lunker99
Active Member
Had a couple of days to hunt for myself before the wife's vacation started on Friday. Wednesday didn't have any birds to work even though there was a group of 17 with 5 mature toms in it when I had set the blind a couple weeks ago as a potential youth season spot. Thursday morning had a tight timeline and almost worked out. Called a bird in right off the roost. Thought it was a done deal the way he came in but he skirted the decoys at 60 yards. Thought he might not be the dominate tom in the area. Had my usual set of a jake in breeding position over a hen and another hen to the side. He passed by a hung out of sight on the other side of the ridge for a bit but fired back up after a while and started to work back in. He passed by again a little further out on his way to run off a jake that had appeared from where he originally did. That was all the time for hunting I had that day. Wife started her hunt yesterday. Decided to go to the blind where Drew got his during youth. Had a tom open up not far from the blind. He pitched down in our corner of the field and immediately started to work into the decoys. Even with the bad reaction the day before tried the same spread hoping that we would have multiple birds come in to double up. This bird got to 38 yds and as the wife was getting ready to pull the trigger he spun around and backed off a bit. Same as the day before he didn't want to come into the spread. Even had a hen come through and spend time with the dekes but that still wasn't enough to make him feel comfortable. Spent quite a bit of time at 45-55 yds before he eventually worked out of view. Got out of the blind and pulled the jake hoping that would change our luck. About a half hour later had a bird fire up a ways away but it was an eager talker to any calls I made. Hung out for a while before it started working our way having to cross through pretty thick brush and a deep ditch to get to us. Came right in and the wife was ready when it made it's appearance already in range. Since it was on my side of the blind I leaned back as she prepared to shoot. Unknown to me there was a second tom that was silent that walked after I leaned back out of sight. Erin dropped one and the second took off with the shot so no double but was happy we got one after the tow previous hang-ups. Nice bird for her had 1 1/8" spurs and 10 1/4" beard to go with this weight:
Back to solo hunting this morning. Chose to go to a small timber that had a gobbling tom on a couple of scouting trips. Have hunted it a few times over the years so started on on the ridge they usually prefer hoping he would be in the area this morning. He opened up below towards the bottom of the timber so repositioned down the ridge a little hoping to be the closest hen when he dropped down. It worked, was lucky enough to see him fly down through the timber, looked at the watch and it was 6:00. Gave a fly down cackle and the first gobble on the ground let me know he was closing the distance in a hurry. Could hear him spitting a drumming as he worked his way in but he stayed out of sight over the side of the ridge until he came up over into sight at 30 yards. Was ready for him and was standing over a flopping turkey at 6:06.
Knew he had some weight carrying him out thinking he was comparable to Drew and Erin's turkeys but this surprised me a bit. Had 1 3/16" spurs and 10 5/16" beard to go with it, Now a couple days off till 4th season when dad and I will start hunting together.
Back to solo hunting this morning. Chose to go to a small timber that had a gobbling tom on a couple of scouting trips. Have hunted it a few times over the years so started on on the ridge they usually prefer hoping he would be in the area this morning. He opened up below towards the bottom of the timber so repositioned down the ridge a little hoping to be the closest hen when he dropped down. It worked, was lucky enough to see him fly down through the timber, looked at the watch and it was 6:00. Gave a fly down cackle and the first gobble on the ground let me know he was closing the distance in a hurry. Could hear him spitting a drumming as he worked his way in but he stayed out of sight over the side of the ridge until he came up over into sight at 30 yards. Was ready for him and was standing over a flopping turkey at 6:06.
Knew he had some weight carrying him out thinking he was comparable to Drew and Erin's turkeys but this surprised me a bit. Had 1 3/16" spurs and 10 5/16" beard to go with it, Now a couple days off till 4th season when dad and I will start hunting together.
