2012 Kentucky Spring Opener

Opening day of the Kentucky Spring Turkey season turned out to be an exciting day for Derby City’s Dave Berry and Jim Dawson. Jim joined Dave and his son Brandon on a hunt at the Sullivan farm in Jefferson County. Dave had been running a trail camera on a food plot for about 5 weeks prior to the season opener. Dave was getting pictures of birds strutting in the field at all hours of the day. Dave and Brandon were going to hunt this field, Jim joined them to watch and hopefully get a little video footage.

They heard some gobbling on the roost, and had a bird gobbling behind them early in the morning. A little soft calling was all it took to let them know that some hens were waiting for them up in the field. They heard a few gobbles to their left, letting them know that the birds were heading their way.

Brandon saw the birds as they popped into the field about 70 yards away. Dave and Jim had set out two hen decoys and all three were hidden in a dark horse blind. Jim started to film as the birds slowly strutted and worked their way towards the decoys. Dave and Brandon were going to try and double. This would be Brandon’s first bird. Jim got a little shaky with the camera, due to a mixture of no tripod and anticipation. Jim also had to do a little calling with his left hand while holding the camera. He said that the calling sounded horrible, but he did the best he could with his opposite hand. It must have worked, the birds seemed to like it.

Needless to say, Dave hit his bird and Brandon missed. Brandon was a little disappointed, but that did not last long. Brandon dropped his first bird in that same field the next afternoon. A nice 22 pound gobbler with a great beard and nice set of spurs.

Illinois 2012

My good friend and fellow Pro Staffer, Dave Berry, joined me on a turkey hunt in Illinois.  We traveled there on Easter Sunday and did some scouting in areas that I have seen birds in previous seasons.  We had a hard time locating birds, but found one strutting late in the day.  I was not sure of hunting this particular bird.  I had never hunted that part of the property.  I did not know the terrain and had no idea where the birds would move in the morning.

Dave and I went to scout a corn field that had been holding birds all winter.  We thought we would see a lot of birds, but only saw 5 hens.  Seeing no gobblers or hearing any gobbling, we had a decision to make.  After some deliberation, we decided we needed to hunt the gobbler we saw earlier in the afternoon.  I had a good idea of where he was roosting.  We formulated a plan, got some dinner, and tried to get some sleep.

We arrived at the farm just as it was getting a little light.  As soon as we got out of the truck, the gobbler was already hammering away on the roost.  We eased down a fence row, trying to get to the back corner.  We could only get about 40 yards away from the corner before we had to pick a spot to set up.  The gobbler was hot and he was pretty close.  I did some soft tree yelps and shut up.  He kept gobbling and I was worried he was going to call every hen in the county to him.  He shut up for about 30 minutes.  I figured he had some hens with him, then he fired up again in about the same place we last heard him.  I started doing some soft calling and he gobbled every time.  He was somewhere just inside the woods.  He was within 50 yards of us, but he never came into the field.  We thought he was going to pop out at any second, but we never laid eyes on him.  I guess he henned up, went on through the woods, and had a lovely time with the ladies.

Dave and I moved on down to the corner and set out my Zink decoy.  We called off and on.  We heard a few gobbles way off and a hen did some cutting, but we did not see anything for several hours.  Dave saw the tip of a fan strutting out in the field.  We did some calling, but never got a response.  After another 30 minutes of sitting, we decided that we needed to move to the top of the rise.  The wind was blowing hard and gobblers could not see the decoy unless they were on that rise.  I ease up to the rise, glassed this finger that jutted out from the woods, and spotted a longbeard feeding.  I motioned to Dave to come on up. 

I crawled up and put the decoy out.  It was not far enough on the rise.  Dave belly crawled out to the decoy, and crawled to the crest of the rise.  He peeked under the decoy and there were 2 longbeards looking at him.  He slithered back as fast as a black racer and the hunt was on.  I used my Chestnut Spur to do some soft clucks and yelps.  Dave used his call to do soft purrs.  I had literally just dropped my call when Dave saw two heads pop over the rise.  The lead bird was coming to the decoy, but noticed us sitting in the woods.  He got nervous and was getting ready to take off.  My gun was sitting in my lap from calling.  I swung the gun to my shoulder quickly and pulled the trigger.  I knocked him down and 35 yards.  He jumped up and took off and I put another hit on him at 45 yards. 

He was 22 pounds, 9.5 inch beard, and 3/4 inch spurs.  I would like to thank Dave for sharing this hunt with me.

**If you will notice in some of the pictures, there is a tag with a turkey head on it.  Dave and I each bought one of these tags at Mitch Ensor’s Hunting for A Cure banquet for ALS.  This is a turkey head that Mitch drew.  He calls it Cap-N-Hook.  Dave and I made a pact that we would carry this tag with us for the rest of our turkey hunting careers.  We feel that we will always have Mitch along with us on our hunts.  This tag will also be in pictures of any turkey we ever kill from here on out.  When my hunting days are over, I will explain what this tag means to me and pass it down to my grandkids or another special young hunter.  WE LOVE YOU MITCH.  YOU WILL BE TURKEY HUNTING WITH US FOR A LONG TIME.

