2013 turkey hunts recap

[reeltime]

wow  its hard to believe its over already! didn't miss a daybreak in the woods from april till the end of may. did ok for what I had to work with for bird numbers here in our area of NY. passed up a few 2 year olds and a bunch of jakes and even a couple jobbler's.

on to the kill hunts......

5/2/13

first and second spots were basically a bust with only 1 gobble heard at first light a mile away. so I scooted off to the third spot and knew I had to be close to the east end of the field by 8 am.

I eased up the logging road that parallels the east side of the field and gave out a seductive series of clucks and yelps on the Burrville Bomber and he hammered back from the north west corner of the field.  I slipped up to my favorite beech tree and settled in and made another series of yelps and clucks and he hammered it again.

finally I start seeing heads in the grass moving through the field, 6 grey ones then a red head and then a bright white and blue one. took them about 10 minutes to march across the field to my side and the 2 year old walked by me at less than 5 yards and never even so much as looked at me.  the strutter was busy corralling his hens and finally they all separated enough to ensure that he was the only one to get hit.

at the shot he just dropped to the ground and didn't move, the hens jumped up in the air but then just stood around purring and looking at the one laying on the ground. I sat still until the hens lost interest and moved off.




fast forward to my work/hunt week in pa..... actually did alot more working than hunting all season!

5/24/13 we arrived late on the 23rd. so it was off in the morning for the cornpicker bird, when I walked outside at 4am it was windy and COLD  everything was covered in frost.  it was a mile and a half walk to my hunting spot. daylight brought silence except for the wind howling through the trees and at least low to mid 20's wind chills. tried some trolling but it was futile as the wind was steady out of the n nw 20-30mph.
figured that with the winds and temps I would just head back to the house and get busy putting the metal on the shop ceiling.  I get out of my hunting gear and get my carharts on to get ready to work and as Judy and I are on the porch I am lacing up my boots when we both looked at each other and said was that a gobble???? brushed it off and as I am lacing up the other boot he rips another gobble only this time its no issue telling its a gobble.  needless to say from the direction and current temps I knew who it was and I was out of my carhart jacket and work boots and into my leafy wear suit and rubber turkey boots.

I told Judy to take me up and drop me off at the intersection. I knew where he was and where he would not hesitate to come into if he was interested in the hen talk. I slipped into the woods and got along the old tram road and got all set up against a big old cherry tree.  my first series of yelps on the bomber were cut off with a thunderous gobble from across the field.

over the next 5 minutes he cut off every call I made and was now at 70 yards at the edge of the field.  we had a bit of a stalemate as he just stood there blasting gobbles to my calls.  finally I gave him one last series of cluck/cuts and yelps on the bomber and set the call down picked up the gun and gave him a good dose of silence.

over the next 15 minutes or so he gobbled once to some crows that were scolding him.... it sounded like he was in the woods now. as I scanned the woods for movement all of a sudden GGGGGGOOOOOOOOOOOBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBLLLLLLLLEEEEEEE
at like 1:00 of to my right and just down the hill and CLOSE!  under 20 yards! I strain to look that far to the right and I see him in the brush, he is trying to circle me and walks behind a big clump of multifloral rose and autumn olive.
That gave me my opening to spin to my right and get ready, when he stepped out I had nothing but air between us and could clearly see the decent spurs through the scope just as he blasts a gobble at me I eased off the safety and settled the crosshairs on the side of his head and it was over.

was not disappointed when I picked him up and was pleasantly surprised to see that the ole ridgerunner was actually a double beard.



  

Edited June 4, 2013 by reeltime

[reeltime]

the last hunt will have to be a combined daily hunt report. a couple years ago when I killed the cow pasture king I mentioned the power line monarch. I think that was the spring of 2011. well last year with building the camp I never really got a chance to hunt the power line monarch. I hadn't looked for him this year as of yet either.  

memorial day's hunt was a tough one, it was a VERY long night the night before,,, only got an hours sleep and it was going to be a long walk to the power line. got set up well before light and was surprised to hear so much gobbling, 10 birds within a half mile of me, another 10-15 as far as I could hear in the distance. But one had my interest peaked.

finally I see a gobbler going up the power line.. could it be???? he is walking up the same path as before. I make a call he gobbles back and here he comes..... to the second rise in the field and he stops, struts, gobbles, struts, gobbles.... then back to the power line and up over the top! Just like the other years!  I can not believe he is still alive! as near as I can figure he is roughly 7 years old now. I ended up calling in a 2 year old later that morning and passed on him.  
 It was time for a nap and then more work on the pole barn, that night though I went over my book and read up on the notes I had on the power line bird and he did everything to a T just as before...

tuesday morning I left camp at 3:30 am. a slight drizzle and when I looked at the radar it didn't look good to the west of us, so I only took a glass call and composite striker. I gotta say I felt nekid without my assortment of calls and certainly not having the bomber with me!  About a mile and a half into the walk it starts raining pretty good, by the time I got set up it was like standing under a fire hose!  by the time it was daylight it was still pouring and I was completely soaked clear through to my socks and I had rubber boots on!

I did see him again just too far and not worth the risk in the rain, but I stuck it out till 10 am, by then I was beyond cold and certainly beyond wet!

Wed. morning I awoke to clear skies and no wind, I was gone shortly after 3 am... I just had that feeling since the day before! I get to my spot I had found the day before and just before daylight he triple gobbles behind me to the left about 200 yards away.... what the heck is he doing over there?????

finally well after the crows are flying and hens out in front of me have pitched into the field he gobbles again on the ground in the same area. I give him a nice series of clucks and yelps on the bomber and he kinda half heartedly throws a gobble at me..  

I know that less will be more today, about 20 minutes later I do another series only reversed yelps into clucks... about 10 minutes goes by and he blasts a gobble not 10 yards behind me. I never moved to face the gobbling cause I knew what he was going to do and the route he was going to take to get to his favorite vantage point and there was no shot looking that way but for him to be able to look for the hen he heard was going to put him at under 30 yards right in front of me.

after a few minutes I see a fan just over the crest of the hill coming across the power line, and here he is where he has met up with many a hens over the years, a spot he felt comfortable being in. A spot that that put almost 100% of the advantage in my favor because if he believed it was a hen he heard and he was coming in to investigate I would be able to see him before he could see the area where he thought the hen was, and by then it was going to be too late.

he bought it hook line and sinker and it couldn't of happened any more perfect if he followed the script I had played out when I set it all up..

once I saw the hooks I took the shot at the first clean chance I had, he hardly moved. when I got to him I knew something was wrong with him just from the looks of him.
I've killed a ton of birds late season and killing lightweights is not uncommon, but this one looked bad..

both spurs were broke at 1 1/2" hadn't even started to really hook yet,  he had severe beard rot. but when I picked him up is when I really knew something was terribly wrong...not only from the smell but he only weighed about 10 lbs.!!!  

Come to find out when I opened him up that he had been shot at before at some point this year,  he was full of # 4 lead
There were over 30 pellets in his chest and legs. and 3 tail fan feathers were shot off on the left side of his fan.

[reeltime]

some other notables from this seasons hunts...

first day in pa. after having 2 birds absolutely going ballistic and then shutting up we decided to  make a move only to find out the reason why they shut up so quick...







 

[reeltime]

this is the only picture I could get of momma.


some fox pups at the den

[reeltime]

found this in the yard right next to the house.





found this guy on our gas well road,,,,almost 7' long!

[reeltime]

a little sparrow thought dads safety strap rope was a good place to build a nest...


ziva had a hard week at camp

[ants]

Nice looking camp. I don't know what I like better, the A/C units or the satellite dish. You're doing it up right !

[Paula]

nice pictures

[Woodsman20]

Congrats - great season and interesting read. Nice pictures too.