2020 spring gobler

Sorry Gene..... House rules, NO spot burning.😁 But, good luck this season.


For comparison purposes, (or reading upon the throne) some younz might find the following info of interest.

https://www.outdooralabama.com/turkey-season.



For inquiring minds needing to know.


ALABAMA NON-RESIDENT.



2019-2020 ANNUAL LICENSES - Valid Sept. 1 - Aug. 31

Hunting

All Game (All species - including deer and/or turkey)
Annual - $320.30
10-Day Trip - $197.85
3-Day Trip- $139.60
Small Game (All species - excluding deer and/or turkey)
Annual - $104.60
10-Day Trip - $63.85
3-Day Trip- $46.30
Baiting Privilege - $51.00 ⬅⬅😳 (catch any all yall attention.) Coming soon..... to a state near you. 🙉

Took a walk this morning scouting for deer and trimming stands. Heard a gobbler go off about 10am. Also saw that the maples are budding out already in this corner of the state. Gonna be an early spring for sure. 

Heck with the daffodils, the tulips out in front of my house are already 4-5" tall....
Hoping to find some time to take the youngins' out for their early season but time is at a premium with all their sports.  Besides, my turkey calling is el stinko.....but can't shoot one sitting on the couch!

Forsythia just popped here yesterday. Might be over before it starts around here. 

A friend texted me yesterday that as he was driving by on the highway, which is elevated, there were 20+ turkeys in the field across the creek from my treehouse.

It will be interesting to see how many of them make it. Every May/June, the Bald Eagles move in for a few weeks and everything starts to disappear — young turkeys, baby groundhogs, fawns (?), baby geese and ducks on the neighbor’s pond, etc.

Last time there were a number of turkeys here — 11 poults, 4 hens, 2 gobblers (seen regularly) — the eagles moved in and by the time they left, there were the gobblers, 1 hen, and 1 poult.

Just had a mixed flock of 23 feed thru the yard.The long beards and a few of the bigger jakes were in full strut most of the time in the 15 minutes they were here. 

Don't get to worked up....they always start late winter...it's not going to be much different than any spring.....you might have to hunt a little different....late mornings can be better than wasting time getting up at 4 a.m.......sleep in and kill a turkey

Haven’t seen or heard one around the house in about a month.

Ct went to a 5 bird spring gobbler limit and extended the time to ALL  DAY from the stop at noon that had been in place for years.
I don't get it- the bird numbers around here have gone into a downward spiral for a number of seasons now.
I typically hunt locally and a couple of places about 40 miles away in a couple of different directions- same story -very few birds, if any, in places that held them for many years.
So they have increased the limits and extended the times- must be a tag money thing as I rarely if ever see other hunters parked or in the woods anymore.
No birds - no hunters.
 
We all like to blame something and the populations withstood many wet Springs- yotes, Fishers and birds of prey.
I am starting to think they are NOT making it anyplace with decent Bobcat numbers.
Cats are everywhere -even in daylight-Ya cant trap or hunt them here.
 
Had Deer and Turkey every day behind my place for years- the cats arrived the deer and turkey are gone.
Various cats on my next door neighbors cam most every other night.

Good luck to all headed out tomorrow. Weather looks pretty darn nice for the morning hunt. 

DarDy congrats to you friends on their first birds.

Called in three jakes at first light then two more around 11:00. Really quiet where I was at. 

Worked one for a solid two hours at sun up but he would not commit to coming in all of the way. Probably hung up at about 60 yards. After that I never heard another gobble. 

Beautiful day out, though.

Set up on a gobbler this morning and had 9 jakes comes into 15 yards. The gobbler stayed out of range. I think he had a few hens with him as I heard them at first light. The clouds and winds came at 8 and I never heard a gobble after that. Pulled the plug at 11.
That makes 14 jakes so far within range.

I just found out that on Sat. a friend was calling for his brother when 4 gobblers came in & my buddy told his brother to shoot first,when he dropped the first one,instead of running away, the others started to beat up the dead one,so my buddy shot one also. I had just watched the same behavior with gobblers on T.V. & heard from members of my club that it has happened to them also. Hard to believe that the blast wouldn't have sent them into the next cnty. On  a side note, the guy doing the calling, while out trying to fill his second tag on Monday, had a chocolate phase Black Bear come ambeling past him.I saw a short video that he made with his phone,very cool. The guy had a great season so far,but he puts in the miles & time for it.  sam