Alabama Tom

[coachg]

40 is huge , my bird was 22-24 lbs . Guess not actually weighed .

 

[Mighty Mouse]

One of my little cowboys (just turned 16) got this tom in the brome field behind the barn. Pretty nice bird, weighed 40 lbs. Bonus: this kid is super respectful of us and the ranch. Always texts me for permission to hunt, always shuts gates, never leaves ruts, never leaves trash, and makes a point thanking us. View attachment 57409

Nice bird, but no way it's 40 lbs. Heaviest on record are in the mid-upper 30's depending on subspecies.

 

[Mighty Mouse]

Here's mine from opening day in Missouri. I happened to be in the right place at the right time and shot this young tom (guessing he's a 2 year old) at 6:45 after calling to him 3 times.

Prepared properly, wild turkey (Easterns anyway) are fine eating IME. I like to brine the breast meat, cut it into strips then fry. I cook legs and wings whole in a crockpot or put them into a pot of gumbo.

 

[504RP]

Wild turkey taste the same from HI to New York, there's nothing special about them just because of cold winters. If cooked poorly or like a domestic bird, they're dry and tough as boot leather. If brined and cooked properly, the breast is pretty decent. The rest is best suited for things like turkey salad. But eating them is at the bottom of the list of why people hunt them. A good turkey hunt is the highlight of my year. There is no better sound than a gobble echoing through the woods

40 is huge , my bird was 22-24 lbs . Guess not actually weighed .

I started Turkey hunting when I was 14 years old in the mid 70's. I am 64 now had a lot of adventures Turkey hunting. One in particular was when I caught a wild hen Turkey during Spring turkey season.

 

[coachg]

Was mowing one of my yards early this morning and when I got out of the truck I heard one gobbling. Took me about 45 minutes to mow and as I was putting my mower back on the trailer I heard him again. 3 sisters own the families farm and farm house . I called to ask permission. Waiting to hear back . None of them live close but I wouldn't hunt it without permission.

 

[M.Magis]

I started Turkey hunting when I was 14 years old in the mid 70's. I am 64 now had a lot of adventures Turkey hunting. One in particular was when I caught a wild hen Turkey during Spring turkey season.

Seems like theres a story in there…

 

[coachg]

Seems like theres a story in there…

I'd like to hear that one .

 

[kenny thomas]

I deliver diesel to the Kingston Fossil (coal powered) Power Plant 3 days a week. This morning there i seen 4 of the biggest gobblers i have ever seen. But it has been off limits for hunting for 70 years so they weren't even scared.

 

[504RP]

I will tell it but even though there has to be a simple explanation for it. I don't what it would be. But it's a true story.

Ok here's what happened. I was going to take my daughter that was 14 at the time scouting for Turkeys for the up coming youth hunt. She had never been Turkey hunting before.

We got to our hunting area just as it was starting to get day light. We were in National Forest closest house probably 8 miles and next to the closest 10 miles or better and only a couple. Fairly remote area.

Stopped on the logging road to listen for gobbles. About 15 minutes later we saw about 6 turkeys 3 or 400 yards up the road run across the road. We were on top of a mountain mostly hard wood and a little bit of pine timber.

I had small Nissan 2 wheel drive long wheel base truck at that time. Had rolled my window down so that I could listen for gobbling when we had first stopped. Daughter didn't because she was cold. When the turkeys ran across the road I started the truck and hurried to get to where they had crossed. And shut the truck off and coasted the last 100 yards to where they had crossed. And stopped. Turkeys were gone. Listened for about 30 minutes and heard or saw nothing. Tried calling and no answer. Was getting pretty good day light and birds were singing a lot.

Then we saw turkey's scratching about 150
yards off in the woods. Couldn't tell
If they were any gobblers in the bunch. Pretty sure it was the six we saw run across the road when we first got there a few minutes earlier. They was just scratching in the leaves and walking slow feeding I guess. At first they were heading towards us like as if we weren't even there. Then the majority of the group started angling away in a direction parallel to us and the road except for one of them. None of them seemed to have noticed us at anytime from the time we first saw the run across the road. Or when we spotted them in the woods again heading towards us.

But that one turkey that was feeding towards us just continued coming straight towards our truck. I knew something wasn't right when keep coming towards us. In less than 30 minutes it was within 50 yards of the truck. My daughter started giggling and I told her to be quiet which was hard for her to because she had never been Turkey hunting but she managed to be quiet.

When it got within 5 yards of my Truck and stopped to look at me. I knew for sure something was wrong. It was clucking a little bit and then started back feeding and walked out of the woods into the road directing in front of the truck at which time because it was so close to the truck we couldn't see it until it got on my daughters side of the truck. I asked her if she could see it and she could. She was having a hard time keeping quiet and giggling but that's was ok. It turned beside the truck heading the opposite direction we were in the truck until I could see it walking in my passenger side door mirror away from us down the middle of the road picking at the dirt as it was leaving. Wasn't in any hurry at all. It was a hen Turkey. It went about 50 yards and I told my daughter nobody would ever believe what we had seen.

We were both laughing about what had just happened by that time. Then the Turkey turned and started back towards us on my side of the road. Just scratching in the dirt picking at I guess small peace's of shell or something. Again I told my daughter to quiet down and to stop laughing which she did.

As I watched it get closer and closer to the truck. For some reason I thought to myself that it was and it did fly up on the side of the truck bed ! And it started walking the side of the truck bed toward the cab. Well that done it for my daughter. She went from laughing thinking everything was funny to scared and started saying " Oh no ! " I told her to quiet down again.

Well ? If all of that wasn't enough to happen out of the norm. As soon as it got to the cab it flew up on top of the truck and started walking around. Well it sounded like a clank every step that it took. Until it came to rest on my side of the truck. It was facing the passenger side and I could see it's tail feathers sticking out past my window on top of the truck.

I decided to reach up with my left hand and try to grab its legs but couldn't see them. As I reached up with my left hand open ready to grab its legs I could barely feel its feathers touching the top of my knuckles. When I made my move to grab its legs I had guessed just right because I grabbed both legs just above its feet and the fight was on ! My daughter was trying to get her door open to jump out of the truck screaming like as if she was dying and I was trying to pull the turkey inside the truck window and it was flapping it's wings like crazy trying to get away.

I finally got it under control and my daughter had left her door open and was standing about 50 foot from the truck laughing as hard as she could !!! After everything calmed down both us and the turkey. We looked it over to see if maybe it had been hurt or something to cause it to act so strange but couldn't find a scratch on it any where.

But after I caught it. It wasn't acting no where near as calm as it had the whole time before we caught it. Would try to bite at me. I was going to set it down on the ground to let it go. And as soon as I loosen my grip on it. That dude took off like a 747 ! It flew for probably close to 4 or 500 yards down the middle of that road until it turned towards the canyon beside us and glided out of sight !!!

I don't know what was up with that turkey ? When it was acting as strange as it did and doing what it did. I thought maybe someone had found some wild Turkey eggs, hatched the out and decided to turn them loose and that might have been the deal. But that Turkey could fly as good and just like any wild turkeys I have seen.

But that's what happened and it's all true. And I forgot to mention there was two other Turkey hunters that had drove up right as I was about to let it go that took pictures of it and me holding it. They both agreed that it was definitely a wild Turkey and was still very capable of flying regardless of the way it was acting.