Hunting with Ralph, Farm Birds Proves Deadly in NY
Day 4: 5/4/06 Watertown, New York
This was a hunt I was more than excited about this year. This hunt would place me up in Watertown, NY hunting with my old hunting buddy Ralph Lowry. I usually get one or two days in each spring and fall season hunting with Ralph. This year was to be more exciting, for the simple fact we would start out in a location that I tagged a fall gobbler the previous fall. This spot had over a dozen longbeards last fall, plus a full compliment of jakes to round things out.
We headed out the next morning to set up were the birds had been traveling thru, during all different times of the day. The birds began the day gobbling early, and we were sure things would pick up soon after they came off the roost. That they did. We heard many birds, and they jumped on the calls, and shocked gobbled just as good at the crows and other loud noises. That morning we had gobbling up until 9AM, and we had no less than 17 jakes & 4 longbeards in the field. We had a one group of 8 jakes within 15 yards of us, and all shootable, legal birds. Another group of 3 jakes came within grabbing distance (under 10ft). Straight to the call, ignoring the decoys. Eventually the birds left the field and Ralph had to head into work. I checked out our stomping grounds in Rodman, but never worked a gobbler the rest of the morning. We would try those same birds out again the next day, but we would be in the roost area to start the morning. Later that night we spotted the same gobblers heading to the roost site we had planned on hunting. Very reassuring, and it adds to the excitement of another day in the turkey woods.
Day 5: 5/5/06 Lafargeville, New York
It was to be an early morning, as we needed more time in the pitch black to get into the spot without bumping birds. We would literally be within less than 100 yards of the roosting area. The early wake up call made little difference for lack of sleep, as I didn"t sleep much in anticipation of the hunt. 3:30AM and we were out the door 15 minutes later.
We got in and setup by 4:15am, and now we just had to sit and wait for it to happen. As the day emerged, the birds eventually woke up, and reassured us that we were in the right spot. The birds had roosted off to one side instead of being all around the spot we sat at. We held off calling until close to fly down, and calling any at all proved to be a fatal mistake. As soon as the birds hit the ground, the hens that were in the group did an immediate exit stage right taking the gobblers along for the ride, and we never heard from them again that morning. We would later spot the group of birds more than a half a mile from there. Realizing that we had our butts handed to us, we moved out and set up on the field edge and hope to catch other birds that used the field. An hour later we had spotted the three jakes from the day before, one hen, and one lone jake that didn"t know whether to strut or leave before he got a thrashing from one of the local longbeards in the area. Time to move on, and check out a few other spots.
Ralph wanted to try some familiar spots in Lafargeville, and I was quick to agree as we had seen many nice gobblers in those spots. We arrived at the first farm field around 9:30AM. We had no more than geared up, and headed down the tractor path when we heard a gobble out in the hidden field we were headed too. We setup along the edge of the path, and got a quick response to a box call, but the birds had moved off from our location. It sounded like two or more gobblers, but one sounded like a very wimpy jake. We picked up, and moved to the path opening were it entered onto the field. We sat up again, and the birds jumped all over a few calls made with a mouth call. Another series of calls, and it was obvious that the gobblers had turned around, and were covering ground in a hurry. Again we kept hearing this awful gobble. I pulled the gun up, as it sounded like the birds were skirting the field edge, and coming in fast.
I looked up to see one of the smallest hens I have ever seen in the spring coming at me straight on. Right behind her came one of the ugliest gobblers I had ever seen. The gobbler was a light brown, sported only 5 tail feathers, and no beard. The ugly bird gobbled, and it explained everything. This was a farm bird from one of the nearby farms. The hen and ugly gobbler moved off to my left, and I kept the gun up, as I knew that there was at least one more gobbler in the group. Sure enough here comes a wild gobbler complete with correct coloration, beard, spurs, and a real honest to god gobble. Bird is now at 30 yards coming straight on, and no signs of slowing down. The gobbler turned slightly to his right, and gave me a side profile, but in full strut with his head tucked in. Two quick cutts, and the bird stuck his head out to gobble. Gobble, gobble"..BOOM!! Down he went. I shot him mid gobble! The bird measured up as a typical two year old spring bird.
17-1/2lbs, 8-1/4" beard, 3/4" & 7/8" spurs
Total score=50.2500
Meanwhile the farm bird just stood there, while the hen trotted off. Eventually the dumb bird thought it would be best to leave and follow the hen. We had little trouble making him gobble as he left the field. Ralph asked if we could call the other one back and I said "sure, I"ll stand in the middle of the field and you stand next to me while I call him in"""".funny thought anyway. Ralph mentioned that the farm bird had huge spurs. I never saw the spurs as I quit looking after seeing no beard, no shot. In the end the Farm bird got his wild partner done in, and it made for a very different hunt. We finishd out the morning with Ralph looking to fill a tag at another spot, but no more takers to be had that day. Ralph would fill that tag the following week on a great long beard with double spurs on both legs.
Hunting with Ralph, Farm Birds Proves Deadly in NY
