new fall season for UT

[hawglips]

UT instituted  a limited fall hunt this year.  They allocated 280 tags for specific areas only, in order to target "problem" birds in agricultural areas. 

My brother (who had never killed a fall turkey, but is a triple digits spring kinda guy) got one of the tags and since the season is long - Nov till Jan - he figured he'd target gobblers only.   He went out a couple times trying to locate gobblers, and had one in a group of hens close, but no cigar. 

So, this morning he went out and found a flock of jakes and at least one gobbler roosted in an area up a canyon a good ways away from the agricultural fields.  He got set up on them, like in the spring, and worked the gobbler with gobbler calls.  The bird gobbled at him several times and came in strutting.  He said it was pretty much just like spring.

[callmakerman]

That's a beautiful bird. Congrats to your bother.

[jmck]

congrats
fall hunting is fun

[Mmcdonald]

Congrats to your brother!!

[Silverspur]

That is awesome and congrats to your brother!

[K]

Kongrats to your brother...sounds like a fair hunt.

[hawglips]

Kongrats to your brother...sounds like a fair hunt.

Here is the way the hunt played out in his words:

I had a free morning, so I got up today and headed to my pre-determined spot. I exited the truck well before fly-down and crossed a creek bottom to a PJ-covered side hill that allowed me to get above the cottonwoods along the creek where the turkeys roosted. My objective was to avoid the hen and poult flocks and to try to find a flock of gobblers upon which to try my luck. After walking about a quarter mile along the side-hill, I spied about 50 turkeys in a couple of large cottonwoods...so I sat down and waited. Soon yelps pierced the pre-dawn air, and when a jake sounded off, I copied him with a tom yelp and a gobble of my own. (I have a Quaker Boy World Champ mouth call that allows me to make great gobbler yelps and kee kees as well). Multiple gobbles sounded back at me, including one from about 250 yards farther down the creek that sounded like a mature tom! I glassed in that direction and saw a full fan on a large turkey as he prepared to fly down. Shortly all the nearby birds had flown down, and I could head in the direction where I saw the "full fan" fly. I gobbler- yelped and gobbled as I carefully walked, and deep gobbles and yelps would answer me nearly every time. The idea was to try to take advantage of the tom's desire to elevate his status within the pecking order, so my calls were designed to challenge him. I finally crested a small hill, so I let off a series of yelps, ending in a gobble. A tom answered me immediately and sounded within 60 yards of my position, so I sat down right there! I waited a minute and gobbled again - he answered me even closer, so I shouldered the old Remington 870. Shortly I saw a white-fringed fan appear about 40 yards out behind a cedar. I waited quietly for a few seconds before he stepped out from behind the tree. He slowly raised his head without me having to putt at him, so I pulled the trigger at 7:21 AM. He was a 2 1/2 year old, 16 1/2-pounder with an 8 inch beard and 5/8 inch spurs. Beautiful morning - beautiful turkey!