Setterman
Well-Known Member
I swear in all the years of doing this little game I have never had more hilarity and crap luck in one morning, nor in one season, that culminated in one morning as I did this morning. Normally, I don't post hunt stories but the events of this morning are too freaking amazing to keep inside.
I took a buddy this morning to try and get him a bird to one of my public land haunts. Normally this place is vacant as it is very brutal to hunt and the birds play by a totally different playbook than any turkeys around.
The morning starts out normal sort of....except for the 3 deer which come visit and rather than just leave decide to stomp and blow 1 million times right where I expect the turkeys to be roosted. I'm not a poacher, but if the lead doe had gotten close enough she would have died, just for a being a pain in my ***.
Anyway birds start gobbling down the mountain and we set up, its a huge wad, it sounds like 8-10 gobblers and maybe 100 hens ( exaggerating obviously. I get whipped by them, as they fly down and head to parts unknown, no big deal we have a thousand plus acres at our disposal.
This is where it starts getting good, we climb to the top of a small rise to listen off the backside into a large hollow and I'm pleasantly greeted by birds gobbling all over the woods below. Immediately we are on our way, we don't go 50 yards and I hear this incredible racket of yelping, cutting, cackling, kee keeing, etc etc. I look down the edge of the open ground we are on and there are guys lined up like the sidelines at a football game calling at these birds. I just shake my head as I've never seen so much as a boot print in this place, but that's public land.
With that completely screwed, we head to another part of this place which is a long hardwood point. Get there and a bird is gobbling on his own 300 yards down the mountain. I pause to pinpoint the bird and immediately hear dogs yipping in that direction. In no time I hear the turkey putting and fly, then stuff running through the leaves. Shortly after we are almost run over by 3 deer, and following behind them are 5 of the most pitiful trailer trash dogs of all time. 2 dogs are friendly, and 3 are pissed and ready for blood. Luckily the mad ones are small, and by small I mean 5 lbers, I simply rush them and they bolt. I really didn't want to kill dogs this morning and luckily avoided that.
With that place trashed now we have one more option. Heading to a very small hollow a crow comes over and a bird gobbles just off the mountain but 200 or so yards away. Awesome, one last chance. No sooner, am I formulating a plan than I hear a 4 wheeler behind me and in no time this jacka.. runs by us dang near hitting me and flips us a bird as he passes and stops just short of the bird.
With that I look at my partner, and say somedays its just better to go home and get some rest. So on a gobble filled morning murphys law hit from all angles. Including some really sketchy meth like activity going on across the road from where we parked. In fact I am not exactly sure what was going on, but I thought we were going to have to shoot our way to the truck to be honest.
What a morning, hoping tomorrow is less eventful on those fronts.
I took a buddy this morning to try and get him a bird to one of my public land haunts. Normally this place is vacant as it is very brutal to hunt and the birds play by a totally different playbook than any turkeys around.
The morning starts out normal sort of....except for the 3 deer which come visit and rather than just leave decide to stomp and blow 1 million times right where I expect the turkeys to be roosted. I'm not a poacher, but if the lead doe had gotten close enough she would have died, just for a being a pain in my ***.
Anyway birds start gobbling down the mountain and we set up, its a huge wad, it sounds like 8-10 gobblers and maybe 100 hens ( exaggerating obviously. I get whipped by them, as they fly down and head to parts unknown, no big deal we have a thousand plus acres at our disposal.
This is where it starts getting good, we climb to the top of a small rise to listen off the backside into a large hollow and I'm pleasantly greeted by birds gobbling all over the woods below. Immediately we are on our way, we don't go 50 yards and I hear this incredible racket of yelping, cutting, cackling, kee keeing, etc etc. I look down the edge of the open ground we are on and there are guys lined up like the sidelines at a football game calling at these birds. I just shake my head as I've never seen so much as a boot print in this place, but that's public land.
With that completely screwed, we head to another part of this place which is a long hardwood point. Get there and a bird is gobbling on his own 300 yards down the mountain. I pause to pinpoint the bird and immediately hear dogs yipping in that direction. In no time I hear the turkey putting and fly, then stuff running through the leaves. Shortly after we are almost run over by 3 deer, and following behind them are 5 of the most pitiful trailer trash dogs of all time. 2 dogs are friendly, and 3 are pissed and ready for blood. Luckily the mad ones are small, and by small I mean 5 lbers, I simply rush them and they bolt. I really didn't want to kill dogs this morning and luckily avoided that.
With that place trashed now we have one more option. Heading to a very small hollow a crow comes over and a bird gobbles just off the mountain but 200 or so yards away. Awesome, one last chance. No sooner, am I formulating a plan than I hear a 4 wheeler behind me and in no time this jacka.. runs by us dang near hitting me and flips us a bird as he passes and stops just short of the bird.
With that I look at my partner, and say somedays its just better to go home and get some rest. So on a gobble filled morning murphys law hit from all angles. Including some really sketchy meth like activity going on across the road from where we parked. In fact I am not exactly sure what was going on, but I thought we were going to have to shoot our way to the truck to be honest.
What a morning, hoping tomorrow is less eventful on those fronts.
