dantheman's journal

[Dan The Man]

First day of scouting,went to the two power lines to see if the turkeys were walking after the rain. Boy, was I pleasantly suprised. Tracks were everywhere, with several big boys in the groups. I went down the road and saw a tom with a very thick and long beard cross the road in front of me going toward my land. Hope he stays until April.

[Dan The Man]

I went to another piece of land we can hunt and saw a batchelor group of 8 toms, with 3 being longbeards. They were in the pasture across the street from our land. It was in the afternoon and thet were heading toward our side to roost.Ill have to start to get out in the mornings soon to see if they have started gobbling.

[Dan The Man]

I went to listen saturday morning and it was 33 degrees. Real cold for us southern boys. I heard about 5 birds, but they were not fired up. Too cold I guess. Checked several other spots to see any new activity and was happy with what I saw. One of the places is to be cut pretty soon, so Im hoping they will make it after April.

[Dan The Man]

Saturday morning, Down at the Pea Ridge tract. I heard two birds gobble once a piece. Very discouraging. I know they will be there but I've got to be patient. I went to my tract in Woodruff sunday morning, and boy were the turkeys vocal. I heard more hens than I've ever heard on this property. I heard two gobblers, and they sounded off for about 30 minutes. All of these birds were heading to the back field to feed on the wheat that was planted three weeks ago. I went up the creek and I made a yelp and a fly down cackle. Two gobblers sounded off and were making their way to me quickly. I caught sight off them across the creek, and I saw three longbeards stop, gobble in unison and crossed the creek with no hesitation. I made my way out of there quickly before I educated them. The bad thing about this is that this land will be clearcut starting monday. Equipment is already on the property. A real bummer.

[Dan The Man]

I went to the Carlise Tract saturday morning and heard seven different birds. There are roosting in just about the same areas as last year, so this gives me a heads up about the direction they will be heading. It will be getting colder this week with rain and that may reduce any gobbling. I wont be able to go back out until thursday morning.i shot my Win super x2 several times this weekend and with different shells. The winc ex range #6 did a good job so I will be using that opening day.

[Dan The Man]

I havent made any entries in awhile, so lets add stuff.
Struck out opening day. Good gobbling, had one fly down within 60 yds and could not see him in the bottom. Called in four that afternoon,great hunt, took one. I hunted sunday and heard birds but got nothing.Monday morning had a chance on a gobbler but he wouldnt come in. That afternoon, 40mph wind I took a friend to a power line and he takes a 21 lb 11 1/2" beard tom within 5 mins of sitting down.The next morning we had 2 come through some thick pines to 30 yards, and I couldnt get off a shot. My bud said he could have killed both with one shot.He should have shot I told him. A youth I took that afternoon took a jake and he was tickeled. Later that same afternoon I had a gobbler come in with two jakes. I took the tom but my shot also killed one of the jakes. Wednesday morning, I had four gobblers come in and I shot three times and took two. The best bird had two 10" beards. great spurs and only weighed 18.5 lbs. Five birds in five days. As Jerry Reed said," When youre hot youre hot, when youre not youre not."

[Dan The Man]

I went this morning, 44 degrees, I had 800 acres to myself and I heard zero birds. I walked the entire property, found some nice fresh scratching, a hen's nest that had been ransacked by crows, raccoons, or something, but no gobbling. My hunting partner took his second bird, 23 1/2 lbs. He had a very thick beard but was only 9" long. He had a very big head and my partner said he shot him yesterday afternoon about 7pm. I'm tired and its only the first week.

[Dan The Man]

Ive been in the woods twice since the last post, with no gobbles when I took a youth on friday. On saturday I went to help out a co worker who lets me hunt his property. We heard one goobler when it was still rather dark. He was roosted close to a road and has been seen in the pasture adjacent to our property with a hen. We were able to set up within 80 yards undected and I made a few yelps that he only gooble at a couple of times. It got light and he still had not flown down. My partner,seated to my left, saw a bird pitch out of the tree and sail across the street into the pasture. I got up and took a peak into the pasture and didnt see a bird. I couldnt believe how he could disapear that quickly. I came back to my bud and we were shaking our heads about the set up and etc. I said that he may still be in the tree and lets be careful. We had been walking around and talking about the situation so I told him to whisper as the bird might be still in the tree. Sure enough he was, as my bud stepped around a tree to get a look. He sailed out and the hunt was over. It had started to sprinkle rain, nothing to deter our hunt though. We started cuttin' and runnin' to see if we could fire up another bird, and about 40 minutes later we got a gobble at the bottom of hill at the creek where our property ends. The second time he sounded off I could tell there were two gobblers. We started working the birds and they gobbled only a few times, but I could tell they were coming our way. I motioned for my friend to come over to me and get in position where the birds were coming in, as he had not taken a bird this year, I believe the birds saw him and they stopped gobbling. We stayed 30 more minutes and started back to our back field. It had stared raining a little more but not bad, and I knew there would be turkeys in that field. We approached slowly and there was a nice gobbler and two heans feeding at about 100 yards into the field. I didnt want to make any calls, thinking the hens would quickly take the tom the opposite direction from us. I noticed which direction they were feeding and told my bud to make his way around and in front of the group. He is 6 for 6 in turkey hunting and I have called in five of these for him. I stayed in my position and watch the birds feed toward where I felt sure he was seated. They crested the hill and I couldnt see them any more and I anticipated a shot. My bud shot, he shot again, and again a third time. Usually not a good sign. I went running up the hill and met him running out of the woods. He said the gobbler was feeding at 40 yards, but there were limbs in the way of his shot. He waited until his last opening and he couldnt get the gobbler to raise his head. He had to take a shot with "stuff" in the way. Hw staggered the gobbler on the first shot, and he flew away to our right, with the other two shots missing. My bud was terribly upset and I told him that sooner or later in turkey hunting you are going to miss. We've all been through it, and I knew how he felt. It takes a while to get over it, and I told him there will be another chance.

