Some local hunters I talked to over the weekend were complaining about the wet and windy weather but it can be an asset when the longbeards are "henned up"; some lose their hens before fly-up and apparently spend uneasy nights worrying about where the gals have gone as they're tossed about by the wind and soaked through the feathers. They can't wait to get on the ground come morning and relocate the AWOL hens.  This can create extended ground gobbling sessions with the big boys overly aggressive and once again acting plain dumb:^)  The last few wet and wild days have produced some great hunting here in KY.  I shot this lonely fellow through the "goodie box" mid-day Monday while kneeling in a big stand of river cane . . . used a 60 pound Acadian Woods Tree Stick and Terminator 250 broadhead.  A pretty good bird; 10" beard, 1 1/8" spurs, and weighed 24 pounds.  It took an fluffing with an old towel plus an hour of hang time to dry him up enough for these photos.  At least he didn't land in the rushing creek where he was heading when he finally tipped over:^)!  The old Rancho Safari "Shaggie" came through again.

(NOTE: Hit F5 on your keyboard to refresh if the photos fail to load.)

Nice bird! Congrats

Very nice indeed!

Awesome Gary, I'm proud for you. Like the bird but love the bow. Beautiful.

BEAUTIFUL !!!

Nice bird! I need to move back home LOL

Thanks Tom.  I had to work my butt off to get him.  Despite all of the pre-season talk of massive numbers of verbal two year olds running amok in the KY woods, well, I haven't been seeing anything like what was predicted.  No cakewalk for sure.  Where I'm hunting the big boys have been "with hen" and the 2 year olds have been scared to approach any decoys that remotely look like they might kick their tail feathers.  The rain and wind really helped my situation by scattering some birds.

Nice bird Gary.

congratulations....Beautiful Pics...  

Very nice Gary! Congrats! How did your son do?  

Way to go Gary, NICE Bird and even nicer pics!

Nice bird Gary congrats.

Congratulations.  Nice bird and outfit

Great Job Gary! Those ghillies work great dont they. WE are having the huge numbers of birds here in Wayne co., Ky. Usual spring kill on gobblers is 125-150 for the county, as of yesterday we had 419 gobblers checked in, about the most of any central or eastern counties!  Again, Congrats.

So, THAT'S where all of the turkey's went WAYNE COUNTY:^)???  

Ryan, my son hasn't gotten to go a lot due to school, but I have plans to take him on a "turkey camp" before the season wraps May 9.  This weekend's forecast looks bad though . . . and by the way thanks for sending the TShirts and caps, nice products.  I'll take some pix of Joseph wearing them in camp.

FYI:  We haven't seen our turkey poacher since opening morning of the youth season when we lit a fire under his butt by calling in the CO.  I hear that he lost his gun and was fined:^)

QuoteOriginally posted by koger:
Great Job Gary! Those ghillies work great dont they. WE are having the huge numbers of birds here in Wayne co., Ky. Usual spring kill on gobblers is 125-150 for the county, as of yesterday we had 419 gobblers checked in, about the most of any central or eastern counties!  Again, Congrats.

Sam, almost all county harvests are way up. Talking to biologists this is due to a bumper crop of 2 year old birds, a mild winter, a rainy season last spring and the locust hatch we had last year.

Have I said how much I love Kentucky lately...  

Awesome Gary!  Congrats on the bird.  Things have been a little slow up here in Ohio.  But it doesn't matter cuz I just love been in the woods in the morning while everythings waking up.  I hope you and your son have some luck.

You where talking about some locals complaining about the weather. Sounds like it was pretty good for turkey huntin'.

I always said by golly I was born wet, I can hunt wet!

Just tell'em you gotta want it!

KentuckyTJ...
I was born and raised in KY and you are right about lovin it. My Dad drug me up here. I need to start making a trip or two every year back home to hunt for sure.

Nice bird congrats.

Congratulations on a nice gobbler.  Great photos...