Ohio, the first 3 days
04-28-2004, 07:39 PM
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Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: Columbus, OH
Posts: 14
Ohio, the first 3 days
WARNING WARNING ****EXTREMELY LONG AND POSSIBLY BORING**** WARNING WARNING
A little preface before the story: I have not hunted turkeys since before I went into the Marines in 96'. A buddy of mine is hunting with me ...and he has never hunted turkeys. So...it was almost like starting from scratch.
We started scouting as soon as they started gobbling in March. We mainly focused our scouting on Shawnee state forest, and Scioto Trail. We found quite a few gobblers at both places ...but decided that Shawnee was going to be our main place, mainly because it is friggin enormous.
Youth season was last Sat. and Sun., so we decided that we would go to Shawnee on Sat. to get a feel of how the hunting pressure was going to be ...and get a general location on some birds. We were there at first light on Sat., and we saw a few vehicles that we thought might be hunters ...but never actually saw anyone. We thought we were in good shape. We found a nice hot gobbler and decided that the area he was in was going to be our starting point Mon. morning.
Sunday we went to Scioto trail and the place was crawling with hunters! We heard some birds but decided that Shawnee would be our best bet to get away from people.
DAY 1
Well ...Monday morning we pull out of Columbus nice and early to get to our spot before anyone else might. We pull around to our spot and there is a truck 75 yards from our parking spot!! We were not happy. He was hunting a different ridge...so we decided to stay on plan. Daylight crept up and the hot bird from Sat. was nowhere to be found. We did hear 1 gobble on the opposite ridge...and decided to jump back in the truck and head over that way. We pulled over there and there was 2 more trucks!!!
Our grand ideas that shawnee was too big to get crowded were dissolving quickly. We went back to our original parking spot. I had studied the topo and knew that the ridge went out for MILES and MILES....and I told my buddy that we might be best served to just beat feet and get as far away from the road as possible. Well, we did alot of walking and never heard a bird. Made a few little set-ups, but had no luck.
That was a depressing drive home ....because all of our pre-season scouting was pretty much flushed down the toilet. Neither of us wanted to return there and deal with that anymore. And on top of all the hunters ...the birds had lock jaw.
There is a super secret bit of public land that I bow hunt ....but it is a REALLY long drive, so we did not scout it at all. Knowing that there is essentially no hunters in there in bow season, we decided that was our best bet to get some land of our own. The plan was set, and we were optimistic.
DAY 2
No man should have to wake up this early. 3.5 hours of driving before daylight ...just for turkeys. We have something wrong in our heads ...but we knew the day could not be worse than Monday. I already had a nice spot picked out in my head to listen from at daylight. We pulled in a good 45 minutes before light. We got out of the truck to listen, and was about to pull out the owl call ...when my buddy says to me, "four hunters are coming." YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME. They walk up...and are very friendly. They say they had roosted some birds down the hill the night before. They said there was more than enough room for all of us ...but I did not want to mess up their hunt since they had put in the time to roost the birds. They informed me that they had heard some birds days before in another spot that I knew well ....so we jump back in the truck and head over that way.
We pull up and get out of the truck ....it is still comfortably before daylight. Plenty of time. As soon as I opened up the truck door I heard a gobble not 150 yards away!! We nearly have a conniption getting all our crap together, shells in the guns, etc. About 2.4 seconds later we are hitting the woods. We get to the wood line and stop to listen for a sec. No less than 4 birds sound off in unison ....and they are pretty close. We work our way over there, and it is almost a constant stream of gobbling. We are just about to the point where I want to set up ....and I hear a hen above us. Then 2 turkeys fly off right above our heads!! CRAP. We drop straight down to the nearest trees we can find and try to get comfortable. These gobblers are absolutely gobbling their heads off. I soon realize from all the calling, that we are pretty much surrounded by hens! As it starts to get light, we make a few calls just to let them know we are there. All of the sudden...a hen about 50 yards to my right starts cutting like I have never heard before. All at once, the most amazing thing I have ever heard happens. About 10 hens all around us start cutting and carrying on ....and me and my buddy join in, just so as not to be outdone! The gobblers went friggin nuts ....and 2 more gobblers just off to my right gobble for the first time. So at this point we have probably 7 gobblers around us. Even with all the hens in the area I am thinking this is a sure bet. The gobblers to my right end up gobbling a few more times ....and I am pretty sure they were jakes. The gobbles were pretty pathetic.
