A year ago at this time, I was going through some serious soul searching. I'd had a disappointing season in 2013. The turkeys were just not there. They weren't showing themselves in the pastures. They weren't sounding off in the mornings. I was getting worried, and I was asking folks for their thoughts over on the Turkey and Turkey Hunting Forum.
I got a lot of advice. Most of it was good and well-meaning. I'm going back now and re-reading that thread, and reconsidering the advice. I didn't shoot a bird in 2014 either, but it had nothing to do with the birds not cooperating. I helped my son get his bird on the Opener, and then I had one missed opportunity after another. In one instance, I had a gobbler mounting a hen less than 10 feet from me, but there was a bush in the way. In another I had a silent gobbler come up on my blind side and he caught me scratching my nose. I had fun. I'm not complaining.
What I wanted to do with y'all is re-examine some of that advice. I'd like to hear your comments.
The first one is obvious: shaman, you need to get out more. Yes, I do hunt just my 200 acre patch. I've not hunted anywhere else in 13 years. I'm a bit if a shut-in, but that is a big part of the challenge for me. If someone wanted to invite me to a late-season hunt in Ohio I'd go, but I'm quite happy where I am. This isn't about how many carcasses I have in the freezer.
#2: Somebody suggested I try gobbling as a way to bring in recalcitrant gobs. I hadn't gobbled in 20 years. It was mostly due to my early experiences in Ohio-- very crowded and I got hunted a couple of times. However, when I'm sitting in the middle of my own 200 acres, what's the harm, right? I ordered a gobble shaker from Primos and gave it a try on:
the Yute Hunt 2014 Fun story, but no it didn't work. Read it. You'll love it. My old Quaker Boy box produces a fair-sounding gobble, so I tried that a few times over the season. I can't say it hurt anything, but no. It didn't help.
#3: I opined to my T&TH friends that, having hunted the same 200 acres over 12 seasons, I had come to the conclusion that there were only about 2-3 days out of the year where a population of turkeys is actually huntable using conventional methods. On those days, nearly any call will bring a positive outcome. The condition is extremely localized. That is, one farm may be hot while another isn't. But given a particular piece of land, the rest of the time, you could be in the house drinking coffee and have as good results. Most folks don't see it that way, because they see lousy action and move somewhere else. For a guy who just hunts his own 200 acres it can be painfully obvious. I've been told by my peers that I'm nuts, or that I'm incompetent. However, these are people who hunt several states and the first to pick up and relocate at the first sign of recalcitrance. One fellow berated me for not being sensible and then concluded: "I go out in the morning and take the gobblers' temperature, and if they ain't fit, I go home."
It kind of all goes back to the first piece of advice: shaman, you need to get out more. However, my pro-staff compatriot from Wisconsin coughed up an interesting idea. He agreed with me, and said that it was all due to dewpoint. Those days where turkeys are crawling up your legs are mornings where the dewpoint is slowly dropping. I tried to keep track of the dewpoint this past season, and I cannot say I saw a correlation. However, most days the dewpoint was rising in the morning as it nearly always does. So I guess there might be something to it. I'm interested if any of y'all agree with this. A falling dewpoint between first light and Noon is about as rare as. . . well, maybe happens 2-3 times in a season, and it can be very localized. Just so you know, a falling dewpoint requires falling temperature or falling humidity or both. Most days, the temperature (and dewpoint) rises with the sun.
Here is a dewpoint calculator:
http://dpcalc.org/ The trick is teaching the turkeys to use it.
I've found that WeatherUnderground has a dewpoint plot on its forecast graph. I'm throwing this out to y'all. Let me know if Scott at Willow Ridge Calls has a point. If so, this would be a boon to a fellow wondering when the turkeys are going to be hot. Wunderground gives dewpoint predictions out 10 days.
I'm going to hit the post button, and let fly. Let me know what you think.
