re: Turkey Season

No.

Had some turkeys around yhe farm and set up a ground blind.

Really didnt expect a hang up at any distance, these birds aren't super pressured.

Had I thought much about it, I would have changed it out for something a little tighter.

Got it up on the wall last week.

I forgot to update on my son's western OK hunt.

He did not get his 3rd leg of the grand slam this past weekend but did get another Rio.

3 birds for him this year. Eastern and 2 rios. Not too shabby considering he's only been seriously hunting them for a couple of years and his dad is a terrible turkey hunter.

I’m going tomorrow because LA spring squirrel season opens also. Increase in chance of shooting something, hehehe.

Absolutely beautiful morning today.

When I stepped out of the truck it just felt like turkey season. Halfway to my listening area a bird gobbled. I knew where he was and where to set up. I stopped probably 200 yards from him in a cleaned up log set where three roads converged. It’s an area I’m familiar with and almost always see tracks and other sign.

I put out one hen decoy and set up a new Go Pro to try and catch some video of the hunt. I aimed the camera down the road I felt the gobbler would use if he decided to come, cut some young sweetgum branches and settled against a large oak on the edge of the log set.

By the time I sat down the turkey was gobbling once every 30 seconds or so, and just when I didn’t think it could get better, I heard the first hen softly tree yelp behind me. I’m pretty sure a big grin crossed my face as I was now sitting in the “cat bird” seat, directly between the gobbler and his hens.

Slowly one hen was joined by another but instead of making the soft yelps of early morning, they putted and clucked low. The smile on my face began to fade as it dawned on me that I’d obviously disturbed the ladies on their roost.

Minutes seemed like hours as fly down time came and went without a single hen floating to the ground. The gobbler also stayed put on the limb but continued sounding off at a pretty steady pace. Finally I heard wings drag against bark and a loud cackle let me know business was about to pick up. Sure enough, the gobbler also hit the ground and immediately began coking for his hens.

I slowly reached for my phone and found the app that triggered the Go Pro to begin recording. 90 seconds later I could tell the turkey was standing in the road, looking at the decoy. I’d purposefully set up on the backside of a berm of dirt that had been pushed up when the set was initially opened, knowing it would shield me from the gobblers approach, keeping me hidden until it would be too late for him.

He hammered a soft series of yelps letting me know he was now closer, and with my safety now off I could hear the bird drumming just behind the berm. Just a few more steps and I’d collect my first bird of the season.

Then silence…..

I immediately sensed something was wrong but there was nothing I could do. Again, three soft yelps. Nothing. And then I see his white head, floating from behind the berm followed by his entire body.

Panic.

Instead of approaching the decoy and making things simple, he’s now veered off the road and is off my right shoulder. There’s no way I can swing on him accurately, so I watch as he eases his way past me, never stopping to strut once, like a man on a mission.

I sit for 30 minutes listening to each gobble grow more and more faint, until I feel I can finally move. I rise and walk out to the decoy, look down the road and go forth to inspect the scene. Looking at the tracks and strut marks in the wet earth, the turkey entered the road 75 yards from my decoy, turned and began strutting towards it. The last tracks in the road show the gobbler to have been no more than 25 yards from the decoy and a mere few feet from standing off the end of my gun barrel.

And then I see it and a sick feeling enters to pit of my stomach. The blinking red light on the Go Pro, still recording, mocking me for the fool I am. I have no doubt in my mind in the early morning fade that red light looked like a beacon to the gobbler. A beacon it was for sure, a warning beacon.

So tomorrow now signals the final day and I will once again rise long before daylight, easing through the house in an effort to not wake the sleeping occupants who believe I’ve gone mad over a bird readily available in your grocers freezer section. But I am not mad, I’m simply another member of the Tenth, and tomorrow I will leave the damned Go Pro at the house.

I hope each of you have had a successful and safe season. I’ve enjoyed this thread and reading about your spring exploits.

Good luck this morning.
We were pretty lucky in Missouri this year. Whole family tagged out on some good birds.

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geauxbrown

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Any luck today man?

Just now getting caught up on the thread. Was able to get my cousin on his first bird this year during youth season. Opening day I brought him again. Was an awesome morning of action, had 3 jakes strut in and gobble atleast 20 times right in front of us. Saw the longbeard with a hen on the highline and never could catch up with him. After that day it was like he became a ghost, hell he may have wondered on to another property and became a ghost.

Fast forward two weeks, get on a bird after about a 2.5 mile trek, bird gobbles a few times in the same spot for about an hour. Finally he gobbles again and he's getting closer. Finally see him, he's running in like his fan was on fire, stopped and gobbled at 32 yards, Not sure how it happened but I missed. Felt completely comfortable with the shot, may have just happened so fast after the long wait that I got too excited. Talk about a walk of shame back to the truck.

It was still a great season in the in the spring time woods. You learn something every single trip chasing these birds.