OK Mr "Butterball", This is Getting Personal

[wildcat junkie]

Last Monday a fellow I met through this forum came down out of the Adirondacks to take me up on an invitation to hunt turkeys on my farm in the St Lawrence valley. This was his 1st attempt at Turkey hunting.

I have 2 hay fields that form an "L" with a fence row meeting the inside corner. Since I have had birds come from either direction, I set up in the fence row near the corner & Ralf sat in a blind that I have set up in a brushy rock pile about 50 yds into the north hay field.

Just after we settled in, I heard the 1st googles coming from the south @ about 5:10 AM. I started out with some soft tree yelps, gradually increasing the volume as the sky got brighter. I had 2 Toms responding, but they seemed to be a bit standoffish. Before they got too close, I re-positioned my self farther north to try to call the birds past Ralf.

Long story short, the birds put on quite a show for my guest, but never got closer than about 60 yds. We later re-positioned, but the Toms were tight lipped. On the way out, I got a look at them from a distance in my neighbors field. One of the birds looked BIG from a distance of several hundred yds.

Fast forward to yesterday morning. I placed Ralf on a connector lane about 40 yds off the edge of my neighbor's field to the south. He was about 30 yds west of the area where the birds had entered my field through some 2nd growth gray birch.

Except for a few Whip-poor-Wills & one Barred Owl, it was quite this time around as the sky lightened. As the sun climbed, I saw a hen enter the hay field just to the north of where Ralf was set up. I watched her work her way east. Soon after she disappeared, I heard a gobble just to the east of the gray birches.

The damned birds were crossing into my property about 100yds from Ralf. I got them coming my way. There was that HUGE Tom & a smaller one. The big guy was fanning & strutting. His head was like a snow white golf ball. The smaller Tom never fanned, but his head looked like a red hot poker as the rising sun shown through his wattles.

Well the big guy got to within 100 yds of my position & I think he spotted me sitting on the log behind a bush. The smaller Tom had already lost interest, but the big guy had kept strutting for a while after that. The sun was shining on me and I could see him looking straight at me. He didn't spook & run off, he just slowly started to work his way east.

That was without a doubt, the fattest Tom I ever saw. Even as he skulked away, he looked like a domestic turkey all fattened up & ready for butchering. I've been refraining from hunting W/O my guest, but this is getting personal!

All in all, we had another good morning. Ralf saw several hens & we heard @ least 2 more Toms in addition to the ones I saw in the field. Funny thing is, although the birds were tight lipped on the roost, we heard quite a bit of gobbling after the sun got a little higher in the sky.

Edited May 9, 2015 by wildcat junkie

[grampy]

Great story and exciting hunts! Still plenty of time to be in the right place at the right time to take that big butterball home with you or your guest. Good luck guy's!

[NFA-ADK]

Sounds like a great time and a new friend.  Good luck with that big guy!  Sounds like he will be a challenge.

[wildcat junkie]

Sounds like a great time and a new friend. Good luck with that big guy! Sounds like he will be a challenge.

Yes indeed, I fear that I am educating him.

[defrazzle]

Yes indeed, I fear that I am educating him.

I had a great time hunting with "wildcat junkie".  Learned a lot as I never hunted turkeys before so I had a lot to learn.  I was amazed as to the birds vision.  On our first day, as I stepped out behind my blind and was talking to "wildcat", I moved my arm and hand to point out the two turkeys in the neighboring fields.  Even with a tree fence line between us those birds caught my motion and off on a run they went.

 

I have been seeing more and more turkeys in our Bloomingdale, NY area over the years.  They are really expanding their range and quantity.  In one field near me I routinely see 5-14 turkeys in the morning along with 4-over 20 whitetail.  Lots of game behind my house and attached is my trail camera pic of my local Pine Marten or as they are called in Europe, Sable!  He loves pork ribs!

 

Hopefully will be going again next week, once I get started on my "honey-do" list while my wife is in Florida visiting her sisters! 

[Pygmy]

Mr. Butterball , being the  head honcho gobbler in your fields, sound like a good candidate for a full strut gobbler decoy..  Good luck, Wildcat !

[Pygmy]

defrazzle...So the little woman is gone to Florida, eh ?  Lucky devil..

 

A friend of mine told me the other day that he had just made a pleasure trip..

 

He took his wife and her mother to the airport.....

[wildcat junkie]

Mr. Butterball , being the head honcho gobbler in your fields, sound like a good candidate for a full strut gobbler decoy.. Good luck, Wildcat !

That's exactly what I was thinking. The other Tom that was with him didn't even make a sigh of strutting, just following along leading me to believe Mr Butterball is the head honcho in these parts.

Not 20 minutes ago, I got some bubble wrap out of the garage to plump up my strut gobbler decoy. Just before that, I went out & found a tree to sit by. It's a big ash about 20" in diameter just inside the treelike. I found a spot about 15 yds into the field where the decoy will be conspicuous to any Tom crossing the 50 yd wide tree line between my neighbors field & mine. Hopefully, that will draw his attention long enough for me to remain unnoticed as I send him a load of copper plated #6s.

I've been practicing with my new shaker & I'm getting a pretty realistic gobble too. I think I'll get him fired up with that before he flies down, then clam up. I think he's foisting across my neighbors field. Maybe I better check that out the evening before?

Edited May 9, 2015 by wildcat junkie

[LI OUTDOORSMAN]

Took him on his first turkey hunt heh?..You know you now ruined a perfectly good human being!!!

Welcome to the club...

Hope u get the butterball

[wildcat junkie]

Took him on his first turkey hunt heh?..You know you now ruined a perfectly good human being!!!

Welcome to the club...

Hope u get the butterball

Yeah, he got to see & hear some gobblers too. No hope for him now.

[wildcat junkie]

With the overcast skies, dawn was slow in coming this morning. We did get a break on the rain from about 4:00 AM until 6:45 AM W/a brief period of sunshine. I got set up on the tree line at about 5:15. Except for some owls, all was quite.

I set up my strut decoy about 20 yds into my field in a pocket formed by the tree line & a thicket of 2nd growth gray birch. The tree line is on a swale so the decoy would be easy to see from the opposite field by any turkeys cruising the edge. I set Up my Hammock Seat on a large Ash just inside the tree line W/the decoy over my right shoulder facing the edge of the tree line. The edge of the opposite field was about 25 yds in front of me.

I decided to keep calling to a minimum. About 5:30, a gave my gobble tube a shake & it was answered immediately by a Tom in the field to the south. The gobble didn't sound very deep so I assumed it was a Jake. Over the next 1/2 hour I gobbled twice more & let out a short series of yelps. Each time, the Tom answered.

Soon, I saw movement in the field to my left & soon, a hen entered the woods just to my left & trotted by at about 15 yds. I could see the Jake through the brush in the field, & he soon paralleled her cause about 20 yds out. He did pause for a moment in an opening & I could see his beard that was poking straight out about 2" or so. Before I could make a decision, he was off in pursuit of the hen. He pretty much had me pinned anyway.

I stayed until about 6:45 when the rain started up again. I hadn't heard or seen anything for quite a while so I decided to walk back to the house for my morning coffee.

Mr Butterball was a no show. I hope he didn't get taken yesterday.