TOMORROW

[msbadger]

Knock em down!! Have fun and be safe

[mark hay]

Alone and slow I made my way to the top once again. After a minute or two letting things settle down I let out a long hoot . BANG! T wo gobbles . One bird below me , the other off to my right and both down low . They were both jakes with one sounding a bit older ,,,,maybe he is older than I judge . He was the closer bird and cut in on everything I offered , which was mostly leaf scratching .
Just like yesterday that definate OLD gobbler across the ridge began his circuit . I heard the older Jake pitch out and land with a thud . I made one more scratch and a faint call and gave him almost ten minutes to show himself . When I decided to go after the old bird and was getting my feet under me the older jake gobbled . He was now 3 times the distance with his juvenile delinquent partner .
Keeping to good cover and down low in the gullies I eased ever closer to the private ground that holds this old tom . But in order to have ample cover for myself put me to a disadvantage , having tom on the higher ground which I can not advance on .
Climbing to the top of a gulley and keeping a huge oak and a fallen tree between me and the direction of the last gobble I await his next gobble before I make my move to get on his side of the tree. GOBBLE ! I slide around the big oak . Park my hind quarters and let out a jake yelp. He never gobbled again. I din't take too long to figure out he'd seen my skinny carcass move . So I slide back around , hot foot down the gulley to the creek bed and attempt to half circle his favored ridge . Upon reaching my destination I made some faint hen yelps . A hen began calling between me and the old birds woods . Except it wasn't a real hen ! Another hunter . So I backtrack to the spot where I was no doubt seen and here comes that hunter . Now I'm willing to take the blame for spooking the tom ,,,but it could have easily been the other feller too . Never know will we ?

Left the hunting area for 160 acres of private , near home . Upon reaching the farmhouse there can be seen a quarter mile away , 1 strutter and at least 5 othe gobblers , feeding in some new oats. Looking across the rest of the crp there are lone hens feeding in all directions .All I got for my efforts there was a lot of spooked hens and one buggered gobbler..May hit that early sunday with Chris and Chuck.

[mark hay]

Alone and slow I made my way to the top once again. After a minute or two letting things settle down I let out a long hoot . BANG! T wo gobbles . One bird below me , the other off to my right and both down low . They were both jakes with one sounding a bit older ,,,,maybe he is older than I judge . He was the closer bird and cut in on everything I offered , which was mostly leaf scratching .
Just like yesterday that definate OLD gobbler across the ridge began his circuit . I heard the older Jake pitch out and land with a thud . I made one more scratch and a faint call and gave him almost ten minutes to show himself . When I decided to go after the old bird and was getting my feet under me the older jake gobbled . He was now 3 times the distance with his juvenile delinquent partner .
Keeping to good cover and down low in the gullies I eased ever closer to the private ground that holds this old tom . But in order to have ample cover for myself put me to a disadvantage , having tom on the higher ground which I can not advance on .
Climbing to the top of a gulley and keeping a huge oak and a fallen tree between me and the direction of the last gobble I await his next gobble before I make my move to get on his side of the tree. GOBBLE ! I slide around the big oak . Park my hind quarters and let out a jake yelp. He never gobbled again. I din't take too long to figure out he'd seen my skinny carcass move . So I slide back around , hot foot down the gulley to the creek bed and attempt to half circle his favored ridge . Upon reaching my destination I made some faint hen yelps . A hen began calling between me and the old birds woods . Except it wasn't a real hen ! Another hunter . So I backtrack to the spot where I was no doubt seen and here comes that hunter . Now I'm willing to take the blame for spooking the tom ,,,but it could have easily been the other feller too . Never know will we ?

Left the hunting area for 160 acres of private , near home . Upon reaching the farmhouse there can be seen a quarter mile away , 1 strutter and at least 5 othe gobblers , feeding in some new oats. Looking across the rest of the crp there are lone hens feeding in all directions .All I got for my efforts there was a lot of spooked hens and one buggered gobbler..May hit that early sunday with Chris and Chuck.

[mark hay]

Sorry about the duplicate post ,,,,,,,,,,,I don't have a clue how I did that one .

Lightning and thunder to my south and west .I slip out into the woods toward where those two young birds have been roosting all week . I ain't necessarily gonna shoot one of them but would like to find out what it'll take to fool'em.
I made a long hoot . One gobbled straight away from my position , on the same level too. I proceed with caution and try to be silent in my approach. About 250 yards I stop and lean my back against a wide oak. I hooted again . Now two gobblers answer . They are about 100 yards and are separated by about the same .
Out comes the trumpet and I offer some roost pitting . I remained silent for some time though they continued to gobble at the thunder which draws near . Finally I raked the side of the oak with the wing , then a moment later did a mock fly down . They gobbled in unison and now there are three. I should have mentioned , these AIN'T the jakes . The jakes haven't made a peep today . I wouldn't either if three bullies came into my roost.
The third gobbler is roosted about 75 yards from me . I did some leaf scratching and purred lightly . Then I decided to stay quiet . The third and near gobbler gobbled again and was inside 50 yrds. now , though still out of sight . The other two had come to about 75 yrds. Silence for around 5 minutes . Suddenly the whole sky and woods lights up when a bolt of jagged lightning streaks across the sky . One second later the woods shake with resounding thunder . No gobbles . WHAT THE ? I waited ten minutes ,,,nothing . Now the rain . I head for the truck .

[shaman]

Glad to see you made it out safe and sound. I think your storm skirted us, just to the north. We had rain, but it let up before sunrise.

Things were pretty paltry down here. Hens came by here and there, but the gobblers didn't seem interested at all. We were figuring rain all afternoon, but now it looks like it's going to leave us alone until dinner time. You? It looks like you've got a couple of big squalls headed your way.

Good luck.

[mark hay]

As I left the area the rain ceased and I thought I'd go to some private ground . But , Linda got up feeling ill and sent me a text to come home . When I got home the was a small pile of hail below each downspout .

It is neat to hear them gobble at thunder though.

[Duke0002]

Good luck, Mark. I haven't struck oil yet, but son did on Sunday.