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Post by Reagan on May 23, 2018 19:19:49 GMT -6
My first encounter with a very special turkey was August of 2016 while standing in my parents living room. I looked out into what we call the valley at their property. A flock of turkeys were crossing the valley and I saw what i thought may be a tame turkey. I told my Dad about it and didn't expect to see it again. If it was tame, it would most definitely be coyote food very soon. Over the next couple of weeks, my dad would occasionally see it. It somehow continued to avoid the coyotes.
By the fall turkey season, the special turkey would show up from time to time. We were beginning to think it may actually be a wild hen.
Thanksgiving weekend of 2016, my daughter and I climb into a blind with her crossbow. She had filled her two deer tags so we were after turkeys. I let out a string of yelps and clucks before we settled in. Before long, a flock showed up and the special bird was with them. We discussed shooting it but it stayed away from our blind and we had a several that gave us a much easier shot. We decided it would be cool if it actually stuck around in the spring and had a successful nest. So she shot a normal bird. It was a young hen that had born the previous spring. The special bird ran off with the rest of the flock.
The special bird had avoided all game cameras so at this point we still didn't have any pictures of it.
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Post by Reagan on May 23, 2018 19:23:21 GMT -6
May 7th 2017. My daughter kills a mature gobbler with her crossbow. While we were headed back to my parents house, I see the special bird and snap a pic.
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Post by Reagan on May 23, 2018 19:23:56 GMT -6
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Post by Reagan on May 23, 2018 19:31:25 GMT -6
The bird was spotted a few times that spring season. No sign of a beard but it was always with a couple of jakes. I hoped that she was getting some action and would be on a nest soon.
Soon after the season ended, a black spot started to appear on the bird's chest. We could also tell that it had black eyes so it was not an albino.
We began to think the spot might be the beginning of a beard.
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Post by Reagan on May 23, 2018 19:36:03 GMT -6
The bird would disappear for months and then show up from time to time. Dad said it was definitely a gobbler. I never saw him while deer hunting with my daughter in 2017. Dad saw him in the valley a few times in December. I placed a camera in hopes of getting a pic. I did but the sun made the pic not as clear as i hoped.
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Post by Reagan on May 23, 2018 19:38:36 GMT -6
Once again he would disappear for months. When he would be spotted, he was very spooky. He was always the first to run even if his buddy would not be very spooked.
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Post by Reagan on May 23, 2018 19:51:24 GMT -6
My parents have discussed selling their place. We were approaching the 2018 turkey season with the idea that this may be the last year to hunt there. We decided that the white turkey would be a heck of a trophy if we could get him. The turkey hunting on this property is usually done by my daughter. My dad hasn't killed a bird there in years and i have killed only a few after her season is finished.
Different nephews and kids have hunted there but most of them have lost interest. None wanted to hunt this year.
My daughter likes to occasionally name animals. She called my jake decoy Redneck Fred. I don't know where she got the name but the white bird was named Steve.
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Post by sd51555 on May 23, 2018 19:55:25 GMT -6
Ok, time to give that turkey a name. May I suggest Hei Hei?
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Post by Reagan on May 23, 2018 19:59:06 GMT -6
Steve became a regular sight by March if 2018. Dad would see him nearly every day. He always was with another gobbler and Steve was the more dominate bird. Dad saw Steve strutting in his yard with his buddy and a few hens.
I spent some mornings listening and there were a pair of gobblers that I heard roosted in the same area. I suspected it might be Steve and his bud. I set up a couple of blinds and waited for the season to open.
Our first chance to hunt was the second day of the youth season. I was with my daughter, a jake decoy and a .410. The suspected the Steve duo gobbled for over an our while in the tree. I timed an average of 5 gobbles per minute. It was hard for me to not move in closer to the birds but with a .410 and a youth, I felt the blind was our best bet. The birds flew down very late and headed away from us.
A little later a big tom came in and she killed it. He is posted at the beginning of the turkeys 2018 thread.
My daughter declared that she would hold out for Steve on her second tag.
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Post by Reagan on May 23, 2018 20:02:39 GMT -6
My dad didn't hunt Steve very hard because he wanted my daughter to get him. I told dad he shouldn't try to save the bird for her.
Dad found a pile of white feathers the first week of season. We thought maybe he was eaten. Turned out he was still alive but was acting a lot less dominate. We suspect an older bird may have kicked his ass.
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Post by Reagan on May 23, 2018 20:12:28 GMT -6
We spent the next couple of weekends hunting Steve and had no luck. He quit roosting in his regular spot. We would hear 5-6 different gobblers each morning. How do you know which one to go after? I began to doubt our ability to kill one particular bird.
We would hunt all morning and have no luck. Then Steve would walk thru dad's yard in the afternoon. We don't shoot animals in the yard. You can't hunt in the afternoon until the last two weeks of season.
The white turkey was becoming my white whale. Maybe he should have been named Moby Steve. The white menace.
My daughter passed a shot at a mature gobbler. She didn't even pick up her gun. When i asked if she was sure, she just said that he was the wrong color.
Early on we had one break through. It was late morning and i had two responses from a gobbler. We sat up and heard nothing for nearly an hour. We then spotted a gobbler that was the wrong color. She was disappointed but I told her to be patient. Eventually we spotted four different gobblers with some hens. One of them was Steve. They were about 100 yards out and walked away.
I decided I wanted a better pic of Steve and I thought a game camera might help us pattern him.
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Post by Reagan on May 23, 2018 20:15:09 GMT -6
We got pics. I didn't even see him the first time he showed up.
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Post by Reagan on May 23, 2018 20:20:01 GMT -6
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Post by Reagan on May 23, 2018 20:32:56 GMT -6
So I talked my daughter into shooting a 12 gage. She did it and we suddenly have options and flexibility. She had stated that she wanted to stay home the last weekend of the season. She was burned out and tired so we had one last weekend to get it done. That Sunday was met with silence. Not a gobble to be heard. We eased into the woods near Steve's suspected roost spot. We bumped some other gobblers and hens. It was very early and they weren't spooked bad. We set up a make shift blind and decoys and settled in.
The next bird i saw was Steve and he was about 100 yards away with his buddy. The turkeys that we had bumped came back. We had four gobblers strutting a a few hens all about 100 yards out. Steve was clearly not the boss.
After nearly an hour, Steve and his buddy came our way to pick on the decoy. He was a hard shot to my daughter's right at 35 yards. As she was trying to get a bead on him he saw something he didn't like and spooked off. Tears began to flow. I was just happy to be so close to such a special bird.
That was the last chance my daughter had at killing Steve.
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Post by Reagan on May 23, 2018 20:38:52 GMT -6
Four out of the next five days my Dad hunted him. He saw him each morning. He had him in range twice but couldn't get a shot. Steve was back to his original roost. Some days he was with just his buddy and other days he would be in the group of four. Steve didn't like decoys. He would stand back while his buddies would walk right to a decoy. He didn't like calls. Most calls would send him the opposite direction. I tried to talk my daughter into giving him one more try. She declined. I decided to join Dad and see if we could get Steve the final weekend. The week that dad hunted him, Steve was active.
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