I've been out of town with work since the beginning of the new year and was able to finally get a break and enjoy the first week of our turkey season free from the worries of work. The birds have been henned up something terrible. It seems like there are 10 hens for every gobbler this spring. Might be predators causing this, who knows, but it sure made the hunting tough. Fun, but tough. Here are some pics from the week.
Hope y'all are having a fun and successful season.
Got to spend opening morning with my father. This gobbler came from about a mile away across the field. The old man showed him no mercy. Hard to beat it.
Tuesday morning, I got set up in a swamp on some public land where I had missed a big gobbler the afternoon before. He started gobbling in the dark so I was able to get close, within seventy-five yards of him, on the roost. Turkeys started pitching down and they were all jakes. I waited on the longbeard until he gobbled off in the other direction. That sealed the fate of the dominant jake that was already making advances on my hen decoy. Felt good to carry one out again!
A buddy of mine got even luckier that morning in that the longbeard he was set up on actually followed the script. This was the third morning he set up on this bird and had even missed him the afternoon before. Revenge is sweet.
Friday afternoon I was hunting with another buddy of mine on his lease. We messed with two longbeards out in this field for about four hours. They had hens with them the entire time. We finally got them to about fifty yards before they smelled a rat. My buddy gave them all three shells, but didn't hit a feather.
Turkey hunting doesn't require a lot of gear, but sometimes it's nice to have a selection.
Saturday afternoon, my father and I walked a tract of public land trying to strike a gobbler. We settled down on the edge of a creek bottom to do some cold calling and it wasn't long before I got an answer, him snoring behind me.
Turkey hunting's hard work.
