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Dan Tanner
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| Joined: | Thu Jun 21st, 2007 |
| Location: | Maine USA |
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Posted: Tue Apr 29th, 2008 01:14 am |
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for the past 2 months i have been waiting for today to arrive, i have done everything possible to hunt Maine gobbler for the first time ever.... I have been watching some local birds about 7 miles from home, i would see them in the mornings comming home from work and also in the evening sometimes on my way to work.... I had a pretty good idea where they were hanging out and when... But wasnt sure of where they were roosting....Im not much of a game caller so i decided to go digital for everything one call does it all and I payed dearly for it anyway I had my caller all ready and got a jake decoy and a ground blingd other than that i had pretty much everything else or atleast that what i thought till i went to pattern my shotgun... I couldnt hold more that 2 -5 pellets in a bird at 30 yards and this to me wasnt exceptable, so i called my buddy mooseguide up and told him about it so he offerd to let me use his (Original Marlin Goose gun) for those of you not familular with this gun its a bolt action 12 gauge with clip and a 36 inch barrle, its so long it wont even fit in my gun cabinet and barley in the cab of my truck LOL anyway i took it off of his hands and gave it a whirl, with 3 inch mags i was more than impressed with 30 + hits to the head and neck, anyway I was ready to roll once i got permission from the landowner so I did that saturday and all went well.....
Last night i was up till 9:30pm getting my gear ready for this mornings hunt, I set my ground blind up sunday afternoon so i could sneak in this morning undetected , i ended up setting it in the woods just off of a field corner so at 3 am the alarm goes off and I have 1 hour to pack lunch, get dressed and make sure i have everything at 4 am i was out the door and arrived on the farm at 4:15 on my way walking back through the fields i tryed to locate the roost by using a barred owl hoot on my caller but no luck so i headed for my blind and after i got ther i set up my 1 and only jake decoy 20 yards out in the field from my blind, and hung my Scorpion caller about 4 feet off the ground in a tree row to my right 30 yards away from my blind with the intensions of the turkeys comming from my left they would have to pass me toget to the call no sooner i get in my blind i hear a coyote about 400 yards out barking aggresivly and howling, i guess i disturbed what ever he was doing, this dang yote wouldnt shut up and continued this crap for about 30 minutes right as the sun was rising I looked through my binoculars and could just make him out on the other edge of the field finnaly he shut up, but honestly i was doubting any turkeys would show up after that much noise. At about 5:30 i managed to call in two hens, the came from behind me and went right up to my caller, i shut the volume down to nothing as i didnt want to spook them off and was ready for the gobbler but he never showed himself , the hens came right up to my jake decoy and hung around within a 30 yard radius for about 40 minutes i did everything i could think of to keep them there as i figured with them there i would have a better chance of a Tom showing up...
after the hens left i called in a few geese with hen yelps, started as 3 but within the next hour 6 more showed up they were all about 300 yards out as i started getting boarded and the sun was shining brite i managed to call in 2 more hens, im guessing they were the same 2 i called in a hour ago but who knows, they stuck around for about 10 mins and left at this time i hear a shotgun go off about 700 yards or so behind me close to where i parked the truck, at this time i felt disgusted and that someone got my bird but i wasnt giving up anyway i decided to crank my Scorpion all the way and do some hen yelps when i thought i heard a real faint gobble, it wokred i got him to gobble again, after he would gobble i would hit him with the hen yelps, at this time i realized the sound was comming from my right about 800 or so yards out across the road into the next field so i kept working him and i noticed his gobbles would get significantly louder each time when it hit me HES COMMING.... at that time he was still 500 yards or so out , i couldnt see him but he was comming fast and i didnt want him to get to my caller before me and thats what was about to happen so i hopped up out of the ground blind with gun in hand with the intensions of cutting him off anyway as i start moving slowly and quietly through the brush to get on the other side of my caller i notice him in the field, pull up my binoculars and see this gobbler running like a t-rex dinasour through the field headed my way hes now 200 yards out and still comming fast so i managed to get about 20 yards past the caller in the brush line and am thinking this will be great as the tom is running right up the other side of the brushline that im in ( i was think 10 yard shot to the side of his mellon) when he cuts out into the field 40 yards, he sees my jake decoy and hits the breaks so i start some light purring and he looks like hes gonna turn back when I put the bead on him and sqeeze it off, BANG flip flopp kick twitch hes down... YAHOO as i do the happy dance and start thinking if i didnt get out of the blind to cut him off it would of never happed as he was out of range.... So i start stepping it off to the bird and it turned out being a 43 yard shot THANK GOD for a good shooting gun and for good friends who dont mind lending it out when its needed...Thanks Ivan without your gun my day wouldnt have ended at 8:55 am
my gobbler wighed in at 19 pound had 3/4 inch spurs and a 8 3/4 inch beard and was the most exciting hunt i have ever been on, I sure wont forget this one and hope that deer, moose and bear season turn out just as well .
