Post by huntergks on May 18, 2015 6:51:41 GMT -6
Day 16 - Wed 05/13 – Things did pick-up a little on today. At 05:35, 1 started gobbling across the road to the east about 1/2 down the south edge of the patch woods. It gobbled several times & another started further back in the woods & more to the center. They gobbled pretty well & responded to my calling. I could tell by there gobbling they were moving around in the woods & moving north to the other side & west to the edge. It sounded like they had gotten together. At about 6, they stopped. I waited about 5 mins, made some aggressive cuts & got them fired up again. I could tell 1 was either at the woods edge or a little ways into the field. It was just a matter of time before they crossed over into "my" stubble field & I got a shot. About 6:15, a truck eased by & stopped. I guess the driver saw 1 or bother of the birds & spooked them. Not another peep & never did see them. DANGED RUBBERNECKERS!!!! Nothing else the rest of the day.
Day 17 - Thur 05/14 – I wish the weatherpeople would be just a little more accurate in their predictions. They said high 40s to start the morning, it was 35 & I wasn’t dressed for 35. It was more than a little chilly but at least the wind wasn’t blowing. Hunted my primary woods from 5 until 11:30, had lunch, & went to my secondary woods & hunted from 12 until 5. I neither heard nor saw any birds whatsoever.
Day 18 - Fri 05/15 – Was set up to go in my secondary area about 5. Weatherman said clam, overcast, with a 0-5% chance of rain in the morning & t-showers after lunch. It rained a little right after I got their & then started at 7 until 8:30 with a steady drizzle. Luckily, I had taken my rain jacket & used it to cover up my vest & calls. Then the wind started to blow & I got pretty chilly. About 7:30, the bearded hen I saw a few days ago walked by. She fed around in the corn stubble for about 15 mins & then wandered off to by right. After she was out of sight, I purred a little & made some soft yelps. She reappear about 5 mins later & spent about 10 mins feeding before going to the right again. I couldn’t get her back.
About 8:45, I was thinking about heading in when I caught sight of a bird running towards the dekes from my left. The heart started pounding & the adrenaline started pumping until a hen ran into my field of vision. AAARRRGGGHHHH!!!! She stopped & walked 10-15 yards & then started that funny hippity-hop run out of the stubble into the green corn field when she hit the afterburners. Just a few minutes later, another hen showed up to my left &, after looking around for a minute or so, took off at high speed across the stubble, the green, & out of sight. I figured that it was about time that I spent more time paying attention to what was happening to my left which was exactly nothing. It had rained off & on all morning & started again around 12 so I decided to call it a morning at least if not the whole day. I dropped off a breast & some fresh cut asparagus with my buddy’s wife; I was hunting behind their house, & drove to his Mom’s place, my primary, to glass the fields & woods edges for birds. I did see 1 hen before it started to come down again. I may go out again later today but it’s not looking promising.
Day 19 - Sat 05/16 – Weatherman called for rain so I wore my rain pants & carried 2 rain jackets, 1 for me & 1 for my “stuff”. It did sprinkle off & on until 9 when it started drizzling steadily until about 11:30. At about 6:45, the bearded hen walked into the stubble to my left & fed around for awhile. I saw another hen walking along the drive lane to my right going out of sight at the far end of the woods. The bearded lady fed out of sight to my right & I was able to call her back once before she disappeared to my right. Out of my left peripheral vision, I saw a bird standing near the waterway to my left. It started to run & gave the dekes a wide birth on the south side away from me. It stopped just into the new corn & stretched up its head. I thought its neck was too long for a hen & glassed it. Sure enough, it was a shorty. Good thing he passed out of gun range. At 7:44, a bird started to gobble in the woods to the SW of me about 400 yards. It responded but stopped gobbling at 8. I called every 15 mins or so & got him fired up at 9:04. He gobbler 14 times over the next 5 mins & 17 times in the next 20 before he shut up for good. I couldn’t get him going again & never saw him. The wind started blowing about 12 & I was pretty much soaked. My rain repellant suit, not so much. The temp was in the mid-60s so it wasn’t really chilled but between the wind & being totally wetted down, I got cold & decided to call it a day at 1:30.
Day 20 - Sun 05/17 – Once again, it rain for about 45 mins & I did get a little wet but not like yesterday. The most interesting bird that I say was an itty, bitty hummer. Not sure what it was doing there as there were no flowering plants of weeds for it to feed on. I did see 3 young fox squirrels & will add these woods to my list of squirrel hunting woods. At 11:30, I decided to go to my other woods as it was totally dead at this 1. I ain’t my sammichs & got into the woods by 12. It became apparent by 3:30 that nothing was going to happen. Another storm was blowing in & I decided to take down the blind & head in. My buddy was mowing when I got to the barn & we talked for awhile about the whole situation. Seems like no one in the area was having any better luck than I. He said that there was a gobbler gobbling in Jerry’s woods yesterday (the 1 I was working.) He got his box call thingy, stood at the edge of his garage & chirped at him. He thought that, if he got the bird fired up & stopped calling, I could call him in. If you haven’t figured it out, Brad’s not a turkey hunter. I didn’t have the heart to tell him that he might have stopped the bird from coming to me. We probably had that poor old gobbler so confused, he just went & hid in a corner of the woods. I loaded the truck, went home, hooked up the trailer, went back for the 4-wheeler, got home, & put everything away about 5 minutes before the skies opened up.
The birds were just not active and/or co-operating. I heard 5 gobbling, saw 1 jake, 1 gobbler, which I killed, & did see several hens. I usually hear & see a lot more birds than this. This is the 1st year in the past 5 that I haven’t tagged out here in Ohio. It sure wasn’t for lack of trying. Of the 28 days to hunt, I hunted 20 averaging 10 hours a day. The 8 days I didn’t hunt were spent traveling to & from NY, 2 days, & hunting NY for 6 days.
