dandbuck

87th street? Huh, i live on 80th, small world.
Dandbuck

natimage

Really?! Very small world! Any tips for hunting this area at all? I'm not having much luck at all and can't seem to get on a Tom. Seems to be a real tough year for my first year of turkey hunting. Like I said I felt like I learned a lot during the 3rd period but now I still don't know where they go during the day so I find myself giving up at about 9:30am or so on most days, then go out about 4 hunt for a while, and try to find where they roost that night.

dandbuck

This was my first year also, so no tips here. My turkey hunting "career" has been 3/4 day and 1 AM sit. We ended up in Rome off Hyw 13 on the firelanes in public land and did see quite a few birds. Hit and miss i would guess, but better than sitting in the tavern, lol.
Good Luck
Dandbuck

JW

Well I did not sit the middle of the field this morning as I had planned- it got too light out and with no gobbles I went for broke and went to where I last heard them gobble early last Thursday.

AND I was correct - had a hen in @ 5:35 to 5:47 and @ 5:56 Am whacked a nice double beard 26 lb 6 oz - spurs 15/16 and 1" - is a 3 yr old or better!

And I saw a bigger one!

Although very very windy - really a good morning - wish I had a second tag for this season but will be back out next week!
3 hrs there - 2 hr wait for it to get light - 40 minutes or so work out - then had the rest of the day to find a place to live in the summer -and home by 3:44 PM

Am turkey tired!

JW

Ihuntandfish

I don't know what it is with this these turkeys, but I have yet to hear a single gobble. Do any of you think that I could get a turkey to gobble by using a rabbit distress call, or do you think I'd scare them off? I'm running out of ideas, and it makes it very hard to hunt them if they don't come out in the fields and they don't make a peep. What do you guys think?

Wingbone

Ihunt... Be patient man. If the birds are there, they'll gobble sooner or later. I wouldn't spent much effort in trying to force them to gobble, it'll just frustrate you more. We have't had a lot of really good gobbling mornings.


JW, congratulations. Nice bird.

JW

Well late in the day - what has worked for me and I found it by accident - is a Owl Hooter used real hard! One long Whoooooooooo!

I thought I had some yahoo come into my area blowing a owl call. Sounded terrible and then I saw the pair of owls doing it! It was late afternoon too!

Low and behold a tom would answer - so I tried it as I snuck to an area I was going to walk a bit - the Tom who was answering it was quite a way from me - so I hooted and had anotherr answer - I was too dang close - bird gobbled not more than 20 yards from me and it was thick - I got busted!

Long story short - I tried that for grins before I left - bird was still there! Inow have a back-up area to go to next week.

JW

Ps - thanks Rock! Good luck to you out there! Late spring for sure nd 6th looks very promising and far better than last yr. Hens are on nests - some of them - those not I do think are the ones whose nest got destroyed. Talked to quite a few in my area who have been finding destroyed nests more so than ever. I do think it is because of the slow growing cover - late spring growth - and man have I seen the yotes, skunks, and coons!

natimage

Congrats JW! That's awesome! I'm still going after my first bird. This morning I set up perfectly about 50 yards from a roosting tom. He was gobbling his head off on the roost. When I heard him fly down I hit him with a couple quick clucks and he came over. He was making a really deep noise ( Is that was drumming is?) and my heart was pounding. He got about 40 yards away but there was just enough undergrowth that I didn't feel comfortable taking the shot. I saw him clear as day, but as it got lighter my suspicions were confirmed and my pattern would have been full of holes. Then another tom came and the first instantly shut up and they both walked off together....WHY IS THIS?! Neither seemed interested and neither gobbled at all the rest of the morning.

10 minutes later I heard a hen calling so I called back to her and got her about 10 yards from me just staring at me, then she enjoyed a nice breakfast out by my decoy and after about a half hour slowly walked away. The whole time her and I were clucking and purring and still no tom would show up to check out the ladies. Any reason why that might be? It was a fun morning, but no bird.

dandbuck

Nice morning eh? Sounds like a great hunt. good Luck!
Dandbuck

Ihuntandfish

Well, I went four out of the five days without hearing a single gobble, and now I went out this morning for my last day on some other land that I got permission to hunt out of desperation. It was a totally different story. Either these birds were more vocal, or it was finally a good morning for gobbling, but I heard gobbling around me all morning, for about two hours after shooting hours. I thought I was set, when I had a tom gobbling about 75 yards in front of me, but it ended up being with about ten hens who started cutting like crazy, calling a lot. The tom never left the hens, and the hens eventually left the area, but it was a great morning to be out, and even though I didn't get anything this season, it was a great way to end the season.