They birds stayed on the roost ALOT longer than I anticipated. I was a full 30 minutes after full light before the first of them started to fly down. I started to see a bad pattern though ....every bird that flew down was heading straight for the gobblers 100yds or so in front of us. The gobblers were last to fly down ...at nearly 7:00. As soon as they hit the ground they never gobbled again! We were a little disappointed, but just getting an exciting setup like that made the day worth the drive.
We decided to try to get on the back side of the gobblers and head them off in the direction they were naturally going. So we jump into the truck and go around the back side of them to another parking spot. Not having a topo ...I was not sure exactly what ridge was what ...but I knew we were in the right area. We walked out to an area I felt like should be relatively close ....and I hit my mouth call to see if they would gobble. A gobbler in another area (where we had just walked through) gobbles! So we turn around and start heading that way. We got a little closer and I hit the call again to try to pinpoint him. This time 2 gobbled together! We still had a ways to go to get into a position...so we were beating feet. We got to the area and found a good place to set up...and started calling ....and we never heard another gobble. By this time it is about 9am. I was set up directly behind my buddy with my gun on my lap calling. Any bird was going to be his ...so I wasnt worried about it. Well ...about 10:00 ....the butt was starting to get numb and we were getting restless ....when I heard something behind me. A squirrel popped out about 5 yards to my left. I was watching the squirrel for a few minutes and then heard something behind me again. I immediately knew it was either a turkey or another hunter. So I was careful not to move and was looking as far to the right as I could without moving my head. I was about 10 feet off the little grass path ....and all the sudden I see a fire engine read head on just the other side of the path maybe 7-10 yards away! The bird is behind a log, so all I can see is its head ....and a big fat beard drooping out of his breast. It looks like he is going to go down into the path and walk directly in front of my buddy about 5 yards away. While all this is going through my head I look right again and there is another big red head following closely behind him. As soon as I had taken a second to look at the second bird ...my attention went back to my buddy and the first bird. It is not dropping down on the path, it is staying to his right just slightly ...and I can see his gun barrel pointing slightly to his left. He has got a pretty big swing to make. The first bird gets right up in front of him about 15 yards and putts a few times. I guess he just knew something was not right. At this point I am wondering why my buddy is not making a quick move ...and start to wonder if I could pull off a shot on the second bird. I move my gun just a few inches and that second birds head goes straight up in the air. It was just not going to happen. He takes 10 or so more steps in front of my buddy and I see him make his move. He makes a quick swing and send some #4 hevi-shot the birds way and the bird goes down!!!
It ended up being a 16lbs jake with a 5.5" beard. Not a bad kill at all for his first!!! It had a big fat beard ...and I am guessing the lead bird was another jake with an equally impressive beard (for a jake). It was just after 10:00am.
We sat around patting ourselves on the back for a while, for sticking the setup out so long and being patient
It really enforced the need for patience for both of us ...a really good lesson.
We headed for home about as happy as could be. A big change from the day before.
DAY 3 (if anyone is still reading this crap)
We decided to go back to where we had heard all those gobblers the morning before ....but from the other side. Hoping we would be where they wanted to go. That plan lasted about 10 minutes.
As soon as we got out of the truck we heard a gobbler about 200 yards away. Then another in the same hollow. We worked our way around to a position where we thought we wouldnt spook either turkey. We got set up...and never did hear the gobbler that we thought was on our side again! GRRRR We later got to thinking that it was all the same gobbler ...but he was possibly pointing different directions, and fooling us in the process.
