West side Easterns and WA Slam Pins

[one more]

The Washington Slam Award Winners started in 1995 and in 1999 the list took up one row of names about four inches long, multi and single season.  In 2013 the list of five columns takes up three quarters of the page.  It is great that some names are on the list repeatedly.  They certainly know where the wild turkeys are and how to hunt them in at least three areas of the state.  I would love to hear any information from them as to how to find Eastern turkeys.  Many of us can get Reos and Mirriams and can not find Eastern toms. 

I believe that an accomplished turkey hunter with many WA Slams to his name should be able to get credit for another slam and pin if he takes someone else out to hunt Easterns and the other hunter shoots the bird.  Also, if he likes to hunt alone, he should get credit for an Eastern tom if he takes a photograph of the bird during the hunting season.  Most cameras now show when the photo was taken.  This would have several benefits:  more hunters would have a better chance to get an Eastern tom and the possibility of getting a WA Slam;  if the experienced hunter chose photography it would disturb the birds less;  more toms would be out there and might gobble more because of the competition between toms  and other hunters would at least hear them. 

In order to get our first WA Slam pin we should have to shoot all three subspecies ourselves.
Just throwing an idea out there.
Diane

[Wacenturion]

The Washington Slam Award Winners started in 1995 and in 1999 the list took up one row of names about four inches long, multi and single season.  In 2013 the list of five columns takes up three quarters of the page.  It is great that some names are on the list repeatedly.  They certainly know where the wild turkeys are and how to hunt them in at least three areas of the state.  I would love to hear any information from them as to how to find Eastern turkeys.  Many of us can get Reos and Mirriams and can not find Eastern toms. 

I believe that an accomplished turkey hunter with many WA Slams to his name should be able to get credit for another slam and pin if he takes someone else out to hunt Easterns and the other hunter shoots the bird.  Also, if he likes to hunt alone, he should get credit for an Eastern tom if he takes a photograph of the bird during the hunting season.  Most cameras now show when the photo was taken.  This would have several benefits:  more hunters would have a better chance to get an Eastern tom and the possibility of getting a WA Slam;  if the experienced hunter chose photography it would disturb the birds less;  more toms would be out there and might gobble more because of the competition between toms  and other hunters would at least hear them. 

In order to get our first WA Slam pin we should have to shoot all three subspecies ourselves.
Just throwing an idea out there.
Diane

Sorry, but disagree.  The Washington Slam is what it is.  Kill all three subspecies in one year....Single Season Slam.  Kill all three subspecies in multiple years, Multiple Year Slam.  Same pin, but single pin has the addition of a single turkey track on it, whereas the single track is absent on the multiple  pin.

"Most cameras now show when the photo was taken.  This would have several benefits:  more hunters would have a better chance to get an Eastern tom and the possibility of getting a WA Slam;  if the experienced hunter chose photography it would disturb the birds less;  more toms would be out there and might gobble more because of the competition between toms  and other hunters would at least hear them."



Would make absolutely no difference.  The reason you don't hear them is you have to be fairly close to birds in typical western Washington habitat as the vegetation eats up the sound.  Also you have to spend a great deal of time to locate the small groups as they have a very specific habitat type they seek out, which I might add changes evey 3-5 years based on western Washington vegetative growth rates.  When that happens, they move looking for the preferred type habitat that just outgrew them.

If you search this forum you should be able to find a number of threads giving advice on hunting Easterns in western Washington.

[yelp]

The Western Washington Eastern is the toughest wild turkey to hunt.  I lived in Olympia, Family in Rochester and Littlerock.  I got the WA Sla single Season in 1998.  Toughest hunt.  I got very lucky.  I have friends that gave up trying to hunt for them it was so tough.  I called very aggressive and got an aggressive reponse.  Killed him strutting 18 yards away.  When he gobbled at 50 yds he sounded like a dog barking not like a gobble.   The habitat is so thick over there and changes so fast that the wild turkeys adapt to the changing habitat.  They like edges.  Old road systems, reprod, swampy bottoms adjacent to ridges..I know that describes most of western WA.  Just like Wacenturian said..there is a lot of info on here.  I haven't been back to try again...LOL  I technically am batting 1000.  I may take my son to get his slam one of these days..that will be fun.  Also Eastern Turkey spots in Western Washington are as prized as a good chantrell patch..you don't say nothing when you find em.

[Tom Tamer]

I don't see where using a gun or a camera disturbs the turkey any more/less. It's the human element that disturbs them. Tye gun blast is just a loud noise to them, something that spooks them. While I don't have issues with folks wanting to take photographs,if out during the season doing so they will have about the same luck as anyone else. I always here or read folks explain about not seeing turkeys when out scouting.They find sign but never the bird. It's mostly because they "saw you" or heard you or something that scared them long before you were close enough.

[packmule]

It sounds like you think that the veteran Eastern hunters are spoiling your chances to get the slam.  In some of the more recognized areas hunting pressure may be affecting the turkeys on the westside, but there are still plenty of unmolested groups of Easterns out there for good hunting, but as others have said, it will take more scouting and a different style of hunting, compared to your previous experiences with the Rios and Merriam's.

Good luck, there's still plenty of season left for you to get one!

[Wacenturion]

Might note that it takes some time and boot leather to become a veteran western Washington Eastern turkey hunter.  Veteran meaning one who is generally successful in locating and harvesting these birds year in and out.

Once you understand the drill and become somewhat efficienty at how to locate these birds, it can be some of the finest turkey hunting you'll ever experience in this county.  Some of that is due to having no competetion for the most part.  Just you and the birds. 

