GobbleNut's Hunt Log

[GobbleNut]

Star-Date Thursday, April 7th, 2022:  Yippee!  On the way to first spring gobbler hunt of 2022!  Arrive destination AZ early afternoon after 5.5 hour drive.  Set up camp for me and avidnwoutdoorsman (Chrisopher).  Look over gigantic hunt area afternoon and evening, managing to roost gobblers in two locations. See few other people,...things looking bright!

[GobbleNut]

Friday, April 8th:  Day before start of season!  Out searching for roosted gobblers in new area an hour before daylight.  Cover 15 miles of road and end up finding several gobblers in one location along a two-mile stretch.  Things definitely looking up,..for a while.  Afternoon:  Other hunters start showing up and setting up large camps along the road.  By evening, LOTS of other turkey hunters have arrived in hunt area.  Things not looking so bright after all.  Fairly certain gobblers found the first evening have been found by several others, so abandon any hopes of hunting those birds.  Christopher shows up at camp that night after flying in from Washington State.  I outline plan for hunting group of gobblers found in other area and turn in for a short night's sleep.

[GobbleNut]

Saturday, April 9th:  Opening Morning!  We're up at 3:30 and off from camp at 4:00.  Locate first gobbler at 4:45 and tell Christopher to go get 'em.  I head on up to location of other gobblers heard Friday morning.  Eventually locate another gobbler on a ridge above and head up to him while still somewhat dark.  Get as close as I dare (100 yards +/-) and set-up.  Quick summary: gobbler flies down and vanishes without showing any indication of interest in my calling.  Conclusion on first set-up of year: I suck!  Spend the rest of the morning and late afternoon and evening looking for a responsive gobbler while dodging hoards of other hunters.  No gobbler roosted at dark, but have an idea of an out-of-the-way spot for the next morning.  Christopher comes close with his gobbler and two others in same area but can't seal the deal (he can elaborate).

[GobbleNut]

Sunday, April 10th:  Head to remote spot 25 miles from camp an hour before daylight. Locator tactic gets gobbler approx. 3/4 mile away to respond in darkness.  No other gobblers heard so I head out to try to get to him while he is still on the roost.  Finally triangulate his location and move in to less than 100 yards and set up.  Things look promising!  Gets lighter and I hear no hens with gobbler.  Things even more promising!  About flydown time, I tree call,...he responds.  I wait, then give him fly-down wing-beat simulation.  He responds!  Things very promising!  Quick summary:  gobbler flies down and I hear him drumming.  Get gun up and ready,..and wait,...and wait,...and wait.  Add scratching and more ground wing adjustments. ...Nothing.  He has vanished!  Game over!  Conclusion:  Again, I suck!  Eventually check out roost area and find gobbler tracks and two-three sets of hen tracks.  Hens with him never made a peep at any time during the encounter, and tracks indicated they had led gobbler directly away from me.  Seemed strange...

Continue hunting Sunday morning without getting a response from another bird and with hunters seemingly everywhere.  Wind starting to pick up and forecast is for high winds for next two days.  Not good!  Under the circumstances and with the New Mexico season opening in just a few days, I decide to bag it.  Not into hunting non-responsive gobblers,..or at least those gobblers that will not respond to me.  Next up: New Mexico at the end of this week!
Post script:  Morning after I leave, Christopher kills a big gobbler, adding insult to my injury...   

[GobbleNut]

April 13:  Truck is loaded for departure to the mountains of New Mexico for our opener on Friday!  Leaving at 4:00 in the morning to check out a potential sleeper spot and then on up to the higher country.  Stay tuned for a report in a few days! ...Hopefully a better one than my AZ outing. 

[GobbleNut]

Thursday, April 14th:  Leave at 3:45 a.m. for two-hour drive to final turkey scout of "sleeper" honey hole before Friday NM opener.  Sleeper turns out to be devoid of turkeys again this spring,...no gobbling heard at daybreak and no sign of birds.  Bummer...

Friday evening, locate two gobblers at dark,...both in questionable locations for good set-ups in difficult terrain, but appear to be the only options for the opener under the circumstances.  Make plans with hunting partner for long walk-in in the dark in the morning...

[GobbleNut]

Friday, April 15th:  Opening day in NM!  Wake up to high winds (another bummer) and make hour-long hike to first set-up on gobbler roosted in lousy location on steep hillside.  Make poor guess on set-up, gobbler flies down, hushes up and vanishes.  Later in morning, go to area where other gobbler heard.  Get no responses to calling, but bump flock when relocating.  Mojo is bad all the way around.

