March 15, 2024
Season opens here in Florida tomorrow and I'm ready to go. I'm very lucky to have a friend with some turkey hunting ground and I've been hunting here with him for many years. It's not a large piece of ground (300 acres), so we're careful how we hunt it and we're usually pretty successful.
We know from preseason scouting that there aren't as many turkeys on the property as usual, but still there are turkey around and it should be fun.
March 16, 2024
Opening morning was slow as it was pretty foggy and the gobbling was sparse. I heard 2 different gobblers, but they were a long way off and probably off of the property, so I wasn't in a hurry to go after them. I hung around the area for an hour or so and finally moved off in the direction of the gobblers that I heard earlier. I moved to the back property to glass a small pasture on the neighbors property. I spotted a nice gobbler strutting with 2 hens about 150 yards away, so I set up and started working on them. It took well over an hour, but eventually I was able to pull the hens, so of course the gobbler followed and finally I had the gobbler at 35 yards with the safe off and red dot on his head. The only problem was that they were on the "wrong" side of the fence, so I had to let him walk away. That's the agreement here...call them across the fence and they're fair game, but don't shoot over the fence. Oh well.
March 17, 2024
I went right back to the same spot the next day and heard 3 different gobblers on roost, so I moved in and set up on the closest gobbler. It was pretty much a "traditional" gobbler hunt. He gobbled a few times after flydown and it took about 15-20 minute to work him into gun range for a shot.
March 18-20, 2024
Over the next 3 days we dealt with on and off severe thunderstorms, hail and high winds. The gobbling was pretty sparse as was my enthusiasm.
March 21, 2024
I had an invitation from my neighbor yesterday to hunt some property that he owns. It's a small piece of ground, but it holds turkeys. Plus, he "guaranteed" that there was no one else hunting the property.
I'm familiar with the area, so I slipped in early and set up in a spot where they often roost. A gobbler started gobbling about 150 yards straight away from me and I had several hens roosted just to my right about 50-75 yards. The hens had just started to fly down around me when someone shot. I don't know if they shot the gobbler off of the roost or right after he hit the ground, but either way they had snuck in from the opposite direction and set up on him. After I gathered myself and checked my shorts, I walked over that direction. We spotted each other at about the same time and that guy couldn't get out of there fast enough. I can't say that I was surprised that it hapoened.
March 22 & 23, 2024
More t-storms and on/off heavy rain showers. I hunted when I could and worked on 3 different gobblers over the 2 days, but I just could't get any of them into gun range. I did mange to call in 4 jakes, which is always fun.
March 24, 2024
No roost gobbles and after sunrise the wind came up pretty strong, which of course is always fun. I was moving around trying to strike a gobbler, but with the high winds it was a struggle to hear, so I was trying different calls to cut through it. I pulled out Zelmo's glass call and using a hickory striker I cranked on it pretty hard trying to get that high pitch, ringing yelp that almost hurts your ears. I thought that I heard a distant gobble, so I hit the call again and he cut me off with a gobble. He was definitely a long way off, so I moved toward him to cut the distance.
I set up a couple different times and although be answered my calls, he wouldn't come any closer. Finally I decided that if I wanted a shot at this gobbler, I needed to get inside his "zone".
I got ready and the next time he gobbled I moved in his direction with plans to get tight on him. There was a lot of cover, so I moved up slowly and was able to get where I felt like I was pretty tight.
After I got set up, I switched to Zelmo's slate call and gave him a cluck and a couple soft yelps.....nothing. A little more soft calling and some scratching the leaves......nothing. Scratch the leaves and cluck a couple more times....nothing. Of course now I'm 2nd guessing my decision to move and blaming myself for not being more patient.
I was just sitting there watching for what seemed like 10 mins, but was maybe 2, when I caught movement straight out in front of me about 75 yards. It was the gobbler and he was slowly moving toward me. He would take 2-3 steps and then stop to look around for the hen. He was coming straight at me and he knew exactly where he heard the hen, so when he walked behind a tree I only had to move my gun barrel about 3" and shot when he stepped out the other side. It took 4 moves and about 1-1/2 hour from the time that I first struck this gobbler until I shot, so definitely a good hunt and I was tagged out in Fla.
