I've have three English Setters. Gus, Call and Miss Lori(Missy). Missy's not quite 5 months old yet the boys are about 17 months old. Gus and Call are litter mates and Missy is from different stock so I can breed them.



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PhilFree:-)
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That's a great picture.
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We had setters when I was a kid, very good hunting dogs. Always wanted to get my dad another 1 but he doesnt do much quail hunting anymore.
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Any turkey hunters out there? I'm going out for the "official" first time this weekend. Any good strategies besides sitting really freaking still? Calls? Blinds? Decoys?
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My parents have turkeys that roost out in the creek bottom. They are dumb and tame. You can sit on my porch in the morning and waste one.
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Pm me and let me know what questions you have. I've been turkey hunting for about 20 years now.
I may have a tip or two for you.
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I've been on the road and working alot, left at 5am yesterday and had a 14hr day on the road. Tax season, work loads, lots of stress have dominated things around here lately.
This morning, I got up at 4:30 and headed out in the rain for opening morning of turkey season. Memories of last year and being unable to get within 50-75 yards of a live bird were fresh in my mind.

I went with a buddy who guided hunts for several years, to try to learn a better way to do things. A couple of nights ago I'd taken him to my farm, scouted the birds, told him where I thought they'd be, and a couple of owl hoots confirmed it with gobbles of treeing birds.

This morning, we headed out into the rain, nearly got stuck and walked into the darkness to set up on the inside corner of a hay field next to a timber with a corn field a quarter mile the other side of my field.

Gray sky of first light brought a stop to the rain and a beginning to the first gobbles and hen clucks from the trees. Sound indicated 3 gobblers within 200 yards with hens between. My friend worked his magic, engaging the gobblers in conversation, simulating flight to the ground and the yelps of an amorous hen. 2 gobblers answer and as the sun peeks over the horizon, they leave the trees. My anticipation grows even as they fly behind us to a neighboring farm. Thick brush and a hedge row separate us, but I have confidence....another tom sounds like he's coming from the timber.....and the tom behind us is with a hen.

The slightest sound of brush crackling behind us locks us from movement, and then I hear the elusive sound I've been told about but never have heard.....the drum of a horny Tom.

They circle behind as I adjust my location to face the decoy in the field and the direction I think they'll approach.....and I see the hen. She's working through the sounds, and approaches the decoy hen....and the patriotic brightly colored red-white and blue head of the Gobbler appears from the brush. He struts into the open like he thinks he's Floyd Mayweather. He circles the hen in the dance of love, fanning, puffing, drumming...working his hen and the decoy as if he was trying to work a 3-way for breakfast.

I watch the display for 2-3 minutes as close as 15 yards before I take aim and claim my prize.

This wasn't the biggest bird I've ever taken, the beard was broken off but this was without a doubt my favorite turkey hunt ever.

Tomorrow, I'll be taking my friend to another farm, to see how well I do at finding a bird for him, and maybe learn a trick or two about big timber turkeys.

Mornings like this one are why men hunt.
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Were you in a blind?
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No, just sitting on the ground, hunkered into some hedge and multiflora rose bushes, there was a brush pile to the south a few feet, which concealed their approach from that direction after they circled. Helped hide us, but made it tougher to see what they were doing until they came into the open.

Both the hen and Tom faced and looked at us several times from 15-20 yards, so I guess we did a good job of sitting still.
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i heard some toms early this morning the next ridge over. Looked up in the sky and there was a rainbow in the clouds. musta been ice crystals.

Ive seen tureky everyday for the past 2 weeks.
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SE Kansas this year has a shortage of birds .. but if you hunt the creek and river bottoms that have plenty of oak trees that supplied acorns you should be able to take a nice bird .....
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Got my Tom at first light today. Not a trophy but decent. I'll post some pics.
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Dear GOD man, what happened to your face??:-)
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Returning the favor.

This morning, I lethargically crawled out of bed at 4:30am again, got around and went to pick up my friend to try to get his bird.

We went down to a family farm and were slow walking into the timber by dark of night. Once reaching a logging road, we settled against a tree to wait for gobbles to find our target. With the gray sky a few sparse gobbles came but nothing very close, so we began to move closer to the best chance. About half way there, I realized someone was stumbling through the neighboring ground, a bout a half hour after they should have been set...and spooked the bird, time to regroup.

We went to my truck and drove to a couple of farms to glass fields for strutting toms...nothing and moved on. We headed to a farm of one of my uncles, which I'd never turkey hunted and began to glass. I spotted a tom and a hen about 1/4-1/2 mile to the west on a hillside near a wooded draw. We began our stalk across the land, crossed a creek and set up on the edge of a draw a hundred yards from where the birds had exited view.

The setup is the turkeys are suspected to be a couple of hundred yards to our north, we're on the west bank of a wooded creek bottom on a hillside.

It doesn't take long for the yelps of our calls to be answered....a dominant hen is coming our way, hopefully with the gobbler. To our surprise, they circle down into the creek bottom, cross the creek and come up the hill, passing within 10 yards of where we lay on the ground.

The fun begins as the hens approach the single hen decoy, and begin to beat the living shit out it...pecking, raking with spurs...an awesome display of turkey on vinyl turkey violence, a mere 15yds away...I can barely contain my giggles for the 10 minute onslaught. Then, they roam away.....and we once again call, to be answered, and have another hen take a similar path, coming as close as 6 yards...before entering the open field.

During this time, I notice a gobbler and 2 hens entering the bottom across the creek....they see the hen at our decoy and make quick time in what we think is running away....but they're circling.

Not long after, we see a semi-strutting gobbler charge over the hill in our direction. He puffs, flairs, fans, puts on his display at 20 yards for a little while before 3" mag #4 thunder breaks the morning air, and another one bites the dust.

and another one's down and another one's down...another one bites the dust.

After reaching the truck and beginning to leave, not 200 yards from the truck in the other direction...a massive gobbler with a ground dragging beard strutted probably to keep me humble.

Another nice day, another great hunt.
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Glad you guys got your turkeys.

Please please PLEASE take some from South Western KS.
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