[Dan The Man]

I took my bud Kenny(who was with me on each part of the Grand Slam) to the same palce where my other friend missed. The birds gobbled once apiece and we set up on the edge of the field. I thought about a decoy but felt like it might spook them so I didnt put one up. There were two birds and one of them gobbled again about 200 yards down the ridge from the field. I madea few calls but they didnt answer. They knew where we were so I didnt call again. I looked into the field and saw a hen to my left(150yds) and said "There's my decoy" . 20 minutes have gone by, no gobbles. I saw a bird run into the field at about the 2 oclock position 100yds away. I glassed him and he was a gobbler. He began feeding and wasnt interested in any of my clucks and purrs. He went to the same location where my bud had missed the last hunt. I got Kenny and told him we had to move on him. We circled the field to the right just about where the missed shot had occured. We saw the gobbler at 90 yds walking away from us and I clucked to him. He stopped and looked for the longest time. Kenny was getting in position, and the tom turned and starting walking to where the miss had happened. I couldnt see anything from this point, but I could see Kenny in front of me at 30 yds. About 15 minutes passed and I saw Kenny raise his gun. He shot and missed. Two misses at about the same exact spot. He said the bird was probably too far. We walked the length of the property and heard nothing. One hour later we come back to the field and we see a turkey feeding close to where we had set up in the morning. We couldnt see much of the bird and it was about 65 yds from us. A crow flew over and a gobbler sounded off up to our left near where the miss had ocurred. We knew that was a gobbler and the bird in front of us made his or her way out of the field. We made our way around the other side of the field and got in position. I called a few times and got no response. We're looking into the field from the other side where he missed. It was about 11am and was 85 degrees. I felt that the bird and made its way out of the field and walking to another small field because several crows were really making a fuss in that direction. We got up and walked around the left further just in case the tom was in the edge of the field. We had not walked 40 yards and he busted us. He was behind us and took off running to our right. No way to shoot him,alot of trees and he was hauling butt. Another day in the life of a turkey hunter.

[Dan The Man]

Took a friend this morning to where I killed the double bearded bird and my bud hit a tom but the bird got up and ran away wounded. See the post I made on page 9 of Dirty half Dozen in the contest chat.Bummer.

[Dan The Man]

I went with an old friend to help him bag one. We had a perfect morning, 50 degrees, no wind. We heard a bird gobble three times, and a good ways away. My bud felt he would come to a food plot he had so we set up there with decoys. At 9 am we decided he wasnt coming. When we got back to the truck I walked down a power line that was beside the truck and looked out over a big pasture. I made a couple of calls and heard nothing. We were just about to turn back to the truck when I caught movement in the pasture. There was our gobbler strutting at 200 yards in the pasture. we set up and called but 30 minutes later he had not arrived. We moved to the edge of the pasture and I saw him to our right, still 200 yds away, strutting. I put the binocs on him and saw he had two hens. We figured we had to get the hens mad and call them. we started cutting and yelping, and they took him dead away. He did gobble one time way down the creek. It was 10:15 and my bud had to go to work.

[Dan The Man]

Heavy thunder and rain. Didnt go in the woods and it cleared off about 1 pm. I played in a golf tournament, and wouldnt you know it... I hear this tom gobble on his own not far from where we are teeing off. I will be calling for a friend of mine tomorrow and taking the video camera.

