Post by huntergks on Apr 22, 2016 10:40:52 GMT -6
This morning, it was 54, cloudy with a bright full moon, & a little breeze at 5:45. I got within 70 yards or so of my set-up & heard the sound no turkey hunter ever wants to hear when walking into the woods. NUTZ!!!! I hadn’t taken 10 steps when I heard it again! DOUBLE NUTZ!!!! I can remember the last time I busted a bird let alone 2 & they were close to my set-up spot. I don’t know what they were but, based on the crashing & all the trees the 2nd 1 ran into, I think it was a gobbler. Man did it crash out of there making a lot of noise.
Once again, it was really quiet with only 1 bull frog croaking for maybe 5 minutes & the occasional woodpecker calling or hammering. A chickadee came to visit again, I’ve seen 1 every morning here & it always goes to the same stump. I think it is the same one. The only birds that made much noise were the crows & geese.
At about 8, I heard a gobble way to the west. My 1st thought was that it was across the road in the next field. I called a little & it responded & I decided that it was in the far west end of “my” woods. I got it to respond a couple of more times over the next 5-10 mins. It shut-up until about 8:30 when it gobbled & sounded like it was close to where I park my truck when I squirrel hunt, which is NW of me a few hundred yards. I did respond several times & then went silent again.
Just before 9, I spotted a gobbler walking along the edge of the woods from the west. It walked behind a brush pile & I got the 11-87 into a semi-ready position. I kept moving east &, when it got to an opening, I called, stopping him. He looked towards the dekes & kind of turned this way & that finally facing towards the dekes. He could have easily come in as there was open space between him & the dekes but he turned & continued on east behind more brush where I lost sight of him. I called a little hoping to bring him back but nothing. About 15 minutes later, I spotted him just into the wheat field heading back west. I called & got him to stop for a few seconds but then he kept right on going. After he was out of sight, he rubbed salt in the wound he had opened. That !@#$%^&*() GOBBLED!!!! I think that was the turkey equivalent of saying: SCREW YOU!!!!” He gobbled a couple more times further away each time.
About 10, the rain came down in buckets. I knew there were supposed to be t-storms at noon but, since it had started early, I decided that the 1st chance I got, I was heading out. At about 10:30, the rain had pretty much stopped & back to the truck I want. The temp was 56 when I left.
It’s back “my” 2ndary woods in the morning. I had thought about going back to the swamp woods but decided to stick with my plan to alternate between the 2 woods.
So far, this season is a carbon copy of last season when I killed a great bird on opening morning &, like Old Mother Hubbard’s cupboard, the woods were bare. I guess that’s why the old saw is: “That’s why it’s called hunting & not shooting.”
