Where?

[squidd]

Went to a new WMA in central FL. Only two hens and birds were quiet. Beautiful place and will need to go again before season closes this weekend!

[Zobo]

Go get 'em Squidd! Good luck on those tough FL birds. Have fun! Be save!!!!

[squidd]

Still trying - three hens and a few heard that I couldn't get to commit - no gobbles at all

[ruination]

Well Maryland started up.

Wasted the first day with a piss poor plan, barely found myself in the game briefly.

Today was better.  Had a long beard strutting away at 80...almost talked myself into shooting a few times (I think, low light woods hard to tell, I just ordered a range finder after this.)

His hens were hanging out close, so I thought it was only a matter of time, but they eased off and he strutted parallel slightly out of range (I think).

Thinking of making the wife unhappy tomorrow and sneaking in hopefully close.

[Zobo]

Well Maryland started up.

Wasted the first day with a piss poor plan, barely found myself in the game briefly.

Today was better.  Had a long beard strutting away at 80...almost talked myself into shooting a few times (I think, low light woods hard to tell, I just ordered a range finder after this.)

His hens were hanging out close, so I thought it was only a matter of time, but they eased off and he strutted parallel slightly out of range (I think).

Thinking of making the wife unhappy tomorrow and sneaking in hopefully close.

Well Maryland started up.

Wasted the first day with a piss poor plan, barely found myself in the game briefly.

Today was better.  Had a long beard strutting away at 80...almost talked myself into shooting a few times (I think, low light woods hard to tell, I just ordered a range finder after this.)

His hens were hanging out close, so I thought it was only a matter of time, but they eased off and he strutted parallel slightly out of range (I think).

Thinking of making the wife unhappy tomorrow and sneaking in hopefully close.

Excellent, you're getting a good fix on them. Just a matter of time, wife will forgive. Tell her you're doing it for the team:TooFunny:

[squidd]

Glad it is starting up north as FL is over this weekend. Last hunt on Friday resulted in el zippo except for another hunter scaring the crap out of me with a crow call.

Back to GA to see if they are still around??

[ruination]

"Today was better.  Had a long beard strutting away at 80...almost talked myself into shooting a few times (I think, low light woods hard to tell, I just ordered a range finder after this.)

His hens were hanging out close, so I thought it was only a matter of time, but they eased off and he strutted parallel slightly out of range (I think).

Thinking of making the wife unhappy tomorrow and sneaking in hopefully close."

Well as fate would have it, my wife got deathly sick and it was 6 days before I could get back on him.  I went in early and went to the edge of where he was strutting knowing I could be spinning my wheels.

Gobble time comes and he fires up about 200 away.  He responds to a few calls but goes silent quickly on fly down.  I know he's  got hens and I felt too far away to wait it out, which was probably completely false in hindsight.  But frustrated I decided to make a move to try and circle behind him. 

The thing about these woods though is they are super flat and super open.  Turkey can easily spot you from 200 away.  I was unable to re-establish contact.  I knew I made a mistake.  Walked around a bit trying to strike up another one but knew it was mostly pointless.  Mid morning a large group of bird watchers came through so I called it and hopped over to a different spot.  Didn't have any luck, but did stumbke across multiple turkeys and the sign was thick.  The reason this spot is one of my favorites.

I debated for the rest of the night and even on the drive this morning what to do.  At this point I knew if I wanted to hunt this area it was a sit and stay hunt.  I decided to give this bird one last go.

For an overcast morning the turkeys were surprisingly fired up.  I found myself probably 125 yards from my target bird and had a bonus bird 250 or so to my left.

Gobbler hits the ground and answers calls, but in a delayed fashion.  I know he's got hens again.  He's somewhere in front of me, little over hundred.  I figure he's probably strutting down an old access trail there and watching him mosey around a week ago, know hes prob still there despite going silent.

I pull out my slate for some soft work.  Couple clucks a few aggressive purrs.  2 minutes later one of the two hens comes running in at a full sprint.  The second coming in at a fast walk behind her.  That confirms it for me, same birds as a week ago.