High winds remainder of day and no further interactions, although our "cabin gobblers" show up inside our "no-hunt zone" to taunt us late in afternoon.  Evening roosting with winds is a bust.  Another hunting buddy shows up at camp and the three of us make plans to hunt as a trio the next morning.  With winds up, not too optimistic about the possibilities.

[GobbleNut]

Saturday, April 16th:  Winds have not subsided, so we decide to hit an area bordering private property that we know holds birds.  After 45-minute hike in the dark over high ridge, locator gets multiple gobblers going 500 yards below us on private,...can get no closer, so set up on fence boundary and hope for the best.  Gobblers going crazy at daybreak, and after fly-down all three of us pour on the calling to try to pull birds up out of the canyon.

A distant shot from below on the private shuts everything down for a while as birds go quiet.  We wait, thinking that the positive is that the shooter might push the birds our way.  Fifteen minutes later, gobbling half-way up the ridge indicates birds are moving up towards us.  We resume calling.  Minutes later, four jakes come running over a slight rise on private side of fence, stop forty yards away, look around for the source of calling, and then quickly depart back down into the private.

More gobbling from the direction the jakes came from.  Minutes later, two mature gobblers come over same rise, walking directly to us.  They walk up to the fence-line, standing at twenty yards looking.  They turn back and walk back the way they came.  Seconds later a strutter comes over the rise looking like he might come across the fence, but yelping from hens behind the turns them all back further into the private.  Close but no cigar.  We second-guess our set-up so close to the property line, but water has done flowed under the bridge.  Lesson learned, but fun nonetheless! 

Winds increasing again.  It's opening weekend and hunters are everywhere,...and it's a long season where retired guys can wait to hunt under better conditions and more cooperative gobblers,...so we decide to bag it and come back later in the season.  Pack up and head for the house.  Next planned outing...Wednesday, April 20th. 

[GobbleNut]

Wednesday, April 20th:  lunch engagement with high school/college friends postponed so I decide to head for the hills at 3:30 a.m.  Two hour drive puts me in roost-gobbling territory at first light. Windy, but not terrible. Walk down ridge towards known roosting area and get very distant response across property boundary (can't hunt) on first locator call.  Only single gobbler, far away,...not looking good.  Wait for more and/or closer gobbles but none are heard.  At full light, make circle back to truck calling.  Nothing.

Drive another 3/4 mile down rough-a$$ road and park.  Wind is picking up,...confidence sagging.  Start walking down ridge along two-track trail.  Little evidence of human activity here,...confidence building, but wind has me concerned.  Walk for 3/4 mile, stopping and calling occasionally when wind subsides slightly.  Reach high point above canyon and call.  Faint, "could-be" gobble from below.  Wait,..then call again.  Definite gobble from canyon slope below me about 300 yards!

Move forward, looking for good set-up location offering down-slope view if gobbler comes.  Find great spot behind stump, gun-rest high.  Sit and get ready.  Call again.  Immediate response and gobbler closing!  wait,...call again,...GOBBLE,...getting closer!  Wait,..call,...GOBBLE!  Watching down slope and see gobbler strut through opening sixty yards out angling up slope towards me, and going to come up just where anticipated.

I now know it is all over but the flopping if I do my part!  Gobbler keeps coming,..full strut and drumming.  Classic hunt,...what we dream of!  Gobbler angling to my left, but still towards me.  I assess shooting lanes and move gun to opening anticipating his arrival.  Shot will be a gimmee at less than twenty-five yards. He obliges by moving into lane, but still in full strut and angling towards me.  Hate to shoot them like that, but waiting longer will put him behind brush-pile, so when he slightly raises out of strut to look, I shoot.  Feather fly everywhere, but gobbler down!

After several failed hunts in a row, I am elated!  Again, classic hunt,...ending with a nice two-year-old gobbler on first morning out!  Great start,..and at least two more days to go!  I'm a one-gobbler-per-day hunter, so I head back to the truck to relax, savor the moment, and await the arrival of a hunting buddy who is on his way.  It feels good,...all is well...

[JeffC]

Congrats, great read, no pictures??

[GobbleNut]

Thursday, April 21st:  Hunting partner has arrived.  Windy Wednesday evening has prevented roosting any gobblers, so we decide to go opposite directions before daylight.  Dick (my buddy) goes down trail to area past where I shot the gobbler the morning before, both of us thinking that is the most likely place to find another gobbler.  I go back up down two-track into area I had heard the distant gobbler on the private parcel.

