catman529
Well-Known Member
I'm in the wma right now heading back to the car after failing to roost some birds for tomorrow.... I'll e staying overnight and hunting in the AM.
anyway, this morning up until midday was frustrating. Birds flying down to private land, birds gobbling their heads off and getting hung up on private land near the boundary, jakes on private land ignoring me... You get the picture...
so I decided to check a very small patch of WMA that's not even on the map. Maybe 3 or 4 acres and near a creek. I looked out and saw some birds in a field. It had to be outside the boundaries though, but I got my gun and snuck through the creek bank and set up looking into my patch of WMA field and out beyond it where the turkeys were.
noticed some red heads through the binocs. Then saw a strutter. Made some calls, and they slowly started to come my way. It was 2 jakes, 2 toms and a hen.
the toms came into my part of the field and went off to the right out of sight. The hen followed, feeding, but stayed within sight. Then the jakes came in from straight ahead.
the jakes got within range but I held out. Sure enough, 2 strutting toms came in from the right. I got a bead on one but hesitated because I didn't want to shoot one in full strut. I tried to whistle to get him to pop his head up. Barely a sound came out but then the birds started moving faster to the left all together. With a split second to decide I pulled the trigger and birds scattered. One of the jakes was flopping on the ground. The other jake started to flog him but then the wounded jake jumped up and started running. I chased him down and wrung his neck. 13 lbs 7 oz, 3 inch beard and 1/3 inch stub spurs.
I must say I was disappointed I missed a perfect shot at a longbeard. But then I'm glad I got #3 for the season and the meats just as good. And in a friggin island of public land I only went to check out.
now I will study the map and pick a good spot for tomorrow morning. As I'm now leaving a huge field where I only saw a few scattered birds this evening, I can hear a gobbler sounding off somewhere behind me. Not woth the long hike in though... I'll be going elsewhere in the morning. And the jake is plucked, dressed and in a cooler full of ice.
anyway, this morning up until midday was frustrating. Birds flying down to private land, birds gobbling their heads off and getting hung up on private land near the boundary, jakes on private land ignoring me... You get the picture...
so I decided to check a very small patch of WMA that's not even on the map. Maybe 3 or 4 acres and near a creek. I looked out and saw some birds in a field. It had to be outside the boundaries though, but I got my gun and snuck through the creek bank and set up looking into my patch of WMA field and out beyond it where the turkeys were.
noticed some red heads through the binocs. Then saw a strutter. Made some calls, and they slowly started to come my way. It was 2 jakes, 2 toms and a hen.
the toms came into my part of the field and went off to the right out of sight. The hen followed, feeding, but stayed within sight. Then the jakes came in from straight ahead.
the jakes got within range but I held out. Sure enough, 2 strutting toms came in from the right. I got a bead on one but hesitated because I didn't want to shoot one in full strut. I tried to whistle to get him to pop his head up. Barely a sound came out but then the birds started moving faster to the left all together. With a split second to decide I pulled the trigger and birds scattered. One of the jakes was flopping on the ground. The other jake started to flog him but then the wounded jake jumped up and started running. I chased him down and wrung his neck. 13 lbs 7 oz, 3 inch beard and 1/3 inch stub spurs.
I must say I was disappointed I missed a perfect shot at a longbeard. But then I'm glad I got #3 for the season and the meats just as good. And in a friggin island of public land I only went to check out.
now I will study the map and pick a good spot for tomorrow morning. As I'm now leaving a huge field where I only saw a few scattered birds this evening, I can hear a gobbler sounding off somewhere behind me. Not woth the long hike in though... I'll be going elsewhere in the morning. And the jake is plucked, dressed and in a cooler full of ice.
