Wishinone's 2004 Turkey Season

[wishinone]

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May first opening day we are in the woods before first light waiting to hear a gobble and head to a bird, RTF hits his owl call and we get several replies. We head to a bird roosted on a ridge over looking power lines, we set up along a logging road and hope to pull them our way. Soon we hear birds hitting the ground and then stone quite, RTF cutts and gobbles shoot back. Before long I see one then two birds at the top of the hill about 70 yards out a pair of hens 30 seconds later here comes three more birds and I catch one going into strutt and gobbling as he crosses the road. They head down the road toward RTF, he says I'm shooting the strutting bird, BOOOOMM all three birds head over the hill. We go up and check where the birds were standing and see that RTF shot high over the bird, clean miss. We go out and head to another spot where we had hens take a longbeard away from us but three jakes came running in like kids to a candy store, we let them walk and try another spot more jakes there. We head to yet another area and get a hen ticked off and she comes in looking for a fight, too bad for us no gobbler was following her. Heck of a first day, even though we didn't score.

[wishinone]

May 2 After a second night of being unable to roost a bird we were out before light again and drove up to the top of a hill, where we found the wind was whipping pretty good. After waiting for daybreak we walked down into the field and RTF owl hooted into the hollow and wouldn't you know it we got a reply from a gobbler 3/4 a mile away across from the front of RTF's house. We hop into my truck and go back around and pull off the road, we then walk several hundred yard up the pasture of my grandparents old farm and cut into the woods. The bird keeps gobbling on the roost and we get close as we dare and set up, soon we hear 4 birds fly down and hen and jake yelps, RTF calls and the gobbler responds about 30 yards behind the other birds. We spend an hour with the birds staying put only 50-60 yards away and we can't see them but hear the gobbler spitting and drumming. All of a sudden the gobbler sounds hot and RTF starts cutting and the gobbler hammers back over and over, I say that bird is hot and we should see him any second. Then a gobble comes from the orginial spot and we shake our heads, what the, then a double and triple gobble comes from behind where RTF is sitting. It was a second bird that was hot but he worked behind and above us, so now we have birds gobbling in front and in back of us, we got it make, right. As turkey hunters know things don't go our way most of the time, the bird behind us worked his way up the hill and I saw 3 hens make their way toward the orginial bird. We heard well over 100 gobbles and have now spent 2 hours at that spot, we decided the turkeys won the game for the day. I had to quit early and drive 4 hours home and go to work, next time out for me will be Thursday morning here in CT, then I have 13 morning straight of turkey hunting.

[wishinone]

May 6. First day out in CT, had to work last night but got a guy to come in a few hours early to cover for me. Got to the parking area at a little before 5AM as soon as I got out of the truck I heard one bird gobbling pretty far away. I got out the owl call and tried to get a shock gobble from a closer bird but no luck so off I went. I got to within 200 yards of the bird and then another bird gobbled once behind me and and yet another from down to my left. The first bird and the last one were gobbling pretty good on the roost and after fly down they both gobbled on the ground. I put a hen decoy out and sat up against a big oak tree and started to call, the last bird soon shut up but the first one was coming closer and taking it's time about it. Between my calling the bird was shock gobbling to some crows, then all of a sudden he shut up. I got out my crow call and got no response, I called again and boom a shot went off close to where the bird last gobbled. I don't know where the guy came from, I was the only truck in the parking area, and I never heard him make a call of any kind. I make my way around the trail and took the long way back calling every hundred yards or so and not hearing a thing. On the way home I went by a field and saw what I thought was a bunch of hens and two gobblers strutting, I turned around and pull off the road and put the glasses on them and saw it was 7 jakes with the two longbeards. Let me tell you nine birds gobbling back at you is loud, even at 60 or so yards.

