Skychief
69 Cal.
As today was our turkey opener, I hit the hay at 10 pm or so. I looked forward to being bright-eyed and bushy-tailed this morning. Like an excited kid, sleep wouldn't come. Last glance at the clock read 2:55. 4:30 followed shortly, yet, I sprang out of bed, ready for the day's events!
I arrived at the farm, thankful that I made it at all through a pea soup fog.
I set up in my familiar patch of thorn trees and rose bushes in an agriculture field, and settled in. As light crept upon the thicket, I took note of how thin the cover was this Spring compared to the last couple seasons. Cold weather must be the culprit. Whatever the cause, I would have to watch any movement more than usual. I felt that any turkey within a hundred yards could catch my movement if not kept to a bare minimum.
For an hour I sat enveloped in the fog with nary a yelp, let alone a gobble heard. I had made some calls every ten minutes or so. Nothing.
Contemplating a bit of a wait, I put my gun and calls aside and cat napped, yet kept my ears peeled for turkey sounds. Within ten minutes of this rest, I scanned to my left and spotted a hen about 50 yards out in the field. She had company too.
In seconds, a grand total of 6 hens (said another way:12 sharp little eyeballs :shocked2: ) were closing in on my trio of dummies roughly 10 yards in front of me.
While the hens held my interest, helpless to move as they had me pinned down, now at 15 to 20 yards, the next sight really blew my hair back!
About 75 yards out in a remnant of the fading fog appeared to be a black Volkswagon with its doors open wide heading toward the harem of hens and......ME!!!
Reality struck as I couldn't recall ever seeing a VW bug with a glowing white head. :shocked2:
Yep, there he was. And yep, there I was. Gun on the ground and no call of any sort where I wished.
My inner chant was repeated a dozen times, hoping for telepathy between he and I ..."Please, come whip my jake, PLEASE come whip my jake........"
As luck would have it, the hens lost interest in my spread and drifted North to my left again. He followed and I successfully got the gun to my shoulder and knee, undetected.
Quick as that took, a couple hens came back right in front of me. I became a statue once again hiding my face behind a walnut stock. :haha:
Once they drifted North again I had calls in hand and mouth. I softly yelped and was rewarded as the Volkswagon shook me with a thunderous gobble!
I watched all seven through the brambles. The hens were taking him around the thicket now. Soon they would be behind me to the West.
I tried to time my slow motion pivot when the majority of those 12, no, 14 now, eyes were screened by the thinner-than-usual briars. But, how can anyone keep track of all of them?
I did it!!! :thumbsup:
I trained the barrel to where the group seemed to want to travel, hoping they would stay on course as the edge of the thicket was about 20 yards away (now that I completed the "180").
They had other plans. The devious group began feeding away from me into the large cornfield, gobbler in tow.
Time to talk at the hens, I thought. Not "with", but, "AT"!!!
Doing my best super excited/agitated hen impersonations, I got a couple of the girls to head back my way from about 75 yards.
Keeping up my insistince, peeled two more my way. The four marched right into the thicket with me. Two which I kept track of were within 15 feet of me as they were searching for the source of all the commotion.
Statue-time again!
At one point, I had 4 hens within 10 or 15 yards of me. North, South, East, and West. Talk about exciting.
I trained my eyes on the tom, still out in the field.
He did the math and figured, correctly I might add, 2/3 of his harem had vacated his vicinity. He wouldn't have it and started quartering into my position. His "doors" were still opened I might add:thumbsup:
As he was about to enter the thicket, that glowing head centered perfectly in a hole within the vegetation. Said hole was about the size of my possibles bag.
It ran through my mind...."How far is that"? I answered that I did not know, but it was "close enough".
Those mental gymnasiics took all of 3 or 4 milliseconds.
The swarm of 4's were sent, led by my sloppy cushion wad (what else?). :haha:
I'm usually very optimistic, but, will admit, when I saw that he was "henned-up" with six girls, I thought,"no way this is going to work out". Plenty of luck mailed upon me today.
He weighed 22 pounds, had a 10 1/4" beard and sharp, white 1 1/8" spurs for those interested.
Once my heart quit pounding and the smoke cleared, I shared the news of my good fortune with my friend Spence. Not suprisingly, he kindly offered to post some photos here. Thank you for that, partner! :hatsoff:
I will apologize in advance. Circumstances called for pickup bed "hero" photos this morning.
