Good season so far but today an odd one was thrown at me...
Got to my spot before light and in quietly. No gobbling on the roost but gorgeous sunrise. One tree call and sat quietly for a while. Couple of yelp sequences...Nothing.
About 7:30 or so, one yelp sequence and a hen answers close by. I yelp back at her trying to "talk over her" and a gobbler sounds off! They're only 40 yds. away but inside the other woodline of a field corner.
I give him an excited cackle and he comes right back with a gobble...He's gaggin' for it!
The hen enters the field 25 yds. from my decoy...This is going to be sweet! I got this!
Suddenly... CROWS! Cawing and squealing. They're after him! There's a melee going on!
The gobbler shuts up and the melee drifts back into the woods...After a time, quiet...
I used to be ambivalent toward crows... :fud:
I hate them black devils
:agreed:
Next time, it was a different story, sans crows!
I yelped,he gobbled FAR off. Another yelp,another far off one...Far enough away that I wasn't sure it was even a gobble.
Another yelp,then one closer. That was one for sure!
A few more and he was somewhere REALLY close! Sounds like 12 o'clock!
I'm looking and looking...Too many saplings to see him!
Then, another gobble...Sounds different this time...H-m-m-m...Still close...Oh, he's in the field! Still can't see him! Man, this is exciting!
I turn to the decoy which is behind me...There's a hen...Whoa, and a gobbler!
Damn, he saw me move! Starting to walk off, he goes behind a huge oak. Either way he goes, I got him! I wait and wait...He's not coming out either side! I lean back and there he is, walking straight away with the tree between him and me...He's at about 40 and walking away, nervous...I swing the gun around and get the dot on his noggin'...POW!!!
Different story this time... ;)
I had some crows cawing at my decoys and I responded with shock gobbles, sufficient enough to convince a hung-up tom some 300+ yards away that I must be real because he came a runnin' to challenge my Pretty Boy's right to be hovering over a hen decoy. My handloaded #5 shot made the decision for him!
YEAH!!! That's how to hunt them man! Set up a scenerio and make him think something is going on...I LOVE doing that! Sometimes I have my moments of brilliance when something happens, I interpret it and create an illusion...And it works...Sometimes I'm just the village idiot and everybody in turkey town knows it... :bike2: