Saturday April 28th

Lots of action today. Had over a dozen different birds gobbling, all morning long. Worked 4 different birds in, but all would hang up out of range. Oh well, I am still a rookie but I am seeing more action each time I go. Saw 6 deer today too and had a hen walk with 20 feet of me and she never knew I was there!

I SHOULD have had a bird.


Picture this:
I tried out a Lynch call, and it really rocks.
I brought in one tom, but could only see the tips of his tail above some mayapples as he strutted back and forth, about 45 yards out.
I patiently waited, and hit the call lightly a time or two.
Next thing I see is a hen trotting right up the ridge, and went straight to the tom and jumped up and KICKED the tom!
Apperently she was having nothing to do with his chasing after another hen.
I very slowly reached over and hit the call another time, and as I put it down I caught movement to my left.
As I slowly turned my head, I saw another tom, then another and then yet another!
Three other toms had come in still mouth, and were under 5 yards away, slightly to my rear.

No brush between us, I could not believe they had gotten that close without making me.
I was screwed.......no way I could move without spooking all 5(or more, who knows) birds.
But I did try.
I managed to get the gun almost half way to my shoulder before they made me and made tracks for the next county.
To top it off, I had a clear but running shot at one of them.
It was a snap shot of course, and thought I had him.
I fired, his head dropped down and as I stood up there were no birds in sight.
Took a second to realize he had simply ducked his head down as I fired, so I missed completely.
If I were not so surprised by 3 other toms being so close, I would not have fired so soon.
That bird was not even 8 yards away when I fired, and my pattern the size of a baseball or less.
The word 'stupid' began ringing in my head the almost immediately.
And I am still hearing it in the background.
I had a few more feet before the bird would have been out of sight, but let myself get rushed.
All in all, it was a really good morning.
...
...
for the turkeys.
;D

Almost got my first bird . . . .
still got next sunday . . .
Good luck to all!

We had a GREAT Saturday, we didn't kill any turkey but we had a blast trying. We got to the club at 5:15am, got our stuff ready and jumped on the ATV's and headed up the hill. Parked the ATV's and off we went. I had one area picked out where there was evidence they had been strutting. We set out our decoys and waited. And waited and waited....no birds.

We called it at about 10:00am and went fishing.

NOW thats where we had the major fun!.....fishing!

We brought home 24 ten inch bluegill and several bass that were over 14 inches. I bet we went through 6+ dozen nightcrawlers, maybe more.

Woke up Sunday morning and I was all stopped up and felt like crap, so I never left the house on Sunday, and I don't think I am going to work today either, don't want to make anyone else sick.

Saturday Mornin started out with me settin in my blind on the west end of the farm having already bagged my Tom on opening mornin, I was goin to try and get some video. My Uncle randy was the only hunter that day and he was settin on the east end in Dad's blind with him.

Slow mornin at first, plenty of gobbles from the roost, but nothing came out till about 9:30, when several hens came into the pasture midway between us. Then I started hearin a few Gobbles comin from behind me in the woods. I yelped lightly twice and thats all it took. There were a few birds they kept cuttin each others gobbles off, so I called for Randy to slip down the fencerow and get in my blind, he made it past the hens and had just got in when I saw the first bird pop his head up over a hill in front of us, at about 35 yds. Then there were 2 they hung out there watching for about 15 min, before moving enough for me to see they were a couple of Jakes.


With no intentions of taking a Jake we just watched. After about 25 min the Farmer started working on his new fence way up front by the road and the noise of him driving posts spooked the Jakes off. We decided to go ahead and call it a mornin and eat lunch at 12:30.

After we ate lunch with the Farmer and his family, and assured him that he didnt need to feel bad about spookin the Jakes we went back out. Randy got back into my blind and after about 45 min, we had a REALLY NICE TOM

come across the pasture at about 70 yds, just out of range and head out into the beanstubble to feed.

As we were watchin a few hens pass by our blind all of a sudden a Gobble jarred our ears from verry close range, as we turned to see, there were 2 MATURE Toms standing in the hole directly where the Jakes were earlier. As we watched they moved slowly around in the cover, watching, they were a mere 35 yds and the only shot that my uncle ever had was when one bird leaned under himself to adjust his beard as Ya'll can see, not a good shot. The birds never came in and after hunting till dark with no more action, we decided to end our 5 day trip head for home.