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Fun in Florida- 6 public land Osceolas in 6 days

Started by deerhunt1988, March 25, 2012, 10:24:52 PM

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deerhunt1988

First off, a little bit of background information. We made our first Osceola hunt back in 2008. During that trip we had rough encounters with locals, we were actually peppered by shot from roost shooters, and I missed on two consecutive mornings at the same spot ruining our chances at completing our first grand slam. We returned to the same spot in 2010 and once again encountered the same roost shooters and unfriendly locals. Fortunately, we both were able to harvest birds on the same day during this trip to complete our slam. My dad missed the following morning after our harvests, bringing the tally to 3 misses, 2 kills.

This is the last spring for a while that I probably will be able to make an Osceola trip, so I took full advantage of it. I spent hours and hours studying aerial imagery, topos (not that it helps much in Florida, ha), and browsing forums. Even though we were going into this trip more relaxed as we had completed our slams, I still wanted REVENGE! Plus, my brother was coming along for his first out of state hunt. Thus we had to find birds for another person. We decided on arriving early enough for two full days of scouting being the season began on March 17th. From my research, I discovered it was REALLY DRY in central Florida this year. We had no clue how it would affect our trip considering there is A LOT of water in this area..

My dad and I arrived on a Florida WMA around 6:30PM on March 14th. We quickly set up camp, headed out to try and roost a bird, but had no luck. The lack of water simply amazed us. Some cypress domes that had been waist deep on our previous trips, were BONE DRY!

The following morning we went to our old stomping grounds where we had harvested our birds in 2010. The tally for that morning was 3 gobblers, one possibly being a jake. The area had gotten THICK over the past 2 years, and it obviously wasn't going to cater to the birds as it did previously. Next on the agenda: checking out the spots I picked out on aerial imagery. And this is where the unbelievable begins...


We eat a heart breakfast and arrive at the very first location at approximately 10:20AM. We walk a couple hundred yards down a trail and I commit a cardinal season of pre-season calling. After my first series of yelps/hard cutts, A GOBBLER ANSWERS! My dad and I look at each other smiling, and give a high five. As we are standing there talking about how lucky that is, the bird gobbles again even closer! We high tail it out of that area.

On the drive to the next spot, we encounter 1 gobbler and 2 hens in a road less than a mile away from the bird we just left. Upon further inspection, the gobbler had been using the road as a strut zone for the past several days. We make it another ½ mile and see TWO MORE GOBBLERS cross the road. Once again, we located another fine strut zone... We continue down the road and find yet ANOTHER great strut zone. As my dad is turning around at this spot, he starts spinning in the sand. As he revved the engine, a bird hammered off in the distance...And that isn't even the best part of this day...

The next spot I had marked to check out was just ½ mile away....After walking ~300 yards down the trail, I once again educate the turkey by calling before the season. A BIRD ANSWERS! He was way off, probably ~250 yards. I got antsy and wanted to hear another gobble, so I cutt some more. ANOTHER BIRD ANSWERS way off in the opposite direction. We were astonished. Before we could even discuss the situation, A THIRD BIRD gobbles on his own, close,  between us and the truck! We were pinned. It is 2:00PM, two days before the season opens, and three birds have answered me, one definitely committed. We hunkered down and it wasn't long before I heard drumming. Fortunately, the bird faded off to our left and gobbled again further off so we could make a stealthy exit.

Friday morning, the day before the season, my brother arrives. My dad goes to one side of a long road to listen and my brother and I head to another. In all we hear ~7 different gobblers. We found a few more strut zones during the day, scouted a few more spots I had marked, and found one more REAL promising spot in a fresh burn.

That evening my brother and I head to the spot where we struck the first bird up at on Thursday. I end up going in too far and spook the gobbler off the roost. I stay and listen for more, but my brother had left his wallet in his Jeep and the top was off...So he decided  to head back early.. I don't hear anything, but while he is at his Jeep he ends up hearing 3 birds fire off from the roost! Talk about luck...had he not forgotten his wallet, we wouldn't have known about these birds... But doubt still clouded my mind.. This area was the same one where roost shooters had been prevalent in the past..But with no water, would they be able to sneak up on birds this year?


With the background/scouting out of the way, I will try to cut to the chase on the hunts.

SATURDAY-OPENING DAY

My brother and I head out to where he roosted the birds the evening before. My dad heads out to where he had one roosted at the spot we listened from Friday morning. The plan was for me to go where I spooked the gobbler off the roost, and for my bro to go further down the road where he roosted one of the three. As we arrived at the spot, two guys were getting out of their vehicle... We found out where they were going (right where we busted the one off the roost) so drove on past them a good bit with plans on getting on a bird we heard the evening before.

