What Odd Things Have You Learned?

[mark hay]

ORIGINAL: Turkeybuster

Bears don't like to be tramped on when they are sleeping either!
Jon [:-]

 
UH,,,,,,Jon,,,,,you got a story 'bout a bear ?  Did the bear slip in somethin' as you left ?

[mark hay]

[8|]?[8|]?[8|]? The farther he went the more gobbler calls I threw at him ,,,,,,it was as if I wasn't there , or he was deaf ,or he just had something pressing to do and was not about to be deterred .

[/quote]
 
Come to think of it , The following spring I had just eased out a ridge to a spot near a saddle . I was looking for the best tree and spot to get set up . In the process of doing this I would glance toward the saddle . I hadn't called at all . Here comes this bearddraggin' tom right across the middle of the saddle . I just leaned over against a tree and made some faint hen clucks and purrs . He didn't slow , look my way or gobble . He just kept on truckin' south.
It is a possibilty that it could have been the same bird that I saw the previous fall . The two spots of the encounters are around 1/2 -3/4 mile as the crow flies .
If I can think of it the next time , if there is a next time , I'll start howlin' like a coyote or bawlin' like a fawn hung up in a fence ,,,,just to see if I can't get toms attention .[8|]

[Turkeybuster]

Mark we both left in opposite directions in less than a heartbeat and we both had good traction.
Jon

[Duke0002]

Dang birds will start gobbling 1/2 hour before quitting time.

Trust your decoys.

There is one particular woodlot I hunt where the birds hide behind nearly every tree when they come in.  Other woodlots I hunt, they just walk past the trees.

[NMblackgold]

I learned that my favorite box call sounds like a dog barking.  I was interupted by the hotel manager banging on the door insisting I pay the $40 pet deposit because she heard a dog barking coming from my room.  I tried to tell her that it was my turkey call (I was practicing) and not a dog barking, she looked in all the closets and under the bed.  I showed her the call and stroked a few notes, and she said "it sounds more like a dog than a turkey".  My confindence in my calling ability was zero for the entire season....

[Bobbyparks]

NMblackgold,

That is funny. Don't feel bad as I'm sure all of us probably sound different thru hotel walls. Probably muffles some of the sounds out and only leaves the ones that make us sound like barking dogs..........probably[:)]

I learned that if you're going out to only take photos, you should leave your gun in the truck. I learned that the best of intentions can end up being forgotten and the gun can end up in your hands and can sometimes go off even when you're trying for it not too.

I learned  that even when Mary says  "I'm not going to shoot a bird this afternoon because I'm still not sure if it will bother me"  that she doesn't mean it. I learned not to lay the gun off to the side while I have the camera in my hand so that when she says "Ya know, if had the gun right now, I'd shoot one of these turkeys"..

I learned that it's possible to actually put the camera down, reach over and pick the gun up, hand it across my body to her, while 2 gobblers and 5 hens are 20 yards away. I learned that this has to happen in slow motion and takes 5 minutes and that a cramp can happen without notice. 

I learned that she needs a lighter gun that she can hold and that she can miss with the best of them

[nhtrkybstr]

I have learned that despite the care and planning put into hunting the wild turkey, somedays nothing goes right no matter what we do, experience is the best(albiet, the most humbling) teacher, and despite everything, somedays being lucky trumps being good, and laughter, even if it's pointed in your direction, always will be the best medicine!

Lord knows we have all done things out there that when we think about it makes us laugh, even if we were the butt of the joke!

Mike

[nhtrkybstr]

I do have to share a funny story about luck trumping good!

I was hunting with my son on the last day of turkey season in 2008.

We were setup in a blind in a field between a feeding zone, and a strut zone.

Well we got settled in around 4am, and just as I was setting my son in the blind, an owl hooted and a gobbler sounded off!

We waited, and around 5 the gobbler was on the ground. I saw him walking about 100 yards off.

All of a sudden, two hens flew down and joined him. My heart sank. I figured they would all head to breakfast, and I would get skunked.

Well the two girls brought him to the side of my blind, but they were criss-crossed in front of him, and it was on my son's side of the blind, so no shot.

Then, I hear this awful clucking from behind me, and out of nowhere, this boss hen comes running to the two jennies, and beats the stuffing out of them!

Now that the pecking order has been established, boss he leads the little group to my decoys. I wait for the hens to clear this very nice tom, and I shoot.

BOOM! Birds still standing! The two jennies fly off at the sound of the shotgun blast, but the boss hen stays with her man!

Well, my moss,, does'nt like the rem nitro mag I have in her, so she jams.

So there I was with a jammed shotgun, and a tom not 15 yards away just sitting there!

I finally manage to get her unjammed, shoulder the gun, and drop him!

He was 19.5 lbs with a 9.5" beard!

Told ya lucky trumps good!

Mike

[NMblackgold]

[quote]ORIGINAL: Bobbyparks

NMblackgold,

That is funny. Don't feel bad as I'm sure all of us probably sound different thru hotel walls. Probably muffles some of the sounds out and only leaves the ones that make us sound like barking dogs..........probably[:)]

 Bobby, I wish I could say it was all a bad dream, but unfortunately is was real.  And Mark thought he was depressed............hmmm.  Nobody ever told him his fly down cackle sounded like a pack of coon dogs stuck in 50 gallon drum.   I have tried to reason it all out, including the motel wall theory.  Others include the manager didn't know what a turkey sounds like or she didn't know what a dog sounds like. 
For some reason I have gotten many more offers to tag along on Coyote hunts now......hmmm .....very puzzeling !

[shanec]

If you miss a turkey stay put, continue calling, and basically act like nothing happened.
 
Last spring my dad and I set up on a gobbler that was gobbling across the valley. He gobbled a few times early then quieted down. I called sparingly to let him know where I was. Eventually I heard something back to my left and behind me. I turn around and there are two longbeards standing about 15 yards away. My heart starts racing, I spin around, they figure something isn't right. I shoot at one miss, at the other miss. I sit there and process what just happened. I want to get up and move, Dad says no. 15-30 minutes later, dad goes psst! psst! It's a turkey!! I cluck. Turkey goes behind some weeds I get my gun up. Turkey comes out, It's a gobbler!! Blam. Hunt over.  That's how you do it.[;)]
 
Could have been a fluke. Could have been a third different bird. No matter how you look at it I shot twice and not 30 minutes later a turkey saunters by. I guess they're not rocket scientists, after all.