I have been hearing reports that a lot of hunters in other states are seeing or not seeing the same issues I have run into. Anyone want to speculate what happened? I think breeding is based on the amount of daylight so that’s not the issue. Could it be that, due to the cold & elongated winter, everything is 2-3 weeks behind? It will be interesting to see what others think.
Day 17 - Thur 05/14 – I wish the weatherpeople would be just a little more accurate in their predictions. They said high 40s to start the morning, it was 35 & I wasn’t dressed for 35. It was more than a little chilly but at least the wind wasn’t blowing. Hunted my primary woods from 5 until 11:30, had lunch, & went to my secondary woods & hunted from 12 until 5. I neither heard nor saw any birds whatsoever.
Day 18 - Fri 05/15 – Was set up to go in my secondary area about 5. Weatherman said clam, overcast, with a 0-5% chance of rain in the morning & t-showers after lunch. It rained a little right after I got their & then started at 7 until 8:30 with a steady drizzle. Luckily, I had taken my rain jacket & used it to cover up my vest & calls. Then the wind started to blow & I got pretty chilly. About 7:30, the bearded hen I saw a few days ago walked by. She fed around in the corn stubble for about 15 mins & then wandered off to by right. After she was out of sight, I purred a little & made some soft yelps. She reappear about 5 mins later & spent about 10 mins feeding before going to the right again. I couldn’t get her back.
About 8:45, I was thinking about heading in when I caught sight of a bird running towards the dekes from my left. The heart started pounding & the adrenaline started pumping until a hen ran into my field of vision. AAARRRGGGHHHH!!!! She stopped & walked 10-15 yards & then started that funny hippity-hop run out of the stubble into the green corn field when she hit the afterburners. Just a few minutes later, another hen showed up to my left &, after looking around for a minute or so, took off at high speed across the stubble, the green, & out of sight. I figured that it was about time that I spent more time paying attention to what was happening to my left which was exactly nothing. It had rained off & on all morning & started again around 12 so I decided to call it a morning at least if not the whole day. I dropped off a breast & some fresh cut asparagus with my buddy’s wife; I was hunting behind their house, & drove to his Mom’s place, my primary, to glass the fields & woods edges for birds. I did see 1 hen before it started to come down again. I may go out again later today but it’s not looking promising.
Day 19 - Sat 05/16 – Weatherman called for rain so I wore my rain pants & carried 2 rain jackets, 1 for me & 1 for my “stuff”. It did sprinkle off & on until 9 when it started drizzling steadily until about 11:30. At about 6:45, the bearded hen walked into the stubble to my left & fed around for awhile. I saw another hen walking along the drive lane to my right going out of sight at the far end of the woods. The bearded lady fed out of sight to my right & I was able to call her back once before she disappeared to my right. Out of my left peripheral vision, I saw a bird standing near the waterway to my left. It started to run & gave the dekes a wide birth on the south side away from me. It stopped just into the new corn & stretched up its head. I thought its neck was too long for a hen & glassed it. Sure enough, it was a shorty. Good thing he passed out of gun range. At 7:44, a bird started to gobble in the woods to the SW of me about 400 yards. It responded but stopped gobbling at 8. I called every 15 mins or so & got him fired up at 9:04. He gobbler 14 times over the next 5 mins & 17 times in the next 20 before he shut up for good. I couldn’t get him going again & never saw him. The wind started blowing about 12 & I was pretty much soaked. My rain repellant suit, not so much. The temp was in the mid-60s so it wasn’t really chilled but between the wind & being totally wetted down, I got cold & decided to call it a day at 1:30.
Day 20 - Sun 05/17 – Once again, it rain for about 45 mins & I did get a little wet but not like yesterday. The most interesting bird that I say was an itty, bitty hummer. Not sure what it was doing there as there were no flowering plants of weeds for it to feed on. I did see 3 young fox squirrels & will add these woods to my list of squirrel hunting woods. At 11:30, I decided to go to my other woods as it was totally dead at this 1. I ain’t my sammichs & got into the woods by 12. It became apparent by 3:30 that nothing was going to happen. Another storm was blowing in & I decided to take down the blind & head in. My buddy was mowing when I got to the barn & we talked for awhile about the whole situation. Seems like no one in the area was having any better luck than I. He said that there was a gobbler gobbling in Jerry’s woods yesterday (the 1 I was working.) He got his box call thingy, stood at the edge of his garage & chirped at him. He thought that, if he got the bird fired up & stopped calling, I could call him in. If you haven’t figured it out, Brad’s not a turkey hunter. I didn’t have the heart to tell him that he might have stopped the bird from coming to me. We probably had that poor old gobbler so confused, he just went & hid in a corner of the woods. I loaded the truck, went home, hooked up the trailer, went back for the 4-wheeler, got home, & put everything away about 5 minutes before the skies opened up.
The birds were just not active and/or co-operating. I heard 5 gobbling, saw 1 jake, 1 gobbler, which I killed, & did see several hens. I usually hear & see a lot more birds than this. This is the 1st year in the past 5 that I haven’t tagged out here in Ohio. It sure wasn’t for lack of trying. Of the 28 days to hunt, I hunted 20 averaging 10 hours a day. The 8 days I didn’t hunt were spent traveling to & from NY, 2 days, & hunting NY for 6 days.
I have been hearing reports that a lot of hunters in other states are seeing or not seeing the same issues I have run into. Anyone want to speculate what happened? I think breeding is based on the amount of daylight so that’s not the issue. Could it be that, due to the cold & elongated winter, everything is 2-3 weeks behind? It will be interesting to see what others think.
