jode hillman
Well-known member
With the ending of our NJ spring gobbler season on Friday, I thought it was a good time to post a recap of my 5 week season. Things started off on a positive note on our April youth day. My daughter and I hunted on the farm out back and had good gobbling all morning , but only managed to call a hen and a male peacock (yawling his way in) to the decoys. 
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Later that week on our adult opener I set up in the same area, and old logging road. A decided to hunt the aggressive Gobblers I heard youth day. I managed to get them going right away and in short order had three Jakes at 10 yards. One was noticeably larger with a 5 inch beard and look in the 20 pound range. The gobbled and strutted and purred for the decoy for a good 5 minutes, after which they casually strolled off. Had I known in advance how the season would play out, I may have killed that big Jake instead of letting him walk.
That was the closest encounter I would have all season. Shot of the two headed decoy from that morning.
I decided to make myself a new decoy this year to compliment the feeder decoy I used last year. I could not settle on whether I wanted to use a high head, or a contented head position, so I did both.......Both can fit inside the body while in the field, though they add slightly more weight. All told this rig weighs around 3 pounds.
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I decided to do the remaurqe inside in honor of the big Gobbler I killed last year.
After a week I realized the turkey population around my house was but a ghost of its former self, (high coyote numbers and two cold winter no doubt played a part) I changed my focus on scouting and hunting some nearby pieces of public land. We have some great spots open to public access. I hunted this horse farm in Beautiful hills of Salem county several days one week. Was close on a monster of a Gobbler twice, but thought 50 yards was just too far for me to kill him cleanly. I did snap this cool picture of a red fox hunting ground hogs though.
One upside of having to travel to find birds was hunting with friends I may not have if I had stayed home. Several of which killed some great birds this season.
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I hunted hard the remainder of the season and saw some great sights,Scarlet Tanagers were somewhat abundant this spring and they are always a treat to see.........(Pic from google)
After a great but unsuccesful hunt on the Delaware bay I took a ride to visit some old familiar haunts and contemplate the ups and downs of the year. To those who say Turkeys are easy, nothing but Land Carp and wood rats I have to disagree. Much like duck hunting, success is nice, but the places you see and the people you meet are the real treasures of time afield! Til next Season!
.
.
.
.
Later that week on our adult opener I set up in the same area, and old logging road. A decided to hunt the aggressive Gobblers I heard youth day. I managed to get them going right away and in short order had three Jakes at 10 yards. One was noticeably larger with a 5 inch beard and look in the 20 pound range. The gobbled and strutted and purred for the decoy for a good 5 minutes, after which they casually strolled off. Had I known in advance how the season would play out, I may have killed that big Jake instead of letting him walk.
That was the closest encounter I would have all season. Shot of the two headed decoy from that morning.
I decided to make myself a new decoy this year to compliment the feeder decoy I used last year. I could not settle on whether I wanted to use a high head, or a contented head position, so I did both.......Both can fit inside the body while in the field, though they add slightly more weight. All told this rig weighs around 3 pounds.
.
I decided to do the remaurqe inside in honor of the big Gobbler I killed last year.
After a week I realized the turkey population around my house was but a ghost of its former self, (high coyote numbers and two cold winter no doubt played a part) I changed my focus on scouting and hunting some nearby pieces of public land. We have some great spots open to public access. I hunted this horse farm in Beautiful hills of Salem county several days one week. Was close on a monster of a Gobbler twice, but thought 50 yards was just too far for me to kill him cleanly. I did snap this cool picture of a red fox hunting ground hogs though.
One upside of having to travel to find birds was hunting with friends I may not have if I had stayed home. Several of which killed some great birds this season.
.
I hunted hard the remainder of the season and saw some great sights,Scarlet Tanagers were somewhat abundant this spring and they are always a treat to see.........(Pic from google)
After a great but unsuccesful hunt on the Delaware bay I took a ride to visit some old familiar haunts and contemplate the ups and downs of the year. To those who say Turkeys are easy, nothing but Land Carp and wood rats I have to disagree. Much like duck hunting, success is nice, but the places you see and the people you meet are the real treasures of time afield! Til next Season!
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