04/18/2007, 04/20/2007, 04/21/2007, & 04/23/2007 - My First Turkey Ever!
Well, here's a little report on my first turkey hunting experiences ever...I know it's hard to believe I haven't gotten into turkey hunting until now...not sure what I was waiting for, but it certainly has been a great set of experiences thus far!
I hunted hard for 2 days of A Week in Zones 2 and 3 with my buddy Bill, and then spent all day for the G Week Saturday opener looking for birds with Mike and his dad in Zone 1...and then all Monday morning chasing birds semi-XLocally in Zone 12 for the B Week opener with Bill and John.
I'm not sure where or when the easy part of turkey hunting comes into play because we certainly haven't been catching any breaks over the last week. It's honestly been a struggle to even find receptive birds, but we have located a few that we could at least get *some* response from, but we weren't able to break any of them away from the hens or come into our calls for the most part. Many hours were seemingly just dead, with us unable to even get a gobbler to shock back at our locator or hen calls. We did get in on some birds predawn on a couple of the days, but things just didn't come together for us and no shots or sightings were offered other than flydowns and very distant glimpses.
Anyway, here's a breakdown of the days...hope you enjoy...
Day 1 (Wednesday 04/18/2007 - A Week):
Bill and I hit up Zone 2 and 3 for our first day of the season. Monday and Tuesday were both blow outs with the weather, so we opted to hold off until things improved a little before heading afield. Some guys were successful on the first two days, my hat's off to those that toughed it out in those conditions and especially to those that scored! Hell is SNOWED on those first two days, just to give you an idea...and a week later it was almost 90 degrees!
Anyway, we hit some of Bill's old haunts, did some owl locator calls pre-dawn to see if we could get a response back from the roosts Bill has hunted for years. Unfortuantely, that is one downside to hunting that far up north for us...we can't really get there the night before and roost birds...so we are forced to try to find them as the day progresses...not the most ideal approach, takes a bit more work, but it can be done. Unfortunately, the pre-dawn calling was unsuccessful, so we headed up the mountain to get above another roosting spot Bill has hunted in the past. We sat for the first 30-45 minutes but didn't get any responses back, so we decided to move closer to the roosting spot and sure enough, a gobbler fired back at us as we approached. He was already on the ground, and as Bill peeked over the edge of the bench lip, he caught a glimpse of a hen and quickly ducked down and crawled back over towards my position and signaled to stay down and get setup. We hovered down in front of a good clump of trees and Bill started in on some calling. The gobbler wasn't responsive at all, and never fired back to our hen calls. Bill fired the crow call again, prompting a shock gobble...but it sounded farther off than before. The birds were definitely moving away from us.
Bill opted to leave the birds for a bit and hit some other spots, figuring the gobbler wasn't hot enough to coax in right now, maybe later in the morning he wouldn't be henned up and we could bring him over. So we headed down the mountain to scope out a few other spots. We cruised around for a bit, checked out some other areas but didn't get any responses...so we headed back to the area we started off at.
Once we returned, we immediately headed up the mountain to get about 3/4 of the way up and start working our way across and downward to where the birds were before...again using any available cover and trying to do some locator calling as we closed the distance. Once on top, and after a few hundred yards of cross ridge walking and calling, we finally had a gobbler fire back. He didn't sound too far and the woods were open, so we just sat down and started in on some yelps and cutting. He responded a time or two, but again really wasn't interested. Then about 100 yds away I caught a glipse of some hens working through some brush...they seemed to just be hanging out there, never getting any closer and never leaving. We hung at that spot for about 40 minutes trying all kinds of calling but to no avail. The birds just didn't want to come in. So again, we headed back down the mountain with a little time left before the noon closing, hit a few more spots but with no luck.
Here's a few pics of the day....
Bill doing some pre-dawn owl calls...
Yo Bill, you ready dude?
Some woods we hunted on the first day...
Little bit more woods...
Billy, workin the box...errrr....well he is working the box...
We also saw a bobcat cross the road while going to another spot shortly after daybreak...first time for both of us seeing one.
He's in here somewhere...
Billygoat cruising the mountain...seriously, he might be part antelope...
Nice little runoff stream shot...
Down the barrel...waiting...
