This is a long one, but I believe it's a story worth telling. It should make you think and put yourself in my shoes and the shoes of others, if nothing else. If I'm going to tell these stories, but cover up parts of them due to embarrassment or anything else, well then, I'm no better than the next guy. I've been told
I'm grossly overthinking this, and no doubt I have. If you don't want to read it all I understand. In short it was an amazing trip and I got to speed home and see my little boy before bedtime. Life is good.
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After having two successful hunts in one state I had to wait nearly three days for opening day on my next valid tag. I had hunted this area the year previous, but with three free days, I was able to dive in and learn it a bit more. It would've have been more-so but in that three days I also had to deal with some seriously crummy weather. Temps in the 90s turned extremely windy and rainy. I'm very fond of "middle of nowhere, USA" but having NOTHING to do but drive around and look for turkeys in the open, all the while missing my family dearly was tough. I was wishing I could go home and then come back, but with a day of travel each way and the cost of gas prices for that, it just wasn't really feasible. But, believe me, the thoughts of renting a little car for a few days and driving home did cross my mind!
Back to the adventure, the largest public land location in the area had a campground and later I learned of some free camping locations. So I stayed at the campground one night and then off to the free stuff. All the while, the place was nearly deserted except for a couple retired folks. I'd wake up early every morning to listen for public land gobbles and do the same every evening. Mornings were calmer so they worked out well. Evenings were a crap shoot. I never saw a soul until the evening before opening day but I already had seen quite a few gobblers either on public, or just off of it.
Having quite a few turkeys pinned on the map was definitely a blessing as the evening before opener the winds were gusting upwards of 50mph according to the weather websites. It was completely impossible to hear anything and I was hoping my 3 miserable days scouting were going to pay dividends come morning. I always like for the evenings to make my plans for morning when hunting turkeys, but I went to bed without any of them located and nothing more than ideas of where to setup if I couldn't find any gobbling turkeys before sunrise.
My alarm was set for 5:00AM but I snapped awake at 4:52. Due to the wind forecast overnight, I was sleeping in the passenger seat of my truck and of course woke up cold and sore, but the ease of the truck camping made for a quick transition from sleeping to MOVING! Groaning awake I changed my clothes, made some coffee, brushed my teeth and headed for my number 1 listening spot. I was pulling out of "camp" at 5:23, which was ahead of schedule as legal shooting light wasn't until about 6:30.
Not far from where I was camped I saw 3 guys exiting an SUV. Just across the road from them, another vehicle was parked. "Holy sh*t" I thought. I rounded the corner and made it to my predetermined location with no one in it. 6:03 had been magic gobble time on the previous days, but I sat there until 6:07 after a group of coyotes sounded off for a couple minutes. I thought "well if they didn't gobble at that, I better move on."
Onto the next spot not far up the road I passed 2 different trucks and as I pulled in, a third truck went by me. I was really starting to feel the heat here. Honestly, this is as busy of a spot as I'd ever been turkey hunting, so far in my career. The stats for this place online boast about 2,000 acres of public hunting available. Considering a square mile is 640 acres, everything was starting to feel really small very quickly with so many people around, especially considering that all 2,000 "huntable acres" wasn't turkey habitat.
Nothing at spot number 2 either so onto spot number 3 where I passed another vehicle in an access point. I ran up to my little listening hill and BOOM GOBBLES! Alright!!! They were behind me, close to where others were parked. It sounded like two or three gobblers down the drainage a ways and one other gobbler close to the road. I simply assumed that the other turkey hunter(s) was going to set up on the turkey closest to their vehicle.
I backtracked close to listening spot number two. It put me across a flooded creek from any of the other hunters and kind of on an island to myself as there was another flooded creek on the other side of me. At least I knew that if these turkeys chose to fly down where I hoped they would, and the spot that looked the most obvious on the map, that I should have them all to myself, or at least others would have to pass my truck to get to me...that's not out of the question either. I have absolutely zero desire to run over any other hunters to get to a turkey, or anything for that matter. In heavily hunted public land, however, and most importantly in this specific case, I knew I would be by myself and not ruining anyone's hunt by parking at a different access and circling around to the turkeys farthest away.
