First and foremost let me say I rarely post but closely follow the board. I enjoy the banter and like Barry said, you have to have your daily fix; or three. I have been playing this crazy game for over 30 years and this may have been the most frustrating one ever for me. I generally try to have everything caught up at work so nothing gets in the way. The first omen may have been passed early in late February when the alarm clock went off and my wife groaned "Oh, My, Turkey season is almost here" The second omen was Youth Day when not a single bird gobbled on 8000 acres of private land. If, I said it once I said it a hundred times this season, "Imagine that...."

My season started like the rest of yours in the rain on opening day. I had plenty of birds located and none said a peep on a cold rainy opening day. Did I mention it was cold and wet? Cold enough for bronchitis and a week out of the woods by Drs orders. Not to worry, the birds were there and really hammering. Work managed to get in the way the second week of season and I only got out for short hunt on two days that week. One of those hunts started out with great potential when bird gobbled from 100 yards away down a ridge top. Game on! I let him get on the ground and a fly down cackle and some soft clucks set him on fire. Text book hunt right? Wrong. With this turkey coming full bore up the top of a "more open than I likeâ€

I guess my login timed out while I was messing aroung with the picture. Posted by DBLGBL in Montgomery county

That was one great story, Thought I was with you on every move, Congrads. The last day bird has to be sweet.
Good job, nice pic

That was a great post!

Congrats on a (finally) successful season!! Stick around! Chat a bit!

Wow... great story and congrats on a great hunt and a super finale'!

Way to shut up the Fat Lady! Enjoyed reading your post. Please, post more in the future and join us at the picnic.

Great post.. glad you hang around here and happy to see you post...

Congrads

Congrads on on great ending!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!but we didn't hear if that coyote road off with the monkey to his doom. I hope you slammed him.

Great story

congrats...shooting stix???tell me about them....someohowI always consdieredsomething like that to be a problem creaotr for eficient movement of the gun on a n incoming gobbler??? anxious to hear how you manage it...

That is a great story! I somehow missed this the first time around and glad it got kicked back to the top. Congrats on a GREAT season!

Best monkey bumping story yet!

GN.

The shooting stix can prevent problems, but for me the benefits far out weigh the problems. The stix I use are made by Safari. The are ~40inches when extended. The are shock corded aluminum and fold to about 10 inches. The great thing is I can set the stix and place the gun so the gun is always shouldered and my hands are free for calling with the box or pots. I set the stix angled towards me so that if I have to make a major adjustment with the gun, they fall towards me against my legs. Every one one this board knows what it feels like when one hangs up in sight leaving you holding the gun until it feels like 2 tons of lead and is shaking so bad you are wondering if the bird is going to see it anyway. When this happens the weight of the gun is supported by my shoulder and the stix. The stix allow you to move the gun a a great deal based on angle without having to reset them, Ie. an inch of the gun can be yards at the distance to the turkey. You are correct in thinking it has potential to create problems but I can honestly say they have never cost me a bird. I even use a similar deal in the tree stand when deer hunting. They qualify as one of the things that are always in my pack.

-2gbl