May 3rd, 2007 The Gob-Father & Rackman Double!!!
Here's the story behind the birds....
The morning started off with a predetermined plan to take what was learned from yesterday and apply it to the next hunt... primarily regarding the set up on the roost first thing in the morning and then chasing after that big bruiser later after I picked up Rackman. It was going to be a challenge for sure, but hey... that's what I love about this sport!
So, let's start with the morning roost...
Yesterday I had a chance to see full out where the exact tree the birds were roosting in and where they were going after fly down. It's a VERY traditional spot for these birds right now and they have plenty of company for the party on the limb. There are 2 toms, 3 jakes and about 4 hens. A decent ratio but about 4 hens and 3 jakes too many. I'll deal with it.
So, after watching them pitch down and where they preferred to go yesterday and combining the witnessed events from opening day two days ago on where they end up... it was apparent where I needed to set up before fly down. Now, I've been getting in the woods at the EXACT moment the first gobble rings out. So I planned to get there about 20 minutes prior to that so that I'm in position and ready well before they bring their head out from under their wing and wake to the dawning day in the spring turkey woods. So... I set my alarm a bit earlier and planned to be out the door a bit earlier as well to get the jump on 'em.
Problem...
We've been having pretty much a full moon for the last three days and it REALLY lights up the woods regardless of what time it is... especially with crystal clear country skies! I don't even need a flashlight in other words. Lets put it this way... I found that SWEET shed at 5:15 A.M.!!! Who finds a shed in the dark?? When ya got the moon goin like that... those sheds literally GLOW in the dark!! Nough said. So yeah, that's what I'm dealing with going in to THEIR living room.
Of course, twigs snap and ring out like the shotgun blast I so want to let loose and the moon shines upon me like a sptlight that is saying... "Here's the turkey hunter... fly away from him at dawn!". At least I felt that way.
Needless to say, my trek to the set up point was challenging. I'm a ninja in the woods when it comes to getting ultra close to the roost. I have witnesses that I've been hunting with that swore I'm crazy for saying that we're going to get within 10 yards of the roost only to get RIGHT UNDER the exact tree their in without ever being busted. But... not today.
As I approached what I thought to be the perfect setup point I happen to look up and see this all too familiar black blob in the tree up above me. Yep... a bird right there starin right down at me. Oh yeah... I could tell it saw me. I could see the head bobbin like weeble and it wobbled but it didn't fall down! At this point, I had no other option but to slowly squat and sit next to the closest tree and hope that the bird would "relax" and forget it happened. Turkey have a very short memory span and was what I kept telling myself in hopes of being good to go... it was all I could do at that point... sit and hope for the best.
Well, as daylight got brigher, the sunrays through the timber revealed all sorts of little black dots within the branches... couldn't help but think of a "black blob jury" that was staring at me ready to sentence me to turkey hunting humiliation. I knew it was going to happen. I just knew. I just had to sit there and eat it. And then... it happened. They never gobbled, the hens never spoke and they all conspirated against me and took off in the EXACT OPPOSITE direction of me as soon as it was light enough. Again... I knew it was going to happen.
Ok, morning hunt over. I gave up and I'm rambling about a non-eventful morning set. But... it happened.
Next I decide to go take a look at the field in which the bird was at yesterday morning that I spotted at this time of day that my ol' man missed a shot at. And yep... he was there. I only had about a half hour to hunt him before I had to go pick up Rackman from work so that we could get to huntin together so it had to be quick.
I tried to take a quick route to cut this gobbler off and since the property was very new to me this year I was VERY unfamiliar with the lay of the land. I got dealt a bit of a reminder on why it's important to do your homework because of this little "shortcut" I decided to take. Yeah, this "shortcut" found me smack dab in the middle of a swamp with freezing cold water damned up by a beaver damn that I had to wade in. I'm frickin in thigh high freezing cold water carrying my gun over my head like I'm in boot camp trying to find a way out of this mess... the swamp just gets colder, deeper and longer to tredge through. Panic almost sets in as I say to myself... "All this for a frickin turkey!!
