GobbleNut's 2023 Season Hunt Log

[GobbleNut]

Monday, April 24:  Decide on short notice to head for the hills for another round with three old hunting buddies.  Hit the road at 3:30 a.m. for the two hour drive to turkeys. 

We hear gobblers at first light at first stop, but they are behind private and EXTREMELY difficult to get to, especially for a bunch of 70-somethings, so we move on (I may make the effort to reach them towards the end of the season, if needed).  Second stop, another gobbler heard, and the decision made for two of our group to head to this one.  Two stay, two of us move on.

I am interested in checking out a spot I have never hunted before, so two of us head there.  Short version:  the area looks fantastic, but no gobblers heard (except for distant and on private).  After two-mile walk prospecting for a willing bird, we return to truck.  The other pair has had no luck with the gobbler they worked. 

We head for high-country camp to try gobblers we had failed to entice on the first day of the season.  The nemesis for hunting here is again with us,...the wind.  It blows a gale until dark, making it difficult to hear gobblers going to roost.  We hit the sack with no birds located for the next morning,...not the ideal situation. 

[GobbleNut]

Tuesday, April 25th:  We decide to split up this morning in hopes somebody will find a gobbler.  I head out before daylight, reaching the area where gobblers were on the first morning.  As the day breaks, I sit and listen, but no gobbles are to be heard, so I head over the next ridge hoping to hear something in the next drainage. 

Past flydown now, so my strategy is to move along quickly, calling as I go in hopes of hearing a response.  I go over one low ridge, cross through a open-meadow bottom and start up through the timber on the opposite slope.  Seventy-five yards up the slope, I suddenly imagine I hear a distant gobble.  I stop, listen, and then send out another series of yelps. From back behind me, I hear another faint sound that might be a gobble.  I wait, then call again. This time a clear gobble rings out,...and much closer.  This bird is on his way and closing fast!

I begin evaluating my location and decide on a standing set-up behind a small pine that will allow me to see the gobbler should he approach from below.  I call again and he responds,...but he is moving parallel to me, headed to the open bottom I had just crossed.  There he sets up shop, obviously wanting me to meet him there, but there is no way I can move towards him. 

Long story somewhat shortened, we play turkey-hunting chess for about an hour, in which he moves in a semi-circle around me, always staying at a safe distance, and with me moving to safe locations, resetting, and calling in an effort to break him,...and using every turkey hunting trick known to mankind (or at least me),...and possibly even some new ones.  Nothing works and he finally obviously becomes suspicious about this hen that will not come to him and begins to fade away up the opposite ridge, still gobbling at my every call.

I begin to move up the ridge, hoping to find a location that will satisfy his finicky disposition and that he will come to.  At this point, another frustrating complication comes into play.  This area is also the home of a burgeoning elk population.  They are literally everywhere,...and in my moving towards the gobbler, I jump elk in front of me.  They go crashing away towards the gobbler,...and I think "well, that's the end of that", but within another minute or two, I hear him gobble again a little farther up the ridge.  Maybe the game is still on!

I wait for a bit for things to settle down and then again begin to move up towards him.  I have gone another hundred yards, and again, ANOTHER bunch of elk jump up and go crashing off towards the gobbler.  Thinking again that the jig is up, I stand there cursing the elk and my bad luck,...and all of a sudden he gobbles again!  This time, though, he is even further up the ridge and obviously "getting out of Dodge". 

Nonetheless, I decide to try the "end around" strategy and take off as fast as I can ("as fast as I can" being a relative phrase in that I am at 9,500 ft. in elevation and some would say that I am no longer a "spring chicken"). I make a loop around and then up to the top of the ridge, hoping to get in front of him.  The strategy fails as I sit on the ridge and never hear another peep from him.

I turn around and head deeper into an area that I think might hold a willing gobbler,...and eventually I do get another response from gobblers, jakes, and hens on another ridge.  The turkeys respond for a while, but then move away deliberately, making me think that they have played this game too many times before.  I search for them after crossing over to the ridge, but they have disappeared,...and with no apparent intention of letting me know where they disappeared to. 

I am now two miles from my truck and across several significant drainages to get back.  I get no more responses on the way, and am pretty "tuckered out", to put it mildly, by the time I get back.  I had planned to stay one more day, but the wind is again getting up and not expected to die down for the next couple of days, I am what can generously be defined as being "whipped",...and so I decide to bag it and head for the house. 

The silver lining is that I am still hunting to fill that second NM tag!  More to come,...I hope!

[JeffC]

Great effort Jim makes me feel bad complaining about 2am wake up. You give me confidence to put in the extra effort to get a tag on 1! Good luck and stay safe, you will be successful this year!

