My season was over Friday in Kansas...here's a brief recap:
1. Was going to get better at calling and bought a few custom calls and practiced a lot.
Results: Had very little response this year to calls...very henned up toms were the aggravation of the season. In addition toms and hens did not seem to separate much as in a normal season...I saw toms , sometimes multiples with hens all day many times. In reality I called in and shot two toms this season , one Eastern on opening day in light rain and used a $ 19.99 Turkey Thugs Box Blade because it has a waterproof coating and I didn't want to get my good calls wet! The other a two year Rio same scenario.
2. Misses: One miss on a Rio Grande tom at 40 yards...got caught fiddling in my vest for a call and didn't see turkeys approach until they had already seen me. Made a hasty shot and drew air.
3. Changed Tactics: Due to henned up toms I had to adapt to "flydown ambush" tactics in Nebraska. Harvested one nice tom because I got within 30 yards of his roost tree and he made about two steps after he hit the ground. 2nd one similar situation late season but I used a full body jake decoy, got set up within 40 yards of roost, he hit the ground , saw the deke, came by me at 20 yards on the way to deke...10 seconds after flydown , no calling he went home in my truck. My hunting skills had to shift to very accurate scouting skills for roost sites.
4. Gobbling: Tons of gobbling on the limb in mornings...usually never heard any gobbles after 7:00AM...henned up. Toms would respond to calls sometimes but with hens they weren't in need of coming to the call. Did call some hens away from toms (one out of five hens for instance) but it never worked out they drug the whole crew and the tom over.
5. Guns and chokes: Crazy year for me here...bought an Ithaca Turkeyslayer was going to be my No. 1 gun this season. Never found a choke it liked so I never took a bird with it. Ended up buying a new 935 Mossberg and took two toms with it (Star Dot!)...it has to be sent back to Mossberg...shell elevator sticks up with heavy loads so I had to use 3" shells. Also took two with my Stoeger 3500, Win. Super Double X No. 6 lead and a .650 Comp N Choke.
6. Sneaky Pete...missed an opportunity in Kansas on a tom that slipped in behind me about 40 yards to my left...I was set up in a barb wire fence row by a small locust tree and some tall grass...I was focused on calling to a hen and toms about 150 yards in front of me and didn't see him slipping thru the fence until he was already about 55 yards away booking it. Should have been a chip shot.
7. Success ratio...way , way down from last year...hunted more , harvested less. But I enjoyed every minute of the hunting.
8. Close calls...had a couple of close encounters that ended up with tom 50-55 yards and they hung up...better calling skills needed I'm sure.
And I can't wait until next season to see what it brings!