Ambling behind them about as slow as possible is ye old Tom.  Hens are about 5 yards away from me now.  I'm sure this old fella is going to strut all the way in right behind them. 

Well no.  He struts about 60 yards away.  This goes on for a good 15 minutes before the hens move across my face and start moving away.

Finally out gobbler starts moving towards me but also across my face.  Dude is strutting the whole time.  I'm really not confident at the distance but I'm pretty sure he's 40 yards...45 at the most.  Easily within my range with a 12 gauge and TSS.  He goes behind a tree, I raise my gun, pops out the other side, give him two cuts to get him to stretch his neck a little and a bang.

Bird drops stone dead no flop.

Range finder tells me the bird is actually 30 yards. 

Sure glad I decided to chase him one more time even if I'm not a huge fan of that patch of public.

Heading up to NJ for a couple days tomorrow.  We shall see how it goes.

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[Zobo]

Nice story, patience kills no doubt about it. RIP Ye old Tom, good luck in Jersey!

[JeffC]

Congratulations Ruination! Great Tom! My area of MD is hunted hard with low population, tough hunting, safe travels and good luck in Jersey.

[Tom007]

"Today was better.  Had a long beard strutting away at 80...almost talked myself into shooting a few times (I think, low light woods hard to tell, I just ordered a range finder after this.)

His hens were hanging out close, so I thought it was only a matter of time, but they eased off and he strutted parallel slightly out of range (I think).

Thinking of making the wife unhappy tomorrow and sneaking in hopefully close."

Well as fate would have it, my wife got deathly sick and it was 6 days before I could get back on him.  I went in early and went to the edge of where he was strutting knowing I could be spinning my wheels.

Gobble time comes and he fires up about 200 away.  He responds to a few calls but goes silent quickly on fly down.  I know he's  got hens and I felt too far away to wait it out, which was probably completely false in hindsight.  But frustrated I decided to make a move to try and circle behind him. 

The thing about these woods though is they are super flat and super open.  Turkey can easily spot you from 200 away.  I was unable to re-establish contact.  I knew I made a mistake.  Walked around a bit trying to strike up another one but knew it was mostly pointless.  Mid morning a large group of bird watchers came through so I called it and hopped over to a different spot.  Didn't have any luck, but did stumbke across multiple turkeys and the sign was thick.  The reason this spot is one of my favorites.

I debated for the rest of the night and even on the drive this morning what to do.  At this point I knew if I wanted to hunt this area it was a sit and stay hunt.  I decided to give this bird one last go.

For an overcast morning the turkeys were surprisingly fired up.  I found myself probably 125 yards from my target bird and had a bonus bird 250 or so to my left.

Gobbler hits the ground and answers calls, but in a delayed fashion.  I know he's got hens again.  He's somewhere in front of me, little over hundred.  I figure he's probably strutting down an old access trail there and watching him mosey around a week ago, know hes prob still there despite going silent.

I pull out my slate for some soft work.  Couple clucks a few aggressive purrs.  2 minutes later one of the two hens comes running in at a full sprint.  The second coming in at a fast walk behind her.  That confirms it for me, same birds as a week ago.

Ambling behind them about as slow as possible is ye old Tom.  Hens are about 5 yards away from me now.  I'm sure this old fella is going to strut all the way in right behind them. 

Well no.  He struts about 60 yards away.  This goes on for a good 15 minutes before the hens move across my face and start moving away.

Finally out gobbler starts moving towards me but also across my face.  Dude is strutting the whole time.  I'm really not confident at the distance but I'm pretty sure he's 40 yards...45 at the most.  Easily within my range with a 12 gauge and TSS.  He goes behind a tree, I raise my gun, pops out the other side, give him two cuts to get him to stretch his neck a little and a bang.

Bird drops stone dead no flop.

Range finder tells me the bird is actually 30 yards. 

Sure glad I decided to chase him one more time even if I'm not a huge fan of that patch of public.

Heading up to NJ for a couple days tomorrow.  We shall see how it goes.