So ...it was getting light and we were in a bad position. We had a REALLY hot gobbler about 100-150 yards away ...but he was on the other side of one heck of a ravine. He stayed in the tree and answered our sporatic calls immediately. NO HENS!, so I thought we might have a chance at coaxing him across. He did not fly down until nearly 7:00....and immediately shut up completely. Same story as yesterday. I started to pick up my calling a little to try to get him to gobble ...so we could pinpoint which direction he was going. But he just would not gobble. About 20 minutes later I am starting to get impatient ....and I look over to my buddy hoping to catch his attention to give him the big shoulder shrug of disappointment. Well ...it was he who was trying to get my attention. He pointed down the hill and whispered over "He is strutting about 100 yards down the hill!" WOW...here he comes, and it is my turn to shoot! I had a big bush in my line of sight ....so it took me a while to see him. When I first spotted him ...it was his HUGE FAN spreading open that caught my attention! I had never got to see one strutting like that before and it was the most beautiful thing I have ever seen in the woods. There was not a single tail feather out of place and it was awesome to see. About the time I got a glimpse of him he dropped back out of strut and let out a big strong gobble. From that point forward he was gobbling again like he was in the tree. Every time we made a noise he answered us immediately. He worked his way toward us just a little bit ....but we soon realized that he was just pacing down there. 80 yards out ....back and forth and back and forth. Full strut about 90% of the time.
This went on for the next hour ....and we pulled out everything we knew to do. I even threw a kee-kee run his way
Our decoys where in the wrong spot and he could not see them ...that was probably our only hope to bring that badboy up the hill. He came a long way for us ...and crossed a monster ravine ...but it was that last 80 yards that bit us.
A little after 8:00 he went off down the hill still gobbling. We tried to formulate a gameplan to get in front of him...and spent most of the morning trying to get a good setup on him. He would gobble sporatically....but the woods were so thick that we just couldnt get that golden setup that we needed.
So we left the woods wed. having seen quite a show, but empty handed.
We will get him on Saturday.
Back to work tomorrow ....and I have no idea how I am going to focus.
A little preface before the story: I have not hunted turkeys since before I went into the Marines in 96'. A buddy of mine is hunting with me ...and he has never hunted turkeys. So...it was almost like starting from scratch.
We started scouting as soon as they started gobbling in March. We mainly focused our scouting on Shawnee state forest, and Scioto Trail. We found quite a few gobblers at both places ...but decided that Shawnee was going to be our main place, mainly because it is friggin enormous.
Youth season was last Sat. and Sun., so we decided that we would go to Shawnee on Sat. to get a feel of how the hunting pressure was going to be ...and get a general location on some birds. We were there at first light on Sat., and we saw a few vehicles that we thought might be hunters ...but never actually saw anyone. We thought we were in good shape. We found a nice hot gobbler and decided that the area he was in was going to be our starting point Mon. morning.
Sunday we went to Scioto trail and the place was crawling with hunters! We heard some birds but decided that Shawnee would be our best bet to get away from people.
DAY 1
Well ...Monday morning we pull out of Columbus nice and early to get to our spot before anyone else might. We pull around to our spot and there is a truck 75 yards from our parking spot!! We were not happy. He was hunting a different ridge...so we decided to stay on plan. Daylight crept up and the hot bird from Sat. was nowhere to be found. We did hear 1 gobble on the opposite ridge...and decided to jump back in the truck and head over that way. We pulled over there and there was 2 more trucks!!!
Our grand ideas that shawnee was too big to get crowded were dissolving quickly. We went back to our original parking spot. I had studied the topo and knew that the ridge went out for MILES and MILES....and I told my buddy that we might be best served to just beat feet and get as far away from the road as possible. Well, we did alot of walking and never heard a bird. Made a few little set-ups, but had no luck.
That was a depressing drive home ....because all of our pre-season scouting was pretty much flushed down the toilet. Neither of us wanted to return there and deal with that anymore. And on top of all the hunters ...the birds had lock jaw.
