Covehnter Posted April 28, 2009 Report Share Posted April 28, 2009 The skies never seem more blue than in the Spring. I was able to get this picture of the clear skies on Sunday. :D A public land senior citizen. 11 1/4" beard, 1 3/8" matchin' spurs, and only 16lbs- these ridge runnin' mountain birds slim down alot after a long spring of breeding. I'll try to get the story up later tonight. It was a perfect example of hunting public land the right way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
huntinguide Posted April 28, 2009 Report Share Posted April 28, 2009 great bird Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest TennesseeTurkey Posted April 28, 2009 Report Share Posted April 28, 2009 This makes your 7,546th bird this season? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Covehnter Posted April 28, 2009 Author Report Share Posted April 28, 2009 The Ole Man on Public Land Ever now and then, you're rewarded for doing whats right; not often enough in my opinion but when it does happen it's sure sweet. For those of us who are frequent customers of public land realize that when you are approachin' this ball game you're playin' against two teams- the bird itself and if thats not enough you're dealing with the crowds. The scwalker who's yelps and cackles run together and are all dead rasp and no turkey. These are closely followed by the loud arse crow call blowin' posse- that definately aint a crow. You can "go deep" and "get away from the roads" but eventually when you start getting away from one road, you're always getting closer to another. Sure this MAY leave a few of them behind but lets face it, we've all read the same articles and some of those guys are just hard headed. Either way you slice the cake, you have got to learn to hunt the turkeys while being hunted my the crowd. Sunday morning I was settling into a pine ridge just before daylight. I'd had a close encounter here Friday morning and snuck in what i hoped would be tight if he chose the same roost this morning- he didnt. Soon after daylight once i realized I'd been stood up I moved out to a highline hill top where a bird was speakin' up on the other side. Upon arrival I noticed fresh boot tracks in the road and heard those scratchy sckwalkin' yelps of another customer. He was attempting to convince that bird to leave his hens from what i could hear. . . . yeah, good luck with that. Not wanting to interfere, despite my optimism for this fellas success, I moved on down the woods road in the opposite direction. A half mile later, i snuck out to the highline again just in time to hear what sounded like several birds sounding off a few hundred yards on the other side. I punched in a point on the gps so i'd find my way back out and wouldnt loose their location. Soon I was pushed into the trunk of a pine within 100 yards of the hardest gobbling bird and commenced to tell him how excited i was to hear his good morning story. He was equally excited. He was moving up the open pine hilltop to my location, just like the doctor ordered. Just when you think you've found one of those "easy" birds that actually cooperate I'm was startled by a member of the other posse- the crow caller. He obviously scared me more than the gobblers b/c he was met with silence. Just another quick vent: Why in the he!! was he blowing the call anyways?!?! The bird was gobblin' every 30 seconds!! Why would you need to make him gobble? Let him do it on his own!! Anyways. I turned toward the nitwit and rolled a few of my worst yelps off to make sure he understood this bird was accounted for. . . .that didnt matter. He just hopped over to the other side of the hill and snuck on in behind me and started his hen imitiation. This tripped my switch, tripped it quick. The bird was within 100 yards and closing but I didnt care. I stood up and walked over the pine hill- spooking what ended up being a gobbler with 2 hens that were approaching through a ravine. I wasnt going to have a gobbling turkey moving in between me and this so and so. It spelled trouble and I wanted to make sure this guy wasnt rewarded for his attempt at cutting me off. After making sure that the posse member knew his inconsiderate actions werent appreciated and the hunt was over on this hill, I moved on down toward a pair of birds that were chiming into the earlier conversation. I slipped into an open bottom close to where I anticipated the birds to be and got comfortable. My first announcement was met from just around the corner and the game was on again. The gobblin' pair closed quickly but stuck just outside of eyesight. This left me with my cheek down on the stock and my eyes scanning the bend for their approach. After accepting reality I figured out it wasnt going to be that easy yet again. My hen talk provoked gobbles from the longbeard but they had moved back up the bottom away from my hideout. Another gobble had me pickin' up and moving 30 yards closer, situating, and speaking up again. The move lit another spark with them and they moved in again, and again stopped just out of sight. Dadgum it!! A short time later, their gobbles faded back up the bottom and I repeated the procedure- closed in another 30-40 yards and got comfy. My seductive talk provoked gobbles again, this time from the retreating pair and two other birds from behind me that hadnt added to the conversation thus far. We conversed shortly but all that excitement grew cold. Ten minutes of silence from me is hard to come by but thats what i gave them. Hard cutts and choppy yelps shaved across the top of my diaphram and pulled a gobble from the once fading pair and it seemed like they were closing in again, this caused my heartbeat to escalate like always. I went soft with the boys and this couldnt grab a gobble but it did gather the coarse yelps of jakes in the bottom. I figured the pair of longbeards had company, I engaged the waiting game. A few minutes later I was still scanning the landscape for the outline of glimmering feathers in the open creek bottom, when I heard what I thought was rustling in the pine straw directly to my left- away from the bottom. I cut my eyes but saw nothing- chalked it up to an eager squirrel. When the straw rustling was accompanied by unmistakeable spit-vrrroooooommmm, I knew that was no squirrel. I cut my eyes as far to the left as I could and found what looked like a black 50 gallon drum moving through the open select cut pines. Slightly tweakin' my head I soon made out the other strutter. They had left the birds in the bottom and looped around to what they assumed was a girlfriend, this wasnt their first rodeo. The sun was glistening off their impressive postures but I was only able to enjoy this for a moment. The lead bird moved behind a pine tree and the rear bird I hoped would be shielded by some underbrush. I somehow prayed hard enough and drifted into position to seal the deal. I fixed on the rear bird and delivered some hard cutts, he lifted his head as ordered. I allowed the Hevi 13's to finish the stand off. He piled up without a wiggle and I wish someone would have had a shot of me when I laid eyes on his 1 3/8" stickers- totally unexpected! What a nice surprise. Wouldnt you love to know what this old man has seen and heard in his years of running these public land ridges avoiding the posse and searching for love. Sometimes doing whats right is rewarded- not moving in on a bird you know is being worked by another hunter and avoiding potentially dangerous situations. Knowing the unethical jerk had to hear my death blow also added a smig of satisfaction. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
