Mr. Murphy Following Me?

[CamoGuy]

I was just wondering if anybody else has had any run-ins with Mr. Murphy, the creator of Murphy's Law, like I have?

Opening day I got on a hot tom that was gobbling all on his own. I closed the distance from 1 mile to less than 150 yards in 5 minutes, all the while he gobbled every 15-30 seconds. Just as I was getting to the spot I wanted to sit down at my foot slipped a little bit on a rock, made a low clunking noise and the jig was up. He never gobbled again.

Fast forward to this past Saturday. I hunted hard all morning without hearing a single peep. Just after 1PM (hunting in WV ends at 12 noon) I was driving down the road. I looked over and standing 25 feet from the side of the road in a wide open field was a huge tom with a 10-12 inch beard. He was just standing there...mocking me.

:angry:

[dartonman]

Murphys law

Mine was last season......I set up on a treeline, only to see the gobbler on a branch, a mere 20 feet ABOVE ME. He flew down, right in front of me, I purred, he came right to the boot laces, a mere two feet from my feet, and my gun misfired, it never fired, the firing pin was ceazed up. I never saw that bird ever again. al

[Strut10]

Yep.

This is about the third year in a row that Murphy has been tagging along with me every time I hit the woods.

I'm just about ready to kick his *** .

I've had about enough of the ignoramus.

[ChrisSeb53]

he has been with me every time I have gone out this spring... I can't quite seem to shake him!

[Rhino]

Sure I have but I figure, all in all over time things will even out.

Overall, my main turkey hunting area was pretty poor this year. A good buddy of mine & I hunt ~2,000 acres..,.he hunts the north half & I hunt the south half. One part of my area where I've killed a least one gobbler for years was silent the entire season. Not a single gobbling bird gobbled in there this year out of the 6 times I was in there listening for them. 1st 2 times hunting my main area this year, I never heard the 1st bird gobble at all & I use an electric ATV so I can cover a lot of ground. Next time out I heard 6 birds gobble but 5 of them were on differnt neighbors property around us. The distant bird I heard on us shut down after the 4th gobble. Next 3 times hunting I heard 2 birds gobble but non on our property. Next couple of times I finally heard some on us but they shut down before I could get inside 1/4 mile of them. Next time got close and was working a bird, then a big boar hog comes through shuts him down and passes within 10 yards of me. Never heard him again. Then...my luck changed for the better...killed 2 birds over the course of my last 3 hunts and had lots of fun working one during the other hunt when I didn't kill a bird. Great battle that clued me into how to kill him next time out!

Now, I did hunt my buddy's area the 2nd day of the season. I guess he felt sorry for me after I spent so much time in the woods opening day without hearing the 1st gobble. He heard mutiple birds gobble alot opening day in his area. That 2nd day of the season hunting his area I heard 9 birds gobble & killed a nice 3 year old bird. My buddy was all over turkeys throughout the season, working birds virtually every time he hit the woods. He ended the season with 2 gobblers in his bag...1 short of limiting out. For me...I hunted 14 days...worked gobbling birds just 5 times and killed 3. Can't complain about my success ratio of killing gobbling birds compared to the ones I worked (3 for 5) but it was a tuff season when I look back on 11 other days I hunted without getting on a gobbling bird.

In a nutshell...hang in there...good luck and back luck have a way of evening out over time.

Edited May 16, 2011 by Rhino

[Ethan Givan]

It was a tough season here as well. I spent most of my season taking other people hunting, mainly my cousin and my younger brother. Got my youngest brother a bird on youth weekend, but never got a mature bird into range for my cousin. Part of the problem was the weather. It was storming or raining 75% of the time during our season. I got soaked to the bone several times this year, and got caught out in a pretty nasty thunderstorm with my brother one morning. The weather made the hunting extremely difficult, and caused the gobbling to be extremely light. I only went out to hunt for myself 3 times this season, and I managed to tag out with 2 birds.

That one hunt that I didnt kill a bird is a pretty funny story. The forcast was calling for rain that morning, so I had crawled into a blind on the edge of a little 3 acre field where I had seen a gobbler strutting for 3 days in a row. I had been in the blind for close to 3 hours, when nature called. I was trying to hold it as long as I could, but finally I had to go. I eased out the blind, stood up, and was gonna go right there beside it. I looked out into the field and there stood the gobbler looking right at me about 60 yards out. If I had waited 5 more minutes I would have killed him. Talk about some bad timing

[dbHunterNY]

no but i think he's hangin' with all the turkey's from my hunting area. problem is i don't know where they're hanging out! lol many of the historical active hot spots simply aren't this year. this past fall i've seen several long beards in the area, but they don't seem to be around now.

[ruttinbuc]

I had been in the blind for close to 3 hours, when nature called. I was trying to hold it as long as I could, but finally I had to go. I eased out the blind, stood up, and was gonna go right there beside it. I looked out into the field and there stood the gobbler looking right at me about 60 yards out. If I had waited 5 more minutes I would have killed him. Talk about some bad timing

Dang Ethan! That happened to me on the very last day last year. Only difference was the bird I was trying to ambush was 10 yards on the other side of the fence row. It still haunts me to this day. :1eye: