Post by bsutravis on May 8, 2009 11:32:53 GMT -5
It's been tough....tough friggin' hunting for yours truly this season. Finally yesterday there were no mushroom hunters busting the hunt, no screw ups on my behalf, no henned up toms, no jacked up weather..... it all came together.
I set up at before light on a public land food plot that had been taken over by mustard and weeds. I stuck out a jake and hen and set up the blind 25 yards away on the woods edge. At first light I heard a few gobbles but resisted the temptation to go chase them, as I had told myself I'd be patient today and just sit on the field since rain was forecasted. Well, after 30 minutes of gobbling I couldn't stand it anymore and I left the blind and decoys and went after one of the gobblers. I got within 100 yards of him and set up. After a few purrs he responded with a gobble......then he shut up. I sat for 30 minutes waiting and he never showed, and would not respond to a call. So, I eased back to the blind and got back in. About an hour later I heard another bird start firing off gobbles for no reason. So, I once again ditched the blind and went after him. Exact same result...I got close but once I called he wouldn't work. So...I retreated to the blind again. This time I told myself I would not leave...that there were birds in the area and hopefully one would come into the large field and see the decoys. I sat for about 90 minutes with no action when finally a hen came out right next to my blind from behind. She saw the decoys and gave a little challenge purr and putt, then went about her business picking bugs from the field. She worked all around the field for nearly an hour before finally retreating back into the woods. After 10 minutes she reappeared and once again kept feeding. After 20 minutes with the hen back in the field HE APPEARED at the far end of the field. This bird strutted his stuff for the live hen, but she didn't want anything to do with him. She jumped and flew about 10 feet and headed for the woods. The tom started strutting after her and I thought that he wouldn't pay my decoys any attention since he was on the trail of a live girl. I hit the Kaiser call and just gave a few small purrs and he turned and fell in love with my decoys. It took nearly 20 minutes for him to strut over and close the distance. Since I was in a pop up blind, I had raised my gun way early and had the barrel part of the way out the window, but as he got close he came straight at the blind...which presented a problem with the shot. I could have waited and he would have turned to my left and worked on closer to the decoys, but if I would have waited I would have had to reposition my gun to the other window of the blind, and I wasn't about to do anything that might bust the shot.....so when he went out of strut I pounded him with #5's. Feathers went EVERYWHERE and he barely kicked. Unfortunately with him facing me the shot pattern ripped down his back and fudged his tail up and ruined any chance at doing a fan mount. I didn't care though.....my '09 season was over and I was very happy to harvest this public land gobbler!
The stats: 25lbs, 7/8" spurs on each side, 10 1/8" beard = 62.75 NWTF score. To be a 2 year old bird he was VERY well fed!!!
Following the hunt I ran up to Michigan City to fish with HoosierCanuck and Kevin Smith on the big lake. We boated 7 nice Coho's and had 5 good ones break off or get off. It was a spectacular day of hunting and fishing!
I set up at before light on a public land food plot that had been taken over by mustard and weeds. I stuck out a jake and hen and set up the blind 25 yards away on the woods edge. At first light I heard a few gobbles but resisted the temptation to go chase them, as I had told myself I'd be patient today and just sit on the field since rain was forecasted. Well, after 30 minutes of gobbling I couldn't stand it anymore and I left the blind and decoys and went after one of the gobblers. I got within 100 yards of him and set up. After a few purrs he responded with a gobble......then he shut up. I sat for 30 minutes waiting and he never showed, and would not respond to a call. So, I eased back to the blind and got back in. About an hour later I heard another bird start firing off gobbles for no reason. So, I once again ditched the blind and went after him. Exact same result...I got close but once I called he wouldn't work. So...I retreated to the blind again. This time I told myself I would not leave...that there were birds in the area and hopefully one would come into the large field and see the decoys. I sat for about 90 minutes with no action when finally a hen came out right next to my blind from behind. She saw the decoys and gave a little challenge purr and putt, then went about her business picking bugs from the field. She worked all around the field for nearly an hour before finally retreating back into the woods. After 10 minutes she reappeared and once again kept feeding. After 20 minutes with the hen back in the field HE APPEARED at the far end of the field. This bird strutted his stuff for the live hen, but she didn't want anything to do with him. She jumped and flew about 10 feet and headed for the woods. The tom started strutting after her and I thought that he wouldn't pay my decoys any attention since he was on the trail of a live girl. I hit the Kaiser call and just gave a few small purrs and he turned and fell in love with my decoys. It took nearly 20 minutes for him to strut over and close the distance. Since I was in a pop up blind, I had raised my gun way early and had the barrel part of the way out the window, but as he got close he came straight at the blind...which presented a problem with the shot. I could have waited and he would have turned to my left and worked on closer to the decoys, but if I would have waited I would have had to reposition my gun to the other window of the blind, and I wasn't about to do anything that might bust the shot.....so when he went out of strut I pounded him with #5's. Feathers went EVERYWHERE and he barely kicked. Unfortunately with him facing me the shot pattern ripped down his back and fudged his tail up and ruined any chance at doing a fan mount. I didn't care though.....my '09 season was over and I was very happy to harvest this public land gobbler!
The stats: 25lbs, 7/8" spurs on each side, 10 1/8" beard = 62.75 NWTF score. To be a 2 year old bird he was VERY well fed!!!
Following the hunt I ran up to Michigan City to fish with HoosierCanuck and Kevin Smith on the big lake. We boated 7 nice Coho's and had 5 good ones break off or get off. It was a spectacular day of hunting and fishing!
