Skychief
69 Cal.
Turkey opener
6:00 a.m.
Southern Indiana
60°, slight wind???
Predicted temps of 80° and mostly sunny?
No downpours, howling winds, nearby twisters??? :hmm:
A quick check to be certain, yep, sure enough it's April 26th, 2017. For once, since a long time, we had gorgeous turkey hunting conditions for our Wednesday opener.
'With such conditions, they'll be gobbling their heads off!'......my thought as I placed my trio of dummies on the edge of the Southern Indiana bungalow-sized thicket, in the middle of the low-lying field where I got lucky last Spring. It was here that I killed the sneaky gobbler which snuck in behind me, unannounced, and blasted me with a thunderous surprise gobble from 30 feet away! :shocked2: I'm happy to report, I've since recovered from that shock. Barely.
Once again, my predictions were completely upended by those fine game birds. Try as we might for the first hour of the morning, the barred owls, the crows, and myself couldn't coax a hint of a gobble from a bird in any direction! :shake:
It was quiet enough that I mentally took stock of the meager rations and water I had with me. It could be a long wait today.
During this moment of doubt, I thought maybe, just maybe, I heard a faint, faint hint of a gobble. Possibly 300-400 yards East of my little ambush. Way up the hardwood ridge. I held my breath to try to hear better....Nothing.
A few minutes later I thought I may have heard something sounding gobble-ish from the same direction. I was going to rile him up, if my ears weren't deceiving me. I cut and helped hard on the slate......GOBBAGOBBABBLE!!!!! Yes indeed, a tom was in the same township as I! :haha:
Wasting no time, I continued our conversation. Not sure what I was saying, but, he approved. It took about 5 minutes or so of this encouragement before I saw him walking down the wooded slope with another gobbler. Beards a-swingin'. They were making a beeline for my setup.
Once they exited the woods and entered the field's border, I could see them really well. I could tell the instant they caught sight of the decoys, spread 8-13 yards before me. They poofed up right now! :haha:
Seeing this, I put the call aside and came to full cock, all motion hidden by a fine cover of multi-flora rose bushes. Did I mention that I'm really liking this spot? :thumbsup:
They spit and drummed their way into my spread in little time. My smoothbore was pointing at my jake before they got there.
One had a dark band near the fringe of his fan, while the other was much lighter. Other than that, they could've been twins.
I apologize to mention this again, but, those pale glowing heads against a dark fan just screams "Beautiful" to me.
As the gobbler with the darker fan circled my jake for the second or third time, he faced me in full strut, 14 yards away. I could take no more, a sent a load of sixes.
Once the smoke cleared, his cohort refused to leave the scene. I sat for another 10 minutes, maybe more, amused by his antics. He alternated between hopping up and down on my bird, to trying to impress the lady dekes, to scowling at my jake. The party ended for him once he tried to mount and de-flower my fallen trophy. That, I couldn't allow. :haha:
So, from high hopes with the weather, to growing concern (despair?) due to the absence of any gobbling or yelping, to collecting a beautiful, healthy gobbler........I had one fine day gentlemen.
Watching the amusement provided by his partner was just icing on the cake.
Good luck to all of you this Spring!!!
I've sent pictures to Spence, hoping he will again be so kind to post them in this thread. So, stay tuned. :hatsoff:
Best regards and thanks for listening, Skychief
6:00 a.m.
Southern Indiana
60°, slight wind???
Predicted temps of 80° and mostly sunny?
No downpours, howling winds, nearby twisters??? :hmm:
A quick check to be certain, yep, sure enough it's April 26th, 2017. For once, since a long time, we had gorgeous turkey hunting conditions for our Wednesday opener.
'With such conditions, they'll be gobbling their heads off!'......my thought as I placed my trio of dummies on the edge of the Southern Indiana bungalow-sized thicket, in the middle of the low-lying field where I got lucky last Spring. It was here that I killed the sneaky gobbler which snuck in behind me, unannounced, and blasted me with a thunderous surprise gobble from 30 feet away! :shocked2: I'm happy to report, I've since recovered from that shock. Barely.
Once again, my predictions were completely upended by those fine game birds. Try as we might for the first hour of the morning, the barred owls, the crows, and myself couldn't coax a hint of a gobble from a bird in any direction! :shake:
It was quiet enough that I mentally took stock of the meager rations and water I had with me. It could be a long wait today.
During this moment of doubt, I thought maybe, just maybe, I heard a faint, faint hint of a gobble. Possibly 300-400 yards East of my little ambush. Way up the hardwood ridge. I held my breath to try to hear better....Nothing.
A few minutes later I thought I may have heard something sounding gobble-ish from the same direction. I was going to rile him up, if my ears weren't deceiving me. I cut and helped hard on the slate......GOBBAGOBBABBLE!!!!! Yes indeed, a tom was in the same township as I! :haha:
Wasting no time, I continued our conversation. Not sure what I was saying, but, he approved. It took about 5 minutes or so of this encouragement before I saw him walking down the wooded slope with another gobbler. Beards a-swingin'. They were making a beeline for my setup.
Once they exited the woods and entered the field's border, I could see them really well. I could tell the instant they caught sight of the decoys, spread 8-13 yards before me. They poofed up right now! :haha:
Seeing this, I put the call aside and came to full cock, all motion hidden by a fine cover of multi-flora rose bushes. Did I mention that I'm really liking this spot? :thumbsup:
They spit and drummed their way into my spread in little time. My smoothbore was pointing at my jake before they got there.
One had a dark band near the fringe of his fan, while the other was much lighter. Other than that, they could've been twins.
I apologize to mention this again, but, those pale glowing heads against a dark fan just screams "Beautiful" to me.
As the gobbler with the darker fan circled my jake for the second or third time, he faced me in full strut, 14 yards away. I could take no more, a sent a load of sixes.
Once the smoke cleared, his cohort refused to leave the scene. I sat for another 10 minutes, maybe more, amused by his antics. He alternated between hopping up and down on my bird, to trying to impress the lady dekes, to scowling at my jake. The party ended for him once he tried to mount and de-flower my fallen trophy. That, I couldn't allow. :haha:
So, from high hopes with the weather, to growing concern (despair?) due to the absence of any gobbling or yelping, to collecting a beautiful, healthy gobbler........I had one fine day gentlemen.
Watching the amusement provided by his partner was just icing on the cake.
Good luck to all of you this Spring!!!
I've sent pictures to Spence, hoping he will again be so kind to post them in this thread. So, stay tuned. :hatsoff:
Best regards and thanks for listening, Skychief
