Day Three And Counting

[Garett]

April 27th was opening season for Turkey up here.

Day one: saw a Hen up close and personal, but no Tom. Only heard gooblers way off in the distance.

Day two: saw several Hen's well within shooting distance, but no Toms. Heard a ton of gooblers much closer to where I was hunting. Now all I have to figure out is how am I going to get closer.

Day three: to be continued.

[Mist-Rest]

Day 1 Monday 730PM leaving the gun club. I was in the driveway at the edge of the pond, crossing the lawn and heading for the woods line less than 40 feet from me were 3 jakes and an unknown number of hens.

On the back seat was my 391 and 3 boxes of 7-1/2 shells. I just laughed and drove home.

Good luck Garrett!

[Garett]

Day three: just about got stomped on by one of four deer, I had to stand up and scare them into the next county. Heard gooblers off in the distance but wasn't able to call them in.

Day four: I was in a pretty good spot, gooblers were with in a 100 yards or so, good calling distance. Everything was good until another hunter came crashing through the bush like he was a skid steer.

Day five: Gooblers well off in the distance........day isn't over yet.

[welder]

If the Gobblers answer your hen cal a few times , quit calling and wait he will show up soon ans usually at a high rate of speed .

Gobble Gobble

None taken off of my place this year but there everywhere [ cept in front of the gun ] it's enough to drive you crazy.

Gobble Gobble

[Garett]

I guess it's time for an update.

I've seen lots of hens, several within 5 ft of me, plenty within 15 - 20 yds.....but it's only bearded season.

I've seen lots of Racoons.

I was more than concerned when a deer walked within a couple of feet from me....I had to scare him off before he was right on top of me and within stomping distance.

I have had several other deer directly down wind of me but still well within 10 - 15 yds.

I've heard lots of Toms, but visuals have been slim and only with field glasses.

My turkey calling with a push/ pull box call is getting much better as the season gets on, I'm able to call them in with regularity. As of now my mouth call calling isn't up to perfection as far as I'm concerned so I'm only using it for long distance calling.

Last Thursday morning I was in the bush at 4 am as usual and all setup; light starts to crack the darkness around 4:50. I'm hunting a hard wood stand perfect for deer with my back to a out flow creek coming out of a swamp to my left. I hear the Toms off in the distance to the right.

Ok last Thursday morning I'm calling in this Tom. Les your idea of doing only a few calls and let the Tom come to me is fine, but where I'm running into problems is there is so many Hens in the bush the Toms gets to easily side tracked....I find I have to stay on the call to keep them coming to me.

So anyway I'm calling in this Tom, he's getting closer and closer but I'm still not able to see him. My heart rate is climbing to a pretty good rate as the Tom is say 40 - 50 yds away, but I still can't see him. Then all of a sudden two Jakes comes walking out into the opening where I'm anticipating the Tom to show up. The Jakes catch me by surprise because I only heard one Tom gobbling. Both Jakes had beautiful glowing white heads and vibrant red necks, but the both only had about 2 inch beards. The bigger of the two Jakes was squarely in my sights at a 32 - 33 yd. shot, but I held off and waited for the Tom to show it's face.

The two Jakes hold up on me........I'm not able to call because both hands are tide up in holding the bow.......I needed the mouth call in my mouth or I needed that second person to do the last little bit of calling, but I have neither. I had a perfect shots at the one bigger Jake (square on chest shot, broadside and butt hole) but I did the trophy hunter thing and don't take the shot........crips the Tom was only about 5 - 10 yds back......it'll be showing it's self any second now....NOT!. As casually as the Jakes strolled into veiw they strolled out....that's when I had the butt hole shot, but I still didn't shoot because I was still hoping for the Tom to show it's self....NOT! So there I was, I can't move encase the Tom is holding up and therefore I can't call. The next thing I know is the Tom is 40 - 50 - 60 - 70 yds away and slowly moving further......I got back on my box call.....I managed to hold him about the 100 yd mark from me or so I figured.

For the next couple of hours I played that bird but I could not get it to come in.....he wanted me to come to him. And of coarse where I was walking anywhere was totally out of the question because the forest floor was so dry and covered with fallen twigs and branches. In that few hours of playing and learning I had several other Jakes come to my calling....each one of them caught me totally by surprise and without a bow in my hands. My camo gear is good enough to sit in the open with my back to a tree, I was not in any sort of blind....so moving is/ was out of the question.

I have been surprised, is it only the dominate Toms that gobble? Do the Jakes generally not gobble?

[Snapper Head]

The two Jakes hold up on me........I'm not able to call because both hands are tide up in holding the bow.......I needed the mouth call in my mouth or I needed that second person to do the last little bit of calling, but I have neither. I had a perfect shots at the one bigger Jake (square on chest shot, broadside and butt hole)

I think yer posting on the wrong site

Big Al

[CJS]

If you want turkeys, go to Fairfield Univ. in Conn. The place

is friggin swarming with them. They attack students, cars,

and anything else that moves. My daughter says they roost

up in the trees at night and look like vultures waiting to pounce.

[Trollnheel]

If you want turkeys, go to Fairfield Univ. in Conn. The place

is friggin swarming with them. They attack students, cars,

and anything else that moves. My daughter says they roost

up in the trees at night and look like vultures waiting to pounce.

THAT would be fun to watch....from a far away distance