Onto a bird finally!


Turkeygirl

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Went out this morning at 9am up to a small piece of land up the road a lady lets me hunt. I didn't hunt it the first week due to knowing she has some family that hunts as well. Set up on a small field edge by 9:30am. At 9:55am heard a gobble on the other side of the field, woohoo! He gobbled twice that was it. I sat an hour in my spot then moved to the other side of the field. I was probably there a 1/2 hour when I started hearing pppttthhhhh....pppptttthhhhh...I knew I was hearing a bird strutting. I peak through some bush leaves and down the field edge no more than a hundred yards I spot a hen, then there is his, strutting in all his glory! I had my hen and jake decoys out but was up slope of him so I don't think he could see it. Eventually they went into the woods....he gobbled once and that was it. I know right where they went in to! I yelped off and on and at 11:30am got up, since we can only hunt will noon, and went back up to check my trail cam on the way out. Well I get my cam, see there is a ton of scratching on the bank in the woods, decide to move my cam and as I'm walking back, I look out in the field, probably 150-200 yards out, about 50 yards right in front of where I was sitting I see a black blob, for sure it was a turkey and I suspect it was him! It was about 10 to noon then, man oh man! So I duck down and step behind a tree and look again, no black blob. So I hope he didn't spook to bad, being I was in the woods and he was way out in the field, I'm hoping he's ok, what do you guys think? I did get a photo on my cam of a big coyote...so maybe he thought I was that. Either way I will be back in the AM for sure, probably tonight sit on top of the hill and listen. The side of the hill is all scratched up so it looks like they are hanging around in there. The other side of the field inside the woods is an old pine plantation overgrown with briars so I suspect maybe his hen went to nest in there. I'm hoping he's ok spook wise.

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Well I went back this AM ,sat in that field for 5 hours, heard a bird gobble way off the property just after 5:30am...he only gobbled a handful of times, that was it. A little after 5 I heard someone coyote howl off the hill I came in on, then they went below me on the other side of the field cranking on a crow call...the sun was barely rising!! Think they did a loop around me and went up towards the bird but that bird was shut up tight. Working this weekend so no hunting but that's ok, the weather looks horrible and with a cold front coming, things are going to shut down I think. Will be back at it Monday/Tuesday.

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heavy hunted public birds learn fast gobbling attracts hunters.i have been in the bottoms before daylight and hear first gobble then hear truck coming on road and owl call, slam door and leave.tom never gobbled again for several minutes until truck gone.sometimes they don't gobble anymore until hen excites him and it is more of a shock or surprise gobble.if you hunt later in the morning after the road hunters leave,you will have better luck.noon closing not good for late morning hunts but could be more productive in less time.it is tough competing with a tom AND other hunters.especially,the ones looking for easy hunt or stupid two year old bird.good luck!

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not a biologist,but seem to learn each year as i get older.the turkey hatch success,harvest results and pressure have big impacts on turkey hunting.good hatch=good jake population for NEXT season.good sightings of hens and jakes indicate good promise for next season while not hearing two year olds this season.when not hearing much gobbling normally would mean heavy harvest of two year olds previous season leaving only older birds this season.when there are plenty of two year olds,harvest is up but will be felt next season.novice hunters do well with two year olds the same as deer hunters do with 11/2 year olds.my limit this year was all older birds and little gobbling while last season was heavy two year olds and lots of shots heard.this year,very few shots or gobbles.

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I didn't go out at all this weekend. The small piece of land I was hunting up the road, there are some guys that come out on the weekend and hunt it, so I left it alone. Like Range said, I felt it wasn't worth getting out of bed. I will get back out this week, maybe I can strike up a bird. I haven't seen any jakes yet this year, I think there are more older birds that are educated. I think last year was not a good nesting year.

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