Following is a day-by-day log of my 2011 spring turkey season. A bit slow by my past standards, but pretty darn good and I'm very happy with the hunts and result.
Sunday 5/1/11 – Opening morning and it was killing me to not be in the woods. Sunday is a Church and family day and I don’t hunt or fish or Sunday.
Monday 5/2/11 – I have a very nice little turkey hunting spot that has a natural funnel between a small field next to a creek and a giant field that also wraps around with the creek. The fields are all in the creek bottoms and there is a pretty good ridge that runs along the perimeter with other large fields on the top beyond the ridge. The ridge is a perfect roosting spot as the birds can glide down from the upper fields and be fairly high up in the trees on the hillside. When they wake up in the AM all they have to do is step off the limb and glide down into the lower fields or woods. I have had terrific success by setting up in the funnel between the two lower fields and have killed 4 opening morning birds as they strolled through the funnel to get to the big field where I set up a single lonely hen decoy. This morning was going to be no different and I set up in my sweet little funnel behind some brush that was just starting to leaf out pretty good. I was wearing a full Cabelas Leafy suit and felt like I was blending in pretty good. I had my back to a big oak tree with the big flowing creek (25 yards across) just behind it. I was maybe 3 yards from the creek bank. The morning woke up just like we all love. The dawn was cracking in the East and the birds were greeting me with their morning serenade. While still a bit grey out, with a slight overcast sky, the first Tom gobbled from the roost. He was just where I thought he would be. However, the other birds in the area couldn’t let him be the only one announcing his presence and intentions to the hens and his gobble was followed by six other separate birds. I had 4 gobblers to the right and 3 to the left. The girls weren’t going to let the boys have the last word and they began to let them know they were around as well. Just to let the girls and boys know there was another willing hussy hen in the woods I let out few seductive yelps and evidently hit the right cord for a big gobbler. He went off, but he sounded like he was a little ways off and he wasn't with either the right or left bunch. I hit it again and he boomed back. He sounded closer, so I really worked him up then. I gave him some sweet talk promising a time he wouldn't forget. Well, that bird was on the other side of the big creek, but was closing fast. Once I figured out he was on the other side I relaxed a little thinking there was no way I would pull him across. Well, as I was craning my neck around the big oak tree to see if he was hung up on the other side of the creek, that silly bird RAN down the hill and glided right across the creek and landed 3 ft away from me. It kind of startled me when he landed so close. I tried to be motionless, but my fat neck just isn’t made to be craned like it was for very long. I moved just a fraction and he caught me. He didn’t putt or spook he just walked away out to the field and kept on trucking. No way I could get my longbow up and get a shot. This was at 6:05 AM. I had to get in to work and thought I didn't have much chance after spooking him and got up to leave. Of course there were two more silent longbeards strutting right to my funnel just over a little rise that I couldn't see until I stood up. Buggered them out too. Oh, well. I have two more birds that I see strutting everyday in a little secluded field corner and they were there again this morning. I'll give them a try in the AM. In hind sight I should've expected the bird to fly across the creek and been ready, but I didn't and he caught me. Lesson learned. It was a little bit of a frustrating morning and broke my long streak of killing a bird on my opening morning in less than half an hour of hunting. Maybe, this turkey hunting thing is tougher than I’ve experienced. Oh well, I had a lot of fun and will be back after them in the AM.
Tuesday 5/3/11 - Well, this morning I set up in the right place and had at least 6 gobblers around me. Four of them hit the ground, shut up, and chased after a few hens in the other direction. No amount of sweet talking could change their mind. The remaining two were with four hens and were working in my direction. I gave a few inviting yelps and then the boss hen in the group began to give me the business. Having experienced this before I thought that if I called her in the boys would follow. I aggressively called her and she got all worked up. She came in to about 5 yards with two other hens in tow and purred and putted for 15 minutes. These 3 must've been the ugliest hens in all of NY. The last hen headed off in the other direction with the two boys in tow. I'll be in the field where all the gobblers headed in the morning. I've now hunted longer this year for a bird than I have in the previous 3 years combined. They are actually kind of fun now. Used to be just too easy.
