Third day of turkey hunting...

[bigbore442001]

I arose at 3:40 AM on Monday to hear the sound of a wind blowing across the lake. The feel of the wind was cool and damp. I knew that bad weather was in the forecast. The weathermen predicted at least two days of heavy rain for the southern New England area, thus making the opener for wild turkey to be challenging and frustrating.

Dad and I headed about thirty miles north to a town where 2/3rds of it is open space and open to hunting. I did some scouting about two weeks ago and found droppings,tracks and feathers in some fields. We hoped that the birds would be in an area we planned to hunt in. We arrived in the dark and donned our tick treated clothing. Checked the shotguns and headed up the cart road to the pastures. We waited to hear for any gobbles. This place is funny to hunt for a lack of a better term. The birds seem to change their roosts frequently.I heard two gobbles right about 5:15 AM. They came from an area across the road from where we were. We decided to go to a spot where I shot a big bird a couple of years back. It is a nice pasture with a large dead stump for a backrest overlooking the field. We like to have a good tree or stump at our backs when turkey hunting. We wandered over to that spot when I heard a hen call. It was too scratchy to be real. I figured it was another hunter. Soon, I heard a gobble call. It wasn't a real bird but the working of a box call to mimic a gobbler. To me that is the dumbest thing to do. In a state with a high concentration of turkey hunters in some areas it may be a way to get shot at by a less than ethical turkey hunter. I stopped and told my Dad what I heard. We looked and soon I could see the outline of two hunters against a large tree. I could see the brim of a boonie hat about 60 yards away. I tapped Dad on the shoulder and motioned that we need to move on. How those two guys got to that spot before us must be a slight mystery.You'ld have to start walking in the woods at 3:30AM to get to it from one parking area.

We walked back to the truck and headed down a road to another spot. We scanned the pastures but nothing was out in the fields. We did see another truck parked and assumed it was a hunter. We didn't want to intrude so we went on.

We stopped at the spot where I shot the big gobbler last season as I surprised him at the top of the hill. We parked on the side of the road and started the slow walk up the steep hill to a hidden abandoned farm. Well, it isn't all that hidden as we were about to find out. My Dad told me to go ahead but I stayed behind a bit. I don't like to leave him alone when we hunt. As we went up we heard a raucous din. BOOM..boom..boom,boom,boom. Someone was on top of the hill and let out a volley of shots. We figured that as we went up the hill we spooked some birds. They must have ran up the hill to someone already there. As we speculated on the matter some things didn't quite mesh. Did that person properly identify a bearded gobbler ? How can you do that with a bunch running ? We assumed it was someone who just opened up on a flock of birds without regard to the legality of the target. Hopefully none were wasted.

We then walked back down the hill and boarded the Ranger to the other side of town. We scouted one area near a large fish and game club that has had birds in the past. For a lack of a better term our morning was looking pretty shot and now the rain started. Light at first but coming down in sheets. The rain let up a bit but was steady.

We drove down one road and spotted a hen out in a field. We drove further and spotted another hen. We summized that there has to be gobblers around some of the hens. I was wearing my old Gore tex parka and started to get antsy. I wanted to at least do some sort of hunting. We parked in one spot at a gate and I proceeded in. I had to watch out as it seems to be a favorite spot for some people to defecate at . Why? I really don't know why people picked this spot but you had to watch where you walk. I walked up the hill through a couple of small pastures and made some hen yelps. Watched and waited but nothing responded. After a while of walking and yelping I decided to head back to the truck. As I was heading back I spotted a movement in the woods. It was a big otter. The otter spotted me and headed for the hills. He was really large and a wonderful sight to see.

At that point we headed home. It was late morning and so far nothing to show for the efforts. I was hoping to bag a nice gobbler but such wasn't the case. I figured that the next day would be different. I planned to hunt in a different manner. I would bowhunt for a suburban bird. A friend of mine let me set up my pop up blind behind his garage which borders some state land. He has some turkeys that roost nearby and they pass through his large garden area. His garden area must be a good two acres in size. I sat in my blind and donned my headnet. My Dad decided to sit in the truck as I bowhunted for this bird.

It was about 6:15AM when I heard a loud gobble. Soon, I spotted a hen. She walked in front of me at about five feet. It was strange in that she wasn't spooked in spite of the open window and me peering out. It seems that the black background of the inside hides movement very well, if you wear a headnet. Otherwise your face is somewhat spooky looking to the turkey world.

I sat an watched for more than an hour this hen feeding and pecking around the blind and around my duo of decoys. She ignored them and in the due course of time made three quiet yelps. While this was going on the gobbler was out of my sight by the truck. Dad told me that he was strutting all around the vehicle while he was in it. He didn't say anything or move while this was going on. I could hear the bird and made some calls. The MAD Shipwreck diagphram works very well at elliciting a response from birds. I could hear him spit and drum but the blind and the edge of the long garage obscured his view. It seems that after a half hour he wandered off to an abandoned railroad bed and headed off to the woods. Soon, the hen then took off. So much for day two.

Today I awoke a bit later as I was hunting the same spot. I should have been about fifteen minutes earlier to set up the decoys. I suspect that the events would have ended differently had I been a tad earlier with a proper set up. I arrived about 5:35AM at his place and walked in to the blind already set up. I did forget one vital peice of equipment. My headnet. You need that to break up the facial outline and contrast in color with the black interior of the blind. I couldn't believe I forgot the headnet. So I sat in the blind hoping for the best. Soon, at 5:55 AM, two hens wandered up from the corner of the property towards me.I did bob around a bit and one hen straightened her neck out and looked towards me. She then walked away with the other hen towards the far end of the field. I wasn't too happy with myself. I knew they seen me. They weren't overly spooked but they didn't like what they saw. After an hour of playing in the field they were joined by another hen. Soon the three were milling about as they pecked at the ground for food.

After watching this for a while I spotted something odd. It was something light blue. Hmm. Could it be a gobbler? I let out a call. Sure enough I saw a fantail. The land has a slight bulge to it at 45 to 50 yards where I could only see the head and tail of the bird. He was a big jake. His middle tail feathers were taller than the rest of his tailfeathers. He strutted and danced around a bit but soon relaxed. When he turned back under the hill I called again. Soon enough he puffed up and strutted out into view. I had my Bowtec Guardian in hand at the ready. I placed a self imposed limit of thirty yards for this little venture. I put two peices of plastic at 20 and 30 yards as a rangefinder of sorts. I guessed that the closest he came was about 40 yards. Hmm. Should I shoot? I know that I have become really good at shooting the bow at 40 to 50 yards. I could put an arrow into him if I really took steady aim. Then again a turkey's vitals aren't all that huge and I could have the sickening feeling of wounding the bird. I decided to not take the chance. Shortly he wandered off into the woods. The hunt was over, for today.

I had some fun and some frustrations for the begining of turkey season so far. I will be hunting for another three days hard as the weather has improved.Dad and I will be headed back up north with the shotguns in the same area bright and early.Hopefully we will be successful this season. Turkey hunting isn't the easiest thing to do.

[rjohns94]

nice report. Thanks for posting and good luck.

[gon2shoot]

I show up at work about 30 min before sun-up and do paperwork for awhile before the contractors hands show up.
there are 3 gooblers (1 jake) and 5 hens that come by every morning within 100 ft.
One hen comes by my truck for her granola bar snack, and I can't shoot any of them.
It sucks to be me.

[Jaguarundi]

Well it is better to be hunting than working. Nice post.