Starting a new thread for 2017 seasons.
My spring turkey season opened May 1st. I finally made it out this last weekend to hunt
Saturday was a great day in the woods. Saw several ducks, about a dozen deer, cranes, geese and turkeys.
Got to my blind before dawn and had one roosted in a tree litteraly above my blind. Of course I did not know this until He saw me and flushed from the tree. Lots of gobbling early. I set up a single hen and a jake decoy. Early on I had two hens and a jake come buy. The jake was young and gobbling like crazy but did not come into the decoys. A short while later I saw a nice tom across the field. He didnt seem to pay any mind to the decoys or my calls.
Around mid afternoon I saw another tom across the field. He was gobbling to my calls but continued down the field until he was out of view. I could still hear him gobbling so I kept throwing out the occasional call. Finally it sounded like he was coming back closer. I eventually saw him working his way back to me and now be had another tom or jake with him (or maybe they were different birds). They came up to about 120 yards and then just stopped, went silent and appeared to bed down. They sat there for about an hour. When they finally started moving again they worked their way up a small rise and as soon as they saw the decoys they turned and slipped out behind the rise. This was a new one on me, I've had birds hang up but never bed down like that.
(Here are the birds where they bedded down for a bit. Sorry for the poor quality, I took this with my phone through my binoculars trying to hand hold it all.)
After this I pulled the jake decoy. These birds were a lot bigger so I would have thought they would run in and challenge a young one.
About 10 minutes after pulling the jake I had a hen surprise me by appearing from behind me about 2 yards from my blind.
Around 6pm I had another single tom work his way buy but seemed to get sketchy and leave as soon as be saw my hen decoy. Maybe be was one of the same birds from earlier.
At that point I had been out three for over 12 hours so decided to pack it in and get some dinner. I had not intended to stay out all day but it seemed like every time I was thinking of leaving I would see more birds.
I think I will leave the jake decoy out of the mix, this is not the first time I felt it hurt me rather than helped.
The birds weren't super responsive to calls and I'm not sure how hard they were hunted in the area durjng the earlier season but I saw more males today then I did all last season. Combine that with everything else I saw and it was a great day in the field.
I did not go out early Sunday, I only hunted a few hours in the afternoon. I needed a day to sleep in and after knocking the bird off of the roost on Saturday I'm not sure I wanted to risk it again on Sunday.
Shortly after I got there I had a single hen walk up through my decoys. This time I set two hens and left the jake out of the mix.
It was a pretty slow day right up until 30 minutes to end of shooting hours (08:09pm). One tom and a few deer came in and made it to around 175 yards before the end of hunting hours. He was following a hen which I believe kept him from coming in.
I took my camera with the telephoto lens this time so I managed to get some decent pics of him way out in the field.
Saw this hen walk right through my decoys. Once again she came from behind me. I heard her coming today but didn't know what it was until she made it past my window. Once I knew she was alone I managed to snap this pic before she went into the woods.
He is probably 170 yards out.
My spring turkey season opened May 1st. I finally made it out this last weekend to hunt
Saturday was a great day in the woods. Saw several ducks, about a dozen deer, cranes, geese and turkeys.
Got to my blind before dawn and had one roosted in a tree litteraly above my blind. Of course I did not know this until He saw me and flushed from the tree. Lots of gobbling early. I set up a single hen and a jake decoy. Early on I had two hens and a jake come buy. The jake was young and gobbling like crazy but did not come into the decoys. A short while later I saw a nice tom across the field. He didnt seem to pay any mind to the decoys or my calls.
Around mid afternoon I saw another tom across the field. He was gobbling to my calls but continued down the field until he was out of view. I could still hear him gobbling so I kept throwing out the occasional call. Finally it sounded like he was coming back closer. I eventually saw him working his way back to me and now be had another tom or jake with him (or maybe they were different birds). They came up to about 120 yards and then just stopped, went silent and appeared to bed down. They sat there for about an hour. When they finally started moving again they worked their way up a small rise and as soon as they saw the decoys they turned and slipped out behind the rise. This was a new one on me, I've had birds hang up but never bed down like that.
(Here are the birds where they bedded down for a bit. Sorry for the poor quality, I took this with my phone through my binoculars trying to hand hold it all.)
After this I pulled the jake decoy. These birds were a lot bigger so I would have thought they would run in and challenge a young one.
About 10 minutes after pulling the jake I had a hen surprise me by appearing from behind me about 2 yards from my blind.
Around 6pm I had another single tom work his way buy but seemed to get sketchy and leave as soon as be saw my hen decoy. Maybe be was one of the same birds from earlier.
At that point I had been out three for over 12 hours so decided to pack it in and get some dinner. I had not intended to stay out all day but it seemed like every time I was thinking of leaving I would see more birds.
I think I will leave the jake decoy out of the mix, this is not the first time I felt it hurt me rather than helped.
The birds weren't super responsive to calls and I'm not sure how hard they were hunted in the area durjng the earlier season but I saw more males today then I did all last season. Combine that with everything else I saw and it was a great day in the field.
I did not go out early Sunday, I only hunted a few hours in the afternoon. I needed a day to sleep in and after knocking the bird off of the roost on Saturday I'm not sure I wanted to risk it again on Sunday.
Shortly after I got there I had a single hen walk up through my decoys. This time I set two hens and left the jake out of the mix.
It was a pretty slow day right up until 30 minutes to end of shooting hours (08:09pm). One tom and a few deer came in and made it to around 175 yards before the end of hunting hours. He was following a hen which I believe kept him from coming in.
I took my camera with the telephoto lens this time so I managed to get some decent pics of him way out in the field.
Saw this hen walk right through my decoys. Once again she came from behind me. I heard her coming today but didn't know what it was until she made it past my window. Once I knew she was alone I managed to snap this pic before she went into the woods.
He is probably 170 yards out.
