Booner
Well-Known Member
Woke up to almost 2 inches of snow here in Central Iowa, for once the weatherman got it right! Had I not already bought my tag and committed to hunting with a good buddy I would have just hit snooze and went back to bed. With the nasty weather on Sunday I went out Saturday night and put a couple birds to bed in hopes of the weather keeping those birds close to the area they were in that night so though I wasn't able to roost one Sunday night I had high hopes for Monday regardless of the weather.
Well my hopes of having birds close were crushed as 7 o'clock hit and we had only heard one gobble off in the distance. Another hour passed and things still looked terrible. I decided to pull the plug on this spot and figured with these nasty winds maybe this birds are just hung up deep in the woods. We headed over to a different spot that had birds on it as well Saturday night and left the decoys behind. Big woods hunting, without decoys, moving on gobbles is one of my favorite ways to kill a bird. We got back into a good area where I'd killed birds in the past. I did some calling and nothing. 20 minutes or so went by and still no response. Finally, over the hill and down the other side comes a hen and then a faint gobble. I knew the direction the gobble had come from there was at least one ravine between us and the bird so we made a move. Up the hogs back and toward the bird, right as I crest the hill i see the strutter. We hit the ground and watch in aw as not only one Tom went into strut but 4 more behind him are following suit. At this point I didn't know whether to start laughing because this birds had fallen in our lap, or start crying that birds did in fact wanna play today. Well 20-30 minutes go by and like toms seem to do in big woods, they hang up, unwilling to move a foot. While this is going on, out of the corner of my eye I catch 2 more hens coming our way. Down the hill, up the hill, and over the ridge they go not a mere 30 yds from us. Bingo! Those birds hang out a bit longer and after some more sweet talking they can't take it any longer and begin the treck down Mount Everest. Had I not witnessed it with my own eyes I would have had trouble believing someone could get a bird let alone 4 toms to walk down that ravine and come up the other side. Both my buddy and I had guns shouldered ready for them to make it another 30 yds and it would be game over. Well we all know how that works, the lead tom picked us off at 40 steps, alarm putted and attempted to make a quick get away. I was ready and let the winchester bark. I let Cal know prior to the shot but had no idea his shot wasn't as clean as mine (from my view I had 2 of the 4 birds in clear sight). He ripped off one shell and then his gun decided it too didn't like the cold and didn't cycle his second shell properly. Guess that's how turkey hunting goes, at least for me anyways when I try and double with a buddy. Have some birds tucked away and tomorrows weather looks a bit more promising.
Always great to be out with great buddies, not sure I'll ever have another chance at shooting a snow Tom but here he is. Nothing special, young, dumb 2 yr old.
Well my hopes of having birds close were crushed as 7 o'clock hit and we had only heard one gobble off in the distance. Another hour passed and things still looked terrible. I decided to pull the plug on this spot and figured with these nasty winds maybe this birds are just hung up deep in the woods. We headed over to a different spot that had birds on it as well Saturday night and left the decoys behind. Big woods hunting, without decoys, moving on gobbles is one of my favorite ways to kill a bird. We got back into a good area where I'd killed birds in the past. I did some calling and nothing. 20 minutes or so went by and still no response. Finally, over the hill and down the other side comes a hen and then a faint gobble. I knew the direction the gobble had come from there was at least one ravine between us and the bird so we made a move. Up the hogs back and toward the bird, right as I crest the hill i see the strutter. We hit the ground and watch in aw as not only one Tom went into strut but 4 more behind him are following suit. At this point I didn't know whether to start laughing because this birds had fallen in our lap, or start crying that birds did in fact wanna play today. Well 20-30 minutes go by and like toms seem to do in big woods, they hang up, unwilling to move a foot. While this is going on, out of the corner of my eye I catch 2 more hens coming our way. Down the hill, up the hill, and over the ridge they go not a mere 30 yds from us. Bingo! Those birds hang out a bit longer and after some more sweet talking they can't take it any longer and begin the treck down Mount Everest. Had I not witnessed it with my own eyes I would have had trouble believing someone could get a bird let alone 4 toms to walk down that ravine and come up the other side. Both my buddy and I had guns shouldered ready for them to make it another 30 yds and it would be game over. Well we all know how that works, the lead tom picked us off at 40 steps, alarm putted and attempted to make a quick get away. I was ready and let the winchester bark. I let Cal know prior to the shot but had no idea his shot wasn't as clean as mine (from my view I had 2 of the 4 birds in clear sight). He ripped off one shell and then his gun decided it too didn't like the cold and didn't cycle his second shell properly. Guess that's how turkey hunting goes, at least for me anyways when I try and double with a buddy. Have some birds tucked away and tomorrows weather looks a bit more promising.
Always great to be out with great buddies, not sure I'll ever have another chance at shooting a snow Tom but here he is. Nothing special, young, dumb 2 yr old.
