04/09/2022
I promised a story and here it is. I've already typed this twice and it failed to upload both times. Third times a charm though.
So my hunt began last night as I scoured aerial photos to determine exactly which spot I was going to hunt. The property I have access to includes multiple fields and woods surrounding a decent sized lake. I decided to go to one of the farthest spots, hoping the hunting pressure from last week would not have reached that far yet. This would also give me the chance to drive past multiple other spots to guage where others might be. As I drove in, I noted no other vehicles. Shortly before I reached my chosen destination, the road had been washed out and barricaded (don't recall seeing any signs.) Well, I would have to backtrack 10 minutes or more and find a different route, so I decided to only backtrack a mile or two and go with my "plan B."
Once parked and out of my truck, I heard a gobble, even though it was still completely dark. Two or three gobbles before I even finished putting on my boots and gearing up. I thought to myself, "This might be a fun morning."
I thought that if any birds were roosted on the edge of the field I was at, that I would skirt the edge and try to get real close to them and get one right as he flew down. As it turned out, none appeared to be near the field. Instead, all of the gobbles seemed to be in the woods between the field and and lake. So, I headed to my chosen starting spot, about as far from the parking lot as you could get. Birds gobbled in multiple directions as I walked the 1/2 mile or so.
I set up facing the field, with the woods and lake on three sides of me. The birds continued to gobble periodically while on the roost as well as after they hit the ground. However, none seemed remotely interested in answering my calls. I tried it all. Yelps, clucks, cutting, gobbles. No answers, but they continued to gobble on their own. They seemed to be moving across the ridges and valleys between the field and the lake, with no interest in coming up the hill to where I had posted up.
Shortly after flydown, a shot rang out somewhere across the lake. Thirty or so minutes later another, this one right in front of me but across the lake. Pretty sure it was right near my original destination. Someone had figured out the road closure and re-routed.
As 8 am was approaching, a bird gobbled directly behind me. Now it is only 200 yards or so to the lake in that direction, but it is a steep drop with very heavy timber, honeysuckle and olive bushes. A real mess and I wasn't going to tromp through it. I called to it, but to no avail. He would repeatedly gobble on his own but no response at all when I called to him. At that point I decided to get more aggressive with my calling. I held my gobble call in my hand and began immediately gobbling back at him each time he gobbled. This continued for 30 minutes or so with him seemingly staying in the same place. The next gobble however, was closer. He had closed the distance and that's when your heart begins to race.
When he gobbled again, I immediately gobbled back. He responded this time. I gobbled again and he responded, but this time I heard another gobble. There were two of them back there. With them closing the distance, I checked everything and adjusted in my chair, confident they'd be approaching from my left, as that was clearly the easier of the two routes. As I continued to look over my left shoulder I heard a noise over my right shoulder and it was close. That sound turned out to be one of them puffing up into a strut. I slowly turned my head and there was a bird approaching, but it was already inside 15 yards of me, creeping right along the treeline I was set up in. As I peered through the brush, I see he only has a 6" or so beard. Dilemma. Do I take the short bearded bird or wait for a real gobbler? Didn't have to decide because there was another bird just a step behind the first and he featured a beard that nearly drug the ground.
Now, I wasn't going to be able to easily rotate into a position to take a shot without being seen. My best bet was to stay still and hope they focused on my decoys and didn't bother to look around for danger. They did just that for a couple of more steps. Now, there was no brush between them and I, but they were way too close to me to try to make a move. They would only have to take 3 steps and would be behind the brush again.
Even though I didn't move a muscle, I think they could hear my heart pounding in my chest and I know they were close enough to see the whites of my eyes. The smaller of the two got suspicious even though he wasn't sure what he was seeing. He popped his head up alert and took about three steps back and behind the brush. The larger of the two popped his periscope up on full alert as well and I figured this wasn't going to end well. After a moment, he relaxes slightly and looked back at the decoys. Then, he turned away from me and I knew this was going to end with them leaving in a hurry without me getting a shot. But before that happened, the gobbler broke into a full strut again, this time facing away from me. With his tail feathers fanned out facing away from me, he couldn't see me, even if his buddy was still looking for me. So, I made my move and rotated in my chair and raised my gun. The smaller bird went on high alert and began walking away. The gobbler also went on alert and raised his head in alarm. It was too late as I wasted no time lining bead to snood. Took him down at 15 paces. The wad from the shell flew almost twice as far as the bird was away from me, lol.
Another great story for the books. That's one bird for this year. Two permits left. Madison County next week!
