Old Frosty Toes

I took my first trip up to one of my favorite turkey hunting areas by Tuttle Cr. Reservoir to try my luck hunting along a wooded ridge there. I arrived fairly early but I probably should have been there even earlier since it takes awhile to stumble across the creek and through all of the underbrush and make it up on the opposite ridge.

I slowly made my way across the creek and up the ridge to try and set up in one of the several draws leading to the open pasture up above. There is a nice open area in the mouth of one draw that should draw some birds as they wander up into the pastures.

It seemed like a good idea but after I had gotten set up and the birds started gobbling, I noticed none of them were very close to me but there were quite a few gobbling back to the west where I had stumbled through earlier. I also heard another one back to the east, which probably was the old hermit gobbler I had unsuccessfully tried for last year.

Eventually, I decided I was not in the right place so I picked up my decoys and gear and headed back to the west up and down a couple of ridges to try and get set up on the gobbling birds. (Note to self: try to get in better shape. It's hard to climb up steep ridges when you keep tripping over your tongue.) Luckily, it was really cold out this morning with a frost and the birds were staying on the roost longer than normal. They really didn't start flying down until late -- probably 5 to 10 minutes after sunrise. This allowed me to make another set-up in the mouth of the far west draw which turned out to be perfect.

I got set up by staking out 2 hen decoys and a jake and began calling a little. I sat up against a huge old oak in the bottom of the draw and got ready for action. Amazingly enough, the birds were still on the roost and at least one of the gobblers was within 100 yards of me around the ridge. I started off subtle with the slate and heard several hens answering every yelp. I then decided to try and outcall the hens with some really aggressive yelping and then some flydown cackles with the glass call and my old Lynch. I was hoping to sound like the first hen on the ground and a very excited one at that.

I had seen the birds fly down and one seemed to pitch right out of his tree and land in the weeds about 80 yards out or so along the flat bottom ground along the creek. I saw some of the rest of the flock pitch down from the ridge and glide out to a gravel bar along the creek. (The same bar where I stumbled across the creek about an hour earlier.) Some went to the ground and others landed in the huge oak which stands next to the gravel bar. I've always thought that would be a great place to set up and now I'm sure of it.

I kept calling off and on and I was getting some gobble responses from a gobbler out by the creek. He didn't seem real excited and I though he was probably just shock gobbling. The one close to me wasn't gobbling at all but I had a feeling he was coming in. I stopped calling and just started listening. I could hear him coming through the weeds which was pretty easy since this whole area is covered by dead, brittle weed stalks.

I started to hear him spitting and drumming but could not see anything yet. I decided to get my gun up and stop calling which was the right thing to do. I heard him spitting and drumming for 2 or 3 minutes (maybe, it seemed like longer). Then I heard him climbing the slope opposite me to get a better look into the bottom of the draw. He appeared about 35 to 40 yards out strutting and drumming for all he was worth. He was doing the typical thing a mature bird does by circling the caller before committing to coming in.

He was strutting and drumming and eventually he stepped behind a tree so I got my gun on him. He then eyed the decoys and started down the hill towards me. I let him keep coming in, waiting for a close, clean shot. He was half-strutting and spitting and drumming on his way down. My decoys were really close, about 12 to 15 yards out, so I decided to take him before he got any closer and possible spooked. I lined him up, clucked once on my mouth call and pulled the trigger when he raised his head. He dropped at 23 yards without ever taking a wing beat.

The 2 oz. load of #5's really does a trick on birds that close. I took a few pictures and then started walking out. While I was taking pictures the other gobbler was still going at it. I thought about sitting down and trying for him also since he was only 150 yards out or so. But I decided to wait for another day. I ended up walking right into him and his hens on the way out. I suppose I could have shot him on the wing since I got with about 15 yards of him but I decided against it.

There is still plenty of time left for turkey hunting this spring and I love watching them strut!!!

 

Time:	April 17, 2001 - 7:10 a.m.
Distance:	23 yd.
Shell:	3" Winchester Supreme, 2 oz. 5 shot
Type:	Eastern
Beard:	10.75"
Spurs	1.25" and 1.25"
Weight:	23 lb.
Age:	4 yr.

When You Snooze, You Don't Always Lose

I have recently been hunting a huge pasture of about 1000 acres which is up by Tuttle Cr. It is perfect turkey habitat with one large valley running through it that has a good sized creek and lots of mature oaks and sycamores, and some open crop fields. It also has a huge draw that goes for about a mile and a half up through the pasture that also has a small creek through it.. It is loaded with turkeys but I've also had a problem with too many hens every time I've been there. There is one absolutely huge bird (I'm guessing 30 lbs. plus) there that I've been trying for with little success. One great thing is I can always count on hearing a lot of gobbling activity in this location.

I got up a lot late this morning and I didn't leave the house until about 5:25. I got to the pasture about 5:40 and immediately heard tons of gobbling from their normal roost on the ridge above the creek. These are some of the first turkeys I've hunted that consistently roost in the same general area which makes it much easier to hunt them. I also heard two good sounding gobblers further to the west which I immediately went after since I knew there were hens with the first bunch.

I went up into the pasture along the creek, trying to find a good location for setting up. The birds were really sounding off great and the best thing was the only hens I heard were back to the east. I decided right then to set up between the gobblers and the only hens I was hearing at this time. I quickly threw out a couple of decoys and crossed the fence to set up against a huge oak beside the creek. The gobblers were really going nuts and they were only about 50 yards from me. I was lucky I didn't get spotted while I was setting up but it's been my experience this late in the spring that you can really get close to a bird without fear of spooking him because there is a ton of foliage now.

I got seated and got out my slate call. Since I didn't hear any hens at all, I decided to call to them on the roost which I usually don't do when they have hens with them. Lots of times if they have hens, the hens will hear your calling and lead the toms away from you or fly down the other way just to keep the toms to themselves. I started calling with a soft series of 3 tree yelps and the gobblers went nuts. One of them triple gobbled and the other double gobbled so I decided that was enough calling. Turkeys have an amazing ability to pinpoint sound and it only takes a little calling for them to tell exactly where you are located.

I put my call down and got my gun up and less than a minute later a gobbler comes off the roost, crashing through branches and lands out in the pasture about 20 yards from me. I am still amazed at how much noise a turkey can make when it is either flying up or coming down from the roost. Unfortunately, my gun is pointed about 90 degrees off so I try to slowly turn towards where he is standing. While I'm turning, the other gobbler flies down but has some real trouble getting through the trees and ends up crashing into the fence about 10 to 15 feet from me.

I freeze and try not to laugh as he literally stood there shaking off his crash landing. I was waiting for him to move a little further away so I can continue swinging my gun towards the first bird which looked much bigger and had a better beard. While this is happening I guess the first bird wasn't liking something about the situation and starts circling further away from the direction my gun is pointed. He is still only about 20 yards out but it is a lot easier for me to shoot the second bird since my gun is already pointed at him so I let him get out a little further and squeeze the trigger.

This was a nice 3 year old bird that had been doing a lot of fighting and other rough stuff since he had one broken spur and his middle tail feather was broken off also. He weighed 23.5 lbs. which is real heavy for a bird this late in the spring. He probably would have been over 26 if I had shot him early in the season. The toms will lose weight throughout the spring mating season since they really don't feed much at all. They mainly live off fat reserves stored in this huge sponge-like mass on their breast. The other bird that was with him was larger-bodied and had a better beard. It was probably the older, dominant bird.

This was definitely my quickest hunt ever since I shot the bird about 10 minutes after I got there. Sometimes it pays off to sleep in!!!