Don't get me wrong I love deer hunting but to me turkey hunting is so much more exciting. I've been blessed with 8 gobblers in my life and all but one had to to be hunted. I say hunted because I've only had one bird where I just set up and he came in, all the others required a wide range of stealth tactics and hunting skills to achieve success.Everytime I turkey hunt I'll learn something new and this year was no different andyesterday another chapter was added.
Let's begin on Monday the 21st, I setup my new B-Mobile decoy and a hen in a corner of our field that has been sprayed to kill the fescue. Gobblers are going crazy and 4 toms fly down into our field and walk about 150 yards away above our pond. The other birds seem to fly down in an adjoining property that is seperated by a creek. Well the toms took a look down at me and didn't want to have anything to do with the B-mobile and continued up the hill beyond our pond. I had to make a decision on whether to take after the toms or stay put. Well the impatient side to me says go get them and I tried only to be busted cresting a hill. A little discouraged I begin to walk back to my setup and as luck would have it 4 toms and 10 hens are all around my decoys. I laid down on the levee of our pond and just watched as these toms strutted in front of the B-mobile for 45 mins before losing interest and followed the hens away. Lesson learned...be patient.
Yesterday morning, was a great morning to be in the field. The gobblers were all roosted as they were on Monday on an adjoining property and I setup again in the same spot. These toms were gobbling for 3 hours non stop. This is the most gobbling I've ever heard just every 2 minutes they were gobbling. They wereanswering calls but just wouldn't come in. Finally, one tom comes in and gobbles his ass off but stays just out of range. He struts his stuff...loses interest walks back to the flock gobbling the whole way. The gobbles get more distant and I decide to "hunt" these boys. I decide to follow this creek bed that seperates two CRP fields to catch up withthem. Being careful to be as quiet as possible I follow the creek and gazeup on either side to see if I can spot any sign of the birds. I make my way up to a small hill and seea big ol fan about 20 yards away. Thinking there was only one bird there I attempt to belly crawl up the hill to the crest of the CRP and get a shot. This is when I spotthree other toms andthe ten hensthat were at my setup on Monday.From where I climbed up the hill Ino longercould get a shotfrom so I had to bellycrawl back and climb up a trench where nothing but my head sticks out.There were two dominant toms strutting next to each other and another tom off to the side. Igave a couple of clucks and this boy came right in strutting. One shot and he didn't know what hit him. It was a very excitingand satisfying hunt. Sorry this was long and notthe greatest in detail but I just wanted to share my enjoyment. Nothing beats turkey hunting! Good luck guys and be careful.
First tom that was just a little out of my range.
Boy, I love turkey hunting! Gobbler down!
