Avid's Hunt Log

[avidnwoutdoorsman]

Getting this thing dialed up on the computer so that I can post easier on my phone once I hit the road. Leaving tomorrow, headed down to the Golden State. Little odd to be running away from the home opener to hunt out of state but that is what the schedule and weather have dictated. The report is the birds are finally starting to get in the mood and the snow line has got up to about 4000'. Creeks could be a little tricky to cross still. I've poured hours of research in so we should see how things shake out.

[crow]

Keep your eyes peeled for La Eclair, he'll try to follow you to some honey hole spots

[lacire]

Our season opened last month on the 25th in the white and flooded state and do to the bad weather and family sickness I haven't been out yet. I do have two reports that birds have been spotted on the ground now. Best of luck Christopher, let us know how you're doing. 

[avidnwoutdoorsman]

Thanks folks! The reports I'm getting are the birds are getting active.

Day 1 - 04:00: Fell reluctantly asleep at 9:15 last night with Hunter on my chest. Wanted to pack first but figured I should grab zzz's while I could and figure the packing out later. Leaving the wife with a newborn (6wks) and the twins that are almost four with a new found testing of rebellion has inevitably put my time in the family and zero into packing before tonight. Hunter stirred at about midnight for some more food which got me up. Put her back down and she stayed fast asleep while I sorted through my gear and got the truck packed by about 3am. I've since showered and am waiting to feed her again before I hit the road so the wife can absorb as much precious sleep as possible. With some good fortune I'll get a little time in the woods tonight... 5pm shooting hour is a little funky but it's better then noon or 1 like some states.


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[crow]

Thats hard core, man.

[JeffC]

Brings back the nightmares of having a newborn. It will go fast, now mine are 22 and 26. Safe travels, dont push it, you're tired, birds will be there when you get there. Good luck.

[avidnwoutdoorsman]

Day 1:
Had to check in at the office in the morning on my way out of town for some "very important" meetings. Wrapped those up early and hit the road. Crossed the boarder sometime around 3pm and pulled over at a couple shot in the dark spots to see if anything was going on with no luck. Pressed on to my buddies house arriving about 7:45pm which was perfect in the sense I could still see to get a lay of the land and go try to roost some birds. As luck would have it the majority of the birds were 2 or 3 properties away. Stayed up catching up with an old friend I haven't seen in quite some time. Plan for the morning was to get on the top of his property and listen for any birds I missed the night before and pray a little they wanted to come up the hill to his property.

[avidnwoutdoorsman]

Day 2:
Up bright an early and up the hill to listen for birds and to my unfortune they were all accounted for the night before. It's always a little better listening in the morning because they like to have screaming matches with each other. There was a gaggle of toms below me in the valley and one off to my right a ways. I moved halfway down the hill to where I had been told is the hotspot on the property were my buddy always sees them passing through. After 2 hours of casual calling and no movement from any of the birds I moved all the way down to the property edge. Sat there for another good hour with the only movement being left to right and none up towards me.

Curious I walked down to the truck and went for a bit of a stroll. I wanted to verify I was hearing the birds right aka had my distances calibrated for the unique terrain. This proved frivolous as I didn't spot a single bird. Almost did get permission on another property with 3 lonely strutting toms except for the landowner couldn't get a hold of the tenants.

Circle back to the house and have a little brunch with my buddy and talk about what to do next. He calls some friends in the valley and they confirm where the birds were that I was hearing and even gets me permission part of said property. So I scramble out the door and go down to the creek bottom and spend mid-day hunting the creek bottom.

Now here is where in some ways my hunt fell apart and in other ways my hunt went a-typical for me.

I am not a whitetail hunter.... I do not have patience to sit on a spot hoping for something to happen. Don't get me wrong, I can and I will if its right and in this instance it might have been. However I had a lot of intel of a lot of other places to hunt that were eating my soul alive. I felt trapped in a box and just couldnt handle it. So I devised a plan where I left my buddy with one of my crow calls so he could roost birds there. Then I could press on and try to locate birds elsewhere. If he found the birds to be where I could hunt them I would come back but in the meantime I could venture on....

