2009 Turkey Hunt

[ET]

It’s been one unbelievable Turkey Hunt this year. On Sunday I drove to my Deer Hunting Partner’s home to prepare to hunt Turkey’s with him at his location. When I arrived that afternoon we had our usual chat of catch-up on families and what is new and exciting.

After Supper that night we got serious and he laid out our hunt for the following morning.
It was decided I would go to a hedgerow blind that he felt would give me my best chance at one the 2-Toms residing/roosting in that bush. He was going to set up on the other side of the bush so if that Tom was having thoughts of going out the other way. Now this blind is about 150yds from an island bush that’s surrounded by winter wheat and freshly planted cornfields. This bush is also on high ground over seeing the fields so any danger approaching the birds would spot well in advance.

Now here’s the scary part of this hunt. My Partner actually laid out what he expected to happen should one of the Toms appear at my end. I will try to intertwine our conversation with the hunt so you can appreciate what I’m trying to express.

Monday Morning
Up and hit the coffee pot at 4am to shake off the cobwebs of sleep. After a couple of mugs of coffee it was time to gear up and head out at 5am for a short drive to the farm we were going to hunt. Got on the farm at about 5:15am. and split up to go to our designated locations. My route actually had me traverse the edge of a winter wheat field and there was a lot of dew that morning. Before I even got half way there I could feel my feet starting to get wet because this dumb-a$$ neglected to put a water-proof coating spray on his boots earlier. One I won’t forget next time. ;D

Okay made it to the blind following my partner’s instruction as to the route I would take so there was no possibility of any birds spotting me. It’s now 5:40am as I get into the blind and set up my chair for the morning wait of activity. My partner said the night before if the birds become vocal expect that to happen about 10 to 6 and sure enough the gobbling began from multiple locations around the farm as if an alarm clock went off. Talk about being treated to surround sound affect. Boy this got the adrenaline flowing. Then by 6:15 all went quiet like there wasn’t a bird around for miles.

Time slowly passed and I was tempted to do some calling but again the night before I was instructed to resist any temptation of calling. About 4-hens should appear around 7am on your left side to feed. As the time neared 7am I spotted a hen come out of the corner of the bush and begin feeding across the field in my direction. Before long another hen appeared followed by 3-more hens, well it least my partner got the number of hens wrong.

As I watched them work towards my direction I took my eyes off of them because of another movement by the bush that caught my eyes. It first appeared as a suspended snowball moving just inside the bush and when it changed direction towards the field where the hens were a dark body below it materialized as it entered the field. The Tom has arrived. He immediately began puffing up his body and fanning his tail showing his stuff to the hens that were about 50yds ahead of him. For some reason this distance never really changed as the hens kept working in my direction feeding and seemed to just ignore the Tom. Undaunted the Tom kept at it as he followed the feeding hens in the field heading in my direction.

After about 10-minutes the hens were roughly 30yds to my left and not being discovered they kept right on feeding and moving by me. Before long the Tom was 40yds to my left but was not giving me a good head shot as he had his neck tucked into his body when trying to get the hens attention. Now I am faced (what my partner calls an executive decision) to take the shot or not. But as luck would have it he decided to relax for a moment exposing his head and neck and that was all I needed to send a 1-3/4oz #5 load screaming at him. When that load hit him he first dropped but then did a weird somersault trying to get his neck and head up. I immediately cycled another shell just incase. After another flip it was all over.

Here I now had harvested a 22lb-7oz Tom, 1-1/4” spurs with a beard just over 10”. This was done at a weigh-in station and contributing $5 was entered in a draw for some neat prizes. In case anyone is interested the biggest bird so far this year is 26lb-6oz with roughly 3-weeks left of the hunt. Hope to get lucky at least in the draw part. ;D



A special thanks goes to my Physic Turkey Hunting Partner who made this one great hunt.


Ed

[Harley]

Wonderful story, Ed. It's just great when it all goes so well. Except, of course, for the wet feet.

Harley

P.S.: I just read your report a second time; no decoys, no calling, just the right place at the right time. Like they say, it's who you know that counts.

[ET]

May 6, 2009 21:51:59 GMT -5 Harley said:

Wonderful story, Ed. It's just great when it all goes so well. Except, of course, for the wet feet.

Harley

P.S.: I just read your report a second time; no decoys, no calling, just the right place at the right time. Like they say, it's who you know that counts.

Well the wet feet was my own stupidity and good lesson learned.
As for no decoys or calling my partner has been scouting the farm watching and listening to bird activity over the years. This particular location near a bush lot is where the birds seem to congregate is located at the edge of property where we have permission to hunt.
The early part of the season birds (Toms) seldom respond to calling because they already are going after small groups seeking receptive hens. The odds of getting them away from multiple hens is next to nil. Near the end of mating season when most hens are bred off calling does start to work with attracting a Toms attention and possibly get him in for a close enough shot.
As for decoys most of these Toms are educated from other hunters and will actually shy away from them. Some hunters now actually use decoys to try and redirect the birds movement towards them and in some cases has paid off.
It’s great to watch hunting programs on Wild Turkeys but as so often seen in the real world it doesn’t always happen that way or necessarily is the best approach at times.

It’s great to tag a nice size Tom but boy shoulder one and carry it 600-800yds back to your vehicle also is a fun chore. I carried mine by the feet with the bird sort of slung over my shoulder. But those spurs can be hard riding against your fingers and need to come-up with a sling method.

Your right about who you know that knows his Turkey Hunting for a given area. And the person that knows is the person that spends a lot of time in the field observing. I don’t have the luxury my partner has living in the country but I do repay him in other ways. We also work great as a team working the farm for Deer and Turkey. Here I am a good listener and ready to adopt any hunting plans he wants to try. So far his batting average is good as seen from the wing and tail mounts he has.



Ed

[Harley]

I'm no turkey hunter, Ed; everything I "know" is from watching those TV shows. Thanks for your real world observations.

Harley

[whyohe]

NICE TURKEY! its been hard hunting here in W. PA. I'm not hearing much calling going on and im not getting much responce. ive seen 1 hen. i did see them stutting 2 weeks early of the season. past their peek by the start of the season ?

[ET]

May 9, 2009 15:40:06 GMT -5 whyohe said:

NICE TURKEY! its been hard hunting here in W. PA. I'm not hearing much calling going on and im not getting much responce. ive seen 1 hen. i did see them stutting 2 weeks early of the season. past their peek by the start of the season ?

Whyohe

I hope your season is still on going and you bag one before it’s over. Soon most of the hens will be bred off but the Toms will still be driven for a while to find a receptive hen.
Here calling, purring and clucking might be a better time/choice for attracting any Tom in the area.

Good Luck

Ed