After looking at the map, making my decisions and getting everything on, the grey of morning was turning brighter and I just couldn't risk bumping these turkeys so I found a small open spot in the cedars and sat there instead. I let the woods wake up and got into a back and forth with a hen that was still on the limb for a little bit before shutting it down. I wasn't within earshot of hearing any turkeys fly down, but shortly after things went quiet so I figured they had. I then called a bit and had one gobbler answer me much closer. I called to him some more and no answer....all the while I never heard any calling from any other person.
After 10 minutes or so of sitting there, listening, and hoping a strutting turkey came popping through the trees, the group of toms gobbled right in the spot I wented to get to before daylight. DAMNIT. With the turkeys now confirmed out of the trees, and therefore out of site, I found a deer trail through the thick cedars that took me really close to the the opening I had been trying to get to this whole time.
I could see some better looking woods ahead of me rather than these junky cedars, but I just felt it was too risky to get through there. Sitting down I heard the "yewt yawt yawt" of a turkey call three or four hundred yards away across the flooded creek to my east, towards where the other hunters were parked. Not long after I heard turkeys flushing but still across the creek and a ways away. I knew that unless those guys had a boat, everything was still okay. During all this another gobbler started sounding off to the west and toward the other access points I had started at that morning.
After a couple gobbles from different spots in that opening I finally moved a bit to the crest of the rise where I could see a little more but still cautious enough to not exit my cover. My cover was helping me get close but also severely hindering me as no turkeys are going to leave their hens in a nice open creek bottom to come into this wall of cedars. So, I belly crawled forward as far as I dared. It worked out nice because on my belly I could see underneath the wall of cedars a lot better...but filming and trying to shoot a turkey from my belly isn't something I'd done before.
I called softly after I got situated and nothing, but I was close enough that I know the turkeys heard me. I laid there focused dead ahead, where I heard the gobbles last. After maybe a couple minutes I heard "voom...voom voom" (the sound of turkey drumming) to my hard right. I spun to the right on my belly and saw a red head in the grass but still fairly hidden by cedar branches. I was able to get the gun around and kind of, sort of, on him. I had seen only Toms in this area in my scouting, and no jakes, but I wanted to be sure this was FOR SURE a tom before pulling the trigger. I had once been told that only toms will drum, which makes sense, but then recently heard jakes also will. So while I haven't heard jakes drum, I again, wanted to be sure I was killing a Tom. As I shuffled around, this guy knew something wasn't right. I was able to get on him through the tiniest of holes in the cedar tree. The hole was so small that I actually removed my head from aiming to look down my barrel and make sure it was going to clear the lower branch. It appeared it would and as he raised his head a bit higher I saw his beard through the grass and I went for it. I was elated to not see a turkey fly off, or any motion at all, after pulling the trigger and hopping to my feet. Still with some doubt in my mind, I busted through the cedar wall to see my prize crumpled up on the ground and beginning to flop.
I got on him quick and thanked the lord for the opportunity but knew there were more turkeys in the area and more hunters, so after whispering a few things to the camera, I just sat there quietly soaking it all in. Everything seemed to quiet down after 5 minutes or so and so I whispered a few things for the camera, since I didn't turn it on in the moment....stupid me.
