guys,
i tried like hell to get us another upgrade but was unsuccessful in my endeavors. none the less, new york was good to me again this year.
let me first say that if you're ever looking to run north to extend your season, my friend, stanley oulette, and owner of deer creek outfitters is the guy you need to contact. i first met him while guiding several years ago in a lowcountry south carolina hunt camp and we have cultivated a friendship through hunting/guiding together over the years.
he had a 90% success rate this year in new york with 14 clients and guided 11 tough south carolina longbeards this spring as well prior to the new york season opening. although i did not have the privilege of guiding with him this year we did get a chance to fun-hunt at the end of this season. here's the story:
thursday morning found me nestled against the only field that had been chisel plowed, and the only field without 3 feet of hay in it on the 650 acre farm. 6 different gobblers were gobbling within 400 yards of me and one happened to be roosted 70 yards behind me
he was the best gobbling bird, the closest bird, and seemingly a great candidate to take some hevi-13 6's upside the face.
given his disposition, i figured i'd oblige him. he came in to a strutting jake decoy and was about to go postal on it when i excercised my trigger finger.
18 yards, 8 3/4" paintbrush, 7/8" spurs, 21 lbs.
after killing that bird wednesday morning, stan mentioned that he was thinking about calling a young man serving in the airforce at a local base who had been the receipient of a donated military hunt earlier in the season; the first hunt was unsuccessful. he wanted to get him his first bird and this seemed like a great chance at redemption. i was all game with high hopes of being a part of a first time bird!
with rain in the forecast, knowing that new york turkeys love to hit the fields, especially during and immediately after rainstroms, the same field i had visited the day before seemed like a promising location for friday moring. we had a blind set up in the area and thank god we did. stan, the young man, and myself no sooner occupied the blind and the skies opened up..... and continued to open up until 805. as the weather broke, the sun began to shine and it seemed appropriate to do some some soft calling. stan and i began to echo some soft yelp and cluck sequences into the woods, hoping to provoke birds in the area to enter the field and begin drying/bugging. a few soft sequences were concluded and we began to catch up on family, work, the curveballs life has thrown us and the health challenges facing both of our loved ones.
note: i don't hunt out of blinds often but i appreciated that we were dry while everything in our viewing area was heavily saturated and i also enjoyed the camaraderie we would not have been able to share had we been exposed next to the field chatting.
roughly 20 minutes after calling, our conversation was punctuated with 2 simulataneous gobbles approximately 60 yards behind the blind. we looked at each other, assumed the birds were probably looking for the hens that had been calling 20 minutes ago and knew it was about to be on. a few soft yelps and feeding clucks were quickly answered with double gobbles and the silent game began.
15 minutes later a hen walked out of the timber approximately 45 yards to our left with the two longbeards in tow. both of our guns were ready to go. fortunately, i had discussed with serviceman earlier in the morning that if a 2 bird scenario presented itself at some point in the day that we would shoot on a "one-two-three-bang" schedule. that conversation paid dividends since the birds were now at 50 yards, at the very edge of his effective range with his gun/load combination, and there was no time for any discussion.
consequently, the sequence began, triggers were pulled simultaneously and 2 gobblers began flopping in the clumpy new york dirt.
it was truely a privilege to be a part of another first time turkey harvest and a joy to share the woods with a good friend.
both birds were 2 year olds. mine had an 8" beard, 5/8" spurs, was 15lbs (this bird clearly had one thing on his mind all spring and it wasn't eating) and the other bird was a double beard with an 8" and 6 1/2" beard, 5/8" spurs, weighting 18.5 lbs.
