No Merriam but a great experience!!
05-05-2004, 11:52 AM
#1
Typical Buck
Thread Starter
Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: Cologne, MN
Posts: 510
No Merriam but a great experience!!
Returned from SD Sunday evening. After driving 9 hours, we unpacked the truck and settled in to rest up for work. Around 9pm I started vomiting and continued thru the night for about 10 hours. Must have caught a bug and being overtired probably made me susceptible. Taking another day off to get over this bug. We had a good trip out there and of course I had to do a few tourist things to keep the lady happy. Bought her a black hills ring which helped ease the pain of 4:00am wakeups.
I drove all night after work to get there and we pulled into a dirt road in the area I wanted to try first. Slept about an hour and I got my camo on and headed over the hill. I heard some gobblers down in a valley and made my way over. Ran into a fence and being that I wasn't sure if it was private or not I backed off. Then I came around to the gate which said walk in area so I knew it was OK. By then the birds were silent and couldn't locate them. Over the next 3 days, I saw birds but calling them in was tough so I used the terrain to get in front of them as some had suggested. Around noon of the 3rd day, I pulled into a road that had a small clearing at it's edge. I got my gear ready and was greeted with one lone gobble. Couldn't see him anywhere so I headed to the backside of the clearing and setup in the pines. It was pretty windy so I got out the quaker box call and made some loud clucks and yelps every so often and settled in to wait. No more gobbles of any kind. I waited until my butt got so sore I couldn't stand it anymore. I was thinking that just about the time I got up to go retrieve my seat that a turkey would be there. Well...not just one but a whole flock were just over the hill and busted me. They were coming right past me. If I'd only endured another minute of pain I may have had a shot as there were some red heads fleeing the scene!! Then on the 4th and last morning, we headed back to the place I hunted the first morning. We got up on a ridge so we could hear better and I called softly. A gobbler sounded off just over the hill in the valley we walked in on. He would gobble back and forth on the road but not come any closer. I decided to re-position next to the road and my girlfriend had to go to the bathroom. So I figured that it would be easier for me to sneak down without her. I told her to get done with her business and to sit down and not move. I slid down to about 10 yards off the road and the gobbler sounded off just over a little ridge on the road. I clucked softly so he was thinking I had moved down and he gobbled a few more times closer this time. All he had to do was come around the corner on the road and he was in range. Then he gobbled up on the hillside and the two hens came walking thru with him behind. They fed down closer to about 30 yards and I had the gun on him but he still needed to get to where they were. My heart was pounding hard as he gobbled again and started around a log. I was saying to myself "Chris...don't move" when suddenly the hens started putting and looking up her way. They ran off up the hill taking the gobbler with her. I may have been able to take a long shot but didn't want to risk injuring a bird. She had a hen walk up behind her and turned her head to look. Game over!! I was a little ticked for a minute and then calmed down and told her "I've done the same thing before more than I want to admit and you just learned the 3 lessons of turkey hunting...1. Don't Move 2. Don't Move 3. Don't Move". Even though I didn't connect on a bird it was a great trip with beautiful scenery and we had fun cruising the backroads. I hope to go back there again another time...
I drove all night after work to get there and we pulled into a dirt road in the area I wanted to try first. Slept about an hour and I got my camo on and headed over the hill. I heard some gobblers down in a valley and made my way over. Ran into a fence and being that I wasn't sure if it was private or not I backed off. Then I came around to the gate which said walk in area so I knew it was OK. By then the birds were silent and couldn't locate them. Over the next 3 days, I saw birds but calling them in was tough so I used the terrain to get in front of them as some had suggested. Around noon of the 3rd day, I pulled into a road that had a small clearing at it's edge. I got my gear ready and was greeted with one lone gobble. Couldn't see him anywhere so I headed to the backside of the clearing and setup in the pines. It was pretty windy so I got out the quaker box call and made some loud clucks and yelps every so often and settled in to wait. No more gobbles of any kind. I waited until my butt got so sore I couldn't stand it anymore. I was thinking that just about the time I got up to go retrieve my seat that a turkey would be there. Well...not just one but a whole flock were just over the hill and busted me. They were coming right past me. If I'd only endured another minute of pain I may have had a shot as there were some red heads fleeing the scene!! Then on the 4th and last morning, we headed back to the place I hunted the first morning. We got up on a ridge so we could hear better and I called softly. A gobbler sounded off just over the hill in the valley we walked in on. He would gobble back and forth on the road but not come any closer. I decided to re-position next to the road and my girlfriend had to go to the bathroom. So I figured that it would be easier for me to sneak down without her. I told her to get done with her business and to sit down and not move. I slid down to about 10 yards off the road and the gobbler sounded off just over a little ridge on the road. I clucked softly so he was thinking I had moved down and he gobbled a few more times closer this time. All he had to do was come around the corner on the road and he was in range. Then he gobbled up on the hillside and the two hens came walking thru with him behind. They fed down closer to about 30 yards and I had the gun on him but he still needed to get to where they were. My heart was pounding hard as he gobbled again and started around a log. I was saying to myself "Chris...don't move" when suddenly the hens started putting and looking up her way. They ran off up the hill taking the gobbler with her. I may have been able to take a long shot but didn't want to risk injuring a bird. She had a hen walk up behind her and turned her head to look. Game over!! I was a little ticked for a minute and then calmed down and told her "I've done the same thing before more than I want to admit and you just learned the 3 lessons of turkey hunting...1. Don't Move 2. Don't Move 3. Don't Move". Even though I didn't connect on a bird it was a great trip with beautiful scenery and we had fun cruising the backroads. I hope to go back there again another time...
glad you had fun.......
05-05-2004, 05:16 PM
#3
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Calif
Posts: 1,894
RE: No Merriam but a great experience!!
Great story Ranger!!The first step in becoming a good turkey hunter is being able to recognize your own mistakes and learn from it!!Been there,done that!![:-]Hope you make it back there next year to carry him over your shoulder next time!!
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