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Post by Dan The Man on Feb 16, 2007 20:19:54 GMT -5
Another spring is fast approaching.2007! Will it be a good year like last year, or a tough year like some in the past. Either way, where else would you rather be april 1st. Ive picked up several new places to hunt, and Ive dropped out of my hunt club. They cut too much of the land and I hardly deer hunted the property. The places Ive picked up are great and have many flocks. I was told that a flock of 70 was spotted during deer season. Guess where I'll be starting this year. Ive promised to take a few people this year,and I hope i can make it a success by putting a gobbler in range. Im still hoping my wife will go with me one time. Ive asked for 22 years, and Ill ask again this year. Maybe a afternoon hunt about mid april will do the trick. Ive got to get the video camera out more this year. I say that every year, and after two or three hunts I quit taking it. Boy, some of the hunts I was on in 2006 would have been amazing. Seeing four toms come strutting in would have been a great scene to watch over and over. Im getting chills now recalling every move I made opening day last year. Got to get out and start listening in the mornings. Most of my new places are pretty close and thats good. Ill hit a few in the mornings before work. Get the calls out and try to stay calm until opening day.
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Post by Dan The Man on Feb 25, 2007 10:07:43 GMT -5
feb 25, 07 Got up on sunday morning to check out a few places. There was a slight drizzle and the reports said it would be all day. I knew the birds would head to the pasture, so thats where I was at daybreak. I heard no gobbling, and after an hour I had not seen anything I felt it was time to glass a few other fields. I had not gone a 1/4 of a mile and I saw a nice gobbler and 7 hens in the pasture beside our property. They had obviously roosted on the edge of our propertry and flew across the street into the field. This is the same area where I hunted with the boy that lives on the place last year, and the birds pitched out over our heads into the field. I drove back home and checked out another field where I had seen a flock last year. The bushes had grown up since last year but I could make out a couple of black figures about 250 300yds in the back. I drove to a open gate and parked. I walked up to the fence and called. Two gobbles rang out. First gobbles of the new year. I hid behind a bush and watched as four long beards made their way through the pasture toward me. I noticed as they got within 75 yds only one had a good beard(10") the others had about a 7" beard, not a jake. I had to make them gooble in unison, so I cutt real hard amd they all let go with a heavenly sound. They got within 40 yds of me and looked for the hen real hard, and after 10 minutes they crossed through the barbed wire into another field . At this point I made my exit, and was kicking myself for not having my video camera.
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Post by Dan The Man on Mar 1, 2007 7:29:12 GMT -5
I scouted one of my places I hunted last year wednesday morning(Feb28) I walked to the gas line and hit my crow call at 6:30am. A gobbler to my left answered quickly at about 200 yds. I let him gobble 3 more times and moved a little down the gas line. I hit the call again and heard two more toms. One was on the same side as the first bird but 300 yds down. The one on the right had a very good gooble and was rather close to me,100 yds. It was 38 degrees but they were ready to start courting. I left shortly to get to work and was glad I had at least three toms in the area.
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Post by Dan The Man on Mar 20, 2007 20:52:57 GMT -5
I made it to the woods this morning,march20th, but I didnt hear a thing. Man did I find places to deer hunt though. Rubs and old scraps on this pine ridge everywhere. I made it down to the edge of the swamp and saw a few turkey tracks(deer tracks everywhere). I know the toms are there and all I have to do is go a couple mornings this week and find where they are roosting.
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Post by Dan The Man on Mar 23, 2007 18:54:43 GMT -5
Tomorrow, march 24, is the day we can take a youth out to turkey hunt. Problem#1- I got back into playing rock and roll, and we play tonight.10pm-2am. In the old days I could get by with only a few hours sleep, cant do it anymore. #2 - My daughter, whom took her first tom at the age of 11, is 16 now and into other things than getting up early and going hunting. I think what Ill do is check with her about 9-930 tomorrow morning and see if she wants to go near the house for about two hours. The old man would cut 14 flips if she shot another one like the last one. My daughter was born without her right hand, and she has not let anything hold her back from doing anything. She is a junior in high school and has been on the competitive cheerleading team for two years. Last year they won the state championship, which made dad very proud. She can tumble and do all the gymnastic stuff wearing a prothesis on her right arm. When we go hunting I help her hold the gun and she lines up her shot. Wish us luck this year,but the bottom line is that we are sharing some quality time together.