[TauntoHawk]

They are working you hard out there Jim

Sent from my Pixel 5 using Tapatalk

[GobbleNut]

Sunday, April 30th:  Decide to sneak out for a morning's hunt in NM before we head to WA for a week.  Arrive at the location I want to try well before daylight to make an ascent up a near-vertical, brush-covered mountain to get to a canyon beyond that I know will possibly hold some undisturbed gobblers.  First snafu is that my headlamp goes out and won't come on (note to self:  check the batteries once in a while,...you dumba**!) 

First fact, you aren't climbing up THIS mountain without a light in the dark! I try "negotiating" the mountain with the flashlight on my cell phone, but soon realize it ain't workin'. This mountain requires the use of two hands to climb up,...and one hand holding a cell phone does not cut it.  Finally give up after making a hundred yards in fifteen minutes and falling down multiple times.  Decide on "alternative plan" and head there, only to find a vehicle parked there (did I mention that I absolutely HATE trying to hunt on the weekends around here?...)

Head to third alternative, getting there right at "gobble-thirty", and immediately hear a very faint, distant gobble waaayyy up at the top of a high ridge above me.  Being the not-so-smart guy I am, I get my gear together and head up out of the canyon towards the gobble (or should I say towards where I THOUGHT the gobble came from).

I have no interest in every climbing Mount Everest, but let's just say that climbing up this particular mountain would probably be good practice for it.  I claw my way up over a period of thirty minutes or so,...and then hear the bird gobble again,...ACROSS the canyon on the opposite ridge!  Bummer!
(Another note to self: get your friggin' hearing checked,...you dumba**!)

Some folks say I'm crazy,...but I am not crazy enough at this moment to try to go to that gobbler, so I keep going up the mountain with the intention of finding another gobbler,...or at least checking out some new country.  Fifteen minutes later, I "top out" on the ridge where it falls off into some beautiful country beyond.  Unfortunately, the "beautiful country beyond" is also off limits on this hunt.  However, calling a gobbler to this side of the property boundary is an option, so after catching my breath, I send out a pleading series of yelps.

Immediately, two gobblers respond, probably a half mile into the no-man's-land.  I wait, then call again,...and immediately one of the gobblers responds,...and has cut the distance between us considerably.  Waiting again, then calling again,...and the gobbler is most definitely interested and on his way!  I back away from the boundary fence and set up against a big pine.  If he takes one step across that fence, he is in big trouble.  ...He does not...

In the end, the gobbler comes ALMOST all the way to me, but balks at the last minute and just out of sight beyond the fence.  Like last week's encounter, I can't figure out a tactic to make him take those final steps.  He hangs around for a while, but then gradually fades back away from me.  In the distance, I hear hens,...and know why he has decided to move back away....and I cannot pursue.  Again, close but no see-gar. 

Working along the property boundary fence, I end up 'conversing" with more gobblers (with hens), but none of them want to "play ball", and stay safely well inside the off-limits property.  Mid-morning, I head back down the mountain to the truck, calling as I go.  The gobbler across the canyon on the high ridge gives me a courtesy gobble as I descend.  For today, he is safe.  I head for the house....

[crow]

A-plus effort, hate fences

last several years I have trouble pinpointing direction of a single gobble, haven't talked to enough people for feedback if hearing aids let you tell where it came from or just let you hear better.

For target shooting I've tried those electronic shooting ear muffs that let you hear people talking but block out gunshots, they do magnify sound but I cannot tell from where it came from with them on

[lacire]

Congratulations on that first bird and a nice read. 

[Happy]

Glad your getting out, Jim. I am sure your persistence will be rewarded.

[GobbleNut]

Wednesday, May 3rd:  Catching that big old jet airliner to the northwest early in the a.m..  Will be mostly out-of-touch for the next week.  Hopefully will have much updating to do when I return. As always, best of luck to the GOAT's and our opponents in the next week.  Everybody stay safe,...and kill some big ones!   
Jim

[JeffC]

Good luck Jim, wish you a safe and successful hunt, hope you see Bigfoot!!

[GobbleNut]

May 3 (continued):  Arrived at hunting destination late in the afternoon.  After getting settled in, we take a ride to look over the hunting country.  See a lot of birds on private ground,...but zero on the public stuff we can hunt.  ....Imagine that...   

Try roosting gobblers at 0-Dark-Thirty, but we are somewhat surprised at not getting responses to tried-and-true roosting tactics.  Hmmm.... 
Have some places in mind to look at in the morning,...we shall see how things transpire. 

