Spurhunter1
Senior Member
Do you ever have one of those days where the stars are ALMOST aligned? That's the kind of day I had Saturday.
After getting whipped on the youth hunt last week, I was desperate to find a place to take my 13 yr old daughter and get her in front of a bird.
By 11Pm Friday night, it was clear my only option was to hit the AEDC WMA with everybody else.
4 AM came early, and I laid in bed for 5 minutes wondering if it was worth the drive and since I have not stepped foot on the property for three years, I had no idea what we were in store for. Public land is always a crap-shoot, if you do find a good place, there is no telling how many other hunters have already scouted, and planned on being there as well.
So we hit the road, and then it dawned on me, the battery in Storm's red-dot scope was dead. Quick trip in and out of Walgreens and we were on the way again.
I only really hunt Sinking Pond up there, I know there are lots of areas, but I like the area and have hunted there a bunch over the years. I was a nervous wreck as I drove by the gate and saw it was already open, and had to go all the way to the checking station to get signed-in for the morning before heading back to the Pond. Little did I know, that last year it was changed so you could sign in at the Pond also!.
6:40 Signed-in, and now I was racing to get to the spot I wanted in front of anyone else, wondering where my back-up spot was going to be. The place I wanted is the excact spot I called up 7 jakes 6 years ago for my buddy Robin's first turkey. To say I was relieved when we got to the parking area and nobody was there, is an understatement!
Loaded up all our gear: guns-check, vest & calls-check, ammo-check, facemask for Storm....facemask.....good thing I carry extras in my vest! Green LED flashlight......crap. Oh well, I would have to just go for it, hoping the path was still clear enough from the last time I walked it years ago.
My plan of attack was to set-up in a small neck of hardwoods between a large field and a swampy area I knew the big boys liked to roost in. After arriving to "the spot" I elected to face towards the path the jakes came from the day with Robin.
7:05 AM, GOBBLE! Not exactly where I was expecting, but with-in 10 minutes we had no-less than 4 birds maybe even five birds hammering. Two birds roosted together were about 7 o'clock behind the direction we were facing, but were further than a single bird that was not nearly as hot as the bird closest to us about 12 o'clock. As it got a little lighter, I didnt like our shooting lane at all, and decided to move about 20 yards closer to the edge of the field, but still inside the woods and now facing a different direction, splitting the difference between the postition of the closest gobblers. We still had at least two other birds further out gobbling behind us about 4 o'clock or so, but my attention was on these close birds.
I resisted calling untill I knew they were on the ground, where they had been rossted left them only one real choice in direction, and that was towards the field and past our ambush site. Calling to roosted birds, especially when there is so little leaf cover is risky as they can pin-point you in a heart-beat from the roost. The pair screaming in unison hit the ground first, and each time I hit my slate, they thundered....Storm asked how I could tell it was more than one, when you hear enough gobbles, you can tell.
It was now 7:35 and they were coming our way, but very slowly. I assumed they had some hens near by, and right at that time a hen pitched out and onto the ground in front of us into a small opening. I never saw her after she hit the ground, but just her wing-beats was enough to drive the gobbles crazy!
By 8 o'clock, there was a hen behind us in the field, and she was hot. I mimicked every call she made, and it drove her furious. This whole time, the pair was hammering at me and her, and amazingly, the bird that was the closest would ring out every 10 minutes and letting me know he was STILL in the tree! Now it started raining....good grief! My mind raced thinking we were going to be in a pickle if birds came in all at the same time from different sides, and in the rain to boot. Since I had elected to NOT take a blind, giving us the choice of running and gunning if necessary, by now I was really regretting this decision. Its hard enough to hide yourself, but take a kid and its REALLY tough, then add water. LOL
In the back of my mind, I thought I was hearing a hunter trying to fight with my hen in the filed behind us, but soon stopped worrying about it since she would answer every call of mine, and she was helping to keep my main birds of focus attention to our location pretty well. There is NOTHING like a long-beard sounding off in the woods. If you only hunt fields, your missing out on an amazing song as the roar of a mature bird rattles off trees, limbs and leaves as it comes cascading to your ears.
