After a good nights sleep that has been long overdue for the past week or so I thought I'd take the morning off from huntin the turks and get caught up on some posting of stories from the NY turkey season shared with Biggie & Spysar.
Opening Day May 1, 2006:Opening day found myself eager with anticipation for the opportunity to finally carry a shotgun into the turkey woods for the first time after having gone through a very long wait while scouting for six solid weeks straight. It was go time!
Biggie had gotten into town the night before and matched the excitment of anticipation for the season opener. After a long trip from Ohio to New York he was ready to get after some longbeards and so was I! After meeting up with Spysar and Biggie we sat around and talked about how the week was going to pan out and laid out the plan of attack.
The alarm clock rang out at 3:00 a.m. and it was time to put on some coffee. I gathered up my gear and was out the door to meet up with Biggie at a central location and then it was off to one of my prime spots. We arrived right around 4:30 a.m. at the farm and we made our way to the blind I had made the week before where I had been seeing the birds go to in this pasture first thing in the morning after fly down. The field was quite crunchy as we approached the blind and the air was still and the pre dawn hours were silent... sound was traveling quite well. But we made our way to our set up and sat in wait for first light.
The sun started to break the horizon and the chickadee birds were beging to chirp. And then.... GOBBBBBLLLLLEEEEE!!!!!! There was a bird right above the EXACT tree we were under gobblin right over us! Biggies eyes LIT UP!! It was great to hear that all too familiar sound so close once again. There were 7 gobblers all sounding off every two minutes and the spring woods were lit up with sounds of music to our ears!
A fly down cackle indicated it was about to start when about 6 hens flew directly from above down into the field we were overlooking directly in our decoy spread. We couldn't help but think that the next few birds to fly down was going to be a longbeard. As they started coming in we saw no beards and heard gobbles now getting farther behind us... the toms had left the group and more importanly... our gun range and set up.
After debating what to do next we decided that we make a short walk to the next alfalfa field over where I had been seeing the birds work to later in the morning. We left our original set up and walked slowly to the next opportunity waiting over on the other side of the farm. We skirted the perimiter of the open fields inside the woods and approached the new set. We stood about 75 yards in from the edge of the field and I let a couple of series of cuts and yelps from my Mighty Hunter tube call... on the second series I got a response way out (approx 300 yards) on the opposite side of that field! There was no way to close the gap without being seen so we found the nearest trees to sit up against and starting calling to the responsive gobbles.
Within about 5 minutes the gobbles were now only 100 yards away and the birds were now coming in to our set. We put up our guns and waited. Gobbbbbblllllleeee!!!! Right out in front of us over a small knoll in the field came a gobble and we couldn't actually see what was coming in. Then, we caught movement to our left. It was two HUGE toms!! The broke and came into the woods about 20 yards in and off to our left. The hung on the top and then made an about face and back into the field leaving us now flustered and disappointed.
We gave them about a half hour to move out and then we decided to skirt that field and start cuttin and runnin. We got on top of a ridge and the plan was to walk from one end to the other as I just knew that on that ridge we'd just have to get into at least one bird during the course of the walk. I continued to call while walking the ridge for about 500 yds or so and then got a hen to reply to my calling. I tried to get her attention and bring her in to see if she was carrying any luggage with her. She shut up after about 5 minutes of smack talkin between us and then a gobble rang out! It was game on once again!
I set up and continued to work this bird for over 35-45 minutes. He just hung up at about 60-70 yds in within the thick stuff. Biggie could see him through a lane in the woods but the angle I was at I couldn't. He said he just danced in full strut the whole time never moving a foot closer. So I stopped calling to him and let him walk off so that I could move in to where he hung up and try at him again. When he walked off I repositioned and cut a few times.... he was only about 40 yds in front of me on the other side of a small hump. I called again... no response... repeated to call and nothing... he had left me.
This all happened over the course of about 6 hours with a few minor details missing from the story but that was about it for opening day. (we walked MILES!)
Second day May 2, 2006 (Triple Beard):Well the game plan on this second day of huntin was to move to the other side of the road where we had seen a monster tom strutting in the field all by his lonesome (we actually went after him opening day, just left that part out of the story... it was a bust and didn't work out). We set up before light in that field and waited. And then got a gobble from him behind us... at least a few hundred yards back in the woods. He only gobbled twice on roost and was never to be seen or heard from again on that set. We heard TONS of gobblers on the other side of the road and it was time to make a move.
