BrookTrout

Good for you man, way to keep at it!

I feel your pain, I had that bird come so close last week and some other close encounters since. Keep at it and enjoy being out there!

Thats awesome he can help folks have success

thanks, yes I have been looking at upgrading my decoys, I think a jake/hen combo would be a good idea

So I haven't hunted turkeys seriously in years. I am from a non hunting family and am totally self-taught. I started hunting turkeys after college (got into deer hunting and had turkeys gobbling behind my house) and after some limited success in my early 20 twenties on a nice farm in VT that I had access to and one jake in the champlain valley, I haven't killed a bird in almost 20 yrs. So this year being furloughed (along with everyone else) decided to get back out in the turkey woods. I haven't seen that many turkeys since I moved here about 10 yrs ago but certainly know that are some around. I did some scouting and located some birds on some local private land (7S) I obtained access to hunt. I've also scouted and hunted a little on state land. I have had some encounters with a big tom and a nearby farm but he gobbles once or twice than spends the day with his group of hens so he is tough. My closest encounter so far was roosting a gobbler (jake I think) on a morning hunt where I managed to get in a field above him, set out an old bad looking decoy on a stick (lost my stake) and called him in. He eventually worked in just on edge of my shotgun range ( I cant seem to get a good pattern beyond 35-40yds) but I wasn't able to get a shot. I would have been happy with a jake for sure and was bummed to get so close but what a fun hunt that probably hooked me on turkey hunting again for years to come. I filmed the hunt and edited a video if anyone wants to watch. Please excuse my amateur calling and any constructive criticism is appreciated (I probably called way too much but so hard when he was gobbling at everything!!). I just started this channel on youtube and also put up my first archery buck from last season and some Seneca fishing stuff with more to come... Thanks and good luck to everybody out there!

Nice man! Thats awesome!

Impressive! Nice job esp on state land, good luck in PA!

nice laker, wow!!

Wow what a morning thats so great for your family!! Thanks for the story

nice brown!

Nice bird! Thats awesome, he's gotta be hooked for life!! What a memory for you guys! Congrats!

Anyone having any luck? I have been hunting in 7S. I went out first 3 days. Nothing day one (hunted area I had roosted bird before the big rain last week). Encountered a roosted tom the morning of day 2 but he flew down away from me and was intercepted by 3 hens who took him off after a few gobbles. Yesterday setup where I saw the tom fly down and strut but other than a bunch of curious deer sniffing and snorting at my decoy nothing... on my way back across field I spotted the tom strutting with 2 hens, almost put the sneak on him near a little tree island, got within 75 yds but he moved into the woods with hens, I tried some yelps but he just fanned at me and kept walking, I tried to swing around in the woods to ambush but never saw them again.... At least I've seen some birds and had some interaction. Took the morning off today to catch up on sleep. Have heard only a small number of shots the first few days. Hows everyone else making out?

Sounds like a good day! Nice to have a report in the winter! Any silvers?

nice video

nice buck, huge looking neck

wow great report and pics

Glad you had a good week, thanks for reports

Nice fish, sounds like a good vaca so far

Got out around 730am Tuesday and fished the west side. Didn't mark much bait/arcs in shallow so worked out deeper and across towards east side, started marking more fish and got bites off the deeper rigger. Went 3/4 all salmon. 17incher went in the cooler, 2 dinks went back and a long distance release on another legal size silver. All fish off rigger at 55ft on green ladderback spoon behind vertical green blades... Made it out earlier today and it made a big difference. On the water before 6am and was headed to the area I found fish yesterday but marked some nice bait balls and arcs right out in front of my lift so decided to setup and trolled south (east side), kept marking fish in 20-60ft with bait but no releases... made a big turn to troll back north and got my first salmon off a steely dan stinger down 30ft. Trolling north through the same area and the bite was on. Ended up with 12 releases and boated 8. All legal fish from 15-21". Of course the best fish came off after a couple awesome leaps, looked to be a 4-5lbr and I was bummed for sure. But I had my limit on salmon and was happy with a nice 2 hrs of fishing. Bite seemed to shut off by 830. Orange seemed to be the color today and most fish came from the rigger at 30ft and from a cheater at approx 24ft on the deeper rigger. One off of a fly/dodger combo with 6 colors of leadcore. No fleas, few weeds, surface temp 72....

I am planning on redoing the decking on my small boat dock on Seneca. Area doesn't freeze. Dock is for lift access only, about 30ft long, 4-5ft deep at end. There are currently 5 pairs of metal tube "pilings". I assume they are driven into the bottom. Area is sand/cobbles. Dock seems to wobble a bit but might be due to loose connections and rotten wood. My question is how deep should pilings be driven. One needs to be replaced and maybe more depending on wear once I get it taken apart. I was also just curious. Couldn't find anything too definite when I searched it online. Lots of stuff about seasonal docks... The pic below shows the dock

nice fish!