[wishinone]

Friday May 7, wanted to try a new spot this morning but too much to eat last night and too much coffee this morning put me in the reading room longer than I wanted and I didn't get out of the house until 4:45AM. Went to where I heard the birds yesterday and waited for a gobble but none were coming, while waiting I heard a couple of birds fly down, so I gave a few calls and heard some spitting and drumming on the other side of a stone wall about 50 yards away. I caught a glimpse of a bird going thru some brush but that was it, soon I had another hunter come my way and call to my calls so I got up and left, then I bump into a guy running two dogs thru the woods so I headed to the truck. I went to check out a new area and see a gobbler servicing a hen about 1/3 the way across the field, I go down the road and see turkeys in two more fields and turn around. I pull into the first field and park behind an old barn and then I sneak around trying to see where the gobbler went, that bugger was clear across the field strutting back and forth by a piece of old farm equiptment. I set up by a mound of dirt and tried calling but the turkey was too far away and I couldn't move any closer, so I went back down the road where I saw a another gobbler strutting and he had two buddies. I turn around again and park along the road, hop a fence and make my way thru the woods to the far end of the field, every time I call they gobble but they wouldn't budge, one keeps strutting near a tree in the center of the field and the other two keep heading across the field. I cut back into the woods and try to work around and get closer, as luck would have it I come out by a turkey previously unseen to me and get busted, all four gobblers head to the far side of the field and into the woods. Guess where I'm going to be set up tomorrow at first light.

[wishinone]

Saturday May 8, I got to where i wanted to go by dark 30 and walked across the edge of the field in the moonlight. I heard a gobbler sound off across the road after a while so I got my owl call out and tried to get a gobble in my area, but got no response at all. As I stood there waiting the gobbles started coming from far as I could hear, I have no idea how many birds but they were all from across the road where no hunting is allowed, figures. I put out a decoy and sat against a tree and did some blind calling and then I saw movement to my left, here comes 7 deer with 5 of them side by side they catch my scent at about 70 yards and they cut into the woods. The cedar I was sitting under must have been a marker for the geese flying into the pasture across the road because dam near every goose flew within range of me, there was wood ducks calling and mallards chasing each other I think I'm going to enjoy this area come fall waterfowl season. Between 7:30 and 8 AM the temp dropped about 20 degrees and the wind picked up, not another gobble was heard and I only seen one hen come into the field. Then I see two tractors pull into the far end of the field and decide it's time to leave, looks like they were going to plow. I drive down the road and check out the last field and see nothing, I get back in the truck and drive less than 1/4 of a mile and here's 4 big longbeards strutting to two hens behind a fence with posted signs on it. I give a few calls and get no response at all out of the birds except for all of them to puff up as big as they could, not one of these birds had a beard less than 10 inches.

[wishinone]

Got up at 3AM to make sure I had plenty of time to make it to the private property I have permission to hunt, but the trip there was a nightmare the temp is warming up and I had heavy fog to drive through going 15 to 20 MPH sometimes. When I got to where I was going which was next to water it was pretty heavy there. I carted my gear down to the field I was going to set up in and waited to hear a gobble. Being the fog was low the only gobbles I heard was across the road on top of the hill, not a thing near me. I put in 5 hours and called it a morning, all I got to see was two hens and a bunch of tree rats. On the way home I decided to drive by the state land I had hunted Saturday, I had a red Chevy pick-up on my tail and I pulled over to let him by. When I pulled back out I see a turkey down the road starting to cross, the guy in the Chevy never touched his brakes, he ran over the bird and killed it. I pulled off the road and went to pick the bird up and move it to the shoulder, it was a big hen with a nest somewhere I'm sure. When I start back down the road I look into the field the hen was coming out of and there was two coyotes working along the far edge.

