23 Turkey

[measafrontier]

Did anyone have any luck in 23?

 

We had the early hunt and were up there for the opening weekend.

 

The weather didn't cooperate and we had quite of bit of wind / rain.

 

We didn't hear or see any birds.

 

My buddy went back up the Tues. following opening weekend once the weather settled down and still no luck.

 

 

[Str8Shot]

lots of Birds in 23 .... I know several were taken but locations vary quiet a bit throughout the unit ... When they go silent you just have to work harder ... Good Luck to any going back out !

[Couestracker]

Sent you a pm.

[bbd1234]

I was up there for 7 days with no luck

[matthewdee]

I hunted opening wknd first season and all day yesterday. Heard a couple gobbles two mornings, including yesterday. Set up with decoy and tried to coax em in but no luck. Did get a hen to come into 15yds but her boyfriend wasn't interested.

 

Didn't hear squat after 7am any day in the woods..

[measafrontier]

Sounds like we all had similar experiences......

[PRDATR]

My son is hunting with an OTC Archery Tag off the 200 Rd. He has not seen much and called me for some encouragement earlier today. This is his first solo hunt but he has hunted them before with me and he did manage to get on about five years ago.

I told him to sit the tank he found and see if he could locate a roost . We'll see.

[pwrguy]

no luck talking them in, but heard multiple birds today, was within 150 yards first thing this morning.

[mbiewer]

Uuuuuuuughhhhhh. Stupid birds. so frustrating. lol

 

Got my first spring tag for turkey, for the first hunt. Went up (I was sick) and suffered through the cold and rain. I kept bumping birds in one spot. There were four of us with tags. We came back mid morning to repair water issues from the rain. My nephew (7 y o) wanted to "help". So we took him out for an hour and let him play with the calls. He got frustrated when nothing walked out for us. Took him back to camp and was unloading firewood when my brother and one of the others showed up early... Rest of camp erupted. They got two birds off the 609 rd, about a half mile in. They weren't "hunting" per say, at least that's my rebuttal for when they asked where mine was. They were trying to go down 609 to find a spot to sit and seen them out the jeep window. I suppose,.... good for them. ha ha. Their first birds ever. the other two of us never got birds. Heard them gobble right behind camp when we were picking up at 6pm Monday after the only good day of weather that trip.

 

----

Fast forward to this past Friday (may 8). Going off of tips from couple others on here, I recruited a buddy from work and we left around 330 from san tan valley. Came up from the Roosevelt side on 288. We found one tom strutting in the middle of the road just past McFadden peak. Encouraging at least. Steve had hunted turkeys way back, and admitted that his dad was a turkey addict....in north Dakota though. He wasn't sure what to do with the terrain. Still a good companion to bring along, because the entire area was new to him. And he was amazed by actually having hills and mountains.

 

Anyways, got to our spot. Geared up and called out. Got gobbled at! Success! It was way past the 6 am "quiet time" I was told about. Worked our way to a draw and set up. Working the calls, and getting good responses the tom was definitely coming right towards us. About 40 yards out, all he had to do was come into the clearing. He was very vocal..... as he turned.... and continued to respond to our calls..... as he walked away from us! After trying to coerce him back we went back to the truck to go explore a little more. Down the road, seen a lonesome hen, and we just stopped the truck (a ways away) but she was just out for a stroll apparently.

 

We went on an adventure showing Steve more of the area around young trying to find more turkey spots and eventually came back to our original spot. Gobblers again! we split apart, he went high, and I went low, figuring if nothing else he could convice them to come my way. Every time I used the call it seemed like they were getting past me. So I would double back and down trying to work the original draw. then from the other side of the bush I hear a gobble. Dropped to a knee, and waited. got a glimpse of two turkey heads side by side (not a clean and clear shot). Grabbed my call to get them to turn and come back or at least spread a part. ... Crickets! they didn't make another sound, heck I didn't even see what direction they walked off to. nothing.

 

even more frustrated I walked to the truck, and tried to call again. Another gobble and a hen answered. Uggh, again. went up the hill a distance from the truck and called again. no tom, but the hen answered. "well, maybe she will bring him with" is what I thought. A few minutes of this, and Steve pops out of the bush. He was the hen I was hearing. He apparently doubled back on his tracks at some point and was a little turned around.

 

Left about one as the clouds were starting to build

[PRDATR]

Definitely frustrating. If my son doesn't have any success I may go out with him this weekend to lend a hand.

[roninflag]

you need decoys and to call them in like they do on duck dynasty.

[PRDATR]

you need decoys and to call them in like they do on duck dynasty.

 

 

LOL, not so sure about that but he did take my three decoys with him.

[maximus]

Predator,

with the otc tag he can also hunt 4a and 4b and they are all close to each other, i'm going up on saturday with the otc tag and plan to hunt 2 of those units.

[PRDATR]

He was on one this morning but it flew as he drew back. He was pretty excited to say the least which is great because he lets himself get discouraged too easy.