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Post by Dan The Man on Mar 25, 2007 7:47:04 GMT -5
Sad to say, My daughter made plans with her boyfriend. We will go another time this season. she is still my hero.
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Post by Dan The Man on Apr 1, 2007 18:49:49 GMT -5
Saturday morning I went to the gas line where I had heard three toms two weeks ago. I hit the crow call and only one answered. I cut into the woods to my left to get closer to him, all the while he;s gobbling on his on. I got within 125 yds of him and the woods got very open, so I decided to stop and the tom stop gobbling. I thought he might have seen me, and after about 10 minutes of silence he pitched out away from me. I waited about 20 minutes, clucking and purring, but no gobbling. I decided to move his way and stopped about 100 yds up the ridge where it flatens out. I yelped pretty hard and he gobbled ahead of me about 75 yds. I sat down and hoped to see a tom coming my way. I never heard another gobble!. I walked about 2 miles and it was very humid. I was soaking wet by 10am. I made it back to my truck at 11am and went home. Turkeys 1 Dan 0. I went to another place about 530, saw some good sign, but no gobbles. Turkeys 2 Dan 0.
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Post by Dan The Man on Apr 1, 2007 19:04:34 GMT -5
Sunday,April 1, a friend invited me to go with him to his farm to hunt. Sprinkling rain, but still pumped. We set dekes out in a field and did not hear a gobble until 8 30. He was along way off and not on our property. We doubled back to a small food plot, and we could hear the first tom gobbling on his on across a big creek and in a big field. I made a couple of calls, and heard another tom on our side. We had one hen decoy out, and the floodplot was slightly elevated with the creek to our left, and the tom gobbling 4 times a minute. we were sitting together on a big pine, and I told my bud that there was a tom within 60-70 yds of us, be ready!. Out in front of us we saw four crows dive bombing something we couldnt see. I told my bud, the crows have given him away. Point your gun straight in front of us, he's coming up the hill. 15 minutes go by and no turkey. Then I made a mistake that someone that has been hunting turkeys as long asI have shouldnt make. I had my gun an my knee waithing for our tom to appear, but after he didnt come in quickly, my legs got tired. I crossed them, and PUT THE GUN IN MY LAP. You guessed it! He had circled us and came out right where I had my gun pointed. He was at 25 yds, and putted immediately. I tried to slowly get my gun up, but he had already busted us. I took a shot at 26 yds, and didnt cut a feather. My choke is so tight, it was like shooting a rifle at him. He flew away, Im cussing,disgusted, and 1 minute later, just to add to my misery, the original tom cranks back up. We left and the rain was starting to pick up. Ticked off! Turkeys 3 Dan 0.
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Post by Dan The Man on Apr 4, 2007 16:40:19 GMT -5
Monday April 2, heard no gobbles, walked two miles, went home. Gotta take the good with the bad.
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Post by Dan The Man on Apr 4, 2007 16:59:02 GMT -5
Monday evening I went to anew place that a friend had, and I got there about 7:15, just to scout. I had not walked 200 yds and heard a goobler sounding off on his on. I walked up a ridge to get a better bearing on him, and he was about 300 yds to my left. I was excited, and would return in the morning. Before I left I made a owl call about 7:25, and a bird just about blew my hat off at 80 yds, already in the roost tree. I eased out, very eager for the next day. I brought a young man with me that is learning how to turkey hunt, and boy was he educated tues morning(April3) The close tom gobbled on his on as the last decoy was put into the ground, so we hunkered down and listened to the show. Turkeys started gobbling, and it was awesome. I had my video camera, but I didnt want to mess anything up for the young man, so I turned it off. In front of me at about 10yds, I could see his breath in the morning air coming out very fast, and I whispered to him to try and relax. Joining ther first tom was two more, and I made a few clucks that sent them into a series of gobbles that lasted about 10 seconds. This continued for about 10 minutes, and I caught movement to my right. The toms were in front of us, on the roost, at about 85 yds,with the trees already having leaves. What I saw was a hen approacjing our decoys, and see putted when saw me try to spook her away. I jumped up and ran at her and she took flight, thank goodness,away from the thundering three. They flew down in front of us, unseen, at about 60-70yds. The leaves were vibrating from the gobbling these three were making. But, they held their ground, and instead of coming to my love talks of clucks and purrs, they dropped off into the bottom behind them. Dead silence for 30 minutes followed, along with shaking my head trying to figure out what happened. We moved several times and we would hear a single gobble about every 30 minutes. we would move closer, but could get no responses. This went on until 12:00 at which I felt everybody needed a break. We went to lunch and decided to come back a little before fly up time. We stayed until dark and saw and heard no birds.