[wishinone]

May 11, back down to the area I was hunting yesterday and I was set up before light, not as much gobbling going on but enough to get me excited. I heard one gobble from behind me, and a bunch from my right and far left, I think a bird was gobbling on the island where the guy said I could hunt. Anyway everything quited down for awhile and I heard a hen yelping from my right, I yelped back and a gobble shot back. This guy kept at it for two hours but he never came up over the hill even though he seemed to love my calling. I was sitting there stareing into the field ahead of me and caught movement behind me and to my right. I slowly turned my head and saw a turkey moving its head back and forth looking at my decoy, I was sure I was busted but the turkey put it's head down and started walking slowly away from me and I saw it had a 7 or 8 inch beard, but a dang skinny one so it was either a jake or a bearded hen. I gave it until 10AM and called it a morning.

[wishinone]

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Seems like everyone and their brother was out this morning, I arrived where I planned to hunt and when I pulled into the field another hunter was already there and walking away from his truck. So I went to my spot number 2 and found 2 vehicles there from out of state, now I had to make a fast decision. I had no place else close by to go to so I headed to the state land near my house, it was well past light when I got there and I had no hopes of hearing a gobbler on the roost. I went in and walked the 600 acres giving a call every 100 yards or so, the only thing I called in was 50,000,000 skeeters, those SOB's ate me alive. I left the area and headed back home being I have to pack and head back to RTF's for 4 days of hunting there. On the way home I spotted 2 jakes in a field and sent a few yelps their way, no response at all. I got home and told the Mrs to get dressed I would take her out to breakfast. We are driving down the road and she says look, where's your camera, here is 6 longbeards walking across a corn field with their beards dragging on the ground. CRAP, I set the camera on the charger before we left so I could have it charged up for when I got to my son's place.

[wishinone]

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May 13- Hunting at RTF's we head to a new spot he found on the map, we see 5 turkeys heading up a hill and pull over to glass them, it was a bunch of jakes. All of a sudden they stopped and let out a couple of gobbles, a thunder storm was heading our way. We got to where we wanted to go and was driving a single track seasonal road and all of a sudden while coming over a rise the dam thing ended with no place to turn around. I have to back down the road a quarter mile or so to find a spot to back in to, we wait out the storm and head out with high hopes but couldn't buy a gobble. We head to another spot several miles away and come upon two gobblers in a field that would go in half strut now and then, they never answered one call and walked off over the hill. We seen a lot of turkeys in the fields drying out after the storm but couldn't get a one to gobble or come to us.

[wishinone]

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May 14-15-16 Extreamly hot and buggy, skeeters and shad flys were eating us alive, we couldn't get a thing going anywhere. We got a half a gobble on the 14th, never saw the turkey, didn't see or hear a thing all morning on the 15th and had one hot and heavy on the morning of the 16th until he flew off the roost and that was that, I headed back home to CT.

[wishinone]

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Got up at 3AM and was on the road before 4AM, headed down to the private property I have permission to hunt. Got there and was set up before first light and didn't hear a dam thing, even the tweety birds were quite. I was sitting there a little over an hour and I heard the most god-awful noise somewhere behind me, while sitting there trying to figure what it might have been here comes two coyotes running across the field. They don't come any closer than 75 yards or so, then the lead one a female stops to pee, I give a few yelps on a turkey call hoping maybe they would come in but they headed off across the field. The owner of the property raises sheep and there was a bunch of lambs born the last few weeks and I was sure the yotes had killed one, but I walked back to where the sheep where they were all calm as could be. I walked down to the water and sent a few calls toward the island but got no reply so I went back to my blind and called every 10 minutes or so with some yelps and clucks. It was getting hotter the more the sun rose and I was about to call it quits when a squirrel started going nuts behind me, then it happened a gobble shot out maybe 30-40 yards behind me so I gave some yelps and the turkey kept moving and gobbling. He walked the edge of the field for several hundred yards and I never saw him, I decided to cutt like ****** and quit calling, he gobbled once and went quite. I was sitting there cursing myself when I see a head bobbing in the middle of the field, here comes the gobbler moving along at a good clip, he gets within 50 yards and spots the jake decoy in the tall grass and I watch his head turn snow white. He zooms in on the jake decoy and I couldn't get a bead on him he was so close, I have to edge back in the blind to get him in the pro-diamond scope and fire at the base of his neck. The bird go's down and the flap of my blind go's down with him I had shot out the zipper with the barrel of the gun being below it without me realizing it. The bird weighted 19.8 lbs and 7/8's spurs and a 11 1/4 inch beard.

