Cabin Fever

I wasn't gonna post, but seeing the pics again sure puts a proud smile on my face! Plus, thought a good story might give others a little "fix" until you can get out there yourselves! We hunted the first day of the youth season, but didn't hear or see anything. Didn't have a whole lot of hope for the second day either. We were set up in a blind on top of a hill, in an apple orchard, where turkeys have sometimes been roosting on the wooded hillside below. I owl hooted a few times just before daylight to see if I could get a gobbler to respond, to give us some hope. No response. I gave random calls from 5:40-6:45, but no answer. Didn't seem like there was a turkey around for miles! I tried to remain optimistic and told my daughter that just because they weren't gobbling, didn't mean that they weren't there. We were both discouraged, but I didn't want her to know how I felt... At 6:45, we heard yelping coming from straight down over the ridge on the wooded hillside. She said, "Well yeah, but it's just a hen." I told her that it could be a hen with a gobbler in tow OR it could be a gobbler yelping, which I've seen/heard before. Everytime I called, it excitedly yelped back. It sounded like it was going to come up into the orchard to our right. All went silent for ~30 min. She was just sure the turkey kept walking out the hillside and wasn't going to come in, since it shut up. I told her how they come in silent sometimes, just to try to keep her hopes up. Finally, a jake appeared in the orchard ~80 yards to our right. He saw our decoys (jake and 2 hens) and heard my calling, but simply walked back down over the hill from where he came. WTH?? I called a few more times, but no response. Figured I would throw something at him that I've never really tried before, a fighting purr. Well, let me tell you, the hillside exploded with gobbles then! The next thing I know, we see 2 bright red heads looking over the hill at our decoys. Then, they went back down over the hill again!l! They started gobbling like crazy, walking out the hillside, just over the ridge from us. I told my daughter that they were probably just circling the decoys. I told her where I expected them to top the ridge and where to point her gun. Sure enough, a few minutes later, they appeared 40 yards away! Unfortunately, after patterning her gun, I'm not comfortable with the pattern beyond 30 yards, so that is our limit. The jakes strutted and gobbled their heads off in the wide open, from 40-45 yards for ~30 minutes! What a thrilling show for my daughter to witness!! They wanted to come in so bad, but I think my jake decoy, which was still bigger than them, was just intimidating them! I had a bobbing head head decoy that I have fishing line tied to, so I can tug on it a little for some movement. They would start in, then would hesitate, and turn around and walk off a little ways! Everytime they did this, I started purring and that would get them fired up again, gobbling like crazy and inching closer to the decoys! I bet we did this 10x, but they must have thought they were "turning the hens (decoys) on" with the purring they were doing! LOL Finally, one jake cautiously took a few steps closer to the decoys. Must have been peer pressure, because the other one (more cautious), decided to follow. When they crossed the 30 yard line, I knew it was "go time" and told my daughter to that I would tell her when to shoot. At 25 yards, the more cautious one again started to back off and turned the other jake too. I told my daughter to shoot! She did and down he went at 8:10am! That was such an exciting and suspenseful hunt! One we will never forget!! She missed a jake last year in the same spot, so this one sure built her confidence back up, gave her redemption, and reinforced the fact that you gotta have PATIENCE!!! LOL

I can just imagine the smell....

My daughter connected on a jake this morning! Her first! She missed one last year, so this one built up her confidence and gave her some redemption!! Possibly the most exciting/suspenseful turkey hunt I've ever had and her getting it was the icing on the cake! Talk about highs and lows and we both learned a few lessons!

Congrats!

That's what I was thinking! Then I thought maybe it was in another state, but even PA youth season just opened today so.... All quiet in my neck of the woods. We sat in the blind on the wind protected side of a hill, where they roost alot, from 5:00-7:15am. Then walked around and and checked a couple other areas. Nothing..... Daughter got a good nap in this morning though!

Bet they were surprised!