My bro asks me if I want to bet how long before the roost shooting starts. I said 7:12, first roost shot was at 7:10. haha. (By the way, roost shooting is illegal here) .We end up hearing 2 gobbles from the roost from 2 birds, not far apart. I get us setup at the edge of a dry cypress dome, and do some light hen talk. First to come in is at least 3 jakes. They are within 15 yards of my bro and I know he can't shoot, but I only see one turkey and know it is a gobbler, but can't tell it is a jake. I whirl and get my gun on the bird, asking if it is a longbeard. Of course the jakes spook, but had it been a longbeard I could have killed it. A few mintues later a  hen is yelping behind us, right on top of us. The gobbler out to the front of us has responded a few times and finally gotten quite.


I told my bro to get ready. It isn't long before I hear walking coming directly to me. I re-arrange my gun and get ready. As soon as the longbeard steps out, I plaster him. He drops, and he had a  buddy behind him that flew off. I felt bad at first, as I had every intention for my brother to get his first Osceola. However I couldn't pass up a 25 yard chip shot on what ended up being a limbhanger..

1 1/8" and 1 ¼" spurs

I couldn't see the bird step under the tree behind me, but my bro said as soon as he rose up from under it, I plastered him. Ha.






We go back to camp, take pics, talk to dad, and head back out to where I struck up the three birds at 2:00PM on Thursday. It was 10:50AM when I let loose the first yelps at this spot, and one immediately hammers back. We move up about ~100 yards to the edge of the cypress dome and I call again. He answers on cue, WAY closer. He was committed. We got set up and I never called again. Within 2-3 minutes I heard the bird drumming. About a minute after that my bro plasters him. I expected a 2 year old as easy as he came in..Boy was I surprised to see these hooks...And this is just his third longbeard... 1 3/8" and 1 5/16" spurs..





INCREDIBLE opening day! 2 limbhangers down...My brothers first Osceola hunt and he gets to watch both fall..Easy ain't it?




I tell my bro the locals will probably accuse us of baiting after we check in his bird....My dad and I have encountered baited spots in the past on this WMA...And YELP! As we are leaving the check station with his bird two local guys ask "Where is yall's bait pile at?!"    I simply reply "The cypress". And we leave.

Dad ended up getting screwed up by locals..They lined up the road he was hunting on and tried some roost shooting...


SUNDAY- March 25

We all had roosted birds the evening before.

I arrive at my spot super early and get set up at the start of a cypress dome. Once gobbling time arrived, I could hear my bird drumming in the tree..I was CLOSE! I tree yelp once and he flies down my way SUPER EARLY. Way earlier than you'd expect a bird to be on the ground. I catch glimpses but he never comes close enough for a shot..

About an hour and a half later I bust a hen trying to find the gobbler again..I walk about 50 yards up and cutt..He answers ~80 yards in front. I dropped down where I was even though I had very few places to shoot. About 15 minutes later he comes slipping through to my left, never gobbling or drumming, and I bust him at 40 yards. 9:00AM second day of Florida's season, and I am done.
1 1/8" spurs








My bro actually was set up in the middle of three birds gobbling that morning, but numerous road hunters shut them all up.

But the day isn't over..

We all meet up and decide to hitch out and try to strike a bird up knowing how many are using the area.. It doesn't take long til one hammers at me.. We get set up, me about 15 yards behind dad and bro. The bird gobbles again closer, no doubt he is coming. Not long after I hear the drumming, knowing the bird is about to die, a god awful *YEWOP YEWOP YEWOP YEWOP YEWOP YEWOP YEWOP YEWOP* sounds off about 100 yards away, from a road...

NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Hunt over...An idiot road hunter has arrived... But it doesn't end there...He proceeds to hit a crow call, gobble call, and a "dying hen?" call while the bird was hammering on his own.. Doesn't take long for him to run the other way..Wow..

I let the road hunter know I was not thrilled, but this is public land after all..

deerhunt1988

MONDAY- March 26

We had no birds roosted. Road hunters get on same bird as dad and I get on. Pretty sure they end up spooking gobbling birds 2ce by moving too close to them in the open cypress. People are everywhere. No kills.
   
One GREAT thing that we had noticed over the past three days, not much roost shooting. The dry cypress domes were like corn flakes this year, whereas on normal years you can sneak through them silently in the water.

TUESDAY- March 27

Dad and bro had heard a spectacular gobbling show the evening prior...At least 200 gobbles between 6+ birds.. We all sneak in extra early, very close..Dad and I happened to sneak too close...AS daylight arrived and distant bird sounded off, a bird RIGHT ON TOP OF US responds..Literally, we could have shot him off the limb. It was awesome watching him gobble, waddles shake, beard silhouetted against the horizon.. But it wasn't long before the *YEWOPing* started. Of course both birds close to us flew away from the terrible callers and high tailed it.

To sum the morning up, birds ran from other hunter's calling. My bro chased a few, we never got close to any. I struck up a gobble a little after 10 but nothing else came of it..  Then another fires off in the distance. Wasn't long before another hunter was calling from another road, in between the birds. Oh well, game over...We had a few choice words but sat and listened anyway. BOOM!!!!!!!!! In the distance...One has just died...Disgusted, he head back to camp to nap...