[GobbleNut]

May 4 (Thursday):  Up and out at 4:00 a.m. to drive to map-chosen hunt area.  Plan is mainly to cover more country locating birds to hunt. Forecast calling for rain beginning sometime mid-morning, but things are holding steady at first light.  Drive into first public area we can hunt and at second stop, locator call gets a response from a gobbler up a steep ridge above us.  We (three of us) decide to give him a go, setting up in a close-by open area below him.  Long story short, he clams up almost immediately, and after wasting precious early morning time on him, we decide to move on. 

Two hours,...and about twenty miles,...later, driving down one of the numerous forest roads in the area, we finally get a distant response from multiple gobblers on private below us.  We head that way, eventually getting to the (dreaded) property boundary where we can go no further.  The gobblers are still several hundred yards away, but are responding quite enthusiastically to our calling, so we set up to see what they will do. 

Soon their gobbling is getting louder,...and louder,...and we know they are at least interested and heading our way.  Guns up and at the ready, they continue to approach, coming up the ridge slowly but steadily to us,...and are eventually just out of sight.  Suddenly, we hear a vehicle approaching from down on the private side.  As it gets closer, the gobbling ceases,...and that is that.  Not sure what the deal is with the vehicle, but regardless of the intent, the hunt is ruined. 

We continue to cover country, assessing the hunting potential as we go.  Summarily, we do not hear or see other turkeys on the public ground,...but there are strutting gobblers, hens, and jakes EVERYWHERE on the private stuff.  Late morning, the rains set in, and although we keep at it, nothing of note happens the rest of the day, although we do identify one spot that is close to some private stuff where we see several gobblers hanging out in a field.  One thing appears certain,...and that is, if we are going to kill gobblers, we are going to have to do it in the rain, and most likely have to call them off of private ground. 

We go to bed with a plan of attack for those birds,...a plan that requires a thirty-minute walk to get close to where we think these birds will be roosting. 

[GobbleNut]

May 5 (Friday):  Wake up to steady drizzle but make the forty-minute drive to our destination.  Before daylight, we head down a rain-soaked, two-track road towards the location where we think the gobblers we had seen will be roosting.  I look at the two-track and think to myself,..."Well, at least we will have these birds to ourselves.  Nobody would be crazy enough to try to drive in here!".  ....Wrong...

We have walked in a half mile, headed towards the assumed roost site, when all of a sudden we hear voices ahead of us!  It turns out, three hunters have driven in during the night before,...and set up camp near where we are headed!  Rain and bad luck,...not a good combination. 

We head elsewhere, the rains continue, and by the end of the day, we have no clue as to what to do.  I decide to text my contact (who shall remain nameless unless he decides to identify himself) about hunting in the area of his property.  He encourages us to give it a try,...and plans are made to head that way for the next morning. 

[GobbleNut]

May 6 (Saturday):  Drizzling again when we get up but we make the drive to the property, walk in about a half mile, and stand listening at first light for gobbling (when you are 1500 miles from home and have limited time, you go hunting whether or not the conditions are optimal).  Soon multiple gobblers start up, but quite a ways up the canyon from us,...and on public ground,...the first time that has happened!  We head that way, and eventually get set up below what sounds like a trio of gobblers on a steep, open ridge above us.  Again, long story short, these birds act very interested,...gobbling enthusiastically, and for quite a while after flydown,...but make no discernable move to come check us out.  Eventually, these birds, and several others we can hear, gradually become quiet and seemingly evaporate. 

At least we have had the opportunity to work multiple gobblers without interference,...or so we thought...

We break for breakfast,..and to get out of the rain for a while,...but decide to return to that general area from another route which would put us higher in the canyon above the area where we have found these gobblers.  Early afternoon, we are prospecting for gobblers.  At one location, we get a response across a wide, deep canyon.  Somewhat reluctantly, we bail off into it to give this bird a go.  Soon we have him, and at least one other gobbler, responding with such enthusiasm that we set up, thinking things are about to get lively. ...Wishful thinking, apparently...

Again, long story short, these gobblers approach to within a hundred yards or so, set up shop, and will not come one step closer for literally two hours!  In this particular season, this story is getting old.  Try as we might, we cannot make these gobblers budge,...and the terrain is so nasty that there is no chance to seek a better set-up without spooking them.

An hour later, we find out the most probably reason for our failure.  A vehicle comes driving up the canyon with three or four hunters, and it is apparent that they have been hunting this area,...and messing with these gobblers,...for quite some time.  Personally, I am a firm believer that too many negative encounters will put birds on edge to a point where they have no intention of going to turkey calls they can't see the source of.  We try multiple tried-and-true tactics, but they will have none of it.

Late in the day, we bail on these birds to look for some that are more cooperative. 

...More to come...

[Happy]

Please tell me this ends with you shooting something bigger than that fightin' rooster you shot earlier