[wishinone]

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May 24- Get up this morning and expect to see heavy fog after major thunderstorms last night was suprised to see stars out so put on some coffee and walk the dog. Got to my spot at 4:45 and owl hooted and got no response, headed to where I wanted to set up and put up blind. A week ago the head of my decoys were about 5 inches above the grass, this week the grass is 5 inches above the decoys, I don't have much hope for this morning. Before long a gobbler sounds off over the hill from me about 150 yards or so, soon another two welcome the new day one to my right and one from behind me. The closest bird gobbles one time after flydown and then all was quite, after an hour or so I see a hen out in front of me heading to my right. I call to her hopeing she would come in to the decoys and help attract a gobbler but she kept going and I lost sight of her. After awhile she is yelping about 80 yards from me, I yelp back add a couple of purrs and wait. We go back and forth for a little while and soon I see her coming over the hill toward me, followed by the gobbler that I assume was roosted over there. I see the white head, his beard hanging down his chest and can make out his snood hanging over his beak. I tell myself that boy is going down if he gets near me as I watch the birds disappear into another dip in the field, soon the hen comes over the top but all I can see is the back of the gobbler as he feeds along the edge. I feel they are in range so I yelp loud on my diaphram and his head go's up and I aim for the neck and fire, the hen runs toward me and into the woods behind, I don't see the gobbler so I get out of the blind. As I get out I see the gobbler running and he takes to the air and goes across the road, I say son of a gun or something like it but then I hear wings flapping. I head over the rise and here is a jake laying in the grass, I never saw him with the other two birds I am guessing he was ahead of the hen and went into the dip before him. He had a thick short beard of a little over 5 inches and 1/4 inch spurs and came in at 15 lbs. Leave it to me to shoot the wrong turkey, the longbeard was a beauty and hopefully will be there for me next year.

[wishinone]

May 1, 2005
Left work Saturday morning and headed to RTF's, drove around a little bit and saw several nice gobblers strutting for the girls, after unloading my truck I slammed the tailgate and was greeting with a shock gobble from across the road. RTF said we would just head out the front door in the morning and take it from there, there was a good sized gobbler hanging around the house and hopefully he would sound off in the AM. We were up at 4AM and had coffee and something to eat, Wyatt RTF's 9 year old son (my grandson) would be going out with us. We went out the door and was walking up the road that came down behind RTF's house when there was the sound of branches breaking and wings flapping, the gobbler was roosted over the road about 100 yards from RTF's house he sailed over our heads and across the road. After a few curse words we cut into the wood lot and waited to hear a gobble which soon came from several directions. We headed down a logging road and soon RTF said he heard a hen yelp we stopped and searched the trees and saw two birds about 50 yards in front of us, after a short discussion we decided to bump the birds which turned out to be 4 hens and we headed toward the gobbling. We crossed a small field and forded a stream and headed up the hill where we heard a gobbler and a jake welcoming the morning. We came to the end of a pine thicket and RTF said for me to go ahead to the edge of the hardwoods and he stayed back about 20 yards and called. The gobbles were coming from my left, my bad side of course being I'm left handed so I moved around the tree so I could face the bird. In a little while the bird was on the ground gobbled a few times and shut up. A while later there was a gobble from up the hill and I turned and aimed my gun in the direction I though the gobbler would be coming from, then all was quite. After about five minutes gobbles come from my right from two birds and the wait is on. They are close and I can't see a dang thing, I hear spitting and drumming and finally see a bird move to right in front of me at about 35 yards but I have a fallen branch blocking my line of sight. I see the second bird walk into a dip in the ground and then nothing. Soon I see a bobbing head and the rest of the bird comes into view at the top of the knoll, he goes into half strutt and I put the cross hairs on his neck and fire. I see a bird fly to my left and a bird fly to my right, Wyatt asked did you get him poppie and I reply I guess I missed. I walked up the hill to see where my shot might have went and here lies my gobbler in a depression where he fell without making a flop. I never saw the third bird until it flew. The bird had spurs 1/2" and 5/8's" beard was 7 1/2 inches and weight 18lbs 10ozs. Kill was 6:30 in the morning.

