I hunt on private land but all my spots have other hunters as well though. The biggest tract of land that I have to hunt is 200 acres, but I have several peices of land that range anywhere from 10 to 75 acres. My foreman at work is actually from South Dakota, I cant remember where exactly he is from but I will ask him tomorrow. What part of the state are you from? Good luck with that new piece of property.

[roycefromrc]

I live in Rapid City now,its on the west side of the state.ill be hunting the eastern slope of the black hills.you guys must have a hell of a lot of birds there. if i was restricted to a couple hundred acres,it might take years before you see a bird on it. Most if not all of my hunting will be within 5 miles from my house. The black hills are all public hunting,millions of acres.I cant wait to get out with my gun.Im gonna check out your area on google earth.got my first tag in the mail yesterday. i ordered it Wed morn and it came the next day.
Royce

[MoJack]

Okay gentlemen, looking good here in Mo.  I was out at Busch Wildlife CA on Saturday morning and found a spot with 3 Toms lighting it up, and at least 5-hens calling back.  I got drawn for the first week hunt (odds listed at 10% to get drawn).  AND, I got drawn for an out of state Illinois license, and I have a farmer friend over there who said he has a couple of fields where you can practically hand feed em.  Looks like through dumb luck I may actually contribute!!

[kenturkey89]

Sounds like you got some good places to hunt, MoJack. Hopefully your luck will continue and you'll be able to bag a few nice gobblers this season[;)]

[SouthernStrut]

Figured I'd check in and give y'all an update on how the first few days of hunting went for me down here.  Background:  I turkey hunt 280 acres of "private" family land that is prime time turkey habitat.  It has every single thing deer and turkeys need to thrive.  We kill at least 1 nice stud buck (120"-150") each year and historically a great number of birds.  I'm usually good for AT LEAST 3 mature longbeards with 10" beards and 1.25" spurs.  We are right along a river and have around 30 acres of open field that has recently been plowed up.  In the past, there has ALWAYS been plenty of turkeys at both ends of the fields, and probably 10 or 12 great big monster longbeards somewhere out there almost every single day.  I ALWAYS hear at least a handful of birds gobbling pretty hard opening week of the season, and ALWAYS hear about 10 different birds (pretty much every bird on my property) gobbling like crazy around March 25th or so.  In the past, you could pretty much take all that to the bank and set it in stone.  Last year I had over a dozen birds gobbling on March 24th and stopped counting the total gobbles at 200.  I'm not exaggerating or boasting when I say that this place is, or has been historically, an excellent place to smack some birds.

Friday - Sunday I heard a total of 15 gobbles on everybody's property except mine.  Heard the most from across the river and a few on adjacent properties.  Did not see a single turkey in my wide open plowed up 30 acre field.  Didn't hear a single bird fly UP or DOWN during those three days.  Did not get to even set up on a bird.  I pretty much walked around all weekend and stopped to listen for scratching or walking or purring every now and then.  Nothing.  I found a nice muddy fourwheeler trail around one of my gates, a pile of horse crap on one of my roads way past the main gate, and had two shirtless meth heads ride past me on fourwheelers up on my power line.  Was informed that a guy living nearby is a complete turkey predator and kills AT LEAST 40, most years 50 birds or more.  Last year he got 52.  I can't be at my property every other day like I used to, only weekends now, so it's very hard to keep people out. 

I'm giving it another shot this weekend so hopefully I'll get to actually call to a bird and see some feathers.  It's a shame that some people see a posted no trespassing private property sign as an invitation to hunt.  I'll update again this time next week, hopefully with some points for us. 

[kenturkey89]

SouthernStrut it seems as if many people from all over are having a tough time getting on birds right now. I've been doing a little scouting and didn't hear a single bird out on Saturday morning, which surprised me given the wonderful weather we've had over the past few days. Temps have been up the last 2-3 weeks but we've had quite a bit of rain. The last 4-5 days have been really nice so I'm a little surprised I haven't heard any of the big boys getting out and getting a little vocal. We still have just under four weeks until season starts and I've seen some birds so I'm not terribly worried right now. But if this keeps up for another couple of weeks I'm going to have to come up with a new game plan. Last year I heard multiple birds 4-5 weeks before seasons opener so I expect to hear something this weekend when I go out to listen. Good luck SS and I'm sure things will turn around for you this weekend. Keep us posted[;)]

[SouthernStrut]

I hope so Brian.  I can't help but stay positive with turkey hunting bc I know it can turn around quickly.  I'm sure there's a bunch of good mature gobblers in the woods, they're just not ready to talk yet.  Can't blame bad weekends on things I can't control, just gotta keep huntin and it'll turn around.  They're calling for rain all weekend after this pretty weather during the week, but I love hunting in the rain so I'm looking forward to it.  I think they'll be hittin the fields in full force Saturday so hopefully I'll smack one or two. 

[roycefromrc]

SS, do they have a TIP(turn in poachers) line down there? Id sure let the authorities know about that moron,and the meth heads. Im sure your luck will change,and you'll score some limbhangers for us.
Royce

[SouthernStrut]

ORIGINAL: roycefromrc

SS, do they have a TIP(turn in poachers) line down there? Id sure let the authorities know about that moron,and the meth heads. Im sure your luck will change,and you'll score some limbhangers for us.
Royce

Yeah I have it on speed dial, no joke, Poacher Hotline 1-800-272-4263.  I also have both of the local wardens' numbers in my phone.  But the wardens here aren't the most dependable guys around so I usually just try and handle things myself.  As far as the meth heads, they used to be really bad 5 or 6 years ago, but the wardens told me they couldn't do anything about it if they weren't poaching on my land......which I know is a lie, wardens have as much power as a state trooper, or more and have the authority to arrest a trespasser.  They told me to call the county, but before I did, "The Poacher" I was talking about actually walked up on a meth lab while POACHING and called HIS BUDDIES at the sheriff dept <---(this is why he'll never get caught).  But they set up in the area and caught the punks.  It settled down after that and I didn't have many problems at all til just recently.  So I imagine they'll bust another one, hopefully not on my place.  My dad told me the meth heads have been setting shotgun traps around their meth labs in this area.  Two shotguns aimed in at the intruder with a tripwire.  I'd sure hate to walk through one of those early before sunrise.  I sure do hate white trash.

[Gobblerman]

Team #5....please note that you have one new team member......SpitnDrum.
Jim