LFTW 4/23

Cody Jinks playlist ON, and headed to the woods. Good luck, gentlemen

Heading to redeem a miss.

Going to some private land that’s pretty much been untouched this year. If I don’t hear them this morning somethings wrong.

I just pulled up. Got about a 20 minute walk in. Good luck!

Almost to the gate. Should be a pretty morning, i hope the turkeys feel like participating.

Yesterday, after Getting up at 330, hunting til lunch, working rest of day, then up half the night trying to finish up my master’s thesis....yeah I gave it a rest today. Good luck guys!

Dr. B

All quiet here

Heard 3 gobbling. Got within 150 yards of one but he chose pasture instead of pines. Bout to hop in the shower and head to work. Good luck to everyone still out there. Sure is a pretty morning!

Tagged out at 6:40

I heard one gobble good in GA, but couldn't lure him in. I did get another one yesterday afternoon, so got one GA tag left. Good luck to all

worst turkey season ever!! has been the least fun turkey season I've ever had

Have they just not gobbled for you, or do you not have as many as normal? You usually work them over

not vocal at all, i've only seen the trigger pulled 11 times this season which isn't good by my standards.I have yet to work a turkey that just wants to gobble and act a fool. if I find one gobbling he'll only gobble 2-5 times all morning, there were times last season that I heard more gobbling in one morning than I've heard this entire season. Just not near as fun when youre having to hunt in silence

The birds at my club were very vocal and responsive the first 2 weeks & have had lockjaw since. Never see them in the fields feeding, no pics of them in the fields either from multiple game cameras. The only correlation I can draw is that the weather went to crap with rain and temperature swings since that period. Some of the productive areas are very wet now. Still been the beat season I’ve had in several years even though it’s been rough the last few weeks

Yeah, must be terrible...come on down and hunt where I do and go 2 weeks without gobbles due to the places just not having many birds on multiple places...Just not near as fun when you aren't blessed with incredible property where watching 11 birds die is "the worst season ever"...No, I am not jealous at all nor really care...just don't like to hear the complaining about "struggling" with 11 dead birds while a bunch of others haven't heard or seen 11 birds all season...take a step back to just consider your blessings and just be thankful for getting to even see one bird die, much more 11...just a word of advice

ummm... you got some pretty high standards there, bud. That's more trigger pulls than most folks see in 5+ years. Got a lot of folks on here shaking their heads at that post, including me. Hope your season starts looking up with seeing #12 trigger pull soon.

Dr. B

if you put as much time and effort and driving into it as I do and only miss 10 days of the season, you would expect more also. I hunt 4-6 counties and my interactions with birds this year has been terrible compared the past years. I guess my response was alittle misleading.....out of the 11 trigger pulls, I've witnessed 6 misses. You can shake your head at me for not being satisfied if you want, but I expect more and intend on seeing 10+ die every season on top of my limit without having to travel to other states just the way I am

I hunt that many counties as well as have hunted most of everyday this year driving all over, so I definitely feel you there...I am all for having those expectations, but I am just saying maybe keep them to yourself and realize how blessed you are to even see that many here in the state. Honestly, we are so blessed to be alive and well to be able to hunt these frustrating critters much less kill one. I wish you the best with number 12! kill em up!

thanks for the words of advice

I think what turkeymaster is saying is that he hates deer hunting them but he’s just about having to hunt em that way this year. I understand what he’s saying. I’ve had a few super hunts and a bunch of duds. The best is yet to come in north Alabama but I don’t know about down there where y’all are at.

I have only been on one bird that was gobbling and wanted to die and it turned out to be 3 but we were unable to pull the double off. I haven't had but one mid morning strike where bird gets fired up and actually comes in and normally that happens to me often even if they hang up just out of gun range. I guess I am saying the gobblin has been decent but actually "workin" turkeys has been slow for me as they just don't seem to want to play the game even though they seem to gobble some. I wouldn't say it has been the worst season ever but it's far from the best.

You just hunt some incredible properties to have those kind of expectations for your season. More power to you but I just can’t relate.

These last couple days, though this turkey season overall has been frustrating with no gobbling turkeys most days, I have found myself rather grateful. It has been kinda neat to check out some of my old places, not hear a thing, and reflect on how good those places were when I first started turkey hunting. Had it been then like it is now, I honestly believe turkey hunting would have never stuck with me. I'm thankful I had lots of turkeys to screw up on back then so I could jump up the learning curve a little quicker versus the opposite. Now that things are much, much slower on the gobbling front overall, and my job change really restricts how much I get to go versus when I started, I really do cherish every single one I get to fool with. Knowing I might not get on another one for a while....my focus and patience when I get in the game with one are better than they have ever been (especially so when I'm against the clock and trying to do the best I can with limited time due to work or other commitments). There is no doubt these last two seasons have forced me to be a better turkey hunter. Got to find a silver lining regardless of what happens I suppose!

I first started reading aldeer in 2003, and one of the few constants from this board is that every year there have been posters who declared that particular year to be the worst ever, and every year some have said it was the best ever. How turkey season is perceived is very much site specific. I have no idea why turkeys gobble better in particular areas one year than the next, but I know that they do. The unpredictable nature of turkey hunting is one of the reasons I enjoy it so much.

I remember that I killed a limit in 2003 and posted about it on here. We didn't have nearly as many members on this board back then, and there weren't many limits posted. I don't remember his handle, but I remember that one guy posted that the Good Ole Days of turkey hunting in AL were long gone, and that it would be very rare to hear of a limit from now on. He said that someone like me might occasionally get lucky and kill a limit, but it would hardly ever happen again. I guess I remember that because I wondered how he knew that my limit was just luck, especially since he didn't know me and knew nothing about me. Anyway, his prediction turned out to be really bad and AL has had some great overall turkey seasons since then.

But there is always an element of luck involved in killing a turkey, and every time I kill one I wonder if he will be my last. If your season was bad this year, take hope that the next one will be the best ever. But also realize it might be the worst - some season has to be your worst one, and it might be ahead of you. I try to always assume the worst when it comes to turkey hunting, and then I can feel extra blessed if it's successful.

And who was the guy who said a couple of weeks back that he was gonna limit out the coming weekend? Did he do it? I never read an update, but I thought that was a good way to get a jinx on you.

I seriously doubt that I will ever kill another one.

Well said preacher! Some years they google great here some not so much! Overall from what I’ve heard gobbling has been down this year for me it hasn’t! Last year I didn’t kill a bird till the last weekend and this year I should have 4 dead but only have 2!

Switching gear for work from truck to commuter car this AM. Thought I heard a double gobble on a field 250 yds from the house. Ran and grabbed my gun and all. Made it to field and thought I heard him once more well I the distance. Well, at least I finally heard one. I think!!

Dang last year you killed like 15 didnt you?

Preacher, you can kill turkeys with the best of them but your wisdom puts you at the top of the list. I’d love to buy you lunch one day, talk turkey and just generally pick your brain.

I almost called him today to see about removing a turkey jinx but I figured I may have waited to late in the season for it to be worth it...

You're covered! Your jinx fix is on the way!

I believe the guy calling his shots on bird # 5 was Hoppy, Hopper, Skippy or something jumpy. I have not seen him post bird # 5. The Babe Ruth of ALDeer, where are you?

Me too. I have to tell him some good redeye spots, what you got for him?