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Nice job, congrats. Thanks for sharing!

[ruination]

Well, got in late to NJ due to a wedding going longer than expected and got zero scouting done.  The following morning was not a gobble day so I knew I was in trouble.

Going off old information I made my way to a small area I found birds when I went to buy my tags.  It was very quiet.  I was struck by the fact that NJ does indeed smell like flowers in this area, garden state indeed.  After nothing gobbles in the morning I moved around a bit to look for an area to perhaps set up...bumped a bird, oops.

Set up, got a gobble, but he was across a marsh and creek.  Super rough first day, but that was to be expected without a little luck.  Went back to camp, took a 2 hour nap, headed out and scouted.  I found a place I was confident was loaded with turkey and not over pressured.  But then I found a strutter in a public field.  At about 5pm.  Watched him for a bit to see if he would roost on the field.  But then he all of a sudden tucked tail and hid on the side of the field.  It was interesting, I could barely make him out hiding in half strut on the side of the field, blended in real well.  And over on top of the field comes two more gobblers.  Clearly bullies.  They went into the woods about an hour before fly up so I knew they could put some distance in, but having a confirmed live Tom seemed valuable.

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[ruination]

Day 2

Set up in the field where I saw the gobblers.  Not my normal MO, but I was ready to be patient.

Pair of gobblers start sounding off 300 yards away.  Not too surprising, but further than I hoped.  They acknowledge my presence, but not much else.  They start working away.  That's okay, I'm in it for the long haul.

An hour and some soft yelping later a turkey sounds off 150 yards behind me.  I give a few more soft yelps and he cuts me off.  No joke this turkey proceeded to gobble with 1 second intervals for the next 150 yards.  It took about 5 minutes, you do the math.  If the gobbles weren't enough I eventually could hear him spit in-between every gobble.  There was very little surprise when he joined me in the field.  He immediately stuck his head up as high as it  would go and I decided the game was up.  Dropped him at 25 yards.  1lb less and a broken spur means he isn't scoring higher.  But a nice bird with a double beard none the less.  This would be my first season with multiple birds and my first out of state bird.


Jersey has zones and my two tags were for two different zones unfortunately.  So back to scouting in the afternoon.  Managed to roost some birds for the next day right on the edge of private on a small piece.

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[Zobo]

You gotta love a fired up, hell bent, noisy gobbler!!! Nice going on the double beard too! 👍
New Jersey is probably one of the most misunderstood states. Some of the state is truly beautiful. I lived in Princeton for a few years, really nice area.
Congrats!

[JeffC]

Congrats ruination on your fist out of state Tom, now get out of my state...     Good luck with the Jersey drivers...

[ruination]

Congrats ruination on your fist out of state Tom, now get out of my state...     Good luck with the Jersey drivers...

Lol Jeff.  I'm in Caroline, not exactly a load of turkeys here either.  NJ is about as close as southern shore MD, but can't say I'm a big fan of the NJ people population, even though for the most part they gave courtesy when I was first to spots.

Day 3

Set up splitting a few gobblers on private from the public land line.  All of them responded willingly, few budged.

Big old gobble at 50 yards...out steps two Jakes.  Day before I would let em have it.  They hung around at 10 yards and gobbled a few times.  They were pulling a friend in.

Then all of a sudden the friend gobbled from a ways off again... interesting.  Until I heard the worst yelp cadence I have heard in awhile.  Honestly thought it could've been a crow too until he started "cutting".

Knowing that the game was up I went back to the truck to try another property.  Unsurprised to see PA tags on my way out, sorry for any PA fellers out there, but you guys really earn your reputation, well some people do for you anyways.

Drove 1/2 down the road to an empty lot.  Walked 20 yards from the truck, cut, gobble!  Game on.  Quickly repositioned and gave some soft purring and clucks.  In sprints 4 more Jakes.  Seriously considered filling my last NJ tag but just didn't feel right.

Still, another nice day.

Off to see Zobo on Sunday.  Wish the weather was looking nicer.

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