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Post by Dan The Man on Apr 4, 2007 17:17:39 GMT -5
April 4, 07. Success! We went back to the same place from the day before, but moved slightly to the left of the ridge we were on tues. We heard two seperate gooblers early, and decided to set up on the edge of a clearcut, with the toms in the hardwoods about 200 from us. I have been on the property twice, and didnt know all of the problem areas, and found out why the toms would not come to us. There was a big ditch between us and them and they headed to our right, down in the bottom where they went the day before. It is very thick in this area, with alot of holly trees making it hard to see very far. I told my bud to grab his gear, and we ran to the bottom about 175-200yds to beat them there. I decided not to put up decoys, as we had a few problems with some hens the day before. I told my bud to cover one side of this bottom and I would watch the other.About 10:25 I noticed movement on my side and saw that it was our two guest of honors! They were easing along at about 75yds in our direction, and the lead bird was in half strut. I whispered to my bud to look a little left and he was quickly ready. As they appoached , I was looking at certain trees to determine yardage to about 40yds. They were closing the distance ever so slowly, and they got to my tree that I felt I could take him cleanly. Both of our guns were up, and my Tro Glo sites were on the lead bird. I asked my bud,"Are you on your bird?" He said he could not see clearly enough, and I was looking at two longbeards that suddenly showed signs of nervousness. THe lead bird turned slightly and flipped his wings in that nervous manner that they do. I took the shot, with my bird dropping and the other bird running away. I was on him quickly, and saw he had a double beard. I was excited to get the first bird of the year, but also the plus of a double beard. He weighed 18 1/2 lbs, 1" spurs, and a thin 7 1/2" beard and a thick 10" beard. You gotta stay with them, and sooner or later they make a mistake. I'll post pics asap.
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Post by Dan The Man on Apr 5, 2007 12:00:27 GMT -5
I took a young man this morning to a place close by, heard a few gobbles, but they were not interested in anything we said. It was windy and cooler and I thought the birds would really tear it up this morning. We'll try again friday.
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Post by Dan The Man on Apr 7, 2007 11:11:41 GMT -5
I took the same young man back out, and we went to some public land this time. We found a place that had recently gone through a controlled burn, and usually toms like this kind of area, so as day was breaking we stepped out and I blew my crow call. BINGO!Two toms answered, they were about 300 yds apart, and we starteed making our way to the closest one. He gobbled twice more and I could tell he was already on the ground, and leaving us. The other tom gobbled to our right, also on the ground, so we turned toward him. We went about 100yds and I made a yelp. He gobbled, but he was also leaving us. We gave chase down a ridge to a good looking bottom where everything is already greened up. I made a few calls and heard nothing. We sat down and just listened for abour 35 minutes. Nothing! Thats the way its been with me the past couple of days. We'll stay after them though.
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Post by Dan The Man on Apr 18, 2007 19:24:10 GMT -5
This entire week APRIL 15, has been terrible. Ive had birds gobble only a couple of times, and soon as they hit the ground... nothing. Ive had everything go wrong and I keep telling myself that these things run in cycles. You got to take the good with the bad. The birds are gobbling less each year, and the weather has really screwed the birds up I feel. I'll still get up and try each morning,cant kill em in the bed, and hope that things change by the weekend.
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Post by Dan The Man on Apr 19, 2007 18:44:25 GMT -5
I helped a bud at his farm Wed april 18, and we hunted on a power line that he had planted with clover and wheat. We had our decoys out at daybreak, and we heard two birds across the power line to our right and one across the power line to our left. One of the birds from our right flew down in the woodsacross from us. He gobbled once to my call, and I thought we were in business. He never gobbled again. The bird to our left gobbled three or four times in the next hour, and that was it. We walked until 11:30 without hearing a thing. That afternoon we went back to the same power line and set up the decoys again. I told my bud that some birds come running to the decoys and others run away.At about 7pm I caught movement coming from my right about 100yds. It was a gobbler and he got to where he could see the dekes, he locked up. He immediately made a right turn and hauled ass into the woods. It was getting late so we decided to pack up. I went to get the dekes, and looked up the power line at two towers up. A gobbler strutting and 5 hens getting ready to go to roost. My bud could not hunt the next day, so we waved goodbye to them. CRAP!
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