# FAll Turkey



## kc5 (Dec 1, 2014)

I must say, I was excited that the Division of Wildlife opened this opportunity to allow a few of us to hunt turkeys in the fall. I took special note of when tags went on sale and I made sure i was first in line at the Springville office, I was pleased as the lady at the counter handed me my Fall tag!, I found out later the tags sold out in 15 minutes!

I chose the southern area to hunt even though I live in Utah County, I have hunted there before and had success with Spring turkey hunts. I hunt Deer in some of the areas that where open and we always see lots of birds in the fall so i was pretty excited for the hunt to start. With the long season, I wanted to take my time and enjoy the hunt. I was after a great bird. My choice of weapon would be my bow, then if it come to it I would pull out the shotgun.

I didn't bother scouting because I knew the area well. I knew where the public ground was and the private areas I wanted to avoid! I would like to say this, it was disappointing speaking with some land owners that wanted the birds gone, but did not want hunters on their property. Fortunately there was plenty of birds on public ground to hunt so i did not worry about them.

The first trip down to my favorite spot yielded several forest service bobcats and manpower who where stripping down all the cedar trees in the area. To much commotion the birds had relocated! So I spent the rest of the day watching some nice bucks and trying to locate the birds.

The second trip, I found lots of birds, in fact several flocks with 50 plus birds, the only problem was they were all hens and jakes, No toms to be found. I counted over 350 birds that day. 

Third trip was better, I located a few tom's with nothing real big, however the excitement of the moment found me stalking one decent tom, I got to within 30 yds and got off a great shot at him with my bow, however the branch magnet sucked in my arrow and it glanced slightly right of the bird. After the shot the sky was full of close to 100 birds that just kept jumping up and flying off, it was an awesome sight to watch. I spent the rest of the day scouting some new area for the next trip down.

This brings me to last saturday, I finally found a flock of about 15 birds that were all good toms, one being a real bruser with 10" beard. The were in a bad spot to stalk with my bow. So I grabed the shotgun and made the sneak in. I wear glasses, and shooting my shotgun with them sucks so I took them off to make the stalk. I was keeping track of the big one waiting for him to clear. They were getting restless at this point so when He stepped out I sent a shot his way. (or so I thought) and down he went, I was pumped, the rest of the birds high tailed it out of there, so I walked over to check him out, and wouldn't you know it, it wasn't the big one, they must of switched up on me somehow, being blind as I am, but he was a decent tom non the less, I was please it was a clean kill and it would be a great bird for the dutch oven.

I really hope the divison chooses to continue this hunt, There was not pressure on the birds, Its a good time to thin down the flocks a bit, and there is nothing better than a wild turkey cooked in the dutch oven for the holidays. I for one enjoyed it thoroughly. I have killed quite a few turkeys, but I must say this hunt has been one of the funnest.

I forgot my camera so I did not get a kill site photo, but here is the bird. There sure pretty and fattened up for winter.


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## Buckfinder (May 23, 2009)

Congrats!!


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## hawglips (Aug 23, 2013)

Congrats on a nice fall bird, Kc5!


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## gpskid (Jul 24, 2012)

*Fall Turkeys*

Congrats o the turkey
DWR trapped today and moved a bunch


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## Bow hunter mojo (Oct 12, 2013)

That is pretty cool. I enjoyed reading about your adventure. It makes me want to get out there and go turkey hunting. Congrats!!!


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