TAG SOUP
1st time in 8 years and I will be the 1st to tell you, it's not because I didn't try. I had this all typed up a week ago and I hit the back button so it got deleted. I got frustrated and said I will do it later but here is the breakdown.
2013 Turkey Season Breakdown:
TN: Hunted 37 out of 43 days. I made it a point to go as much as I could at some point for some length of time. I may have hunted only 1-2 hours or almost all day. I heard or seen a bird every trip but 2. Heard birds probably 90% of the time or more! Only problem was I had maybe 5 answer my calls. Not sure what the deal was. I hunted this year more mid-morning than I have ever hunted. Tried going out at all different times to make it happen. Hunted many times from 10-2 range towards end too. Guess it was just not my year to get a bird. Could have killed a jake by bushwacking it but I just couldn't bring myself to do it. I do know a buddy in my county was covered up in jakes. Not sure if this was my problem or not but on 1 farm he had a flock of 27 and a flock of 14 on another thanks to the good hatch of 2012!! I won a hunt on his farm so I will take it next year for a bunch of 2 year olds. Should be very exciting. Plan on using the hunt for my girlfriend so she can have a chance at her 1st bird. I took her once this year but didn't again due to the luck I was having. She wanted to wait until it got better. Buddies farm is more flat and he knows the birds a lot better than I do where I hunt so I figured it would be more enjoyable. I took newbies several times as my goal every year is to get a newbie their 1st bird. This didn't happen either. Several got to hear gobbles for the 1st time and it was awesome seeing the excitement from that. Made it really enjoyable.
MO: Got a call the last Wednesday of the MO season asking if I wanted to go. I said yes and met my buddy Thursday am at 145am. We took off to Poplar Bluff where I bought my license ($190). We got to our spot and 2 started gobbling at 1st light. Buddy told me to take off since I hadn't killed a bird and he had 3 under his belt. These birds ended up being across the road so it took me a bit to figure out if that was still the public land or not. It ended up being public so I took off. As I started getting close I hear a truck coming down the road towards me. It stops and bird gobbles. After hoping he didn't hear that they let out what sounded like a coyote howl and then 30 seconds later a series of calls....go figure. Bird didn't answer and shuts up. I stand in the road so the guy sees me closer to the bird than him. I take off anyways just slipping through the woods and calling. Didn't see or hear them. After walking and calling 4-5 miles I make it back to the side of the road my buddy is on. I hear him shoot as I'm almost to the truck. He ended up killing a jake that he thought was a big bird. I get to the truck for some water. As I'm just getting started a bird gobbles in front of the truck 400-500yds. I take off and as I'm getting closer the bird had gobbled 4-5 times in the last 5min. I wanted to get just a little closer as I was 150yds away. As I eased I ended up hearing putting and wing flaps but I couldn't even see the bird. All I can figure is he must have seen me or heard me trying to walk on those MO rocks....oh well.
Met back up with my buddy and we headed to set up camp. I took back off and hunted until 1pm with no gobbles heard or no sightings. We were going to stay and to hunt Friday and Saturday. Since that bird tagged my buddy out in MO he was going to help me. Well we didn't get to make it that far as that night it started raining. It ended up coming a gully washing and rained all day Friday. Told my buddy not to stay just because I bought a license. If he would call it quits I'm in the same boat. He has killed many birds and hunts in the rain many times. We decided to head on home and I got one hunt out of the $190 license. Guess that's how it goes and I'll be back next year but plan on checking out the weather more before I go!!
I guess that's how it goes and I hate I didn't get a bird for the team. I know this is the hardest I have ever hunted so it hurts more that I didn't get a bird. All I can say is I'll be ready for next year and I already told the girlfriend to get ready because tag soup isn't going to happen again next year!! Congrats to those that have filled tags this year and I look forward to another season on the team!