"... yep, I've got it that bad. So... I can't feel my legs any more and my boots are so damn heavy from all the water that's now in them and I almost take a spill at least 3 times... which would have ruined all my calls and really p'd me off! But I managed to find a dry spot and sit there and almost cry.
I look at my watch and realize... it's game over. I have to leave. I didn't even get to hunt that bird!! Now I gotta go back through all that and think about how stupid of a move that was on my part. When I got back to the truck parked on the side of the road I said to myself "Ha... I just decided I'd go for a swim... with no intention of doing anyihing but freeze my butt off and get soaked... yeah, that was worth it moron!
"
So, strike too!
I pick up Rackman and tell him of the events and say that it's now personal. Ok, I let all the rest of the days slide and had no worries. But if you could have heard the words that were coming out of my mouth when I slipped off the beaver damn and had the cold water hit the boys down below... you'd know that I wasn't playin when I said to him... "We're killin a couple birds today... and I'm not playin around!... This is personal now!". And it was.
So, we go and try for the bruiser we missed yesterday. We did the cutt and run like we did yesterday of the same ridge he was on both yesterday and this morning. But... no results. Not even a single gobble!
We only had about an hour and a half left before quittin time (Noon is the shut off point here in NY). So, we were racing against the clock.
We heard two gun shots come across the road coming from one of our properties. Both were pretty close to one another. We figured that the spot would be "tainted" now that shots were fired on our sacred ground. There's only 7 known gobblers on the property and two shots went off. If all worked out and worse case situation .... now there's only five... five of which are now "gunshy". Needless to say, that option wasn't looking all that great.
So a quick thought came to mind... there's a spot not to far from there that I've got that we could go drive by and see if there was anything out struttin in the two fields on the property. Why not? So we did. We jumped in the truck to go check it out. There was a MONSTER TOM strutting only 70 yards from the road! And he was heading toward the WAY far back field. The road we were on would give us the ability to get in front of him and try to cut him off. He had two hens with him so it was going to be difficult.
We managed to park about a half a mile up the road and RUN the back side of the hedgerow that allowed us to go unseen in our pursuit. We got to the corner of the field and a crow cawed in the distance which in turn made the gobbler sound off. I didn't get a good bearing on where it came from so I hit my crow call as well... and got an immediate gobble out to our right in the hardwoods! That boy already done beat us to the punch! How he did it I dunno, but the bottom line is that he was within 200 yards and juiced up.
So we quickly set up the deeks and I had Rackman positioned closer to the gobbler and me in the further position back doing all the calling. I called on my mouth call and BOOOMMM!!! He gobbles right at it! So I hammer at him again! BOOOOM!!! Another gobble! This continued for the better part of five minutes or so. Now he's gettin hot. Answerin everything I throw at him. Double gobblin and cuttin me off. This IS the bird I love. I dream of this encounter every year and is MY GAME. I get a bird to respond like this and it's game over. You might as well start filling my tag out when it starts cuz it's turkey over the shoulder time! lol... well not this time lol
You see, he swung around and came in from the back! I heard a booming gobble... the kind that you hear and KNOW he's Close... closer than 70 yards. It just has that bass to it and you can hear his feathers ruffle as he gobbles. So, the only thing I could do is turn around quickly and hope that I can target him quickly before he spooks. I do and find his bowling pin head above the cut corn row behind me. I realize he's too far for a shot for Rackman and quickly try to get him in my sights. I pull the trigger quicker than I wanted to and bye bye Mr. Tom! Man!! Was he a butterball too! Musta been at least 24 lbs or more! Oh well... GF misses one also! So there Rackman... I do it too! Have a few times before as well and I'll admit that. I feel it adds character to the turkey hunter. It humbles you.
Ok... so we're down. Yet another bird that barely escapes the bang of the Collins Cripplers and it's about gettin old now lol.
All this action happened in less than thirty minutes. He came in hard and fast and surprised us. We're down... but not out. Those were my exact words as I started the ignition to the truck and headed off to the next spot....