As we were just falling asleep, I heard my dad bellow some incoherent excited jibberish about "TURKEY!" I run out and see my brother with a dead bird! It was him that we heard calling and shoot! His fourth longbeard, second to call in himself, and he did it on public land in Florida! We were SUPER proud! My bro had his limit in 4 days, and left that evening.




WEDNESDAY- March 28

My dad and I had one bird roosted from the evening before, but were not sure of his exact location. Using aerial imagery and compass bearings, I put us where I thought we may be close. Sure enough, we were. Seeing how the birds had started to react to loud "yelping", I decided not to yelp. I set my dad up a few yards in front of me in the SAME cypress dome as my bro's first and my second bird came out of.  I lightly tree yelped once and the bird hammers. I did a fly down with my cap, no cackles.

Not long later we heard some screwy *YEOWPING* and wingbeats..I thought another hunter had came in and the hunt was over..BUT, it wasn't long before my dad informed me a hen was right in front of us!

To sum up the hunt, a bird that had been hammering abut 300 yards off comes in to my left, and I thought it was the one we were set up on. I get dad turned around, and then he sees the original bird walk through an opening! He turns back around and fortunately the hen lead this gobbler back to his death..1 1/8" and one missing spur..



Notice the cypress knees taller than my 6'2" dad...This place is slap covered in water!






While we were walking out, we noticed a local had DRIVEN PAST OUR TRUCK AND PARKED WHERE WE LISTENED FROM!!! Luckily our bird didn't gobble hardly any once he hit the ground or he would have ruined our hunt...As a token of my appreciation of his lack of respect for other hunters, I left a few feathers in the road. 



THURSDAY- March 29


We head back to the spot where we had killed our previous 5 and had numerous encounters/screw-ups with the locals. Out of all the people hunting these birds, we had only heard one other shot besides our five...We knew there were at least 3-4 birds left..

BUT....Someone is in front of us as we turn on our road...Then someone pulls in behind us...Those vehicles go on past where turned, but ANOTHER vehicle turns in behind us..I guess my feathers from the previous day REALLY made the locals mad. Haha.

No way we are going to stay for the circus, so we turn around and head to the other side of the WMA to a promising freshly burned spot we found scouting.

Nothing sounded off early, but as soon as I made the comment " Guess nothing is going to gobble.." One sounds off to our north. As we are moving in on it, I realize there are two gobblers.. Knowing how close these birds are to a main road, and recapping previous events on the trip, I once again decided not to yelp. I did a fly down with my cap, and just clucked and purred on my slate. The birds had flown down and were gobbling on their own about 150 yards off. Then suddenly, out of nowhere, ONE OF THE GOBBLER COMES RISING OUT OF THE TREES AND LIGHTS IN A TREE 40 YARDS FROM US! He gobbles in all directions, cranes his neck and looks, gobbles more, hops limbs, walks limbs, etc. It was an AWESOME experience to see him look for that hen.

Finally, the bird flies down behind us into the fresh burn. There are some thick palmettos between us and the bird, so we get turned around and I conduct some light hen talk. The bird answers and comes back in soon after. Dad smashes this two  year old @ 40 yards.





6 BIRDS, 6 DAYS, 3 LIMITS, on PUBLIC LAND OSCEOLAS!

Incredible/unbelievable/dream hunt. I never imagined this happening, and we will never come close to topping this again.

Revenge? We got it! 8 birds, 3 misses!



Two things this trip taught me:
1.)   The importance of utilizing every tool available for scouting
2.)   Turkeys learn amazingly quick (within 3 heavily hunted days to be exact) how to decipher "road hunter yelping"

The drought definitely helped us too. This is our first trip to actually hear more ground shooting than roost shooting..The roost shooters simply could not slip up within range of the birds without the water to quite their foot sliding.  And the lack of water also kept birds from hanging up. They could roam wherever they pleased.

Sorry to make this so long, but I cannot stand to skimp on details I feel are significant. I hope you enjoyed the story, or at least the pics.

Rio Fan


TRKYHTR

Great read. Congrats on all your success. That is not easy.

TRKYHTR
RIP Marvin Robbins


[img]http://i261.photobuck

redleg06


JVA54


boomer

Congrats!!!

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hookedspur

CRUSADERS
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Six time Old Gobbler Contest Champions



Frankinthelaurels

SWEET..thanks for typing all that...nice pics and certainly a lot of memories for all of you.

clarksvalley

thanks for a great story and congrats on six great birds.

Wrangler95

Give Thanks Unto The Lord,For He Is Good,His Love Endures Forever!

Turkeyfan

Thansk for telling your story I felt like I was with you. You are a good story teller.

REBELYELL

Dang, that was a great trip. You guys wore em out!!

:icon_thumright:

pseshooter300

Tater
Thunder Chicken Mafia
This Ain't Hollywood

Jbird22

Heck of a trip DH. Congrats!! I always enjoy your posts whether here or on the Bull.