A Great Youth Hunt

I took my nephew, Matt Dawson, on his very first turkey hunt this morning.  We went to Mt. Washington for the first day of Kentucky’s 2012 youth hunt.  I had been running 3 trail cams to try and pinpoint where the birds were frequenting during the day.  I was not overly excited about the hunt.  I had been getting some pictures, but most were later in the day.  I did have 2 gobblers strutting together on multiple occasions.  My buddy, Dave Berry, and I scouted last weekend and watched 4 hens feed in a pasture field.  However, no gobblers were spotted with them.

After talking to Dave, we both agreed that the best spot to sit would be in the pasture field where we located the hens.  I was hoping that a lonely gobbler would show up looking for the hens using that part of the farm.  Matt and I got there plenty early.  I set up the blind and put out the decoys, 2 hens and a strutter.  We heard a few gobbles on the roost, but they were a long way off.  After the birds hit the ground, the gobbling stopped.

We saw plenty of birds early and often.  The problem was, they were all single hens.  We spotted one lone Jake, but he was way out and heading in the opposite direction.  About an hour before we were going to pack it in, we had 2 hens come running in from our right.  After they left, things went dead.  Thirty minutes had passed with no action and we had about 15-20 minutes left to hunt.  I decided to get aggressive.  I used my chestnut spur and did some loud cutting, yelps, and clucks.  After that sequence, we sat back to see what would happen.  A hen came in fast.  She headed straight to my zink decoy.  She started posturing up next to the decoy, clucking continuously.  While she was doing this, I heard a gobble to our right.  I told Matt that a bird just gobbled, but it sounded like it was still a good way off. 

The hen left after a few minutes and disappeared behind the blind.  I eased up to make sure she was not behind us.  I wanted to call for that gobbler again.  As I stood up, Matt tapped me and said, “Jimmy, look, right there.”  I turned slowly and here he came.  He took his time walking in.  I started to do some soft purrs.  I was worried he might not want to challenge my decoy.  As he got closer, he appeared to get more confident.  The gobbler started to strut and spit.  He worked down and started circling the peep-n-tom strutter.

Matt had a hard time getting the gun lined up on the gobbler.  We were sitting on a rise and the bird was in a small depression in front of us.  I could tell if Matt shot, he would shoot my blind.  The gobbler was concentrating on the decoy, so I told Matt to ease up out of his seat and get the bead on him.  He did and dropped the bird in his tracks.

There is a funny ending to this hunt, but I will leave it up to Matt to tell you guys.  He can either leave it here in a comment or he can keep it to himself.  All I can say is, he did not realize the kick of a turkey load.

Great job Matt.  I think a new turkey hunting fanatic was born today.

Derby City Aluminum – One Bad Call

Derby City’s line of aluminum calls is not like your everyday ordinary aluminum pot call. Our aluminum calls are about as waterproof as any wood pot call can get, especially when you get the roasted flame maple. At all of the shows we attend, people are amazed at how we can play our aluminum calls with a wood striker, even when the surface is soaking wet. Derby City decided to put a video on our site to prove it. DC staffers Chad Morris and Matt Poe decided to take it a step further, play the call while running water over it. Check out the video, it speaks for itself. Try one of our aluminum calls today.

P.S. Do not use a carbon or acrylic striker on our aluminum calls. It will rub off the powder coating and make it slick( like regular aluminum calls). The video shows that all you need is a wooden striker.

Gearing Up for Turkey Season

As spring approaches, most hunters start preparing for turkey season. Everyone is gearing up with the latest calls, gadgets, and decoys. We are patterning our guns and stocking up on shells. Strategies are being devised to map out plans to hunt in multiple states. However, there is one thing that most of us forget to do. That one thing is gearing up our bodies to be fit for the hunt.

After the fall hunting seasons have ended, hunters can get a little lazy. With Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s Eve, and the Super Bowl sandwiched in between the seasons, it is easy to see why your favorite spring hunting clothes will no longer fasten (or you split the crouch out after sucking in and straining to finally get them buttoned). Can I get an amen from all of you who have done that before? AMEN!!!

Well, it is time to get in some exercise before the season starts. Packing blinds and decoys, run and gun hunting, and carrying out your big ol longbeard is much easier when you are in decent shape. Walking, jogging, aerobics, bike riding, etc… Doing one or more of these 4 days a week will get your ready when the season arrives. You will be ready to hunt more and will enjoy your outings much more. Eating better and quitting smoking will also extend the number of quality hunting years you have left on this planet.

It is also a good idea for all of us older hunters (40 years and older) to get a good physical checkup to help prolong our hunting years. I recently bonded with my doctor on a routine visit. Let’s just say needles in the arm, urinating in a cup, and a finger where it is not supposed to be. Not exactly fun, but if it will help me stay healthy, that means many more years of chasing big gobblers in the spring. Happy hunting!!

P.S. Make sure you find a family doctor with short, skinny fingers if you know what I mean. YIKES!!!!!!!!

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