There is a super secret bit of public land that I bow hunt ....but it is a REALLY long drive, so we did not scout it at all. Knowing that there is essentially no hunters in there in bow season, we decided that was our best bet to get some land of our own. The plan was set, and we were optimistic.
DAY 2
No man should have to wake up this early. 3.5 hours of driving before daylight ...just for turkeys. We have something wrong in our heads ...but we knew the day could not be worse than Monday. I already had a nice spot picked out in my head to listen from at daylight. We pulled in a good 45 minutes before light. We got out of the truck to listen, and was about to pull out the owl call ...when my buddy says to me, "four hunters are coming." YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME. They walk up...and are very friendly. They say they had roosted some birds down the hill the night before. They said there was more than enough room for all of us ...but I did not want to mess up their hunt since they had put in the time to roost the birds. They informed me that they had heard some birds days before in another spot that I knew well ....so we jump back in the truck and head over that way.
We pull up and get out of the truck ....it is still comfortably before daylight. Plenty of time. As soon as I opened up the truck door I heard a gobble not 150 yards away!! We nearly have a conniption getting all our crap together, shells in the guns, etc. About 2.4 seconds later we are hitting the woods. We get to the wood line and stop to listen for a sec. No less than 4 birds sound off in unison ....and they are pretty close. We work our way over there, and it is almost a constant stream of gobbling. We are just about to the point where I want to set up ....and I hear a hen above us. Then 2 turkeys fly off right above our heads!! CRAP. We drop straight down to the nearest trees we can find and try to get comfortable. These gobblers are absolutely gobbling their heads off. I soon realize from all the calling, that we are pretty much surrounded by hens! As it starts to get light, we make a few calls just to let them know we are there. All of the sudden...a hen about 50 yards to my right starts cutting like I have never heard before. All at once, the most amazing thing I have ever heard happens. About 10 hens all around us start cutting and carrying on ....and me and my buddy join in, just so as not to be outdone! The gobblers went friggin nuts ....and 2 more gobblers just off to my right gobble for the first time. So at this point we have probably 7 gobblers around us. Even with all the hens in the area I am thinking this is a sure bet. The gobblers to my right end up gobbling a few more times ....and I am pretty sure they were jakes. The gobbles were pretty pathetic.
They birds stayed on the roost ALOT longer than I anticipated. I was a full 30 minutes after full light before the first of them started to fly down. I started to see a bad pattern though ....every bird that flew down was heading straight for the gobblers 100yds or so in front of us. The gobblers were last to fly down ...at nearly 7:00. As soon as they hit the ground they never gobbled again! We were a little disappointed, but just getting an exciting setup like that made the day worth the drive.
We decided to try to get on the back side of the gobblers and head them off in the direction they were naturally going. So we jump into the truck and go around the back side of them to another parking spot. Not having a topo ...I was not sure exactly what ridge was what ...but I knew we were in the right area. We walked out to an area I felt like should be relatively close ....and I hit my mouth call to see if they would gobble. A gobbler in another area (where we had just walked through) gobbles! So we turn around and start heading that way. We got a little closer and I hit the call again to try to pinpoint him. This time 2 gobbled together! We still had a ways to go to get into a position...so we were beating feet. We got to the area and found a good place to set up...and started calling ....and we never heard another gobble. By this time it is about 9am. I was set up directly behind my buddy with my gun on my lap calling. Any bird was going to be his ...so I wasnt worried about it. Well ...about 10:00 ....the butt was starting to get numb and we were getting restless ....when I heard something behind me. A squirrel popped out about 5 yards to my left. I was watching the squirrel for a few minutes and then heard something behind me again. I immediately knew it was either a turkey or another hunter. So I was careful not to move and was looking as far to the right as I could without moving my head. I was about 10 feet off the little grass path ....and all the sudden I see a fire engine read head on just the other side of the path maybe 7-10 yards away! The bird is behind a log, so all I can see is its head ....and a big fat beard drooping out of his breast. It looks like he is going to go down into the path and walk directly in front of my buddy about 5 yards away. While all this is going through my head I look right again and there is another big red head following closely behind him. As soon as I had taken a second to look at the second bird ...my attention went back to my buddy and the first bird. It is not dropping down on the path, it is staying to his right just slightly ...and I can see his gun barrel pointing slightly to his left. He has got a pretty big swing to make. The first bird gets right up in front of him about 15 yards and putts a few times. I guess he just knew something was not right. At this point I am wondering why my buddy is not making a quick move ...and start to wonder if I could pull off a shot on the second bird. I move my gun just a few inches and that second birds head goes straight up in the air. It was just not going to happen. He takes 10 or so more steps in front of my buddy and I see him make his move. He makes a quick swing and send some #4 hevi-shot the birds way and the bird goes down!!!