So, I pack up and head south.... but now the dilemma is which point should I check out. I had a spot that I really really wanted to hunt but was definitely a gamble. 5 years ago it was a honey hole that you had to wade across some creeks to get to and if you did you would be rewarded. Problem was there had been a fire in 2020 and I wasn't sure if the birds or area had recovered. I make it there at about 7pm and its still a big question mark but I had seen birds not too far away so I was still neutral. I waded across a creek and got out on a good listening knob over the valley and waited for the sun to set. There was quail, sign of deer, sign of coyote but no turkey sign. At last light when I knew the birds should be in the roost I started some locator calling. Moved around a bit in the valley to change up position and location but nothing. Not a peep. So I packed out and got back to cell phone service.

Buddy had no good news to report. So now I really had to make a decision do I go back with some doubt he didnt locate right and expect the birds to come to there spot in the bottom or try another spot. I elected another spot.

Arriving there a little after 9pm I pulled over on the side of the road. Across the road was a black sedan that looked empty. Something felt off so I went a little further down the road to a trail head and called it a night.

[avidnwoutdoorsman]

Driving up to my buddies.

Evening sit... I'd of bet there to be a turkey and the view was priceless


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[avidnwoutdoorsman]

I don't know how lacire knew where I was but he got the wrong vehicle.

This was the black car the following morning that I decided not to park across the road from.


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[JeffC]

 

[avidnwoutdoorsman]

Day 3:
Up bright and early I went back to where I wanted to park the night before. Up the hill a mile was a water tank and it seemed like a good place to start a morning. Good vantage of the valley, I'd be at the highest point, and could move easily from there to any birds below me.... except crickets. Across the road in the trees about 200 yds a hen did fired off on the roost with some morning tree talk that got my heart pumping for a second because you would think there was a tom with here but he never gobbled. I had quite the vantage too see her fly down and no tom anywhere in site.

On to the next spot.... I needed to think about getting home. The wife was not going to except a post midnight arrival. I plotted a strategic course that I could move in the right direction but also maybe stop here and there to check in on the birds. The first I was stopped several miles short by a gate due to rain and snow damage above. The next spot was burnt hot. The next packed with other recreation participants. The last a mere passing as I'd chewed up a deadline to be home.

Although unsuccessful on the hunt I learned a tremendous amount and have more confidence for my next trip. The birds were definitely behind schedule but I had hit it just right. How does that make sense if I didn't get a bird. Well for one, at my buddies the birds hadn't moved up the hill. I don't think anymore like I initially did that it was low bird numbers as much as they just hadn't started making there way out of the bottom. I know that the three areas I didn't hunt produced and they produced well for others. Its a big state and spot moves took several hours. I understand a lot better what the recovery time of a fire is and how satellite imagery versus in the field actually translates in this state. There will certainly be a should-of-would-of-could-of-factor but one thing I did different on this hunt is I went to the private or "guarantee" spot first and those have always been a back up for me. Part of that was because it didn't feel like the sure thing so I wanted to cross it off the list and had I done it the other way there would probably be a bird down in this state. At least that's what I'm telling myself. Though just as likely if I had stayed put there would have been a bird put on the ground. Hind sight I would have done it differently but also I'm very happy with the hunt I had this past weekend.

Yes.... for the team mates on the group chat, I visited a friend on the way home and took a consolation prize....

[avidnwoutdoorsman]

Bonus shots

This would be a fun area to hunt


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[GobbleNut]

Great stories and pics, Christopher! (I need to remember to start taking pictures like that and posting them)

Awaiting more reports to come...   

[lacire]

I don't know how lacire knew where I was but he got the wrong vehicle.

This was the black car the following morning that I decided not to park across the road from.


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