I was pretty disgusted after hunting 2nd season and hearing all of 2 gobbles in 3 days. Went out yesterday afternoon during my lunch hour and bought a 4th season tag with the intent of sitting this morning and maybe a few other days in the coming weeks.
I got into an area this morning that I just started hunting this year. It's full of turkeys, but just a few weeks ago they were completely mute and unresponsive to calls. I got out of the truck at 5:15 and heard 3 gobbles immediately. The walk to my setup was about 500 yards and I heard several more gobbles on the way. I ended up having to stop short because I could see roosted birds over where I wanted to be. I dropped my gear and took an armful of decoys out into the field. After I'd stuck the last one in the ground 3 birds flew down about 50 yards away, just on the other side of a knob. I hit the ground and crawled back to the edge of the timber...with no tree to sit in front of readily available! It was the first time I'd hunted turkeys from a prone position, but it was actually pretty comfortable and I think I'll do it again next year.
Anyhow, two of the birds that flew down were hens and they headed the opposite direction, with the gobbler in tow. I was able to get my mask on, get my gun ready, and get my bearings before I started on the diaphragm. I started cutting and that bird completely ignored me. He ended up 300+ yards down the field strutting in a corner. I gave it one more shot and he actually turned around and ran right back to where he'd flown down from. I lost sight of him for a minute as he was coming up the side of the knob, but I could hear him drumming. I'm sure he was strutting, but I couldn't see it. When he popped up next to the decoys I shot him and got up just in time to see 4 other birds run off from below the knob and watched as I unroosted 3 birds that were not 20 yards behind me the whole time.
This wasn't a big bird by a long stretch (20 pounds, 5 inch beard), but it was the most fun I've ever had hunting gobblers! Anyhow, I was back in the pickup @ 6:10 and had breasts and drumsticks in the deep freeze by 8:00.
I'm glad I didn't hit this area too hard during 2nd season. Having those birds flying down so close this morning was a great sight!
I got into an area this morning that I just started hunting this year. It's full of turkeys, but just a few weeks ago they were completely mute and unresponsive to calls. I got out of the truck at 5:15 and heard 3 gobbles immediately. The walk to my setup was about 500 yards and I heard several more gobbles on the way. I ended up having to stop short because I could see roosted birds over where I wanted to be. I dropped my gear and took an armful of decoys out into the field. After I'd stuck the last one in the ground 3 birds flew down about 50 yards away, just on the other side of a knob. I hit the ground and crawled back to the edge of the timber...with no tree to sit in front of readily available! It was the first time I'd hunted turkeys from a prone position, but it was actually pretty comfortable and I think I'll do it again next year.
Anyhow, two of the birds that flew down were hens and they headed the opposite direction, with the gobbler in tow. I was able to get my mask on, get my gun ready, and get my bearings before I started on the diaphragm. I started cutting and that bird completely ignored me. He ended up 300+ yards down the field strutting in a corner. I gave it one more shot and he actually turned around and ran right back to where he'd flown down from. I lost sight of him for a minute as he was coming up the side of the knob, but I could hear him drumming. I'm sure he was strutting, but I couldn't see it. When he popped up next to the decoys I shot him and got up just in time to see 4 other birds run off from below the knob and watched as I unroosted 3 birds that were not 20 yards behind me the whole time.
This wasn't a big bird by a long stretch (20 pounds, 5 inch beard), but it was the most fun I've ever had hunting gobblers! Anyhow, I was back in the pickup @ 6:10 and had breasts and drumsticks in the deep freeze by 8:00.
I'm glad I didn't hit this area too hard during 2nd season. Having those birds flying down so close this morning was a great sight!