I had done all the camera things I needed to do, taken a couple pictures, taken my celebratory nip off the flask and had been just enjoying the moment for a half hour or so when I heard the "yawt yawt yawt" of a turkey call fairly close to me, but toward the east where the random turkey had started gobbling. I wanted to call these people over to let them know what I know, but wasn't sure exactly what was going on around me. More "yawt yawt" fading away and then 5 minutes later, more of it closer. Finally I saw the guys and waved....no wave back. I kind of humbly said "well how bad did I screw you up!?" Truthfully I was expecting a "oh no big deal" or "hell not at all"..what I got was "well pretty bad!" I was a bit taken back and said "what?" The guy says "I don't want to be rude but you saw our truck there last night and again this morning. Is he at least a good bird?" I said "Yea it's a Tom...and yes I did but I purposely came over on this side to separate myself from anyone else and be alone on this island toward these other turkeys. I was then asked how long I'd been set up and I explained how "I was here before sunrise." I think they thought I saw their truck, walked in and shot the turkey. I would be a little angry at that too, and after a little explanation, tensions seemed to relax. They asked me where the turkeys went after I shot and I said I have no clue. "I shot, got on the bird and sat here for a bit letting everything calm down because I could hear you guys calling from the other side of the creek:" They then mentioned how there were still hens in the tree and they blew them out on their way over to me. I then asked if they heard the gobbler to the west. They mentioned they had and had used my truck to help shield themselves from that turkey and see if they could spot it.... I apologized to those guys if I had upset them and they said "hey it's public land" and congratulated me for my kill and shook my hand. In parting I mentioned how I understand it's public land but how I'm always the one who goes out of my way to make sure others have a better hunt, before myself, and if I thought this was a "crappy" move I wouldn't have done it.
Even though we all went our separate ways happy, it made me rethink my own choices within this hunt. I'm always the most upstanding citizen on public land. I really do want others to have a better hunt than me. In this case, I thought I was well within my right to hunt how I did. To separate myself from where others were at but still try to get on gobbling turkeys without running someone over to do so.
I pondered on all that as I took more pictures and such and just tried to make sure I was okay with myself over it. As I'm taking pictures a Turkey gobbled 60 yards away HAHAHA . It made me feel better about it knowing there were turkeys in there for others to hunt and also knowing if those guys had remained patient, they could've been successful as well.
Honestly, as I walked out I was thinking about driving up to the other access to see if those guys were still there, and letting them know there was still at least one gobbling turkey down there willing to play the game.
However, waiting for me at my truck was the local game warden. He is a very friendly guy and I assume he can cross reference when I "E-tagged" my turkey as well as having to check into this public land area, and he can easily find me due to the Wyoming license plate. I was ready with all proper documentation and he was happy. I asked him how many people had checked into here this morning and he said "fifteen". I was surprised it was that high thinking I'd already seen basically everyone that day. 2,000 acres divided by 15 people equals 133 acres per person...not a lot of elbow room. I mentioned how I planned to find a spot to whitetail hunt but that I don't think this is it and he said during archery season he has 25 people per day checked in. WOW!
Regardless of all this chatter, it doesn't really matter if I was right or wrong. It doesn't matter if others are right or wrong. I think it was an important reminder for myself on how to act on public land and also for the others as well. I didn't run anybody over to get on a turkey. I don't think these other hunters knew I was in the zip code until my shotgun went off. I hoped I was blending in pretty well with other hen talk and the gobbling of turkeys.
In the end, I did see their truck and I did head over to another access and head towards gobbling turkeys that were close by. How much of this public land area are they allowed? Should I just once again conceded and tried to go somewhere else? Did I feel more inclined to hunt these turkeys because I'd been scouting them for 3 days? Maybe. I'm unsure still. Surely I felt I had earned my way because of what I put myself through scouting. But still, did I make a mistake and that was a crappy move?? All these are questions worth asking and I think me just pondering them will make me a better outdoorsman and person in the future.
In retrospect I really do wish they would've killed the turkey and not me. I'm happy for others success when I know they're working just as hard as me. However, I also think they entered my little island with no intentions of finding a turkey but more to blow off some steam. Again, that's fine too.
Hopefully this made you think a little bit and put some more things in your "public land etiquette" arsenal! It definitely did me!
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