Jonathan's unbelievable Turkey Season 2010

Well, I guess I should start off by saying I'm sorry to Jonathan that I have not had the time to get these images uploaded (been slammed). Anyway, here are his 5 BIRDS and the stories that go with them:

Jonathan says:

My first bird was taken out of area 14. I went in that morning (can't remember the date), heard him gobbling up near the gas line, and went after him. On my way, I passed another turkey who was gobbling in area 19, so I stopped briefly to see if I could call him up to the road. He stopped gobbling, so I continued toward the turkey that I had initially heard. As I was moving his direction, his gobbling was quickly getting louder, so I decided to stop and wait for him. It took him about 2 minutes to come running almost squarely into me, and he got a dose of lead for his trouble. 18 lbs., 10.5 " beard, 1" spurs.

Turkey number 2:
I went into area 7 very early that morning, simply because I intended to get right in the middle of where I felt the turkeys would be. I moved to a spot on the treeline down on the big gasline. I had 6 gobblers tree gobbling around me. A few tree calls, a fly down cackle, and a few yelps, and two of them walked out in front of me. I shot the one who was gobbling the most! 18 lbs., 1 1/8 " spurs, but a short 9" beard. Good bird, but not as good as the one that was his friend.

Turkey number 3:
This morning, 4/12/10, I went into area 14 early, and when the light began to touch the sky, the turkey birds went crazy! The only problem was, they were all the way across area 14, on the opposite side of the Fireman's Gate Road, where I was sitting. I tried to call them over, but, even though they seemed to be interested, they stayed on the other side, eventually crossing the gasline and moving away. I decided to walk the gaslines around 14, just to see if I could get any response. After being unfruitful at this endeavor, I sat down for a while to listen. After about half an hour I decided it was time to go home. It was around 9:00, and I was approaching the intersection of the gaslines, when I heard a gobbler begin to gobble up around 139. After carefully assessing the situation, I decided to backtrack across the creek, then began a mad dash of about 200yds to get to where they were. Crawling in on my belly, I managed to get close enough to see that this gobbler was struttung, About 30 minutes later, he gave me a clear 25 yd shot. This bird was a Mack Daddy! 20+ lbs, with an 11" beard, and 1 1/8" spurs, Good bird!

Turkey 4:

Turkey 5:
It was the last Monday before the season ended, and I wasn't going to get to hunt again. After leaving area 14 at about 9:00 that morning, I signed out, then signed in to area 3, where I needed to retrieve a ground blind that I had there. I carried my gun, just in case. As I walked down the gas line, I saw a turkey in the food plot at 105. I skirted the gasline, walking through the trees, crossed the creek, and came up behind the shooting house. Laying flat on my belly behind some of the sparse vegetation that was left there, I began to call. As I watched through my binoculars, I saw that there were actually four turkeys; two jakes and two gobblers.They were at the far end of 105, right in the middle of the clearcut. It looked to be a near impossible situation, but, after a few minutes of unsuccessful calling, I decided to see if I could flank them. backing down the ridge, I went to the creek, then traveled all the way around the edge of the clearcut, using the trees and ridges to conceal my movement. After about 35 minutes of walking, I managed to come up behind them, and , using a small band of vegetation as cover, I stalked to within 25 yards of where I had last seen them. The whole stalk took me about an hour and a half. I wasn't sure they were still there, so I patiently waited to see any movemnt on the other side of the brush. All of a sudden, one of the jakes ran into view. Upon seeing him, I knew I was in a good spot, so I began to make a few soft calls, after which one of the gobblers walked out. I stopped him right where he walked out. Exciting hunt, but baby, I had to work for that one!