Well, that's the tale of my foggy morning fun in the thicket. I was on the edge of my seat for a good half hour, not knowing how the "play" would end.
Can life get much better? :idunno:
Good luck to all, Skychief
I arrived at the farm, thankful that I made it at all through a pea soup fog.
I set up in my familiar patch of thorn trees and rose bushes in an agriculture field, and settled in. As light crept upon the thicket, I took note of how thin the cover was this Spring compared to the last couple seasons. Cold weather must be the culprit. Whatever the cause, I would have to watch any movement more than usual. I felt that any turkey within a hundred yards could catch my movement if not kept to a bare minimum.
For an hour I sat enveloped in the fog with nary a yelp, let alone a gobble heard. I had made some calls every ten minutes or so. Nothing.
Contemplating a bit of a wait, I put my gun and calls aside and cat napped, yet kept my ears peeled for turkey sounds. Within ten minutes of this rest, I scanned to my left and spotted a hen about 50 yards out in the field. She had company too.
In seconds, a grand total of 6 hens (said another way:12 sharp little eyeballs :shocked2: ) were closing in on my trio of dummies roughly 10 yards in front of me.
While the hens held my interest, helpless to move as they had me pinned down, now at 15 to 20 yards, the next sight really blew my hair back!
About 75 yards out in a remnant of the fading fog appeared to be a black Volkswagon with its doors open wide heading toward the harem of hens and......ME!!!
Reality struck as I couldn't recall ever seeing a VW bug with a glowing white head. :shocked2:
Yep, there he was. And yep, there I was. Gun on the ground and no call of any sort where I wished.
My inner chant was repeated a dozen times, hoping for telepathy between he and I ..."Please, come whip my jake, PLEASE come whip my jake........"
As luck would have it, the hens lost interest in my spread and drifted North to my left again. He followed and I successfully got the gun to my shoulder and knee, undetected.
Quick as that took, a couple hens came back right in front of me. I became a statue once again hiding my face behind a walnut stock. :haha:
Once they drifted North again I had calls in hand and mouth. I softly yelped and was rewarded as the Volkswagon shook me with a thunderous gobble!
I watched all seven through the brambles. The hens were taking him around the thicket now. Soon they would be behind me to the West.
I tried to time my slow motion pivot when the majority of those 12, no, 14 now, eyes were screened by the thinner-than-usual briars. But, how can anyone keep track of all of them?
I did it!!! :thumbsup:
I trained the barrel to where the group seemed to want to travel, hoping they would stay on course as the edge of the thicket was about 20 yards away (now that I completed the "180").
They had other plans. The devious group began feeding away from me into the large cornfield, gobbler in tow.
Time to talk at the hens, I thought. Not "with", but, "AT"!!!
Doing my best super excited/agitated hen impersonations, I got a couple of the girls to head back my way from about 75 yards.
Keeping up my insistince, peeled two more my way. The four marched right into the thicket with me. Two which I kept track of were within 15 feet of me as they were searching for the source of all the commotion.
Statue-time again!
At one point, I had 4 hens within 10 or 15 yards of me. North, South, East, and West. Talk about exciting.
I trained my eyes on the tom, still out in the field.
He did the math and figured, correctly I might add, 2/3 of his harem had vacated his vicinity. He wouldn't have it and started quartering into my position. His "doors" were still opened I might add:thumbsup:
As he was about to enter the thicket, that glowing head centered perfectly in a hole within the vegetation. Said hole was about the size of my possibles bag.
It ran through my mind...."How far is that"? I answered that I did not know, but it was "close enough".
Those mental gymnasiics took all of 3 or 4 milliseconds.
The swarm of 4's were sent, led by my sloppy cushion wad (what else?). :haha:
I'm usually very optimistic, but, will admit, when I saw that he was "henned-up" with six girls, I thought,"no way this is going to work out". Plenty of luck mailed upon me today.
He weighed 22 pounds, had a 10 1/4" beard and sharp, white 1 1/8" spurs for those interested.
Once my heart quit pounding and the smoke cleared, I shared the news of my good fortune with my friend Spence. Not suprisingly, he kindly offered to post some photos here. Thank you for that, partner! :hatsoff:
I will apologize in advance. Circumstances called for pickup bed "hero" photos this morning.
Well, that's the tale of my foggy morning fun in the thicket. I was on the edge of my seat for a good half hour, not knowing how the "play" would end.
Can life get much better? :idunno:
Good luck to all, Skychief