We got back into that same alfalfa field we hunted the day before and got those two big toms to come in from and as we approached we saw the group of strutters down below in the original set up we had on opening morning down in front of the blind we were in. Just made the wrong choice in set ups I guess. So I figured we could still at least try to work those birds down there all the while still working the birds that were going crazy in the woods surrounding the field we were in. We set out the deeks and continued to call for about an hour or so.
I heard leaves behind us and looked to see what it was and saw a big red head just above a downfall. A tom had snuck in behind us silent and didn't like what he saw and left. He wasn't all to spooked or anything... just didn't want to play with us. We didn't get much activity where we were at so we decided to up and move and do the same ridge run that we did the day before in hopes of striking up a gobbler.
Well, we were only in the woods about 20 yards as we were walking and I let out a series of yelps and cuts. On the third series we got a gobble and it was CLOSE! We quickly set up and I started calling to this bird. I played all sorts of sweet music to this guy and he was coming in on a string. I finally caught his movement and he was coming right in to our set. He was staying in this really thick stuff and came down a deer run and stopped about 45 yards in. He looked all around and started to get "nervous" for some apparent reason. I only had a small window to shoot through and his head was just barely clearing a sapling. I decided that I could get a few pellets in his cranium if I aimed for the gap. I took the safety off and squeezed the trigger.... BOOM!!! He hit the ground... then flapped his wings and got up runnin... it was a weird run but running none-the-less.
We got up quick and ran to where he headed and he was gone! No sign of blood, feathers or stuggle... NOTHING!! Both Biggie and I SWORE that it was a hit and saw him go down... but we just couldn't find him after making a huge sweep of the area. I must have either missed him altogether or clipped him but nothing lethal... either way, it was very discouraging.
Well, we decided to not let it get us down and take us out of the game and we continued to run and gun. After about 5 minutes or so of nothing and the woods having been disturbed I just decided out of the clear blue to try another one of my spots. Actually I had just gotten permission not to long before the season opened to hunt this property and decided to give it a shot... boy am I ever glad I did!
I had never walked this property before so it was all new to me. I really didn't like the idea that I didn't know the lay of the land all to well as that may be a hindering factor in the equation of bagging a bird but needless to say... we needed to kill us a bird! So we went with it and let the hunt unfold in front of us.
We more or less were just scouting the spot for a possible upcoming hunt. We saw TONS of sign and things were looking great! I'd call every now and then to see if we could strike one but to no avail. We sat on a downed log and started talking of leaving as it was getting to be late in the morning and started liking the idea of getting out to do some striper fishing. Just then Biggie and I decided to just take a look at one more area of the property and see what it had to offer. I really liked the way it was looking and actually said "Man Biggie... this spot is PERFECT for turks! I bet they roost right up here on this ridge and pitch down into that open area where it v's into the woods. It's PERFECT turkey country!". So I just wanted to give one more call to see what happened and when I did... GOBBBBBBLLLLLEEEE!!!!
Alright! We're on a bird now brother!
So we made our way down this steep ridge and got set up. I put the deek out about 25 yds in front of us between us and the bird that gobbled. I let out more calling to him and he was responding good!! I played with this bird giving him all my bag of tricks. He was coming in but slowly... and with another bird! We've got two birds working their way to us and it's a game of "finesse" to get them to work. I pulled out my slate Waterfall Bubinga Rut N' Strut pot call and that's what made 'em break!!
I caught movement to my right and saw these two longbeards coming around a bend in the woods.... gobbling, strutting, working it! The one lead stutter broke and came right in to the deek. The other was hanging down below out of sight and not being all too cooperative. We were hoping to get a double and this just might have been that opportunity. But then the tom that is now only about 30 yds in front of me started looking all around wondering why this hen is not "moving"... I think he was just getting a bit weirded out and getting weary. BOOOOM!!!!! My Mossberg shotgun rang out and dropped that bird dead in his three toed tracks!!!! He didn't even flop! Just straight down like a ton of bricks!!! It was a blood bath. Those Nitros pelted him and busted his head a good one!
Biggie and I were just glowin! Lovin it all. It was a text book kill and one that needed some work to get-r-done! Upon examining the bird's "credentials" I noticed that it had a smaller beard up and above the big one. I said... "Hey Biggie look... it's a double bearded bird!"... couldn't believe it! It was my first double bearded tom ever! I was just excited as could be!
