2019 MT
My granddaughter turned 1 in March, so lots of fun this last year with her.
I could stretch the storytelling of my 2019 season out quite a bit with lots of details, but in these days of dying print magazines and social media, I think most folks prefer to just look at photos.
On our way April 12, the day before opener:
Listening on the eve
Apri13....Quiet start
Mid morning breakfast at camp
A little mid day luck with a double
April 20 was a morning hunt with my wife. We heard a bird gobble once and that was the highlight of the morning besides hiking in and out to the truck. We also had breakfast at a local diner, so the morning turned out alright.
I hunted some riverbottoms a few days the following week without a shot fired. I could not pull the birds off of the neighboring property.
I did get this cool series of photos when a red fox didn't see me and nearly stepped on me leaning against a cottonwood
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I had to go to San Diego for work for a week right in the middle of season, April 27 to May 3. I was able to pay for my wife to go with me, so it was a little bit of a vacation (at least for her).
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We flew back in at midnight on Friday. I was in the mountains as the sun rose on Saturday, May 4.
Quiet at the first spot
After giving up on the first spot, hiking out, and driving 30 minutes.......the next spot proved a little more productive with a tom strutting into close range.
Two days later (Monday, May 6), I left the house between 1:30 and 2 AM planning to be in place by 5:30 AM and spend the night in a local hotel and hunt Tuesday. However, I stuck with a tom and three hens most of the morning and someone got lonely around 10 AM. Afterwards, I ate lunch at a local restaurant then did the 3 hr 45 min drive back home.
Other than how he smelled, I couldn't tell that he had any problems. When I cut him open, I found a broadhead wound through the front of the breast that centered the crop.
I hunted a region a couple hours away that I had very little experience in on Thursday and Friday, May 9 and 10. I found a bird late on Thursday near the road. I left my house at 3 AM, drove 2 hrs, then sat up early Friday within 100 yards. There was what sounded like one tom, one jake, and a couple hens. They flew down close to the gravel mountain road around 5:55 after responding to some tree yelps. At 6:05, a vehicle drove by and shot the bird (assuming the tom) from the road.
Thursday
Friday
I was fortunate enough to hunt a private ranch with a buddy the following week (May 13 and 14) on the far side of the state, my last hunt of the season. We left late in the afternoon on Sunday and arrived at 2 AM.
We slept until 8:30 AM and started hunting around 10. This bird came into the call within the hour with me looking over my buddy's shoulder
Rancher's little girl with a horn toad lizard
We made a few casts that evening in a public access pond without any luck.
I killed this tom the following day, May 14, after making a big loop on a flock.
I wanted to make one last 2 hr drive to check out the area with the road hunter, but this last weekend was just too nasty with rain and highs of 45. If not for a visit from family, I'd be headed to SD or NE, but I'll have to be happy with the time I've had. Spring 2019 was a good season.
