I went down to KY for a couple days this year. This year was my first year actually going down and hunting birds for myself. Several years back I started going down and got very familiar the lay of the land. During the last couple years I've just been calling and guiding somewhat there. The landowners there really don't turkey hunt, or know how to call. So, I would go down and call, and I had a good feel for the land as well. They definitely have a different way of hunting there than we do. For Instance, they don't do a lot of scouting for deer, they'll just put a feeder up in an area, and take the best deer they see from that stand location. They don't do a lot of walking either, granted, the hills there are more like mountains, and it would take an extreme amount of effort to walk them out . I definitely found that out for myself the hard way, however, I'm not one for letting a little terrain hold me back. So, this year, I decided to go down for myself.
The area I was hunting was extremely, EXTREMELY hilly...and hilly is putting it lightly. Lot of rock cliffs, and caves. Very, very cool in that area as well. I think mostly due to the deep valleys and the caves as well. It reminded me of the smoky mountains. Definitely one of the most beautiful places I've ever hunted. I looked at the weather forcast for the next day, and it was perfect. It had rained a little that day, and cleared up through the night. The weather man was calling for clear, crisp and sunny. Cool in the morning and warming up by noon.
As I made my ascent, it wasn't long before I was winded. I had to learn to pace myself. Finally, I made it to the top. It wasn't quite time yet to let loose, so I walked out to the highest point on the property, you can see for miles there, not to mention it makes it nice to listen for gobbles. As it got a little more daylight, I let out a loud, high pitched owl hoot. I heard two birds, both on the next mountain over. The only thing I could think was, CRAP!! That meant a lot of walking and I knew I couldn't make it over before they flew down off the roost. So, I decided to walk out the mountain a little farther to make sure there wasn't a bird down in one of the valleys that either couldn't hear me or I couldn't hear them...and sure enough, I walked out to a point, let out a screeching hoot, and one gobbled about 75 yards away. I knew he was making his way up the hill because his gobble was directed at me and the area where I was at is a favorite hangout of theirs. I didn't have time to set out the decoys, so I just sat down. I made several soft calls, and then got aggressive. He gobbled once. He was about 45 yards away. All of a sudden I heard some brush move off to my right, I looked, swung my 935 Mossberg around, and shortly thereafter, he came onto the big flat strutting. I let him go for several moments. He made two loud clucks and the Jelly Head choke tube made small work of him at 36 yards. The experience is always over so fast, but its everything that leads up to that point that makes it so great. It always makes you appreciate the effort that God put into creating everything just so we could enjoy life.
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