Phil from Maine

Yes keep after them Talondle !! Sooner or later one will be right in front of you.. Good Luck out there and stay safe!!

swampbuster

Good luck Phil and Talondale, and everyone else who is still out there hunting

Talondale

I spent the afternoon sneaking from woodlot to woodlot scoping out the fields for turkey. Spotted a lone gobbler on the back edge of the property feeding under some power lines in the field about 500 yards away. I dropped down below the hill and swung around to get in front of him. When I was about a 100 yards from where I wanted to go I heard him gobble over the rise. I cut across a cut-over that bordered the field and was screened by cedars and scrubs growing on the fence line. Working to the edge I setup with some cover before and behind. Did some light purrs and clucks but heard nothing. After a while I progressed to some soft yelps but still nothing. I could see where he had been but there was no sign of him. After 45 minutes I gave up and snuck out into the field. He was nowhere in sight. I think he had slipped into the neighboring woods for the evening right after the gobble. Maybe there were hens already in there and he had been lingering back in the field. I had hopes he was alone and ready for love but it was not to be. BEAUTIFUL evening though. Just loved being out in the nice weather and nature. On the drive home I scouted out the rest of the dairy farm looking for other spots to hunt. Enjoyed that too. Great day.

swampbuster

I love being in the spring woods as well Talondale. Glad that you enjoyed your time out there. Good luck next time you go back.

Phil from Maine

I enjoy scouting out new areas it lets you learn the terrain a little better and you never know what you will come across..

Phil from Maine

Here i hunt mostly around cuttings.. So was the case today.. The big down fall is if a turkey is able to run into them as the slash left in the trails is hard going and it gives lots of cover for the birds to escape in.. The big field as i call it is actually a pipeline and powerline that runs for roughly 86 to 90 miles one way.. The birds travel it but so do others going fishing, hunting, or just nature peeking.. So it is hard to hunt them out in the open areas but can be done..

The cutting area I have been hunting I went in this morning and tried to call them off the roost.. We had a steady but light wind and the birds were not talking.. I was guessing maybe I had scared them off or they were just traveling threw a different area.. So I went to another cutting and as I got there a huge tom was strutting to 2 hens. I tried to sneak up to get a shot at the tom but the hens saw me and was off flying in no time.. The tom started to strut again and the saw me and started to head off.. I looked at the distance and thought yes I can do this one.. Well the tom gave me 3 damn shots at him which 2 were standing shots.. I have little doubt that I had hit him at least 2 times and the third I only believe I did.. Right after the first shot he walked across the dirt road to stand in a clearing on the other side. I tried again to sneak up some more and close the distance by around 6 yards and he started to move so i tried another shot.. Then he made a fairly quick walk back across the road and tried to head out of there.. I tried another shot and then he flew around ten yards and hit the ground running.. I am very disappointed with myself on this one.. I test fired another shot later on with a 3 foot chunk of cedar set up exactly where he was standing and nailed it pretty darn good.. I decided to blame it on the shells and gave half a box of them away.. Not getting 2 birds is to much for me.. the good news is the first bird was spotted today running across the road around 1/4 mile from where I had fired.. So i am thinking a miss on that one.. The second bird guys would of been turkzilla at least to me if nothing else.. He was huge!! I searched roughly 400 yards around where he went in and found no sign of him.. It was real rough going but I owed the respect to try locate it. Yes, the captain has messed up again.. I am now going back to my old shells which has not failed me yet anyways.. Last 2 years i got 4 birds using them and no misses or losses..
After this I went back to where I was first started calling and fresh hen droppings were there along with a fussy butt feather of a tom.. Go figure I set in there almost the entire day yesterday and nothing.. Now this greets me today.. Yes, I will be back at it again in the am.. Hopefully I will have something to post..

Phil from Maine

These 2 pics will give some what of a better understanding of how it is so hard to find them if they happen to run..





As well as one of our creatures standing on the powerline as I am heading out. The pipeline in this case is behind me and I am on the road that runs up threw here between it the powerline and pipeling..

swampbuster

Phil, that looks like it could be some tough terrain to hunt. Good luck to you.

Phil from Maine

Yes it is all tough to hunt in as people traveling to go fishing , hunting, to camp sites, as well as logging keeps the birds back.. So I try to hunt back where they are. Then to top it all off there has been a couple of people driving around practicing their calling on a lot of these birds prior to opening season. That means they are educated making things even worse.. So far in the last 4 years I have tagged out with 2 birds each year.. So even though our numbers are down there is still time to get it done.. Hopefully this will not be a year I get skunked.. I am thinking I will still be getting at least one of them.. Even though I have messed up with 2 birds this year even seeing them is better than most have done here.. Also if I would have scored on both of those birds it would of been the very first year to have both in the first week of the season.. So there is still plenty of time left and I am back to using the shells from last year now.. Hopefully things will be changing for me soon.. No Sunday hunting here which does not settle well with a lot of us. what it is though... Threw thick and thin i still know where there is 3 or 4 more decent birds if I can connect it all together..

Thanks everyone for the good luck wishes I may be needing them..

swampbuster

My family and I are about to go to church, then we will go out to eat with momma, and then my 8yr old daughter and I will be off to the sunflower state. Hopefully those Rios will be willing to cooperate. The weather looks pretty decent, and it should be a good time!