Shredder
Life Member
Sunday morning I headed south of where I live to Pike County in pursuit of my second gobbler for the spring. The morning was awesome as far as weather goes, crystal clear, cool and thick fog covered the fields and creekbottoms.
Right off the bat, we had about a half a dozen gobblers constantly sounding off within a 1/4 mile of our position. Below us in the creekbottom was what sounded to be the boss gobbler....deep gobbles and silence for nearly 3 minutes from the closer birds after he sounded off. We got into position, set the dekes and started a series of soft calling. He responded to about every other call we made and shortly the distance began to close. After about 20 minutes of hard gobbling from nearly 60 yards out...things went silent. 30 minutes later, we still had not heard the ol boy gobble, we finally decided he picked up a hen....viewing the field from a new location confirmed our thoughts! Damn!!!!
Working bird #2 became just as frustrating with his getting close then moving off. Finally he too was lucky and picked up a petite little hen....carrying him off to a secluded draw for wine and dine
Bird #3 was not as cooperative for he decided the hen needed to come to him. He had his own little strut zone and he was not leaving. One mistake he did make was not keeping his mouth shut. This bird gobbled, double gobbled or triple gobbled every minute for at least two hours straight.
Plan of action, we got to the base of the ridge he was gobbling from and worked better than 3/4 the way up and pinpointed his location. With a greeting of luck from my hunting partner Steve, we parted and I circled the ridge to come up from behind the gobbler. During the course of the stalk, I slipped up on about 7 bedded mature bucks with 6 inch buds coming from thier heads. Suprised to see a hunter within 10 yards of them, the bolted across the ridge and right past the gobbler. Now the woods was silent for about 20 minutes but I continued to the last place I had heard the old bird. I encountered an open area on the ridge and approached it on my belly, pushing the gun ahead of me as I went. I got to withing 30 yards of his suspected location and heard the obvious spit and drum about 40 yards out but could not see the bird. I continued on my belly for another 15 yards and in the meantime, a crow got the old boy fired up again. At 15 yards from his position, I still could not see the gobbler and I was out of cover and options for concealment. Ever been so close to a gobbling bird that you can hear the feathers rattle when he sounds off? I crawled another 5 yards and still could not see the bird!!!!! I had made the decision to stand up and rush him...one more gobble was all I needed to pinpoint his location to ensure a quick target acquisition..I got on my knees and got the gun in death mode......he sounded off but about 30 yards to my right and now on the same level of the ridge. Within a second, he picked me out and stood up straight and I made the introduction of Federal #4's into his skull.....a full hour and a half after the stalk began.
Right off the bat, we had about a half a dozen gobblers constantly sounding off within a 1/4 mile of our position. Below us in the creekbottom was what sounded to be the boss gobbler....deep gobbles and silence for nearly 3 minutes from the closer birds after he sounded off. We got into position, set the dekes and started a series of soft calling. He responded to about every other call we made and shortly the distance began to close. After about 20 minutes of hard gobbling from nearly 60 yards out...things went silent. 30 minutes later, we still had not heard the ol boy gobble, we finally decided he picked up a hen....viewing the field from a new location confirmed our thoughts! Damn!!!!
Working bird #2 became just as frustrating with his getting close then moving off. Finally he too was lucky and picked up a petite little hen....carrying him off to a secluded draw for wine and dine
Bird #3 was not as cooperative for he decided the hen needed to come to him. He had his own little strut zone and he was not leaving. One mistake he did make was not keeping his mouth shut. This bird gobbled, double gobbled or triple gobbled every minute for at least two hours straight.
Plan of action, we got to the base of the ridge he was gobbling from and worked better than 3/4 the way up and pinpointed his location. With a greeting of luck from my hunting partner Steve, we parted and I circled the ridge to come up from behind the gobbler. During the course of the stalk, I slipped up on about 7 bedded mature bucks with 6 inch buds coming from thier heads. Suprised to see a hunter within 10 yards of them, the bolted across the ridge and right past the gobbler. Now the woods was silent for about 20 minutes but I continued to the last place I had heard the old bird. I encountered an open area on the ridge and approached it on my belly, pushing the gun ahead of me as I went. I got to withing 30 yards of his suspected location and heard the obvious spit and drum about 40 yards out but could not see the bird. I continued on my belly for another 15 yards and in the meantime, a crow got the old boy fired up again. At 15 yards from his position, I still could not see the gobbler and I was out of cover and options for concealment. Ever been so close to a gobbling bird that you can hear the feathers rattle when he sounds off? I crawled another 5 yards and still could not see the bird!!!!! I had made the decision to stand up and rush him...one more gobble was all I needed to pinpoint his location to ensure a quick target acquisition..I got on my knees and got the gun in death mode......he sounded off but about 30 yards to my right and now on the same level of the ridge. Within a second, he picked me out and stood up straight and I made the introduction of Federal #4's into his skull.....a full hour and a half after the stalk began.
