Another season comes and goes in a blink of an eye. Due to work I was able to start this season on Monday afternoon. When I drove into the farm I saw a flock of 25 and decided to circle in front of them. As I got situated in a fence row I let out a soft yelp and had a hen answer me with a kiki kiki cut. Within 5 minutes she and the rest of the flock was within 15 yds. I decided this was way to quick of a hunt and let them stroll on by me. On tuesday morning, I watched the field that I had seen the birds the day before and I end up counting over 100 birds. The birds were staying pretty chatty until a nice shower came in and seemed to wash the birds away. It amazes me sometimes on how quickly they can just disappear. Later that afternoon I set up where I thought the turkeys had exited the field. I was hoping they would come back before bed time. While Im sitting there waiting it started to thunder. Every time it thunder all you heard was YAAMP YAAMP YAAMP. Man it seemed like there was a crap load of jakes. Every time it thundered the birds were closer. Then for whatever reason I thought I need a better set up. I crawled 2 feet and , PUTT PUTT, so I stayed still. The hen moved closer to figure out what I was. I had a panel fence and some brush inbetween us as cover. She got 10 ft from me and I decided to take her out thru a little opening. BOOM
I missed and was thinking how in the heck did I miss that bird. Then I noticed to small sapplings had sacrificed their life for the hen. I heard birds running thru the woods so I moved over there real quick and found that one dumb bird that has to see whats going on and too stupid to follow every one else. I got a nice jake that had a thick beard but Im assuming it had beard rot because the tips were white and didnt stick out past the feathers.Wednesday.. my daughter, who is 4, and I went out to watch the birds. We saw the same birds in the field and she truly enjoyed watching them and telling me that we had to get a big daddy turkey.
Unfortunately, we never did see any daddy turkeys so we came home without a bird.Thursday.. My nephew had a dentist appointment at dinner so his mom decided to let me take him turkey hunting that morning. I set him up where I had been seeing all the turkeys in field. Guess what..... yep the birds never show up. We found one flock of hens and poults but I could not call them birds up.
Friday....That morning I decided I wanted to hide behind the turkeys bedroom door at first light. When the day light came up I counted 17 birds ranging from 30 to 80 yards away from me. I sat back listened to the birds and never made a sound or moved a muscle. When the birds started to fly down into the woods I counted 50 birds. The birds looked like they were going away from me but I waited untill all the birds had flown down before I made my first call. I threw out some cutts, yelps, and some hard loud purrs. After a few minutes I see a hen to my right but she is moving away from me. I also see 3 birds at my left and coming in my direction so I point my shotgun in that way. The birds were going down in a low spot where I couldn't see them. I was looking to my left waiting on the birds when I noticed a hen right in front of me at 10 yards and then another and another and another and another. Yes I had the oh crap look in my eyes because now those 5 birds are 10 ft away and more heads are starting to pop up and my shotgun is pointing in the wrong direction. I held my breathe and tried like crap not to move but as they moved closer the lead hen didnt like what she was seeing and decided to run. I brought my gun around and again found that one dumb bird. All I could see was her head and I pulled the trigger. I saw leaves go flying off the ground and wasnt sure if I hit it but I raised up real slow and noticed a nice hen laying on the ground.
Im glad the best hunt was saved for the last day and that I didn't blow it. Now I have to start counting the days down till April.
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