Day 2 (Friday 04/20/2007 - A Week):
Bill and I hit up Zones 2 and 3 again, unfortunately two guys beat us to the spot we had planned on starting at...and as luck would have it, later that morning, we heard a gobbler firing off there. We hiked up a ridge to start the morning before daybreak...beautiful and dead quiet with misty fog covering the landscape. Figured this would be a perfect morning to hear a gobbler sound off anywhere around the mountain side. We made a few locator calls, and a few yelps, clucks, and cuts...but nothing anywhere in the vicinity responded at all. We couldn't believe it. We didn't want to waste too much time, so we hustled back down the mountain and relocated to another area.
Again, we hiked deep into the woods, calling along the way, but it was unbelievably dead...not a single sighting or gobble anywhere within earshot. Seemed like the perfect morning with the most imperfect results...we were stumped. So we backed out, and headed to yet another spot.
We arrive at the third spot of the morning and opt for a long mountain ridge top hike, parking our vehicles on different ends of the mountain. We hike it out, see a ton of turkey sign and a hen right as we enter the woods...but the rest of the way...nothing, nada, zip...nothing was answering our calls anywhere.
Now it's off to the fourth spot, another hike in along a logging road and up a mountain side. We call along the way with lackluster results...then as we reach the top, we land on a nice oak flat with some solid turkey scratching sign. Bill hits the crow call and a gobbler fires back a few hundred yards away. FINALLY some life! We move in to get setup a little closer, Bill hits the crow call and the gobbler fires back again. We know he's within 150-200 yards now, so we sit down in some nice cover and try to coax him in, but he'll have none of it. We figure he is henned up and won't break away from them, so we opt to circle around and continue our coverage of the area and see if we can locate one that will commit. We circle around and higher up on the ridge, and locate three gobblers firing back at our locator calls. We creep in on them using the lower end of the ridge to mask our movement. We get close, probably within 80 yards of them, but the ridge blocks us from them, and them from us...so we setup uncomfortably on a pitched slope with a tree to our backs, looking upwards...hoping a nice tom will come strutting over the ridge top just 30 yards or so above us. Bill yelps and cuts, the three gobblers fire back and inch a little closer, but never break the lip. Then they start moving away from us, again we figure the hens are moving off and taking the toms/jakes with them...so we circle around them again, get ahead of them using the lower side of the ridge for cover and start the show all over again. They continue firing back to our coupled calls now, Bill and I simulating bickering hens with some clucks, cackling, yelps and cuts...at one point we were convinced we had them closing the distance but they just wouldn't break that lip and offer a shot...and again they start moving off and away from us. We make a final circle and get ahead of them one more time, but the woods are too open to get above them...so we setup below them one more time...but alas we just can't get the toms/jakes to break away from the hens to investigate...they fire back, but never get really hot and fired up...just responding but not overly interested. We're burning valueable time, so we decide to hustle back out and see if we can locate another bird.
We cruise around for the next hour or so, but are unable to get any more responses to our calls and run out of time. Ah well, was a beautiful morning with some great scenery and at least some response to our calls, but still no close encounters or shots offered.
A few pics from Friday...
Billy boy, packing up to head out...let's roll!!!
It was definitely foggy that morning, apparently a lot of condensation on the lens...kinda a cool pic though
A little scenery...
A little more...
Old eerie house out there...looks pretty neat with the fog...
Little closer, little darker...
Another angle...
Nice view from up top...
Another spot...walking a road...I need a dirtbike to keep up with Bill
Some more scenery...
Nice little stream...
And downstream...
A little runoff stream elsewhere...
And another little creek...
Heading back up the mountain with the Billygoat ahead of me!
A little sun peaking through the trees
The oak flat where we had a gobbler fire back out in front but never came in...
Nice hidden pond on top of the ridge...
Rare photo of Billy tired and resting...heh
So ultimately no turkeys for us...we were the only turkeys that day!
Day 3 (1st Saturday 04/21/2007 - G Week):
I decide to meet up with Mike and his father up in 1G for the first Saturday. Great morning, conditions felt perfect, no wind, nice and cool but temps were slated to skyrocket into the mid 80s with clear blue skies...we are pumped with high expectations!