Wednesday 5/4/11 – I woke to the pitter patter of ran on the window and got up and walked around peeking out the window and looking toward the sky. The rain wasn’t coming down too hard and I thought it might let up a bit later and decided to head out. As my old pappy used to say, “you can’t kill them lying in bed”. So, I dressed and headed for the woods. I got my lonely hen set out and then I backed into some nice thick brush and rested up against a big Poplar tree and then it started to pour down rain. I stayed out and got good and soaked without ever hearing a gobble. Doesn’t mean they weren’t gobbling, just that the rain was coming down so hard and noisy that I couldn’t hear them. So the net result was that I didn’t get anything but wet. Tomorrow is another day.
Thursday 5/5/11 – I was set up within a couple yards of the same place I was yesterday morning as I just had a feeling the birds would be there. I was set up on the big lower field edge in the woods along the river. Well, I’ll take blind luck over skill any day and my hunch paid off big time this morning. I was smack dab in the middle of at least 3 gobblers on my right and a flock of hens on my left. The weather yesterday must’ve taken the girls out of the courtin’ mood and the boys were all worked up and ready for action at first grey light. The first gobble startled me as he couldn’t be more than 40 yards away up in a big Maple tree. After he boomed another Tom chimed in from the right maybe 75 yards away and a third just a tad further on the right from him. I also heard 4 other birds but they were back toward the funnel and up on the ridge to the left and to the right. Well, I let the big boys gobble back and forth to each other for quite awhile to allow daylight to hit a bit better. A couple of Canadian honkers got up off the river and made the darndest racket going by. Their loud cackles sure did fire up the gobblers. It was right about then that I thought I’d let the boys know where I was and that I had a lonely hen that could make their day. I gave a couple of soft tree yelps and they all 3 boomed right off. I let them cool off for a minute then I hit them again with the same result. It was now time to spring the trap. I then gave them another soft tree yelp and then ratcheted it up and ended with a fly down cackle while slapping the side of my leg. Evidently, these 3 guys have been competing for the same girlfriend and there was a bit of competition going on. It couldn’t have been 2 seconds after I did the fly down that the first gobbler pitched down and RAN to the field. He was looking for love and he wanted it NOW. Another 5 seconds and Tom number two was doing his strutting dance with his buddy and number 3 was only a fraction of a second behind him. Now all the old hens down on the left didn’t seem to like this new hussy hen horning in on their boyfriends and they started firing off from the tree and began flying down into the field. This certainly got my boys attention and they started moving in their direction. Just what I was hoping for! All 3 had their fans up and were facing away from me toward the raucous hens. I picked the closest bird and gave him a Frank Zappa.. you know “…it’s going right up the poop shoot”! My shot was good and he didn’t go 15 yards. The other two Toms and their girlfriends were still in the field but I had to get to work so I unfortunately had to bust them out of there. I have to apologize to Charlie Jansen for that, as he will be hunting with me on Saturday and it might make them a bit spooky.
The bottom-line is I had a lot more fun this year and had to hunt them a lot more than usual. I actually had to hunt 4 mornings for about 7 hours. I must be slowing down in my old age. Oh well, it gives me tomorrow morning to take my kids (Tyler and Jen) striper fishing. Charlie and I will be back after them Saturday morning. I just know the funnel should be good as I didn’t bugger it up and I’ll be putting Charlie right there. I still have another little corner that I haven’t hunted that should do just fine for me. This is turning out to be a fantastic hunting week. I found out yesterday I drew a Wyoming Shiras moose tag and me and the kids leave for Manitoba for bear next Friday. Life is very good and I sure am grateful for the amazing Blessings the Lord has chosen to provide me!
Here's the pictures (sorry cell phone quality). This wasn’t the boss gobbler of the three but he was the one that offered the best shot. He had a long beard at 11", good spurs at 1 1/4", and was pretty heavy at close to 23#s. I think he was a 2 ½ year old as his beard and spurs were long but not real thick. Maybe 3 ½ but no older. I killed him with my trusty 66# TimberHawk takedown longbow, 2219 Legacy arrows, and 125 grain Snuffer.
Topic: They Ain't So Smart - NY Tom Bites The Dust! (Read 609 times)