Quarter mile from camp, I stop to try locator at ridge point above big canyon.  Gobbler immediately responds across canyon half-mile away on opposite ridge.  I call Dick on radio,..."I've got a gobbler here. You want to come back this way and go for him?"  Dick: "No, I am going to continue working this way,...you go get him."

Knowing exactly where this gobbler is, I know I have to work my way in a half circle of about 3/4 mile around to get to where I need to be, so I start hiking.  Fortunately, the locator had made him gobble in the dark so I had plenty of time.  Thirty minutes later, I get to point on ridge about 150 yards from gobbler right at fly-down.  Choose set-up and assess circumstances for approaching gobbler and shot,...then call.  Gobbler responds,...and hen yelps back! 

Not confident in situation, but we will play the game.  Birds are on the ground now.  I yelp back at hen,...and she responds again.  Things have promise, but still not at all confident.  I wait,...call again.  Gobbler gobbles,..and hen yelps back,...Closer now.  Hen is coming,...yelping on way.  I envision gobbler towing along behind her, but knowing if she shows up and busts me, the jig is up!

Suddenly, there she is, walking towards me out of the brush-line at thirty yards.  Look behind her,...no gobbler in sight.  She walks up to ten yards, then five, and is yelping softly looking for me.  I am frozen, hoping the gobbler appears before she gets antsy.  Then, there he is!  I see him strutting behind a brush-pile at thirty yards, slowly working his way along behind the hen.

It's a waiting game now to see if the hen busts me first or the gobbler walks out in the opening in front of him.  To my amazement, the hen holds her ground, still looking for the hen she had heard,...and the gobbler slowly struts towards my shooting lane at twenty-three yards.  Then, there he is!  He struts out into the lane and, just like the gobbler the day before, offers me another gimmee opportunity!  Game over!  Gobbler number two DOWN!

Closer inspection with gobbler in hand reveals that this is an older bird.  Spurs suggest he is probably beyond the three-year-old mark, although that is just my guess.  These types of gobblers in this country rarely come willingly to a turkey call,...UNLESS there is a wild card.  In this situation, in my mind, the wild card was the lone hen that dragged him to his demise.  Regardless, I am once again THRILLED to have been able to have this experience.  It NEVER gets old! 

That thrill is tempered a bit in that, quite honestly, I would rather have had Dick there to shoot this gobbler.  I am now out of tags for the remaining NM season.  BUT,...we will be on our way to another "special opportunity" hunt this morning,...and I will have ANOTHER tag for that hunt!  ...Not done yet!   

[GobbleNut]

Congrats, great read, no pictures??

Thanks, Jeff,...I will be inserting pictures,...haven't uploaded those yet,...but will in a while..
Jim

[JeffC]

Great job on 2nd Tom, Congrats again, safe travels, and looking forward to pictures.

[GobbleNut]

Friday, April 22nd:  Dick and I have moved on to our "special opportunity" hunt location.  Thursday evening, both of us have roosted multiple gobblers and are ready to rock Friday morning.  In the pre-dawn darkness, we head to our chosen locations.  My plan is to get on a ridge above several gobblers and see what unfolds at fly-down. 

As the eastern horizon begins to lighten, I work my way up the ridge.  Two gobblers sound off down the canyon close to where I had parked.  Then another gobble below me and at least three more up the ridge in front of me!  I'm in turkey hunting paradise!  I walk on, now looking for the appropriate set-up with the most likely candidates.  I hear another lone gobbler below me and decide "this is the one".  I move forward to get on the bench above him and set-up 100 yards uphill from where he is.  As it continues to lighten, gobbling is echoing from all directions!  How can I possibly fail in this situation?! 

At fly-down, I yelp softly to the gobbler.  He responds and immediately I hear him fly down.  Looks promising!  However, a few more gobbles indicate he is moving quickly down the ridge away from me towards some other birds.  Bummer,...but there are LOTS of other options here!  I gather my stuff and head for the next group of at least three gobblers whooping it up further up the ridge. 

I move several hundred yards towards these new birds and drop down to the canyon bottom and set up below where they are gobbling on the hillside a couple of hundred yards away.  I yelp,...they respond lustily.  Wait,...yelp again,...They gobble, but are not moving.  Yelp,..Gobble,...no movement.  This goes on for ten minutes,...then I hear more distant gobbling in the canyon further below me.  I yelp loudly to assess the response from the new participants.  At least two gobblers respond from the new location, as well as the birds above me.

