first turkey, southeast desert of utah

[jotownkid]

hi all i got my first turkey last weekend. i have been prowling here for awhile. i finally decided to join and post.
i have been watching this particular group for a couple of years now. really starting to scout this year since i got a tag. i thought i had them figured out, they would roost in the same area, flydown and move to a low spot in a field near a creek, strut, feed, and hang out till it warmed then disperse into the brush till evening come back to the same area, strut, feed and then head back to a group of cottonwoods to roost.
they have done this for the past few months, i couldnt make it for a week before the hunt and when i got there friday night the field had been plowed and they were gone.
we went ahead with our plans set up our blind on the edge of the creek early next am and waited. nothing. we stayed till around 9:30 hoping and then started hiking. the property that they are on is about 15 sq miles we started along the creek and slowly worked our way until we started sign and decided to set up and wait till the evening.
as it cooled we started feeling better as we heard gobbles in the distance. we tried a few calls but could not get a response. we decided to move closer and set up again. after moving about two hundred yards closer we set up and tried a few calls. nothing. then finally about dark we heard a gobble close i responded and then we saw him coming in. he came to about thirty five yards and i let him have it.
i am not sure if he was coming to my calls or headed to roost, but i got him he had a 9 3/4 beard and 3/4 spurs. the spurs looked a lot more worn down then most pics i have seen here. i have tried to upload pics i have scaled down to 55kb and it is telling me "file is too large" i will keep trying.
jotownkid
 

[dewey]

Hey jotownkid, Congratulations on your first turkey, thanks for the story and welcome to the forum.  I think the problem you may be running into is the actual size of the photo.  Try using this software to adjust the size of your pictures.  Pictures that you want to embed in your post should be about 600x600 or max of 800x800.
 
I found this link on a different forum and it is really easy to resize your photos.
 
http://www.vso-software.fr/products/image_resizer/download-image-resizer.php

You will have to download the software and then make sure to resize a copy of your photo.  The Photo under my name is 145x145.
 
fyi...the picture I have embedded here is 266 kb.

[jotownkid]

trying to link to the pics
 
http://i567.photobucket.com/albums/ss119/jotownkid/DSCF0415.jpg
 
and
 
http://i567.photobucket.com/albums/ss119/jotownkid/DSCF0419.jpg
 
hope this works. i tried that vso resizer and it was still giving me the file is too large message.
jotownkid

[ncturkey]

dewey that is one fine turkey. Plus i love that Brwoning Silver shotgun. Is that a 20 or 12 gauge.

[Bobbyparks]

Congrats on your birds.
 
How is the bird population in Utah?
 
 

[jotownkid]

bobby, our bird population is still low but improving every year. turkey hunting is still relatively new here in utah. ten years ago we had almost a non existant population, but through transplants and a lot of private land owner help our birds are doing better every year. in 2007 the state issued 3000 permits, 2008 they issued 7700, and in 2009 we got 13,700. the hunt is divided into what they call the a b and c hunts. a was 4/11-4/19, b 4/20-5/3, and the c was 5/4-5/31. a limited number of permits were given for the first two hunts with most being for the c hunt. most of our breeding took place during the first two hunts.
my father, wife and i had permits for the c hunt. the first week or two we got some responses to calls and decoys, not much though. by the end of the second week we had to change tactics and try to ambush them traveling between water, food, and roost trees.
jotownkid

[Bobbyparks]

It's good to hear that the population is on it's way as Utah sounds like a great and beautiful place to chase turkeys. I fly thru Salt Lake almost every year in the spring.
 
It's rugged but beautiful looking country between there and MT.
 
I've gotten to know a guy from the Salt Lake area and even had him in the Texas camp with us one year.
 
He talked about hunting ducks in a swamp and being a Georgia boy, I didn't even thing there was a such thing in Utah. [:)]
 
Glad you adapted and got your bird
 
Congrats again as it sounds like you took him during the toughest possible hunt period