Just returned from two days in Eastern Washington north of Spokane.
Opening day I knew where there were roosting and set-up about 50 yards away on the edge of the field. At 6am they came off the roost and flew down in front of a bend in the treeline and bee-lined it uphill away from me to never be seen again. Shortly after the flydown they immediately went silent; both hens and toms. Nothin'.
Last night, I sat in the treeline and was there to "put them to bed" but they never showed. Hoping that I was wrong I setup in the morning inside the treeline where they had headed uphill on opening day, but I was wrong. The birds were a complete no-show and it appears they didn't roost in their "normal" location. I heard a gobble some distance away and tried to close in on him and bring him in but as soon as I got setup, he went completely silent and wouldn't come. Tried to get a visual on anything..hens, toms, jakes...anything! Absolutely nothing.
Don't know what went wrong, but I got skunked. Anyone got a theory?
I can scout these birds, obtain permission to hunt, find the roost, put 'em to bed, but when it comes to having a successful hunt I fail over and over...
Someday that "textbook" turkey hunt where they come off the roost, come to my calling, and I shoot 'em will happen. For whatever reason these birds elude me every year.
Don't mean to sound like a whiny b*tch,
just frustrated and I just got home as I'm writing this...
Hunting Washington: My experience