8:10 and I have now moved Storm's point of aim further to the left, telling her the birds were going to come into focus at ANY moment, and when they did, she was free to aim and fire. By this time, any sound I made was pure agony to these two and they screemed so loud, I was sure every hunter for 20 miles was sure to come running at us. I have never called so much, or so loud at turkey before, a very big no-no in turkey hunting, but they were eating it up, and when its like that, its worse than crack for me, and I have to keep them fired up. I must have told Storm a dozen times that they were so close we could shoot them if it weren't for the trees blocking our sight. At this point I was almost behind her since we had turned so far around this tree, and I knew she was going to be on her own shooting, no back-up shot would come from me over her head. I stopped calling, to allow them to come the rest of the way.....
8:20, I screeched out an aggressive riff, and the gobbles from these two rattled the leaves we were sitting in! They were standing in the field over my left shoulder at 7 yards away! We were now lossing this battle, Storm was pinned into her shooting lane at 12 o'clock, and the birds were at 8 o'clock blocked by the tree she was leaning on. I made a decsicion to turn left and get a good view and figure out my options...as I got cranked around, one bird looked me right in the eyes and starting putt-putt-ing his "Oh Crap!" alarm for his friend. He pitched up and flew while his buddy decided for a moment to run straight away from us before pitching up in the sky and giving me just enough time to put the red dot on him and get one shot off. He crumpled at the report, falling stone-cold dead at 55 yards, and from 20 feet in the air. Nitro mixed loads are some baaaad stuff. The lead bird flew up into a large oak at the edge of the field about 200 yards away and was trying to figure out what the Hades just happened. All I could say was, "sorry baby, I had no choice". We waited a minute or two watcing that bird in the tree, and I called to see if he would react, but he was just too spooked and finally flew off. I retrieved my bird and saw a hen run down the middle of the filed, I assume the Edited to Remove Profanity ----Edited to Remove Profanity ----Edited to Remove Profanity ----Edited to Remove Profanity ---- I was fighting with over the attention of the gobblers.
We got back to our spot and took a pic, and I was apologizing over and over for not getting her in the correct direction for a shot.
While this was going on, I thought I heard a gobble. We quickly packed our things up and I started calling, sure enough a gobble! The I realized there were two birds answering, but from different directions. We set up facing the feild from a thicket along the wood line, and I got to work. The close bird was coming from the same direction the first two did, and was getting fired up. The rain had stopped, but the thunder remained, sounding off every few minutes, and if you have ever hunter "thunder-chickens" before in the rain, you know they gobble like crazy at the real thunder. I was loving it right about now.
The second bird was coming from the same direction the earlier bird flew...no telling if it was the same, as there was several over there earlier hammering also. Didnt matter to me, as long as something came to us. I AGAIN had a dilemma as to which direction to point Storm! For more than 30 mins these birds would answer every call I made, which since it started raining again, was a challenge, getting every slate and box call I carry wet. My diaphragm call was seemingly wearing a hole in my mouth, I had been hitting it so hard from earlier, but that was all I could do at this point. The bird across the field and to the left side came a long way and was in the tall sage-brush just out of sight for us...I was tempted to stand up in the thicket we were in to see if I could spot it, but I knew it was less than 75 yards away. I was also confident the bird on the right had emerged from the swap and into the other end of the field, searching for this hen he heard. I started to anticipate a gobbler fight in the making, and we would be front and center! A couple minutes went by, then 5 then 10 without hearing the birds...I was now totally stumped. What was going on here? I had decided the gig was up, so told Storm we would ease out into the filed and see if we could get a view of a gobbler fan rotating in the sage, you just never know in these situations. As I eased out, lo and behold a giant COYOTE standing out there and bolted before I could do anything. Oh well, hunt busted. It was still an amazing morning, especially for public hunting. So as we walked along the edge of the feild I was looking out through the field and was shocked to see a blind about 250 yards from us...I bet there was a couple mad hunters sitting in that blind! They should have been able to see my bird get crushed right out of the air, and watch several birds come to us. Hunting on public land folks! They came in from a different direction, if I had know they were there, I would have changed things up for sure.
We easily heard over 100 gobbles and killed a bird. Great day in the turkey woods with my daughter indeed folks.
The bird weighed in at 20.4lbs with a 10.25" AND a 6" beard, my second double-beard ever, and had solid 1" spurs.
