My Turn

I was halfway there to only having fishing to focus on. I still needed my spring bird. I’m always torn on hoping for a successful hunt and getting back to fishing or learning some more stuff about turkeys through more hunts. It would be ideal this year to just get back to fishing but I still decided to go exploring instead of going back to Mabel’s spot from the day before.

I had some good intel from some night scouts and while the birds didn’t seem to be as plentiful on the farm I was going to. There were a good number of big toms roaming around. Amanda and I got to go on an anniversary date night and our last stop was out at that farm. It was a little late to find a bird I think but we had a good time watching the deer and enjoying the nice weather. I wasn’t going to have any wind the next morning but it was 36 degrees when I woke up.

At the very least I would hear some gobbling if there were any around and if that failed I had options. Sitting first thing in the morning rarely works out for me anyway but usually I can make something happen with those options. I would get those gobbles though, coming from fairly far off to my south. But also close enough that they could make their way to me pretty quickly. As time went by the gobbles got further away and less frequent but that didn’t mean one wasn’t sneaking in. I got to watch some deer and then had 2 separate hens come through. At least it gave me an idea of where the turkeys might be moving and they did mostly what I was expecting based on my scouting.

I didn’t have all day since Mabel’s first communion was early afternoon and I faced the tough decision on whether to stay or go. I’m fairly confident that if I stuck it out, there would be an opportunity but that might not be until afternoon. I had 3 more farms to check with one being really high percentage. I expected to have birds around there but the real challenge be finding a tom. That farm yielded no birds and no activity from some run and gun tactics. I decided to skip the next farm and head to where I killed my bird last year. I wanted enough time that I could be patient if I were to find a bird. I began slowly picking my way through periodically calling. I got back to where the action usually is and glassed a dark spot. Unfortunately it was just one of the black irrigation pipes. A couple rows later and I found a big tom, the bad news was that he was looking right at me too. Their eyesight is incredible and they can really pick you out in the berry fields. I froze and so did he, he wasn’t sure about the situation. My calling wasn’t convincing him that something weird wasn’t going on either.

I thought it was weird that the black pipe I had just glassed was about 3 times larger now. The binos confirmed my suspicions that I had perked a tom up and he was in full strut. This one had no idea I was there and I had his attention. The other bird retreated and if I could move this bird he would follow the same path as the one I killed last year. My plan was to sit there and observe for awhile before I tried to make any moves. I didn’t really have a ton of great options either especially if he wasn’t going to budge. I also discovered a hen with him and assumed that wasn’t going to help my cause. Unable to coax him in, I went silent for a while. Time was ticking and I had to make my move. Since he would never look another way my only option was to cover ground in the berry rows. I got to the last place I felt comfortable poking my head up for a look. He wasn’t where I left him but was moving my way in full strut. I was crawling on my hands and knees and decided to cover a bunch of ground quickly then wait for him to hopefully make it to me.

Once I stopped, I didn’t have to wait long. I could make out the silhouette of a big bird in full strut coming my way. I had some good openings I just needed him to keep working along the service road my way. Once he got in the zone he hopped in the berries with my and just kept getting closer. Some full strut excitement while laying on the ground at less than 10 yards was pretty exciting. The rest is history and with my tag filled it was time to fish. It was definitely one of my most exciting turkey hunts and just demonstrates how fast it can happen if you find a bird in the right mood.

With an amazing weekend of turkey hunting wrapped up. It is time to turn the attention to catching as many bass as I can and some spring kings!