Weather channel was calling for rain this morning so I was not over excited to get up and go get wet. Well when i woke up this morning and looked out side it wasnt raining so i got ready and headed to my fiances house to try and kill a bird. I hunted this area last year and only ran into a couple hens during the season, i know they're birds in the area but they are usually on someone elses land. I get to my listening spot and messing around in my vest and heard what it thought was a gobble. Im sure we've all been there where we think we hear one cause we want to hear would so bad. Its kinda hard to hear around there due to the traffic along the roads. I stay there and i hear it again, this time positive its a gobble. He sounds off again...
Im not exactly sure where the turkey is but think he is to my right down into a swamp so i start heading that way. As I'm walking down the edge of the road my fiance pulls out of her drive way going to school, she stops and says "what ya doing" hah, i said going to try and kill this turkey thats gobbling, she said "yea i heard it, its right behind the house". Good thing she told me cause i was going the wrong way. As im walking up their drive way he starts gobbling 2 and 3 times. Hes roosted right along the edge of a field right beside their house. I crawled to the edge and got in position and just waited. As soon as i got to the tree and got settled i hear a hen cluckin and cutin. I look and shes already on the ground !! i could hardly see. I let out a yelp with a soft cut at the end and he gobbled. Good atleast he knows where I'm at.
A few mins went by with him gobbling and finally i start seeing turkeys fly down into the field, just on the other side of a small hill. I'm watching each one to see if its the gobbler and all seem to be HENS. Great he's surrounded by hens. I finally see a turkey gliding down with a white hen. There he is, as soon as he hits the ground i yelp and cut, he gobbles. More turkeys fly into the field and go out of sight. I stay quite for a few mins as all the turkeys are just over the hill. Then i call again, 3 turkeys gobble this time ! Im thinking i got them in the bag, a hen comes over the hill about 50 yards away, and right behind them is struttin turkeys... I start looking at the strutters and they are all jakes !!! 8 jakes struttin and gobbling. Ol well, they work their way in to 40 yards followed by a few more hens. These jakes sure did have big mouths on them and sounded just like a mature bird.
The season opened without a bird, but thats fine it was awesome to hear them gobble and watch them struttin. Maybe Sat. it will be 8 mature birds in that field.