SO I am still on the hunt for a bird for my baby-girl, I have something cooking, so stay tuned to the Spur-channel for new updates.
After getting whipped on the youth hunt last week, I was desperate to find a place to take my 13 yr old daughter and get her in front of a bird.
By 11Pm Friday night, it was clear my only option was to hit the AEDC WMA with everybody else.
4 AM came early, and I laid in bed for 5 minutes wondering if it was worth the drive and since I have not stepped foot on the property for three years, I had no idea what we were in store for. Public land is always a crap-shoot, if you do find a good place, there is no telling how many other hunters have already scouted, and planned on being there as well.
So we hit the road, and then it dawned on me, the battery in Storm's red-dot scope was dead. Quick trip in and out of Walgreens and we were on the way again.
I only really hunt Sinking Pond up there, I know there are lots of areas, but I like the area and have hunted there a bunch over the years. I was a nervous wreck as I drove by the gate and saw it was already open, and had to go all the way to the checking station to get signed-in for the morning before heading back to the Pond. Little did I know, that last year it was changed so you could sign in at the Pond also!.
6:40 Signed-in, and now I was racing to get to the spot I wanted in front of anyone else, wondering where my back-up spot was going to be. The place I wanted is the excact spot I called up 7 jakes 6 years ago for my buddy Robin's first turkey. To say I was relieved when we got to the parking area and nobody was there, is an understatement!
Loaded up all our gear: guns-check, vest & calls-check, ammo-check, facemask for Storm....facemask.....good thing I carry extras in my vest! Green LED flashlight......crap. Oh well, I would have to just go for it, hoping the path was still clear enough from the last time I walked it years ago.
My plan of attack was to set-up in a small neck of hardwoods between a large field and a swampy area I knew the big boys liked to roost in. After arriving to "the spot" I elected to face towards the path the jakes came from the day with Robin.
7:05 AM, GOBBLE! Not exactly where I was expecting, but with-in 10 minutes we had no-less than 4 birds maybe even five birds hammering. Two birds roosted together were about 7 o'clock behind the direction we were facing, but were further than a single bird that was not nearly as hot as the bird closest to us about 12 o'clock. As it got a little lighter, I didnt like our shooting lane at all, and decided to move about 20 yards closer to the edge of the field, but still inside the woods and now facing a different direction, splitting the difference between the postition of the closest gobblers. We still had at least two other birds further out gobbling behind us about 4 o'clock or so, but my attention was on these close birds.
I resisted calling untill I knew they were on the ground, where they had been rossted left them only one real choice in direction, and that was towards the field and past our ambush site. Calling to roosted birds, especially when there is so little leaf cover is risky as they can pin-point you in a heart-beat from the roost. The pair screaming in unison hit the ground first, and each time I hit my slate, they thundered....Storm asked how I could tell it was more than one, when you hear enough gobbles, you can tell.
It was now 7:35 and they were coming our way, but very slowly. I assumed they had some hens near by, and right at that time a hen pitched out and onto the ground in front of us into a small opening. I never saw her after she hit the ground, but just her wing-beats was enough to drive the gobbles crazy!
By 8 o'clock, there was a hen behind us in the field, and she was hot. I mimicked every call she made, and it drove her furious. This whole time, the pair was hammering at me and her, and amazingly, the bird that was the closest would ring out every 10 minutes and letting me know he was STILL in the tree! Now it started raining....good grief! My mind raced thinking we were going to be in a pickle if birds came in all at the same time from different sides, and in the rain to boot. Since I had elected to NOT take a blind, giving us the choice of running and gunning if necessary, by now I was really regretting this decision. Its hard enough to hide yourself, but take a kid and its REALLY tough, then add water. LOL
In the back of my mind, I thought I was hearing a hunter trying to fight with my hen in the filed behind us, but soon stopped worrying about it since she would answer every call of mine, and she was helping to keep my main birds of focus attention to our location pretty well. There is NOTHING like a long-beard sounding off in the woods. If you only hunt fields, your missing out on an amazing song as the roar of a mature bird rattles off trees, limbs and leaves as it comes cascading to your ears.
