megalomaniac
Well-Known Member
Long day, guided a friend I encouraged to join the lease who had never turkey hunted. We had one tom give us one gobble in the tree and nothing else, another tom work in to 50y in the thick stuff drumming and ?spooked... I never saw him, but he closed from 150 to 50y in some thick stuff then just went completely silent... my friend was pretty fidgety and he must have seen us without us seeing him. Never happened before, struck a 3rd tom in the same drain I killed my bird yesterday. He gobble only once, we were up on the ridge above the drain, and he came walking by just below the lip without peeking over. Couldn't get him to come back.
Perfect gobbling weather, but they were crazy tight-lipped. Maybe from all the pressure this week....
Anyway, I couldn't get the morning out of my mind, and decided I had to go back this afternoon to check to see if they were in a more talkative mood.
Checked the tom that gave us one gobble where I killed the bird yesterday. I slipped through the woods down to the swampy drain and snuck to 20y from the plot. Made my first soft call here at 4p, no answer. I wanted to check the plot before dropping down into the creek bottom/ swamp where I shot my bird. As I crept forward, a heron flew over the plot and spooked a hen. She ran to the edge of the plot and I glassed her... Not just a hen, but 2 hens and 2 gobblers in the shady edge of the plot! I clucked softly after she settled down and the toms looked, but weren't in the mood. One of the hens started heading my way, but the toms stayed put. She finally followed the lane headed off the plot and down to me, sensed something was amiss, and clucked nervously headed away from me and the remaining trio. The 2 gobblers became uneasy with her clucking and they eased off in the opposite direction. I lost sight of the 2nd hen. I gave them 10 minutes, then dropped back off the plot and cut over to the swamp where I shot my bird yesterday. Moved up the swamp 75 yards and set up. Waited another 20 minutes and gave a few light yelps. 10 minutes later I catch movement in the swamp 80y away. Cluck twice and check with binocs... it's the two toms without any hens, and they are headed right for me. They hang up at 60y or so for a while, but then decide to commit. They come right down the swamp on probably the exact path the tom I killed yesterday took, got to 30 yards and once they separated, I picked out the bird with the best beard and killed him. Unfortunately, he went straight into the flowing creek and could not have soaked himself any more than he did. The other tom stayed around watching his buddy swim for a bit, then eased off.
Prob 2yo bird, 9.5in beard, .75in spurs, est 19lbs wet (prob 17lbs dry). I hung him up for over an hour to dry before pictures, but he was still soaking and light was fading.
Was still a fun hunt, but not nearly as fun as when they come in blowing the woods down!
Perfect gobbling weather, but they were crazy tight-lipped. Maybe from all the pressure this week....
Anyway, I couldn't get the morning out of my mind, and decided I had to go back this afternoon to check to see if they were in a more talkative mood.
Checked the tom that gave us one gobble where I killed the bird yesterday. I slipped through the woods down to the swampy drain and snuck to 20y from the plot. Made my first soft call here at 4p, no answer. I wanted to check the plot before dropping down into the creek bottom/ swamp where I shot my bird. As I crept forward, a heron flew over the plot and spooked a hen. She ran to the edge of the plot and I glassed her... Not just a hen, but 2 hens and 2 gobblers in the shady edge of the plot! I clucked softly after she settled down and the toms looked, but weren't in the mood. One of the hens started heading my way, but the toms stayed put. She finally followed the lane headed off the plot and down to me, sensed something was amiss, and clucked nervously headed away from me and the remaining trio. The 2 gobblers became uneasy with her clucking and they eased off in the opposite direction. I lost sight of the 2nd hen. I gave them 10 minutes, then dropped back off the plot and cut over to the swamp where I shot my bird yesterday. Moved up the swamp 75 yards and set up. Waited another 20 minutes and gave a few light yelps. 10 minutes later I catch movement in the swamp 80y away. Cluck twice and check with binocs... it's the two toms without any hens, and they are headed right for me. They hang up at 60y or so for a while, but then decide to commit. They come right down the swamp on probably the exact path the tom I killed yesterday took, got to 30 yards and once they separated, I picked out the bird with the best beard and killed him. Unfortunately, he went straight into the flowing creek and could not have soaked himself any more than he did. The other tom stayed around watching his buddy swim for a bit, then eased off.
Prob 2yo bird, 9.5in beard, .75in spurs, est 19lbs wet (prob 17lbs dry). I hung him up for over an hour to dry before pictures, but he was still soaking and light was fading.
Was still a fun hunt, but not nearly as fun as when they come in blowing the woods down!
