14 lbs (tiny bird!).  Triple beards (8.5", 4.0", 3.25").  Spurs right at 1".  31 yards, 20 ga SBS.  Fed Premium 1-5/16 oz copperplated No. 5 with Flite Control wad.  I'm calling him a 2-year-old.

First gobble at 6:04.  On the ground at 7:53.  Three birds gobbling on the roost, two came to my decoy.  Took their sweet time, they were about 100 yards out for an hour and a half gobbling every 15-20 seconds.  Finally decided to come in.

DSC_5294-Turkey Pose by FredMan, on Flickr

DSC_5312-Turkey SBS by FredMan, on Flickr

DSC_5327-Shotshell by FredMan, on Flickr

DSC_5330-Triple Beard by FredMan, on Flickr

I got mine at 6:45.  Gobbled about 6:30 for the first time.  Shot him at 25 yards with my browning gold 3 1/2" 2oz #5 Winchester Longbeard.  First kill with the Aimpoint T2, which I just switched to from an EO Tech.

Nice!  What county?  Mine was Louisa.

Greensville.

That seems like a great way to spend the morning.

Good hunting.

Nice birds guys. Nice shotgun OP.
Our season doesn't start for another 3 weeks.

I really tried but the weather went crazy, we were supposed to have snow last night and stop about six. It was a blizzard. This was after 4 hours as I was leaving .

Love the SBS!

Brutal weather!  I've had cold spring hunt days (back in 2003 there was the great Easter Freeze; hunting birds on Easter weekend in 17 degree temps.  Birds were still gobbling and active!).  I imagine in a blizzard they're looking for a thickety place to get out of the wind.

Yum.....

DSC_5542-Turkey Dinner by FredMan, on Flickr

DSC_5544-Turkey Dinner Shot by FredMan, on Flickr

hold on there Hiawatha....

lets talk about that scattergun you got there.

why did you decide to run a 20 gauge

is that a factory barrel?
what choke are you using...and how.

Yes! I also want the details.

First off, nice bird and really nice turkey gun.

I'm getting ready to build my wife a new turkey gun. I'm thinking 12ga 870 with 12 1/2 or 14' barrel and 1x4 leupold. She now has an 870 with 26' barrel, 4x scope. She loves the gun and has got lots of bird but it's just too heavy.

short barrels in pumps kick.

one of my rigs is a 1300 black shadow turkey and a hot turkey load will let you know you touched one off. my 11/87 with a 26 has no kick at all, but that 1300 sure does.

Her 870 kicks even with a knoxx recoil stock on it. I always try to get her to use my 11/87 but its always no! I like my pump guns,me i'm a gas guy

Here's her bird from last Sun, 19 lb 12oz 9" beard

good bird. nothing wrong with that bird at all.

my boy killed a Rio-Merriam cross last weekend and I killed a Rio. both had 10 inch beards and 1.25 inch spurs. almost twins except for the tail feather tips.

she might do well moving to a 20 gauge 11-87 or 870 youth model. they are a cats ass. 22 or 24 inch barrel. my son has his 870 youth loaded with buck in his room for emergencies. it is a quick handling shotty. if she ever wants to try one out, give me a shout and all of us can head to the range for a test run. I killed several birds with a 20 growing up and if I was small framed, would not think twice about using one. I've carried it a few times chasing rabbits and after lugging around big 12 gauges it seemed like heaven to carrying out walking around.

does she have to use a scope? swap it out for a good red dot or just a fiber optic bead. Ive got RDS and shotgun scopes laying all over the place but I always end up shooting a bare gun.

I moved my son up to a 12 gauge,  2 years ago for waterfowling and haven't looked back.

I'm like you.. its hard to beat an 11/87. they point off the shelf perfectly.

I've got a Remington 10 gauge, but can't stand the thought of carrying it all over the country on a Turkey Hunt.

She has youth 1100 an youth 870 both were special runs the Rem.did about 25 years ago. 18' barrels. Dove guns

Yes she needs and wants a scope, saddle mounts u can't pull the trigger group without losing zero that what she has now. Tried an aimpoint that didn't work, she likes 4x or 1x4 so she doesn't have to keep looking with her binoculars when the bird are moving in.

I'm trying to find out is Rem 1100 police have drilled receivers because most 1100 and very few 11/87 have drilled receivers Might be worth the extra $$ to get the police Md if it is all ready drilled. I drilled and taped an 870 for 3 gun and my 11/87 turkey gun but I just didn't like doing it to easy to screw up and alot of people say don't drill them.

I'm still thinking 14" barrel, just don't know 870, or gas gun, then cut 1 1/2 lb buy going with a 20 or stay with 12 because if she misses a bird a 20 I in big trouble.

any Gunsmith can drill and tap a shotgun. I've done had it done and it worked fine.

interesting predicament

I used a Modified choke and some fed 3" #5 shells with the Flite Control wad.  31 yard shot, and while he flopped, he didn't move form the point of shot.

Behold!

That Sir is one sweet setup! Am I really, really jealous? you bet I am.
I will be depressed all week wishing I had that outstanding piece of art.

that my friend is a proper write up.
excellent job.

interesting gun to be playing around with. most would not have picked that model to experiment with.