I can honestly say that initially these birds are probably the hardest turkeys to hunt in North America.  That is due to variables associated with these Easterns being born into and conditioned to western Washington itself, a habitat type unlike any other that they occupy, in their historical native range.

I can also say that once you put in the time and become a veteran as described above, fully understanding what is necessary to locate and hunt these birds, that they can sometimes be relatively easy to kill.  That is in many cases due to a lack of disturbance from people or hunters in the areas you find them.  Again, you're hunting them by yourself.   

That goes back to your original assumption that hunter disturbance makes it hard for others to harvest one of these birds.  Quite the contrary.  It a lack of dedication to doing what is required to be successful.  One had better be starting to burn boot leather early in February and stay on it till the opener.  Give yourself time to scout numerous areas.  Once you locate sign, which for the most part are dropping, you need to stay tuned in as they may or may not be in that exact location when breeding starts.  Where they were in February may be where they are in April, or they could be a 1/4 mile or more from that location somewhere out there in that 360 degree circle.  You need to be aware of any shifts before the opener or you'll be disappointed. 

There is a reason many refer to them as "Ghosts". 

     

[one more]

Well, I agree with most of what you guys have said.  I  have worn out a couple pair of very strong hunting boots each early spring since we moved here in 1998.  I have worn out many different maps and copies of maps off Google Earth.  Also a GPS.  At first I found a lot of sign in a lot of places, droppings and feathers.  Now almost nothing.  During these years, I've heard only three gobblers.  Several years ago, two of them - at different times - seemed to be coming toward me when I heard another hunter's shotgun.  I never heard those birds again.  The other bird didn't gobble a second time.  I've hunted in good weather and in rain.  I've asked for help before, offering a tanned, hooped beaver hide as a thank you gift, but  still no Eastern.  I remember everyone that has told me where to look and if I connect with a bird in their area, they'll get the beaver hide.   Also, I promised  Not to take anyone else to the places without asking the helpful hunter.

I'm not able now to hike the hills as fast as I used to.  I just think that if there were more gobblers out their they would gobble more. 
Diane

[mtnseth]

I'm one of the ones with my name on the regs more than once, so I'll chime in.  When I first started hunting easterns seriously in 2008, I received a lot of valuable advice from people on this forum.  It's all there for you to search and absorb.  I think as things begin to click in the field, you start to realize how valuable their advice really is.  I've saved all the correspondences and reread them frequently to see how I can interpret what they were saying with a new perspective.

I spent 21 days of the 2008 season hunting various spots in 667.  I lived in Tacoma, so it made sense to stay close.  I started by reading an article in the Fishing and Hunting News that gave three or four very general spots that were adjacent to original eastern release spots.  No one put me on their honey hole.  I took that information and started small, scouting just a mile behind a gate, finding sign, maybe spotting a hen every 3 or 4 trips.  I hiked farther, climbed higher and found even more sign.  I even picked up droppings and threw them off the logging road so no other hunter would see it.  During those 21 days, I never heard a single gobble. 

The next season karma came my way, and in an area I hunted many times and came up with nothing, I heard a gobbler fire off at 4:30 on opening morning.  He was a nice young tom, and came strutting, gobbling and drumming all the way in.  I never gave him more than a soft cluck.  My theory - as I've had 4 years to replay that glorious morning in my mind - is that he was part of a flock and was pushed out and separated from the area by an older tom that loved to hang out safely on private land.  He was lonely and vocal, and it cost him. 

I knew I had gotten lucky.  Starting in February of the next season, I pushed deeper behind the gates.  I was rewarded with even greater amounts of sign and more frequent bird sightings.  I entered the gate at 2:45 a.m. to journey the 6 miles in the dark to what I thought was the mother of all eastern honey holes.  Tons of sign (hopefully meaning tons of birds) and privacy, because what fool is going to climb that high and far for a turkey? 

I set up well before first light in an area with lots of fresh tom sign on a calm, clear opening morning, and listened to the deafening silence of no gobbles.  I hunted hard for three straight days in near perfect gobbling conditions and never heard a bird.  That's just the way eastern hunting is.  Another theory of mine is that these birds are habitually less vocal through negative experiences.  A noisy, yelping hen or a blow-hard gobbler is more likely to attract one of the numerous predators that share their dense habitat.  True, their calls don't travel as far with the deep brush, but I truly believe they are, generally speaking, more tight-lipped than other subspecies.  However, I think these easterns have different inclinations to vocalize based on where they hang out.  In my experience, birds that have access to private property, especially farms, tend to do a lot more gobbling.  Others may disagree, but that's what I've encountered. 

Listen to what Wacenturian says about changing habitat.  Today I hunted two fairly remote spots that had consistently held birds.  One spot was known to have some pretty vocal gobblers, usually multiple toms and jakes.  Despite a clear morning, geese honking, barred owls firing off, pileated woodpeckers singing - silent.  The area was a ghost town and we couldn't find a drop of sign.  The other spot had some sparse sign, mostly a week or so old.  I hunted hard and set up in areas I knew the birds loved to cross but never heard or saw a thing in a full day hunt.  As you probably gathered, I didn't put my scouting time in this year.  I'm an 509er now, and just showed up cold to my old haunts to hunt.  Things change in the eastern woods.

That said, the hunters who consistently harvest birds are NOT impacting your chances of getting the slam.  If you've been undercut by another hunter, then hike farther, get in earlier.  There are plenty of birds, they're just bloody hard to kill.  There's nothing between you and them but miles of gravel and the determination to stay after it.