I got my first and second birds of the season on Thursday and Friday. It was some sho'nuff good hunting - gobbling, strutting, spitting, drumming and shooting.
Thursday, April 5:
My favorite way of hunting is to run-and-gun - hear one gobble and go after it, set up on him and call him in. But sometimes that isn't always the smartest way to kill a turkey.
After hearing birds last weekend on the roost that go quiet at flydown and seem to vanish from the face of the earth, I decided to sit in a blind in an area with lots of sign.
We have a BIG clearcut on our lease with a dirt road running across the middle of it. The road is COVERED UP in tracks. I figured they were roosted in a stand of pines at the edge of the clearcut 100-150 yards off the road, so I set the blind up just off the road and stuck two hen dekes in the road.
Right at daybreak a bunch of dogs started barking way off and he immediately gobbled. It was still a little early for much hen talk so I just waited patiently for it to get light. Just as everything is starting to get light he fires off again. I give him a few soft yelps - nothing.
It is about this time that I hear a hen yelp as she pitches out of a tree. I sound off with some excited yelping - nothing. I wait about 15 minutes and hit him with some soft purrs and clucks - again nothing.
I don't hear a thing for about an hour, and I am begining to think he flew down, got with hens, and again will vanish from the face of the earth. I hate just sitting in a blind calling to birds that may or may not be around. I was contemplating getting up and trying to find a bird that wants to gobble when I hear spitting to my left. I look over and he is in a full strut at 30 yards coming right down the road. He had spotted the dekes and he was locked in, coming on a string and in a hurry.
I had to rush to get the gun barrel pointed out of the blind when he passed by at about 15 yards. He never knew what hit him.
When it went down it happened fast. He was so pretty with that red and white head and the blue that was almost glowing. I wished I had longer to watch him but he was passing by the blind spitting the whole way.
He didn't make a very pretty picture. That ol' Mossberg tore that head up. And I am not sure what line to copy and paste from Photobucket, so if this doesn't work, I may need a reminder.
Friday, April 5:
The next day was it was a perfect example the pros and cons of decoys. Just the day before I had a bird see the dekes and make a bee line right for them. The very next day, just the opposite.
I set up in an area I haven't really hunted this year, but I had seen lots of sign while scouting. I set a single hen decoy where two old roads intersected. Three birds started hammering at daybreak - all about 200 yards away roosted along a creek across a small clearing. I felt pretty good about my set up so I sat tight where I was. The group of them gobbled a total af about 10 to 12 times on the roost. I made a soft tree call, and one gobbled back. Right at flydown time I did a flydown cackle and another sounded off. Not five minutes later a bird gobbled on the ground inside 100 yards to my left. I spun around the tree, got my gun up. I could see him coming down the road at about 50 yards strutting and gobbling. The underbrush is pretty thick along the edge of the road, so I didn't have a clear shot as he strutted and gobbled to about 30 yards and stopped just before it cleared out and I had an open shot. (Can someone explain how they know where to stop - just before I have a shot?! They seem to do that to me a lot.) He stood there looking at the decoy, strutting and gobbling, three steps from giving me a clear shot, for 15 minutes. Finally he turned off through the woods, still gobbling as he walked farther and farther away, gobbling at every sound he heard - my calls, crows, woodpeckers. Either he saw the deke and expected her to come to him or because he came in from a direction I wasn't expecting, she was facing away from him and he didn't like that. I don't know but he stood watching her and finally walked away. When he was far enough away that I wasn't afraid of bumping him, I yanked the deke and circled through the woods trying to head him off, but never heard him again.
Finally I decided to ease back in there where I started. After all, there were at least two more birds gobbling at daybreak. I had just walked back into the area when I heard one gobble still in the area they had roosted. I eased a little closer to the edge of the clearing. I didn't over-call. In fact, I let him instigate most of the calling. When he would gobble, I would yelp back. After several minutes it was obvious he was getting closer. And once when he gobbled, I yelped, and he gobbled again cutting me off. I shut up and got my gun ready. I could see him strutting along the edge of the woods and the clearing. As he approached he turned into the woods and I touched off a round at about 25 yards.
He was 17 lbs 14 oz., 9.5" beard, he had a full fan, but he only had bumps for spurs.