And that, my friend, is why I did it. Now if I could just get that bird who's been gobbling at me since 6 am to come in id be set.

my son with our birds from SW OK. min e was a Rio-Merriam Cross and his was a Rio. both damn near twins.

he was shooting an 11-87 with a Carlson Turkey Choke and I was using my Beretta with the same choke along with Winchester long range #5 copper plated turkey loads.
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I have no idea why this posted the pic 2x.

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Nice Birds!

wha'ts really wild is that Rio-Merriam Cross had 1.25 inch spurs and a 10 inch beard- but the fan of a Merriam. those feather tips glow in the garage while I am drying them out.

Arghhh!!!

This weekend was the weekend of turkey tragedy.

Saturday morning I get out to my listening post at 5:30 am, and at 5:54 'ol Tom starts a gobblin', right on cue and in the same area he's been thundering the skies all week.  I make a beeline to my setup spot, about 100 yards out.  Put out my decoy and settle in.  I give a few loud tree yelps and then soft clucks every 10 minutes or so.  He's fired up, double and triple gobbles on the roost.  One time he doubled, then right at the end of the double tried for a third.  Didn't have quite enough air in his lungs and it came out pretty awful.  I almost laughed out loud.  He has his fun until about 6:30, when I hear him fly down.  He shuts up, which means he's either coming or going.  6:45 I see his head pop up and get ready.  He must have seen me, or not liked the decoy, because I got to watch him turn around and melt into the morning fog.  Oh well, it happens.

Sunday morning I give it another try.  Get to my listening post again at 5:30.  He fires up again at 5:55.  He's moved his roost a bit, and I can't tell which side of the creek he's on.  I gamble on the "other" side, and do my patented half-mile morning trot to get to my setup (ranging way wide to avoid detection).  Put the decoy out, start up with my yelps and clucks.  He's still fired up, but it appears I've chosen poorly and he's on the opposite side of the creek.  It's about 6:30 now, flydown time.  I sneak across the drain, set my decoy in the field corner, and find my sitting tree.  He's now down, and maybe 75 yards out.  I give some more clucks and a yelp or two, and he's headed in!  Now, this spot has a large blown-down oak between me and Tom.  Like 3-foot high stem laying on the ground 20 feet out, and he's on the other side.  I figure he'll come in to my decoy, walking past the end of the blowdown.  He's hammering the air.  I can almost feel the vibrations.  He's eager and looking for love, and gobbling about 30 feet away, but completely invisible on the other side of the blowdown.

So I get my gun ready, aimed at the gap past the end of the blowdown, because surely he'll walk right past it and then it's shootin' time, right?  Well, Tom had a different idea.  See, he thought he'd impress that sexy lady by jumping up on top of the downed stem, 3 feet off the ground, and strut there.  Well, as soon as he hopped up, what did he see?  Me.  And my shotgun.  Pointed 45 degrees off the wrong way.  He stayed up there for about 3 nanoseconds, got a look of incredulous surprise on his face then jumped down.  He trotted off, putting a bit.  I figured what the hey and started calling again.  He starts gobbling again!  For the next 20 minutes, he's hovering 30-40 yards out, gobbling like there's no tomorrow.  On the other side of the log.  Where I can't see him and have no shot.  Almost as if he was taunting me.  He starts to move off and I figure I've got nothing to lose, and sneak out, take a long, 1/2 mile hike around, and try to come at him from the other direction.  I get where I'm headed maybe 15 minutes later, set up, start calling.  He responds immediately, but he's way off.  150 yards or better.  We have a long-distance conversation for about 20 more minutes, then he goes silent.  I'm assuming he finally found a real hen, because after another 45 minutes I said screw it and headed in.

Now I've got a vendetta with this bird; it's point of pride.  I've got Friday off, so I'm looking at 3 more morning of chasing this particular turkey.  I'm pretty sure he was the companion bird on opening day when two came in, so I've had 3 very close interactions with this bird, and if I don't get him I will be peeved.

I guess the best thing is my calling is good enough to keep him coming back, but I'm beginning to feel like there's a conspiracy against me.  But that's, as they say, turkey hunting.  If it was easy it wouldn't be fun.

Toms that hang out too much in the same place often have a death wish.
what decoys are you using?

Damn y'all are making me jealous. I haven't been able to go this season so I'll have to live vicariously through you guys.

Called in a bunch .. only have managed to get one down tho.  
[url=https://flic.kr/p/GDL4A8]IMG_20160417_085937621_HDR[1][/url] by jamiehstanley, on Flickr
[url=https://flic.kr/p/FQ6V2f]IMG_20160417_085707341[1][/url] by jamiehstanley, on Flickr
[url=https://flic.kr/p/GKFPSn]IMG_20160423_080017410_2[1][/url] by jamiehstanley, on Flickr

Good Bird!!
double beard?

Thank ya .. No he was just a single it was laying weird.  I didn't even get a good picture.  Just the drt picture.

Avian-X.  For my money they're the best thing out there right now.  Had this alert Hen for the past 3 seasons and it seems to capture Tom's attention.

+1 on the avian lcd decoys...i bought the jake and lay down hen combo and went back and bought the alert hen just for times when more visibility is needed.

Killed this Bird Sunday morning. He made a bee line past the hen and preceded to beat the shit out of the jake.  Shot him at 11 yards