[Dan The Man]

I met my bud this morning, he's a local preacher that loves to turkey hunt. He's from Alabama and played football for Auburn. He's 24 years old and has taken about four toms. He's been chasing this one tom on a place he has permission, and he asked if I would help out. I brought the video camera and we had high expectations. It was very foggy, and we didnt hear anything where we were parked. We decided to walk to the top of a ridge that was across the street from where we were parked. When we got half way up we stopped to listen. We heard a bird way off and both of us didnt know what direction it came from. A couple of minutes later we heard another distant bird. He determined they were not on his property. We walked and called for an hour, and heard nothing. Thats the way it goes sometimes. We got back in the truck and headed to a spot of mine. We eased through the woods, heading to a small pasture where a neighbor has heard birds gobbling lately. It was about 8:30am and I hit my slate call. Nothing. I hit it again, Bingo! A gobbler sounded off in the pasture, and we made our way as close as we possibly could without being seen. We set up and we could see the field okay but not great. I began clucking and purring, but the tom was silent. I figured he knew where we were and decided to listen and watch. About twenty minutes went by and I caught movement in the field. There are some trees in the field, and I saw a turkey feeding from left to right. My bud saw it and raised his gun. When the bird was in the open we both could see it was a hen. I told him " Guess who will following behind her". I did some more clucking and purring, and no tom showed up. A few minutes later I decided to get excited with my calling, and start cutting. About the 7th hit on the slate he gobbled to our left about 60 yards in the corner of the field. We waited 1 hour with a few calls thrown in, and he never made an apperance.I'm not sure if we'll try him at daylight tomorrow or mid morning.I hope he roost rather close by and his hens have decided they dont need his company any more.

[Dan The Man]

I called my friend Marion to come up and let me call a bird in for him. He taught me every thing I know about turkey hunting. We started hunting 24 years ago, and we have a ball. He's bagged one bird and the gobblers have gone into the lockjaw modewhere he lives. We went to a parcel of land in my hunt club I heard the birds were really gobbling. We have had a very warm spring, and we were soaked with sweat very early. We didnt hear a bird at daybreak, and we kept walking on logging roads trying to fire one up. we finally set up in a bottom next to the river that runs by our club. We stayed there 1 hour and I was about to fall asleep, when we heard a gobble to our left. We both turned a little to be able to see the bird coming through the bottom. It wasnt 30 seconds later I heard a vehicle coming down the road. I couldnt believe that someone would drive sown the road instead of walking like everyone else. The bird was probably 50 yds from the road, and he never made another sound. We gathered our stuff and made our way back to the truck and just shook our heads about the situation. Saturday morning we went to a private spot and as we left my house it was raining hard, and prediction was for more rain. I had loaded my doghouse blind so we could at least be a little dry. We went to a corner of the property where Ive worked a gobbler earlier. I was setting up the blind and my bud said "I just heard him". So I'm rushing to get the blind up and its raining pretty good. we finally get in and call. The bird sounds off into some hardwoods about 300 yds away. My bud makes box calls and he was using one that sounded great. I thought I heard another bird to our left, but the first bird was closing the distance coming up a logging road to us. Both birds were gobbling, about 200yds apart. Bird #1 was coming, and he gobbled at 70 yds in front of us but just out of sight. My bud raised his gun, and we expected to see him in seconds. at this point the rain turned it up another notch and both birds were not heard from again. We stayed in the blind and a hen came within 10 yards of the blind and never seemed spooked. I hated my bud went home wothout a bird, but thats the way it goes sometime. we made plans to get together soon and for him to come up opening week next year.

[Dan The Man]

A friend at work said he had two longbeards and a hen in his front yard the other day and I said I'd like to come down and call one in for him. He jumped at the offer and we met at daybreak saturday. We heard nothing and I knew nothing about the property to make suggestions. He told me he had a power line behind his house about 200 yards, and so we made our way tjat way. I would call, mostly clucks and purrs, about every 150 yards, and we kept our hopes up about hearing a gobble. We walked about a 1/4 mile on the power line, I stopped and called and heard a gobble to our right side. He was about 250 yards away from us, and we moved into the woods to set up. with the leaves on the trees you can underestimate the distance of a tom so I stopped to call again. he answered to our left about 150 yards. We moved a little closer and I saw a creek between us and the bird. He was gobbling up a slight ridge on the edge of a cow pasture.I put my bud in front of me and he was about 10 yards off the creek. The tom gobbled and gobbled and I made one more purr. he answered and i knew he would be making an apperance soon. I saw him at the top of the ridge and boy was he a nice one. I didnt know if he would come down the hill but we had hopes. He gobbled four or five times and then I saw what I was waiting for. He dropped his strut and started down the hill to the creek. We had a couple of small trees in front of us onboth sides of the creek but we could see a good portion of where we thought he would show up. He came straight to us and stopped behind a dogwood at 35 yds. My bud was twiching and I was worried he'd rush the shot. The bird took a couple of steps to our right, and there was a big opening that I hoped he would go to. He stopped and looked for the hen and he was at 35 yards, My bud shot, and the tom ran up the hill and putted. I couldnt believe another tom I had called in had been missed. My bud said he saw the bird and only had a couple of small limbs from the dogwood blocking his shot. He said surely a couple of pellets would make it through the leaves but it didnt. I was disapointed for him and He was very ticked. We'll have to get after him again next year.