Things are finally turning around after 12 mostly slow days of hunting. Last week I lost a monster of a bird on a open 35 yard shot. Spent 4 hours looking, and I am sure it was a mortal shot. Checked the gun, no problems there. Been down in the dumps over that one.
Decided to hunt our 138 acres in East Homer yesterday, after leaving it alone for a few days. Great morning, sunshine, warm, song birds singing, and the kind of morning you would expect the turkeys to hammer on the roost. Sat there til 5 minutes of 6am, no gobbles. Almost got up and left, but decided to sit awhile longer as the birds have been rather quiet. I heard a gobble on another property which was at least a half mile away. From where I sat, I could hear a long ways off. I heard a few more gobbles until 10 minutes after 6am. I called very little with a mouth call and a slate, as the area gets run over by hunters using box calls. The air was so still, that a call could carry a long ways.
Around 20 minutes after 6am, I heard gobbles again from same direction, but much closer and on the property boundry. This was at the top of a ridge but still 400 yards out or better. I also heard some jakes in the group trying to gobble. Good news is that I never heard a hen anywhere. Within 10 minutes the group cut the distance in half and they where coming straight in. I saw the longbeard out around 150 yards thru the woods, and his head was glowing white. He was accompanied by two jakes, and they were doing their best larry, Curly, and Moe impressions. He wasted no time closing the distance with a half run in full strut. Jakes got out in front of him, and he wasn't going to let them get first dibs on the decoy.
Jakes past out in front of me first, with longbeard close behind. He got to 30 yards just by the decoy. One cluck on the mouth call, and his bright head came up, and brought him out of strut. A roar of the Encore 12 guage brought the hunt to an end, and jakes flying off. It was just past 6:30am, and time to get some breakfast!
The gobbler turned out to be a nice as I thought, as he looked to be a good size coming in, and sported a very wide tail fan. After checking him in at the McGraw Sportmens Club Spring Turkey Contest, he scored 56.5625 with weight at 19lbs 9 ozs, 1" spurs, and a 8-1/2" beard.
It was great to harvest a bird on our own property, and on such a great day to boot! It is amazing how quickly things can turn around in a spring hunt, and how fast things can unfold.
Finally a tag filled in NY!
[8D]