We park in a field edge spot with no one there ahead of us, an area Mike and his father are familiar with and where Mike got a turkey this past fall. They know right where to go. As we're gearing up, another truck with two guys in it parks literally right next to us. Now I don't know much about turkey hunting etiquette, and granted we are on public land, but from what I understand it's pretty obnoxious to park anywhere in the same vicinity as other turkey hunters given the amount of area hunters can cover when chasing turkeys...it is almost certain if a bird is located, you'll both be going after the same one...which is neither fun nor safe. Our only guess is maybe they roosted a bird there the night before but didn't get there early enough to "lock" the spot on the first come, first serve basis. Well, they ask us where we are headed, we tell them straight back...and head into the fields before daybreak. We get about 1/4 mile in and Mike starts in on some soft hen purrs and clucks and I'll be damned if those two guys don't start yelping and cutting 100 yards behind us on the same trail we walked in on. I don't know, definitely didn't seem right to me...but we pressed on. Another 100 yards in, Mike hit a few more soft yelps and light clucks and BAM a gobbler fired back a few hundred yards away. We entered the woods and headed down a logging road another 100 yards and called again, and he fired back again. We closed the distance a bit more, and he was firing off on his own...definitely seemed hot and ready to get killed! Turns out, we hit a crucial point where we debated for a moment whether to plop down and setup or go in a little closer as he sounded a little distant yet. Turns out, we should have done the prior...we moved in, setup, and as it turns out were literally within 50 yards of where they roosted. Somehow they didn't bust until daylight when our movements to work a slate call got picked off and the gobbler busted and flew off. The hen stayed up there for another 30 minutes until we eventually said enough is enough, got up and moved off. Bah! So close, just a miscue in the setup and that made our morning roost a total bust.
We moved on through the woods in hopes of locating another set of birds, but it wasn't meant to be. We continued covering hundreds and hundreds of yards of property all morning and early afternoon right up until noon time and didn't hear a single gobbler. Seriously, we had to have walked close to 10 miles and heard nothing at all...and it was BLAZING hot! We'd have thought those birds would be going nuts, but in all the property we covered...it was just plain ol' dead. We met a few other hunters that had similar results...at least that's what they told us...but they didn't come out with birds either!
Unfortunately I forgot my camera at the hotel, so I didn't get any pics of Saturday's adventure.
Day 4 (Monday 04/23/2007 - B Week):
Bill, John, and myself decide to hit up some local haunts in Zone 12 for the B Week opener. Bill cruised around the night before trying to locate and roost a gobbler or two but had a difficult time. Just before daybreak, we drove around to the various spots one more time in hopes that they just weren't responsive the evening before and would start firing first thing in the morning...but we didn't have any luck.
We headed to a private piece and hustled in with some intermittent locator calls in hopes of locating a gobbler early enough to where we could move in before they flew off the roost. We covered property pretty quickly but weren't getting any responses until we reached the far end when a one fired off in the distance. We moved in as close as we could and set up...calling, calling, calling...and 3 different birds fired back. Then a hen closed in on Bill's Screaming Hen box call, but again, we were down in a swamp bottom below a lip to a field and they just wouldn't come over and we didn't want to go any farther ourselves. Bill worked the birds for about 30-45 minutes before we concluded they weren't going to come and backed off to head to another spot. The good news is there was a lot of turkey sign: scratching, print and dusting bowls in the area...so we planned on returning later in the morning hoping the birds would have broken away from the hens and moved around the piece a bit.
We headed out to another private spot and again, no responses. Looked like some recent tire tracks in the area, so someone may have already been in there and educated the birds a little or they just weren't there. It was around 8:30AM now, and John had to head to work...so we dropped him off at his truck and continued our quest. We hit a public piece real quick, ran in and out with no birds responding. Then we hit another private piece, in and out with no birds responding. Then we decided to head back to the first private piece and see if the birds had worked their way over and around the property some.