huntn4bucks Posted April 29, 2009 Report Share Posted April 29, 2009 HUGE congrats once again Cove!!! Now that's a nice'un! This weekend was really good for us too. We actually saw seven different longbeards on Saturday and managed to pick two out of the flock. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dakota Posted April 29, 2009 Report Share Posted April 29, 2009 Way to go, Cove! Where were you hunting? Is that the Black Hills? I thought I was going to pick you up at the airport in Rapid? Dakota Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Covehnter Posted April 29, 2009 Author Report Share Posted April 29, 2009 All I need is for someone to accompany me (help w/ rental) or meet me there and i'd be on my way as soon as I could get a tag in the mailbox!! We could make it happen!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Covehnter Posted April 29, 2009 Author Report Share Posted April 29, 2009 HUGE congrats once again Cove!!! Now that's a nice'un! This weekend was really good for us too. We actually saw seven different longbeards on Saturday and managed to pick two out of the flock. Just in the nic of time huh? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Strut10 Posted April 29, 2009 Report Share Posted April 29, 2009 Congrats on a gorgeous bird!! Don'tcha just love the public land turkey-commando brigade?? :mad: Like you said......"we've all read the same articles". Some of the commando brigade seem to have only read the article once, read it poorly, assumed that's all there was to know.............and went hunting for the rest of their lives. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dakota Posted April 29, 2009 Report Share Posted April 29, 2009 All I need is for someone to accompany me (help w/ rental) or meet me there and i'd be on my way as soon as I could get a tag in the mailbox!! We could make it happen!! lol Well, I think I'm going to have to take a raincheck on that, Cove, but I would be more than happy to do that next spring for sure! Also, I just realized that that is an Eastern...so it couldn't have been shot in the Hills...I need to pay more attention to detail! Once again, congrats! How many does that make for you then this year? Dakota Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elnor Posted April 29, 2009 Report Share Posted April 29, 2009 That's my kind of blue sky bluebird day!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WHISKEYSWAMP Posted April 29, 2009 Report Share Posted April 29, 2009 great bird and hunt! congrats! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hoythunter37 Posted April 29, 2009 Report Share Posted April 29, 2009 Dang man that is a great bird! Congrats Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rhine16 Posted April 29, 2009 Report Share Posted April 29, 2009 Congratulations Cove! Another great bird and story! All I need is for someone to accompany me (help w/ rental) or meet me there and i'd be on my way as soon as I could get a tag in the mailbox!! We could make it happen!! I'll be that someone.... I have from Friday until the following weekend out of school. Let's go Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toddyboman Posted April 29, 2009 Report Share Posted April 29, 2009 You are a turkey slaying machine!! Congrats on another great bird!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
huntn4bucks Posted April 29, 2009 Report Share Posted April 29, 2009 Just in the nic of time huh? Yep, gonna give it one last try tomorrow...I can't believe it's over already. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BAMABUCKS Posted April 29, 2009 Report Share Posted April 29, 2009 Congrats on another great bird. Love the pics. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3seasons Posted April 30, 2009 Report Share Posted April 30, 2009 (edited) Congrats on a huge public lander. Good job. Sorry to hear that your fellow public land hunters act the same over there as they do here in MS. I often wonder if these guys learned any ethics of the woods. But man is it gratifying to get a bird after all of those others have failed. Edited April 30, 2009 by 3seasons Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jorden Posted April 30, 2009 Report Share Posted April 30, 2009 Awesome bird, that thing is a monster:D:cool: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Turkeygirl Posted April 30, 2009 Report Share Posted April 30, 2009 Congrats! Great looking bird! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redbeard Posted May 1, 2009 Report Share Posted May 1, 2009 Ats my man! You the best out there my friend. Congrats. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhino Posted May 1, 2009 Report Share Posted May 1, 2009 Congrats Cove...sounds like you were destined to be rewarded with that ol boy. Yep...I hear ya about the turkey hunting posse. I went through that last year in MO hunting public land. I was on a bird at dawn only to have 3 commandos come in and set up behind me and on either side. I had the bird coming in until the yahoos moved in too. I called to let them know I was there and the yahoos just called back and kept calling. It was obvious they weren't going to give me any slack so I moved out of the gauntlet and probably spooked the bird out of there doing it. From what I could hear while leaving the area that bird never gobbled again. The only shot I heard that morning was one of my buddies that shot a distant bird. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KirkV Posted May 1, 2009 Report Share Posted May 1, 2009 Very nice bird buddy way to go on a truly old bird. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hunt or be Hunted Posted May 1, 2009 Report Share Posted May 1, 2009 Congrats Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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