gobblinfool
Well-Known Member
Due to JROTC events that my Cadet's had to attend, I decided to hunt Eastern TN this past weekend....and will hunt it again next weekend. I looked up information on google maps. The spot I picked is roughly 75 minutes from where I teach here in SW VA.
When I got down to where I wanted to access the WMA, I figured I would pick a farmer's brain. The first one I stopped and talked with was very nice. I asked how hard the birds were hunted, he said hard, but that he had a spot in the WMA that you had to hike to .... and no one liked hiking to it. It was 1 1/2 miles of switchbacking up hill via a gravel trail (they block it off to keep trucks out), then a mile down a grassy trail. It brought you to a field that had a small pond...called Jon's pond. I got there at first light and didn't hear any gobbling, so I set out my decoy and did a little bit of calling, nothing agressive or loud. I did have one bird sound off 30 minutes into it, but he only gobbled once. After an hour he didn't show up, so I went to another field that was close by and set up, as the sun was hitting it. I spent a couple hours there with no luck, so I figured I would call all the way back to the truck, hoping to strike something up.
Part way back I heard something come out of the bottoms at the edge of the switchback, it was a 2-3 year old bear, he looked at me and scampered up the hillside. When I walked to where he had been I looked for him up the hillside, he was looking down on me. I used to love hunting black bears in Alaska, so that was great to see one here in TN.
We have events again this Saturday, so my goal is to go down Sat and Sun morning as this is the last weekend, might be more aggressive in my movement when I hear a bird gobble, as now I know the lay of the land better.....beautiful country!!
When I got down to where I wanted to access the WMA, I figured I would pick a farmer's brain. The first one I stopped and talked with was very nice. I asked how hard the birds were hunted, he said hard, but that he had a spot in the WMA that you had to hike to .... and no one liked hiking to it. It was 1 1/2 miles of switchbacking up hill via a gravel trail (they block it off to keep trucks out), then a mile down a grassy trail. It brought you to a field that had a small pond...called Jon's pond. I got there at first light and didn't hear any gobbling, so I set out my decoy and did a little bit of calling, nothing agressive or loud. I did have one bird sound off 30 minutes into it, but he only gobbled once. After an hour he didn't show up, so I went to another field that was close by and set up, as the sun was hitting it. I spent a couple hours there with no luck, so I figured I would call all the way back to the truck, hoping to strike something up.
Part way back I heard something come out of the bottoms at the edge of the switchback, it was a 2-3 year old bear, he looked at me and scampered up the hillside. When I walked to where he had been I looked for him up the hillside, he was looking down on me. I used to love hunting black bears in Alaska, so that was great to see one here in TN.
We have events again this Saturday, so my goal is to go down Sat and Sun morning as this is the last weekend, might be more aggressive in my movement when I hear a bird gobble, as now I know the lay of the land better.....beautiful country!!