Sounds like wind will be a factor tomorrow. Decided to scrap my plans and not hunt on top of a hill, like I had planned, and stay at the bottom of the hill in the hardwoods, where I'm hoping they'll go to be protected from the wind. Because I'll be within 50-100 yards of where they've been roosting lately, I decided to go in today at lunchtime and set the blind up, so I don't have to make any noise doing it in the dark tomorrow morning. Crossing our fingers....

Very Good!

Very cool find! They sure are camo'd well!

Great pics!

A member from PA posted a pic of a buck still with antlers during the first week of April. I thought it was very strange. Then I got this one on 4/17 and it blew me away! I guess he figures he'll just save some time and keep the ones that he has!

Never seen one packing antlers this late (4/17) before! WTH.......

Very Nice! Those bottom two are slammers!

Very nice tom! That gets the blood going!

It was 34 degrees this morning at daylight and they were gobbling (5:40-6:20am) the best I've heard yet so far.

Not necessary! As super smart and wary as turkeys are, it's like you're invisible sitting in a blind! Windows open, no brushing in, and you can set it up right in the middle of an open field the morning of a hunt! I found it hard to believe watching the guys doing this on the hunting shows, and decided to try it myself! Just have a decoy or so sitting 10-20 yards in front of the blind and the incoming turkeys pay no attention to the blind! Crazy, but true! We've had turkeys feed so close to the blind that you could see their shadow along the bottom of the blind and you could hear them pecking for seeds and bugs! Makes it very exciting, especially for the kids! I just use a cheapo Ameristep Doghouse blind too, nothing fancy or expensive required! It's not just for field use either, as I've used it in the woods. It just makes it more comfortable for the kids and that helps extend the hunt, when things are slow or dead.

Don't know how many of you plan to use a pop up blind when you take the kids, but they are great! Sure helps extend how long the kids can tolerate being out there, if there is no action going on. The kids can still figet around a little, snack, stay dry, sitting on a swivel stool is a lot more comfortable, and they (/ we ) can even curl up on the ground and nap if need be! My daughter before she was old enough to hunt herself...

Decrease... and I'm one of them. 12+ years ago, we had more turkeys than squirrels in my area! They were all over! In the past 8-10 years, there are very very few around. Some years, there are none, no tracks, no gobbling, no trailcam pics, no sightings, no nothing! Other years, I "might" have a couple move in during the spring, but they never stick around. Personally, I wouldn't shoot one in my area if it jumped me with a switchblade! What few we do have around, I would rather save, so my kids have something to hunt.

Great job!! Looks awesome!

It is still packing antlers! WTH?? Never seen one in April before!

I'll be taking my daughter out. We went out shooting yesterday, did some scouting and checking trailcams, and had the neighbor tell us some promising info about sightings. He told us they've been gobbling behind his house and that we could go try there, if we wanted to. My daughter heard the scoop from the neighbor too, so that got her excited! She said she doesn't care how big of a gobbler she gets.... as long as it's bigger than the one her brother got (jake) a couple years ago! I plan on going out every morning at daylight this week to listen and figure out where we might have the best chance for next weekend. I have a few pop-up blind locations picked out already. Crossing my fingers!!

Sad, but true. That's exactly how the government is wanting us to feel... Mission accomplished!

Thanks. I'll certainly keep that in mind. We'll be doing a lot of shooting over the weekend to try to figure this out!

OK, I'm REALLY confused now... My daughter got home from her lacrosse game and I had her do the eye dominance test. http://www.wikihow.com/Determine-Eye-Dominance I didn't mention anything to her about why we were doing it, just making it a game or something. She did it 3x and all 3x, she drew her hands back to her right eye! WTH?? Man, now I'm really confused, as to what could be making her consistantly shoot 6" to the left!! I started wondering, why it would matter which eye was dominant, if she closed her left eye while aiming, which she does?

Has anyone ever heard of or used the Sight Blinder Crossfire Reducer? http://www.meadowindustries.com/sights_sb-1.html Read some reviews from guys that have the left eye dominance issue that use this product over on the shotgunworld site and they say how great it is and how much it has improved their shooting. This just might help my daughter! Think I'll order one...