Hunted CT and RI this year. CT private land, 3 tags. RI is a 1 bird state. Shot a bird on opening day in CT. No gobbling going on at all, set-up on a field edge and called blind for about 40-45 minutes. I was focused on something on the right side of the field when a bird steps out into the field to my left and lets out a single gobble. Bird 1 down.
Second time out, longer ride to my small honey hole, no activity whatsoever. Landowner gave me a dozen eggs to take home, nice catching up with her.
3rd time out, same property as first, some gobbling in distance but nobody interested in calls. Struck one bird close with a crow call, but he went quiet after that, no responses.
2 days later, struck a bird roosting on the edge of the same field I shot bird #1 at. Sat in the same place. 45 or so minutes of calling and a reluctant Tom strutted in to my decoy. Bird #2 down.
Following day, first hunt in RI. Went to my gun club. Parked my truck, walked to head of rifle range and gave an owl hoot. Struck a bird roosting on the left side of the range. Set up on the right side of the range just passed the 100 yard berm, 45 minutes later Tommy cautiously strutted and gobbled into range, BOOM! Bird 3 down. Tagged out in RI in less than an hour. Shot all 3 birds so far the same time almost to the minute.
One more day at property #1 in CT with no gobbling or sightings whatsoever.
Headed out 1 week later (today) to same Ct property and had no gobbling on the roost. Blind called for a bit in the same field I shot Birds #1 and #2 at, nada. Hit my box call hard trying to locate a bird, heard a gobble off in the distance. I quickly made my way towards him, hit the call again and got another response. Closer, but still a good distance away. He was in some corn stubble, I set up in an adjacent hay field hoping he would walk straight into my decoy. No such luck. He circled around and came in to my right in the thick stuff. I could hear him moving thru the brush, and he thundered at my calls CLOSE!. He went quiet and I thought he was gone, so I did a little aggressive cutting. He let loose with a thunderous gobble right behind me! I dropped the call and was hoping my decoy would do her job. I expected to see him strut passed me on the left, but heard nothing for what seemed like eternity (probably 5 minutes...) Not sure how or why, but he doubled back and I see his red, white, and blue head pop out of the thick stuff right by the decoy. As soon as the beard emerged, BOOM! he was down.
4 birds for 7 hunts and I'm done. Very happy to have tagged out in 2 states, bummed that the season is still on in both of them and I'm finished! Should have offered to do the calling for my buddy who's heading out tomorrow, but no way to contact him now before he gets out to hunt. Oh well, time to break out the bow and get ready for September!