8:10 and I have now moved Storm's point of aim further to the left, telling her the birds were going to come into focus at ANY moment, and when they did, she was free to aim and fire. By this time, any sound I made was pure agony to these two and they screemed so loud, I was sure every hunter for 20 miles was sure to come running at us. I have never called so much, or so loud at turkey before, a very big no-no in turkey hunting, but they were eating it up, and when its like that, its worse than crack for me, and I have to keep them fired up. I must have told Storm a dozen times that they were so close we could shoot them if it weren't for the trees blocking our sight. At this point I was almost behind her since we had turned so far around this tree, and I knew she was going to be on her own shooting, no back-up shot would come from me over her head. I stopped calling, to allow them to come the rest of the way.....
8:20, I screeched out an aggressive riff, and the gobbles from these two rattled the leaves we were sitting in! They were standing in the field over my left shoulder at 7 yards away! We were now lossing this battle, Storm was pinned into her shooting lane at 12 o'clock, and the birds were at 8 o'clock blocked by the tree she was leaning on. I made a decsicion to turn left and get a good view and figure out my options...as I got cranked around, one bird looked me right in the eyes and starting putt-putt-ing his "Oh Crap!" alarm for his friend. He pitched up and flew while his buddy decided for a moment to run straight away from us before pitching up in the sky and giving me just enough time to put the red dot on him and get one shot off. He crumpled at the report, falling stone-cold dead at 55 yards, and from 20 feet in the air. Nitro mixed loads are some baaaad stuff. The lead bird flew up into a large oak at the edge of the field about 200 yards away and was trying to figure out what the Hades just happened. All I could say was, "sorry baby, I had no choice". We waited a minute or two watcing that bird in the tree, and I called to see if he would react, but he was just too spooked and finally flew off. I retrieved my bird and saw a hen run down the middle of the filed, I assume the Edited to Remove Profanity ----Edited to Remove Profanity ----Edited to Remove Profanity ----Edited to Remove Profanity ---- I was fighting with over the attention of the gobblers.
We got back to our spot and took a pic, and I was apologizing over and over for not getting her in the correct direction for a shot.
While this was going on, I thought I heard a gobble. We quickly packed our things up and I started calling, sure enough a gobble! The I realized there were two birds answering, but from different directions. We set up facing the feild from a thicket along the wood line, and I got to work. The close bird was coming from the same direction the first two did, and was getting fired up. The rain had stopped, but the thunder remained, sounding off every few minutes, and if you have ever hunter "thunder-chickens" before in the rain, you know they gobble like crazy at the real thunder. I was loving it right about now.
The second bird was coming from the same direction the earlier bird flew...no telling if it was the same, as there was several over there earlier hammering also. Didnt matter to me, as long as something came to us. I AGAIN had a dilemma as to which direction to point Storm! For more than 30 mins these birds would answer every call I made, which since it started raining again, was a challenge, getting every slate and box call I carry wet. My diaphragm call was seemingly wearing a hole in my mouth, I had been hitting it so hard from earlier, but that was all I could do at this point. The bird across the field and to the left side came a long way and was in the tall sage-brush just out of sight for us...I was tempted to stand up in the thicket we were in to see if I could spot it, but I knew it was less than 75 yards away. I was also confident the bird on the right had emerged from the swap and into the other end of the field, searching for this hen he heard. I started to anticipate a gobbler fight in the making, and we would be front and center! A couple minutes went by, then 5 then 10 without hearing the birds...I was now totally stumped. What was going on here? I had decided the gig was up, so told Storm we would ease out into the filed and see if we could get a view of a gobbler fan rotating in the sage, you just never know in these situations. As I eased out, lo and behold a giant COYOTE standing out there and bolted before I could do anything. Oh well, hunt busted. It was still an amazing morning, especially for public hunting. So as we walked along the edge of the feild I was looking out through the field and was shocked to see a blind about 250 yards from us...I bet there was a couple mad hunters sitting in that blind! They should have been able to see my bird get crushed right out of the air, and watch several birds come to us. Hunting on public land folks! They came in from a different direction, if I had know they were there, I would have changed things up for sure.
We easily heard over 100 gobbles and killed a bird. Great day in the turkey woods with my daughter indeed folks.
The bird weighed in at 20.4lbs with a 10.25" AND a 6" beard, my second double-beard ever, and had solid 1" spurs.
SO I am still on the hunt for a bird for my baby-girl, I have something cooking, so stay tuned to the Spur-channel for new updates.
