scratching my head

[shad309]

Wow, kinda glad I missed that thread! I didn't read past the first page. No wonder I was asked that question the other day LOL
 
Have to say that I'm glad I found this forum and I enjoy everyone's comments.

[grizzly]

the jim i'm referring to is cut n run  his wisdom made me think about the way i hunt and why. i don't think it got ugly just got a little off topic all parties said they were sorry and things are all happy in turkey land[:D]

[eggshell]

hey Wayne ....it's all cool. I think if I were in a situation where I felt our gobbler population had plummeted I think I'd feel the same way, but in a normal season I'm content with a jake if that is what comes. In your situation I'd also let hens walk in the fall. I hope your population improves, it only takes a couple good poult crops to change. 

[grizzly]

to tell the truth i'm wondering how much coyotes have to do with the turkey poult population because form what i'm seeing in the woods there a lot of'em  . last couple of years i'll see hens with 4 to 6 poults  and by late summer early fall they're down to 1or 2 maybe i'm wrong on this but i don't think so

[mark hay]

Well, I had an interesting afternoon yesterday . Slept a bunch , at the base of an old oak.
 Finally , I get my feet under me and move to the other end of the ridge ,,,still scratchin' my head , Wayne . Before I reach my destination a gobbler sounded off . I messed around for about a half hour , him gobbling like it was early April , picking a choice set up .
 He was off about 100 yards at the far end of his gobbling circuit , and got as close as 40 - 50 yards . I tried to make him suffer with Scott's glass pot call . He cut me off a couple different times . I had no tree to set up on , so I squatted like a caveman along the brushline , with the double trained on one chance spot of entry into my zone . A jake began yelping back behind me . So , I begin clucking and purring on the glass and turning my face away from the gobbler I'd yelp at the poor little jake . The tom went silent at that point and when he did gobble he was about 30 yards . I could not see him , nor could he have seen me if I had been jumping up and down . I mean it is thick as dog hair in early January . Then it began to rain . Tom is still gobbling drifting in and out , back and forth .Jake still sounds like he could break out in tears at any moment .
 I got up and began slowly moving in the 12 inch grass of the tractor path. Tom left the woods for a 200 acre barren field . I held off calling . Talk about ears ? He was at least 40 yards (judging by sound of his gobble) and I was moving at a snails pace . He gobbles at 40 . Seconds later he gobbled 4 full length gobbles in rapid succession , just across the fence , which ain't more than 10 steps . Talk about partin' hair ! I know a little what CutnRun heard when that bird did that right behind him.  Then he returned to 30-40 yards and resumed gobbling . Jake is still lonely , and no doubt scared to admit it or come in .
 Rain is picking up and my double is gettin' wetter than I like . So I just see how much I can get away with . Ten yards of dense cover , with tiny openings to look through . If a two year old angus steer had been standing broadside against the far side , I couldn't have made him out . I never moved fast . But that old bird made me out . He didn't putt . He just quit gobbling . So I tested him with some of my best cuttin' on the XT Havoc mouthcall . It didn't phase him . I knew for sure that he saw my movement .
 I would have stayed till quitting time if the rain hadn't started . But , no complaints . I still have a tag in my pocket . It doesn't bother me at all . Yesterday mornings brief engagement with the drummin' bird was worth more than $24 to me . I fooled that bird ,,,for a while anyway .

[eggshell]

I hear ya Mark....that late season brush can be a real bummer. It can work for you or very much against you. I can think of two times in particular that it worked both ways for me. It was several years ago I had a tag left on last morning and had a hip pocket bird on my mom's property I had laid off hunting for over a week, just for the chance I needed a last day hunt. Well I went in and he fired up and worked just like an opening morning bird. Actually he worked too good and started coming at my first locating call ( made note to self;don't call if your not ready to setup). I had to sit and  even though it looked fine from 5' plus above ground, when I sat it was jungle at 2 -3  feet. well that ole tom came into feet, not yards and strutted circles around me for 45 minutes. I could see movement and now and then a patch of red or blue, but never enough to be certain it was a clean shot. Finally at 20 yards I thought just stand up and shoot him. So I stood up and I heard one putt and I swear I never saw him leave. Later I wished I'd have just blasted through the leaves when I saw the white crown on his head, but I know I done the right thing.

Then two years ago I went into the last Saturday chasing a group of three birds that gobbled but would not come. I had tried to get real tight early in season, but got busted in the big woods. I gave up on them for about 10 days and noticed that Friday how much undergrowth had come out. So I decided I'd give the ole boys a try Saturday morning. I snuck in close enough in dark to make a move, but wanted to know where they were roosted before my final move. At gray light one gobbled and i started my move, 2/3 way to him I snap a stick and a bird putts in a tree so close I could feel breath (LOL). I just sit down on the ground and wait. About 20 minutes later a gobble roars out of the tree and I look up to see him straight out in front of me on a limb. I'm like having a seizure knowing I have screwed up. Low and behold he starts gobbling and I can tell he's looking at the first bird I started to so I decide to throw caution to the wind and crawl into a bush. He is staring right at me from the noise and looking really hard, but he hasn't putted or flown. So I say what the heck, i cluck really loud and bingo he squats and i know he is coming down. You guessed it he pitched right at me (thought I was the other bird I guess). Well he never knew he messed up I had the bead on him when he hit the ground and he died right there. If it had not been for leaf cover I know I would have busted him off the hill.

[mark hay]

That old bird I aggravated on Sunday was on property I could easily go onto . But I hadn't spoke to the land owner about it this season .
 I moved in as close as I could on the ol' tom and still be on my buddies place . This particular piece of ground, about 2 acres , was clearcut 10 years ago . You can imagine how dense it is , with only a bushhogged path throught it . I know the tom knows all the places he can get in and out without risking his life . I was counting on him to come through one of the more obvious spots .
 I wish now I had stuck it out in that rain . He may have eventually come around . Either way it was fun playin' with him . I felt like yellin' at him when he got up next to the fence and gobbled 4 times in my face .