Now, this is where we get our birds....
The plan was to drive around the backside of the property for any other satelite toms. It was worth at least checking before we called it a day. I'm soaked, I missed a shot at a nice tom, Rackman's trigger finger is gettin itchy from yesterday, we're sleep deprived and fatigued.... we gotta kill somthin... and soon!!!
Just as we round the bend, boom!! I see a dot... a tiny dot WAYYYYYY off at the top of a crest in one of the pastures. Was it a bird? Well, lets get the binos out and check. Yep! These sharp ol' eyes of my were dead nuts on! 4 birds as a matter of fact! And all seemingly carrying 9" beards or better! Time to get it on once again!
Looking at the clock, we didn't have much time left! Could we do it? Only time would tell... ironic huh? lol.
We cut them off like last time and got into postion. We found a PERFECT big ol' tree for both of us to sit against. I set out the deeks. I put the Jake out in front and to the left and the hen directly out in front alot closer towards us. There's a method to this strategy and boy did it pay off!
We're sittin there ready and I start my calling sequence. NOTHIN! Not a peep. The wind was picking up a bit and it was time to break out the box call. I grabbed the Shallow Rio and started aggressively yelping and cutting on it. Trying to cut through the wind and distance (mind you, the birds were at an estimated 300 yards+ away
! BOOM!!! Gobble in the distance! They were there and they were responsive. This goes on for about five minutes and boy was that call ever singing! They musta thought there was some sweet little girly girl below that wanted some loving because they were hammerin and gettin closer! At this time, Rackman starts playin the Rut N Strut call that I killed my tripple beard with last year to sound like multiple hens... guess what?? BOOOM!! More frantic gobbles! And what's more... a hen from our right starts chiming in! I'm talkin turkey talkin y'all!! Talk about some noise!!! Between those sweet box and pot calls and that hen and those beautiful sounds of gobbles responding to you off in the distance... it just was music to the ears! Anyone that could have witnessed this event would have wet themself! It was heaven! I honestly have to say if it wasn't for those calls we would have probably gone home empty handed... but because of them... guess what?? WE DIDN'T!!!
;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
All of a sudden, over the crest of the field we see two VERY fire engine red necks and softball white heads bouncing in towards us!!
It was on! These birds ran so fast to our calls and set up it was amazing! I've NEVER seen birds run this fast towards my calling! EVER! And I've hunted for a while and have had some birds a runnin! Not like this though! That's why I carried those calls in my vest with me this year! They do the deed!
These birds are so wound up that they never even see me and Rackman position ourself nor hear us do the "countdown". We did it on four... like music. 1,2,3 BLAM!!
We rolled 'em!!!!!
Two longbeards down! We race toward them and see the others racing off that were behind them! Those two calls brought in 5 toms and one hen! Unfrickinreal! What a blast! We high fived and took pictures and just savored the moment. Not too long after all the pics were taken and such we hear the "noon whistle (town siren)" go off in the distance. We had beat the clock and scored nicely!!!
What started out really frustrating and burdening, turned sweet so quickly! That's turkey huntin for ya! What's most important for me, is spending time with my dad. We've been bustin our hump just to get memories like this. They don't come easy but they're so rewarding when they happen. Had either one of us been hunting solo we could have gotten 3 or 4 birds already by now. It's tough with more than one person. But a challenge that makes it special and great! We got more work to do! Lots more work to do. I'm going "Bow Only" now. As that was one of my challenges for this year. We'll make it happen!
Thanks for readin!
Here's the pics:
Measurements (These are unofficial "field measurements" til we get final official scoring)
My bird:18 lbs 10 oz
7/8" Spurs
9 1/4" Beard
Rackman's bird:18 lbs 3 oz
3/4" Spurs
9 1/4" Beard
They were "lightweights" and "ok" on the spurs but the BEARDS were FANtastic!!!
Not the trophies we're after, just a great way to start the season and help the team with if needed.