After a great youth day hunt here in NJ with lots of Gobbles and birds in range ( my daughter missed though, her first ever hunt, but she is now hooked!) the woods have been dead the past three days.
Nothing when I scouted Sunday, Monday one far off gobble, and today no action in the usual spots. The field they have been using has been quiet, as was the logging cut We hunted youth day.
About a week ago while scouting I heard a single Gobbler from a small knob in a Cedar swamp. Not typical spring Gobbler habitat.
This morning , after doing nothing in the likely spots, I decided to walk by the swamp on the way home. I let out a few yelps on my box call and got an immediate response from this little knob. Unfortunately it is thick nasty stuff with only one way in, and out unless you can fly.
I wasn't confident he would leave his honey hole and there was no way to move closer. So I set up my decoy near the deer run that feeds the knob and called again; bang he gobbles right back. I went silent now figuring he knew where I was.
After about 10 minutes I get another gobble closer and coming from the access trail. He's moving but unsure exactly where the hen is.
At this point I switch over to a mouth call from a friend
( A Hannah Bannana call, made in memory of a friends young daughter who passed away suddenly last year, all money from the calls goes to Myocarditis research)
I proceed to cluck and purr..........he comes in on a string, all lit up white and blue. He seeing the decoy at 60 yards and starts to strut. This goes on for 20 or 30 seconds and I cluck and purr to get him moving again........... I let him get to 12 yards and killed him with a load of Heavyweight 7's from my daughter's 20 gauge youth gun just to make sure it works! LOL!.
Not my biggest but a nice bird.
22pds
1-1/8" spurs
10-1/4 beard
A couple pics from youth day............and also this morning.
