My turkey time this year has been limited by a very sick wife, work, 3 teenage daughters (2 on the varsity softball team and 2 playing AAU basketball every weekend) and basically complete exhaustion at times from trying to do everything that needs to get done.
Up until this past Tuesday, I had only been able to get to the woods twice. I rolled out of bed at 3:45, made the drive to the property and was finishing a cup of coffee in the truck at 5:30 "up on the hill" in Jefferson County. My plan was to stay all day and the next morning. I had told Donna that if the birds weren't cooperating, at least I would be able to catch up on some sleep.
I gathered my gear and walked down the field edge, heading to a spot I like to listen for gobbles and had just stepped into the woods onto a logging road when I heard the first gobble of the morning. He was across the road, but his gobble set off a chain reaction and I heard another bird light up a few hundred yards across a hollow from where I was, and then another bird sounded off about 150 yards from where I was standing in a section of our woods that I usually walked past to get to a higher listening spot towards the back of the property and had only killed a few birds in that area over the years.
SWEET! He was still on the roost and gobbling , so I slowly moved down the logging trail to a spot where it intersected another trail and was trying to figure out exactly where he was roosted. I made a couple soft tree yelps at him and he came unglued. Then it was like he and the bird across the valley decided to have a gobbling contest and they were both just lighting the woods up! By now it is almost 6:00 am, I am set up, have given him a few more soft calls and I am trying to decide if I can move another 20 yards up the hill to a bigger tree, when I hear him fly down. He hit the ground gobbling and the bird across the valley has not stopped either! I was hoping he would come down the logging trail that runs along the side of the hill, but I could tell he was angling up. He really liked it when I gave him a few purrs with the mouth call and scratched some leaves. It was still kind of shadowy and I could see him walking through the trees above above me, and then he got in between me and the big tree I had wanted to get to and started spitting and drumming at about 50 yards. I knew I should have set up there dammit, it would have been a 25-30 yard shot! Between him and the bird across the valley, they had gobbled at least 150 times already! My gun was up, and I made a few soft clucks and purrs, and he started moving my way, looking for the hen he thought was there. He stopped and put his head up, looking and I smoked a tree limb that I didn't see in the shadows! He clucked and took off flying! I couldn't believe I had just blown it. WTH? I walked up to where he was standing and nothing other than a BB riddled branch and a small tree that had obviously broken up my pattern. :smiley_blackeye: I was cussing myself out and all pissed off because I had been stupid enough to rush the shot, he wasn't spooked and I am sure he would have gotten closer, but I have killed plenty of birds at 40 yards with this gun and load, and my nose hurt, I must have been too into the gun. LOL 6:15 am and I had already missed a good bird, TBC....
Up until this past Tuesday, I had only been able to get to the woods twice. I rolled out of bed at 3:45, made the drive to the property and was finishing a cup of coffee in the truck at 5:30 "up on the hill" in Jefferson County. My plan was to stay all day and the next morning. I had told Donna that if the birds weren't cooperating, at least I would be able to catch up on some sleep.
I gathered my gear and walked down the field edge, heading to a spot I like to listen for gobbles and had just stepped into the woods onto a logging road when I heard the first gobble of the morning. He was across the road, but his gobble set off a chain reaction and I heard another bird light up a few hundred yards across a hollow from where I was, and then another bird sounded off about 150 yards from where I was standing in a section of our woods that I usually walked past to get to a higher listening spot towards the back of the property and had only killed a few birds in that area over the years.
SWEET! He was still on the roost and gobbling , so I slowly moved down the logging trail to a spot where it intersected another trail and was trying to figure out exactly where he was roosted. I made a couple soft tree yelps at him and he came unglued. Then it was like he and the bird across the valley decided to have a gobbling contest and they were both just lighting the woods up! By now it is almost 6:00 am, I am set up, have given him a few more soft calls and I am trying to decide if I can move another 20 yards up the hill to a bigger tree, when I hear him fly down. He hit the ground gobbling and the bird across the valley has not stopped either! I was hoping he would come down the logging trail that runs along the side of the hill, but I could tell he was angling up. He really liked it when I gave him a few purrs with the mouth call and scratched some leaves. It was still kind of shadowy and I could see him walking through the trees above above me, and then he got in between me and the big tree I had wanted to get to and started spitting and drumming at about 50 yards. I knew I should have set up there dammit, it would have been a 25-30 yard shot! Between him and the bird across the valley, they had gobbled at least 150 times already! My gun was up, and I made a few soft clucks and purrs, and he started moving my way, looking for the hen he thought was there. He stopped and put his head up, looking and I smoked a tree limb that I didn't see in the shadows! He clucked and took off flying! I couldn't believe I had just blown it. WTH? I walked up to where he was standing and nothing other than a BB riddled branch and a small tree that had obviously broken up my pattern. :smiley_blackeye: I was cussing myself out and all pissed off because I had been stupid enough to rush the shot, he wasn't spooked and I am sure he would have gotten closer, but I have killed plenty of birds at 40 yards with this gun and load, and my nose hurt, I must have been too into the gun. LOL 6:15 am and I had already missed a good bird, TBC....
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