Well it turned out to be a good decision. We parked and did some locator calls immediately by the truck, nothing doing...so we moved into the piece another 150-200 yards or so and hit the crow locator, and I thought I heard a very distant gobble...hit it again and nothing...so we headed another 150 yards or so towards where I thought I heard the sound. We hit the crow call again, and bam, 3 fired back about 250-300 yards away. We closed the distance on a quick trot, circling around a bit, sat down and got ready within about 200 yards of them. Bill hit the crow call to be sure of their location, they fired back...and he decided we were still a bit too far from them, somewhat thick woods...so we closed in another 50 yards or so and got setup in front of a nice big oak. Bill hit his infamous Screaming Hen box call with a few yelps and some sharp cuts but the trio didn't fire back. So he grabbed my slate call and started in on some fast, hard cutting and the trio cut him off, firing back right away...they were probably about 150 yards away. We waited a few minutes, no gobbles back...so Bill hit a few more cuts and the trio fired again...but this time they sounded a bit farther away. So Bill started working them a bit more and they started closing the distance, firing back a couple times on their own. Then movement caught my eye about 80-90 yards away and Bill stopped calling, as I saw two red heads just slowly strolling on the edge of a small, hidden greenfield's far inside corner. We thought we caught a glimpse of a third, but it just disappeared and we never saw it again. The other two came strolling past at about 65-70 yards or so behind some brush and a mature oak...not really interested in the source of the calls from a few minutes prior, but just meandering around, scratching, and eating a bit. I remainded motionless as Bill started working the slate again with a few more purrs and soft cuts since they started to walk away from us a bit. The two fired right back, and turned around and came back...slowly, taking their time, again not really hot or overly interested in the source of the call, but just seemed enough to maybe grab their curiousity and get them to come in a little closer. The two closed the distance a bit, as I waited for a shot to present itself with my head down on the barrel and safety off. The brush was thick, and ridden with blowdowns that would make shooting pretty difficult. To make matters worse, given the brushy terrain, we'd either have to wait for them to jump a blowdown and land in our laps a mere 5-10 yards away, or take a longer shot where they'd be out and away from the height of the brush. We picked an opening to focus on, and the birds slowly approached it. The first one entered that opening just ahead of the mature oak I mentioned earlier, and stuck his head up to look for the mimiced hen. Bill gave me the go for a shot, and we were confident in the gun's pattern over that range, so I let her rip. The bird jumped and crashed down behind a blowdown, we got up and chased him down and finished the job. Unfortunately in the scuffle, a few of his tail feathers got ripped out (long story involving briars and a death grip hold), but it worked out OK. The point of impact was a little lower than I would have liked and it looked like only a few pellets hit his neck but not the spine (which is probably what dazed/knocked him down) and a bulk of them hit the front of his chest, another (#4) broke one leg and another (#4) broke one wing...but fortunately none in the breast fillets!
He was facing directly towards me on the shot, and Bill later told me I'd be better off waiting for a side head profile shot rather than head-on as it would offer a bigger target. Lessons learned...first, I needed to aim a little higher than I had (I think I had that patterning high phobia in my head and overcompensated)...and second wait for the side profile head shot. We probably could have waited for the bird to get a little closer, but shooting lanes were very, very limited and again we were pretty confident he was within the killing range of the gun, choke, and shot combo. If I had hit him with the bulk of the load (what hit the front chest) in the head/neck, I think he would have piled right up and not moved an inch. The Benelli SBE2, Rhino .660 choke, and Nitro 4x5x7s did the job though with a paced off 66 steps and ranged 59 yards.Here's a few shot from the morning...
Little bit of turkey heaven...or so we would have thought...note the tire tracks...meh!
Bill and John, calling up a storm after the sun came up and we moved off to another area...
And off to another spot...checking things out...but nada doing...
Despite the halo from above, we weren't blessed at this other spot either...
Little bit of the woods before moving off elsewhere...
Then we hit up the same piece where we started the morning and were able to call in this jake.
Nothing very big, 15.5#, 3.5" beard, and monsterous 1/4" spurs...just a youngin...but we worked our butt off for him, and he's legal...so I'll take em for my first ever!
Finally broke the SBE2 in with it's first kill! Sorry I couldn't hold out the fan...I was trying to hold it together after he lost a few feathers from a tackle job...heh. Not to mention it was hotter than the sun out in that field and we made it a quick photo session.
Shot of the super beard!
Oh, and check out the size of this rub! You see how high that is? Not a super thick diameter tree, but that buck was rubbing HIGH!
Well that's all folks...definitely quite an experience overall, learned a tremendous amount over my first few hunts and for one...it isn't always easy hunting these turkeys. Bill always said, sometimes you'll kill yourself going after these birds and other times they'll walk right into your lap and make you wonder...can it really be that easy? Well, I'm still waiting for the latter, hopefully as the season progresses, things will crank up a bit more. I have some good info from another buddy on where he's been seeing two toms regularly (like every morning), so I'll be headed there for C Week!
Thanks again to Bill for spending all this time with me, showing me the ropes and doing all the calling. Dude is incredibly generous in all that he does for people, and I really appreciate it. Also thanks to Sam for being gracious enough to give me one of his old turkey vests to use, really came in hand for carrying around all my gear!