Dan
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Nutoy
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| Joined: | Sat Jan 12th, 2008 |
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Posted: Tue Apr 29th, 2008 01:34 am |
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WTG Dan. Thats a dandy gobbler.
Those ol marlin goose guns do hold a mean pattern.
Is y'alls limit one bird? Our local area has a one gobbler limit.
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brucet
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Posted: Tue Apr 29th, 2008 03:21 am |
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| Way to go Dan.Congradulations.I tried to put Joan on a flock of jakes today but they spotted her and took off.Got to get her set up before daylight next time.She did find a huge 4 point deer shed while we were turkey hunting.I walked right by it.My father got a nice tom turkey also today.
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VEGETARIAN:Old indian term for bad hunter
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Dan Tanner
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| Joined: | Thu Jun 21st, 2007 |
| Location: | Maine USA |
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Posted: Tue Apr 29th, 2008 12:22 pm |
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Nutoy wrote:
Is y'alls limit one bird? Our local area has a one gobbler limit.
yes we have a 1 bird limit we can also only hunt on certain weeks due to our birth date.
Bruce you may want to take Joan out behind my house, last night around 6:30 i was at the kitchen sink cleaning some feathers off of my turkey meat when i seen 2 hens feeding in the back yard, at that late im guessing they were headed to roost, so who knows maybe a goobler is in there little flock
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brucet
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Posted: Tue Apr 29th, 2008 12:27 pm |
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Thanks Dan.Might give that a try tomorrow.(Wed.) morning.Tried to call you Monday night but your phone was busy.I really like my scorpion call also.Nice turkey.Their something else when they come in like a freight train.
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VEGETARIAN:Old indian term for bad hunter
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Dan Tanner
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| Location: | Maine USA |
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Posted: Tue Apr 29th, 2008 03:13 pm |
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i was in the barn this morning and looked out the back window and seen a loan hen walking around in our rifle range 
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4everbowhunt
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Posted: Tue Apr 29th, 2008 05:33 pm |
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| Congrats on a fine gobbler Dan!!!!
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firedawg226
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| Location: | Suwanee, Georgia USA |
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Posted: Wed Apr 30th, 2008 11:30 am |
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Great bird Dan, and congrats.......
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Dan Tanner
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| Joined: | Thu Jun 21st, 2007 |
| Location: | Maine USA |
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Posted: Fri May 2nd, 2008 11:44 am |
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thanks guys  im focusing onbear season now
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brucet
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Posted: Fri May 2nd, 2008 02:21 pm |
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Dan Tanner wrote: thanks guys im focusing onbear season now
Yep. I'll be putting out the bear bait in 3 months myself.
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VEGETARIAN:Old indian term for bad hunter
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Chick
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| Joined: | Fri Jan 11th, 2008 |
| Location: | Orange, Texas, USA |
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Posted: Sat May 3rd, 2008 02:57 am |
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Nice bird!
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Rick1
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| Joined: | Thu Apr 24th, 2008 |
| Location: | Palm Bay, Florida USA |
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Posted: Sat May 3rd, 2008 03:25 pm |
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Congradulations sounds like a great morning - great read too.
Man you guys use your callers alot wish we could use them down here.
Rick
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