[wishinone]

May 2, 2005 RTF and I are out and in the woods before sunrise, looks like it's going to be a nice morning, only problem there is no gobbling. We walk the top of a ridge back about 3/4 a mile and a gobbler responds to an owl call we head down the hill and are coming to a turn in the logging road and RTF says crap there's a turkey in that tree. As luck would have it, it was our gobbler and he was sounding off at everything, we just froze and waited over a half hour for him to fly down. We say heck with it let's find another bird and as we turn to go back up the hill the gobbler sails out of his tree and heads way down the valley. The nice morning is turning not so nice as the wind kicks up and clouds start moving in, we are on the move trying to get gobbler to respond but no luck at several locations. Finally we get a bird that sounds hot gobbling each time RTF calls, we move to get closer to him but never hear from him again. We head back to the house for a cup of coffee and a new game plan. On the way there two hens cross in front of us but there isn't a gobbler following them. We go for a long, make that a very long walk and don't hear or see another turkey. Heavy rain and chance of snow is moving in so I decide to head home and await the opener here on Wednesday.

[wishinone]

May 4, opening day in CT I am out of the house by 4:30 and at my hunting spot 20 minutes later, weather is crisp and clear with a light frost. Nobody else is in the parking area as expected and I get my gear out, I am walking down the trail and hear a bird start to gobble below me then another far away. I say OK now it's time to wake up on my side of the hill but not one gobble, I head down the hill toward the gobbling bird. As I get to the end of the trail and start turning left there is a hunter standing there blowing his nose with a white handkerchief, I give him a wave and turn back then cut to the right where I now hear another bird gobbling. Soon a shot goes off from behind me and the gobbler I'm after shock gobbles to it, I chase this bird several hundred yards but I believe he had hens leading him away at a fast clip, but he don't shut up and keeps on gobbling until I can't hear him anymore. I walk around and come to the spot where I had a gobbler coming in last year and another hunter shot it without giving one yelp on a call, I set up two decoys and start blind calling, it's now 7AM. After 15 minutes I hear a gobble in the distance and it's coming my way but it hangs up 100 or more yards away. He gobbles to my calls and he gobbles to crows but won't head my way so I back out and cut around to come at him from a different angle. His gobbling let's me know where he is and I get as close as I dare on top of a small hill above him, he still won't come in. I get real aggressive with cutting and yelps and he gobbles somewhere right in front of me behind a small green bush which is blocking my view. Soon I hear yelps behind me and I end up going to war with a hen, we gave each other **** and the gobbler is going nuts, the hen walks behind the tree I sitting against and is mere inches from my leg, I let her get out 20 yards and we go at it again but she heads toward the gobbler. I wait another 15 minutes and don't hear a sound and figure the hen has lead the gobbler off so I decide to find another bird, as I push myself up on one knee I see the hen jump up on a log and shake about 40 yards in front of me, then I see the gobbler strutting in front of a tree close to her, neither bird sees me so I bring my gun up as the gobbler struts away from me, when he turns back toward me I yelp loud and fire, the bird goes down. I push myself up and the gobbler is shoving himself along a fallen log I start to run and he staggers to his feet takes wing and then falls about 30 yards away I fire a shot and miss and he is in the air again and heads down hill. I follow the flight path and search for an hour but can't find any sign of the bird, I feel like crap I hate to loose any bird or animal that I wound. I should have known to shoot the gobbler a second time when I saw his head in the air, just thought of it too late.