It ended up being a 16lbs jake with a 5.5" beard. Not a bad kill at all for his first!!! It had a big fat beard ...and I am guessing the lead bird was another jake with an equally impressive beard (for a jake). It was just after 10:00am.
We sat around patting ourselves on the back for a while, for sticking the setup out so long and being patient
It really enforced the need for patience for both of us ...a really good lesson.We headed for home about as happy as could be. A big change from the day before.
DAY 3 (if anyone is still reading this crap)
We decided to go back to where we had heard all those gobblers the morning before ....but from the other side. Hoping we would be where they wanted to go. That plan lasted about 10 minutes.
As soon as we got out of the truck we heard a gobbler about 200 yards away. Then another in the same hollow. We worked our way around to a position where we thought we wouldnt spook either turkey. We got set up...and never did hear the gobbler that we thought was on our side again! GRRRR We later got to thinking that it was all the same gobbler ...but he was possibly pointing different directions, and fooling us in the process.
So ...it was getting light and we were in a bad position. We had a REALLY hot gobbler about 100-150 yards away ...but he was on the other side of one heck of a ravine. He stayed in the tree and answered our sporatic calls immediately. NO HENS!, so I thought we might have a chance at coaxing him across. He did not fly down until nearly 7:00....and immediately shut up completely. Same story as yesterday. I started to pick up my calling a little to try to get him to gobble ...so we could pinpoint which direction he was going. But he just would not gobble. About 20 minutes later I am starting to get impatient ....and I look over to my buddy hoping to catch his attention to give him the big shoulder shrug of disappointment. Well ...it was he who was trying to get my attention. He pointed down the hill and whispered over "He is strutting about 100 yards down the hill!" WOW...here he comes, and it is my turn to shoot! I had a big bush in my line of sight ....so it took me a while to see him. When I first spotted him ...it was his HUGE FAN spreading open that caught my attention! I had never got to see one strutting like that before and it was the most beautiful thing I have ever seen in the woods. There was not a single tail feather out of place and it was awesome to see. About the time I got a glimpse of him he dropped back out of strut and let out a big strong gobble. From that point forward he was gobbling again like he was in the tree. Every time we made a noise he answered us immediately. He worked his way toward us just a little bit ....but we soon realized that he was just pacing down there. 80 yards out ....back and forth and back and forth. Full strut about 90% of the time.
This went on for the next hour ....and we pulled out everything we knew to do. I even threw a kee-kee run his way
Our decoys where in the wrong spot and he could not see them ...that was probably our only hope to bring that badboy up the hill. He came a long way for us ...and crossed a monster ravine ...but it was that last 80 yards that bit us.A little after 8:00 he went off down the hill still gobbling. We tried to formulate a gameplan to get in front of him...and spent most of the morning trying to get a good setup on him. He would gobble sporatically....but the woods were so thick that we just couldnt get that golden setup that we needed.
So we left the woods wed. having seen quite a show, but empty handed.
We will get him on Saturday.
Back to work tomorrow ....and I have no idea how I am going to focus.
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