Darrin
Active Member
Was within a 100 yards of the roost birds again for the opening day of Iowa 4th season. It was a carbon copy of 2nd season opener where they gobbled like crazy and then flew down and walked away. The only difference is that they walked the other way this time. Went home and got some work done until I got the itch to go check some mushroom spots in good turkey country. Just a half mile in and I hear a distant gobble. Got him located on the ridge above me. He's closer than he sounds due to the terrain. I make my way uphill to try to find a spot before the crest. Found a good, comfortable location and hit a few more soft yelps. He hammers. A few minutes he's strutting to my hard left...pretty ideal for a right handed shooter, except that small sapling that I thought could be a problem...it was. I reposition just a little bit and get the dot on his head somehow and pull the trigger. He's down at 12:30.
Fast forward to this past Thursday where I had a season D tag in Wisconsin. The previous season had been tough up there for the most part with henned up birds. It hadn't changed by that day either. Very few gobbles on the roost. We thought we were going to get a shot on a couple of gobblers that were fired up, but they had other plans. Brother had to go do some work and he wasn't convinced of my new found mid-day lone gobbler strategy, so he dropped me off at the start of 1,100 acres of Managed Forest Ground. I had nothing better to do so in I dived. Thought it was going to be over pretty quick. Right at the start had one gobbling to a crow call. He didn't answer any calling and I could never relocate him. I walked logging roads for 4 more hours until I got to the other end. I was just going to find a nice tree to sit until I could get a ride back to my truck. I make some calling sequences and waited. Finally I get another 12 o'clock gobble. I thought to myself there is no way this is happening again, but I'll take it if it does I guess. He was probably 300 yards away. I didn't want to get too aggressive on the calling, maybe 3 or 4 times as he cut the distance. Little drummer boy came right down my barrel finally and he was down at 12:20.
So that's 3 hunts, 3 shots, and 3 birds all between 12 and 12:30. I thought it was luck on the first one and a little bit on the second one, but a lone midday gobbler is the cheat code. There is a bit of luck to finding one alone, but you have to be out there to cash in on that luck.
Only 11 short months until we can do it all again.
Fast forward to this past Thursday where I had a season D tag in Wisconsin. The previous season had been tough up there for the most part with henned up birds. It hadn't changed by that day either. Very few gobbles on the roost. We thought we were going to get a shot on a couple of gobblers that were fired up, but they had other plans. Brother had to go do some work and he wasn't convinced of my new found mid-day lone gobbler strategy, so he dropped me off at the start of 1,100 acres of Managed Forest Ground. I had nothing better to do so in I dived. Thought it was going to be over pretty quick. Right at the start had one gobbling to a crow call. He didn't answer any calling and I could never relocate him. I walked logging roads for 4 more hours until I got to the other end. I was just going to find a nice tree to sit until I could get a ride back to my truck. I make some calling sequences and waited. Finally I get another 12 o'clock gobble. I thought to myself there is no way this is happening again, but I'll take it if it does I guess. He was probably 300 yards away. I didn't want to get too aggressive on the calling, maybe 3 or 4 times as he cut the distance. Little drummer boy came right down my barrel finally and he was down at 12:20.
So that's 3 hunts, 3 shots, and 3 birds all between 12 and 12:30. I thought it was luck on the first one and a little bit on the second one, but a lone midday gobbler is the cheat code. There is a bit of luck to finding one alone, but you have to be out there to cash in on that luck.
Only 11 short months until we can do it all again.