I call again,...both groups respond.  The lower birds are a bit closer, but their arrival apparently sparks a new urgency from the birds above me.  Their next gobble is MUCH closer and I know they are on their way now.  I peer up the slope, expecting to see them coming down at any second.  Then, I hear drumming.  Looking to my right a bit, and behind a scrubby pine tree close to me, I see three gobblers strutting down the hillside at fifty yards,...and headed towards me!  I adjust my position a bit and soon all three are strutting 25 yards away looking for the hen they heard.

These are obviously three two-year-old gang-bangers looking for trouble, and I am in no hurry to end this hunt based on all of the turkey activity around me, so I decide to let them go on their merry way.  When they eventually get out of sight moving on down the draw, I move away, up the draw, intending to circle above them and go back down the ridge I had come up originally and try some of the other birds I was hearing. 

I move a few hundred yards and come to a spot where the ridge drops off to a relatively open flat below me.  I hear gobbling from somewhere on that flat, so I stop and call.  Immediate gobble 150 yards below!  I sit down quickly with a clear view down into the flat and almost immediately see a strutting gobbler headed up towards me.  He works his way quite quickly up the slope and walks right up to me at five yards. He is a mature gobbler, but a quick evaluation confirms he is not a candidate for harvest under the existing circumstances, and he turns back and retreats down the slope after becoming a bit suspicious. 

Still sitting in the same spot, minutes later I see three more gobblers strutting below me.  I call,...they respond,...and immediately start up towards me!  (I have apparently died and gone to turkey heaven!).  These gobblers keep coming up the slope, stopping on occasion to try to out-strut the others.  As they get closer, I can see they are trailing a single hen that is coming to investigate my calling.  She walks up to ten yards with the gobblers five yards behind her. 

I look over these three new gobblers.  They are not the same threesome as the first group, but I still have reservations about shooting one of them.  They drift off a bit, following the hen who has, by now, become suspicious at the lack of a hen being where she had heard calling.  I am desperately trying to evaluate the gobblers to see if one is worthy of harvest, but eventually they move down-slope and out of sight. 

I am now second-guessing myself about letting several gobblers walk.  Doing stuff like that has a tendency to come back and bite a guy in the butt later, and the weather forecast was for strong winds every day for the remainder of the hunt,...and it was beginning to pick up right about now. 

The gobblers were out of sight and I was behind a brush-pile from them, so I slowly got to my feet, trying to spot them below me.  I called softly,...they all gobbled,...and soon I can see them coming back up the slope towards me.  At thirty yards, the three of them stood looking up at me, trying to spot the hen they heard.  I now had my binoculars up, trying to make up my mind whether to shoot or let them walk,...and if I shot, which one was going to become turkey nuggets. 

They milled around slowly as I inspected each one,...and finally I made up my mind.  One of these three was slightly bigger and had a better beard, so I decided that if I got a clear shot, I would take him.  They were moving in and out of the brush slowly and I was behind a dead, fallen juniper tree, so it took quite a while before I had a clear shot at the chosen gobbler,...so long, in fact, that my arms were becoming weary of holding up the shotgun as I waited for "my" gobbler to clear the brush and offer a clear shot.  Eventually, however, he walked out in the open at thirty yards in a place where I had a hole in the brush on my end,...and I dispatched him.  He was another good and gorgeous Merriam's gobbler.  I judged him to be a three-year-old, which surprised me a bit considering him being part of a trio.  I had expected a two-year-old.   

I had completed my "GobbleNut Trifecta" of three gobblers in three morning's hunts!  At that moment, I was elated, but I also was also aware that I was done hunting for the spring in my own stomping grounds.  That always leaves me with a little bit of remorse.

Got back to camp after picture and video taking to find that Dick had also filled his tag with a beautiful gobbler that he had taken just a few hundred yards from our campsite. We were both done!  A planned three-day hunt on the property turned into one.  Nothing left to do but pack up and head home. 

Next Stop: May 10th on to Nebraska, South Dakota,...and if all goes well, maybe Wyoming!  Looking forward to meeting up with some other Old GOATS there!




PostScript:  Was supposed to meet up with Rapscallion Vermilion (Mike) on this hunt but didn't get to.  Darn it!  Sorry Mike. 

[JeffC]

Great read and job GN, congrats #3, sounds like "turkey heaven". Safe travels and continued sucess this season.