Later that evening I had dropped by Spysar's place to show him my bird and upon looking at the beard we had noticed that the main beard had a THIRD beard wrapped around it! (See Pic... you'll see where it comes from in front of the main beard and "wraps" behind it):
At first we thought it had just seperated from the main beard, but upon further investigation found that the beard was completely seperate from the main beard. It was a completely different length, where the grey part of the beard meets the black amber colored strands started at a completely different length on that beard than the main beard AND it had a seperate "casing" or flaky tissue that encased that beard seperate from the other.
It was now official... it was a triple not a double!!
What a fine hunt and a great bird! It's now on it's way to the taxidermist (Huntress
):
Third Day May 3, 2006 (Tagged Out!):The third day found us sitting in a haybale blind that biggie brought with him that we set up the day before. We were in the field where we set up on opening day and sure enough the birds were still there! They were gobbling like crazy! The first hens dropped down in the field and then the two big toms followed suit. I decided not to call at all since we were on the opposite side of the field that we hunted on previously and knew that they would more than likely make their way to us down below. Problem was.... was like it always goes... they didn't do as expected.
The hens stayed out in the middle of the field and then the gobblers got bored with the hens and made their way back into the hardwoods.
I decided to try one of my other spots again. This new spot we were going to was where I nailed my big tom last year.
We got there and decided to walk a logging road that borders the fields surrounding the hardwoods. The road provided a very quite walk which really decreased our chances of being heard as we were runnin and gunnin it. We got to a few listening spots along the way while I called and didn't get a response. Then went up only about 100 yards or so and I called again... this time I got a gobble!
Now, the thing here is that this day was "Biggie's Day". I was out there to get him a bird this time! So when we got the bird to respond I put Biggie in a spot just off the logging road we were on in between me and the bird that responded. I put out a deek on the logging road further away from him and the gobbler and then I was going to sit about 45 yds from the deek. So in other words, making a line whereas Biggie would be on top of the bird before he got to the decoy and especially so if the bird was one of those that "hang up" just outside of gun range on a deek set up. It seemed like the perfect plan.
So I continue to work this bird and worked him good! But then, come to find out... it was two longbeards gobbling and coming in once again! The skirted out and around Biggie and were keyed in on my calls... they were coming to me and totally circled Biggie not giving him an opportunity. They didn't see the decoy so that was out of the equation now.
I caught some movement off to my far right. I saw two red and blue heads poppin in and out of the pines and got to see the beards on 'em as they moved through. At this point I realized that there was no way Biggie was gonna get to drop the hammer.
The only thing I could do was stop calling and hope that they would somehow see the decoy past me and work that way. But the problem even there was that if they did... then I'd be in the line of fire and knew that Biggie wasn't gonna shoot. So when I stopped calling they continued moving to my right... and I'm right handed so I couldn't swing with ease. I had to try to take these birds now... not that I wouldn't want to but I really wanted these birds for Biggie but I just can't let a long beard walk by me in range and not drop the hammer if I've got my tag waiting to be filled. So I decided that I better had taken the shot. The problem was, was that I didn't have the shot unless I repositioned and swung on the shot... These birds will definitely see it and I knew it... I knew that I just had to be deliberate and take the shot on the spook. So, I did just that. I repositioned, made some noise, pulled up my gun, got on the bigger one with my bead and they BOOKED!! Full speed dash of a run and I dropped the hammer and dusted the bird with one shot right to the noggin at 38 yds on a dead run!!!
My immediate reaction was to yell down to Biggie..."I had to shoot him Biggie, I'm sorry!".... It was weird because I felt bad because I had really wanted to have Biggie kill this one but I also couldn't help but feel that great feeling of dumping a big tom! I was torn but knew it was a great set! Biggie told me right there though that he would have been pissed at me if I hadn't shot him! So it was all good.
So two back to back days of downing great birds and I'm all tagged out for the season. Three days into my turkey season and I'm done.
But it's bittersweet. No complaints here whatsoever... it was one of the best ever seasons I've ever had and I did it in good company ;D.
And now that I've tagged out it was really go time to get Biggie his bird and Spysar and I did just that!!:
I'll let those guys tell you the story behind how his bird fell to the gun but in the meantime here's the pics of that outing the very next day:
Four days, Four birds!! Great big stripers being caught! Just don't get any better than this!!!: