What a great day. I love turkey hunting, they are so hard to hunt. By 9:00 I was back sitting up against a big ol osage that is wide enough to cover my body x 3. I yelped plaintively about 9:15 on my quaker boy box call. Nothing. I called again at 9:30. When I call again at 9:45 I hear a gobble pretty far off. A 10:00 I cackled on my diaphragm call and got another response this time much closer. I thought "here he comes". A couple minutes later a longbeard steps out about 60 yards away. Right behind him is another longbeard. Behind him 4 jakes. Man that's a lot of eyes. Anyhow rather than come my direction they head down over the hill. I call softly on the diaphragm but they pay no attention. Walking single file they walk out of my sight. I figure they are going to cross the hill below me and go south down the valley, so I jump up, run a hundred yards or so across the top of the hill and then down to where I think they might be going. I stood behind a beech for maybe 15 or 20 mins but they never show. I call again and get an answer, a single gobble. They had gone straight down the hill, crossed the creek at the bottom and were headed west up the next hillside.Off my property and out of my life...for now.
Got tomorrow and then 1 more weekend.
At different times I had a flock of chickadees totally surround me, had a young coon amble past at about 6 or 7 yards, had multiple squirrels within spitting distance, saw crows, heard geese and ducks fly over, heard and saw the low rumbling buzz of several bumble bees...just a great outdoor experience.
Man you have to love turkey hunting.