Just waned to post my hunt over the Memorial Weekend. Arrived to a area I never hunted before on Fri. at 5:00 a.m. Wow saw a flock of (2) toms (5) hens in a wood clearing eating. Drove past them about 1/2 mile walk down do raspy mouth call (Bam) gobble goes off right next to me. Worked this bird for over a hr. till he finally gave up and starred walking up the dang mountain. Left that area so things could calm down went over to another spot same area just 10-15 drive away. Get out use box call (Bam) 3 toms gobbling went on for a few min. then silence. I posted up for about 1,5 hrs nothing, hend up most likley. So left that area went back to a.m. spot (Bam) same dang tom going off. If I had a partner he would be one dead turkey. Same thing we went at it till about 10:30 till he went silent. He did not want to come down or up I tried going up around him down around him going silent smart bird. Went got lunch came back to same area to try and roost. That went well had (2) toms com in and roost on this will side.
Next morning I was in that spot set out a hen decoy right below them. They sounded off to my oft calls then went silent. Saw a couple of hens on same hill & saw tom walk in there direction. Other Tom went opposite side over a ridge so went up after them. Nothing not even a gobble 2.0 hrs trying soft calls & going a little aggressive. For the rest of the day & evning nothing. Day (2) was not as good as day (1).
Day (3) went to totaly different areas (4 total) nothing at all even went over to Col :bash:lvile area till night nothing. On day (4) I had to make a choice. Go back to area day (1-2) or try another area. I came up with go back to area ware O heard all those sneaky birds. Get into the woods about hr. early then I do (4:20 a.m.) was driving threw woods with window down. Not even 15 min into forest (Bam) tom gobbling. Park truck up a half mile wait for shooting time make a raspy hen call (Bam) gobble he is so close. Set up on a old logging road just above him. Set up my Hen Decoy in front of a burm to keep trucks & things out. I set up right behind a stump. Prop my 12g Remington super mag on stump & soft calls on slate & he is fired up. Gobbling getting closer I did very light & very few calling. I see him, he sticks his head up don't see his body since he is walking over these berms/small hill. I have a scope with a dot I put dot on his head & I FN MISSED.
First time with a shot gun. I practiced before I came out what went wrong. (1) I got nervous since it was my last day may be. (2) got trigger happy maybe. Owe I know what the problem was I set the red dot to be on lower neck so the pattern hits his dang head. I put the red dot on its head when it looked over that little hill side. I will never make that mistake again. Also I should hve waited for him to come over that little hill side. Two more seconds I would have had a better shot. Lesson learned cant wait for fall.
Side note saw (2) cougars very healthy with very nice coats. That was awesome. Also saw a big brown bear/grizzly. Same thing healthy with great dirty blond coat. Had fun this season even though I did not get to hunt as much as I usually do. Learned alot about late may since this is my (2) season on same days. Nothing was really different from last year to this year in late may.
All in a nut shell (They dont gobble as much) be out there super early no 5:30 a.m - 6:00 a.m. 4:00 am. - 4:30. Dont get frustrated if you dont roost them that night they will be more vocal in morning. Make sure you do soft calls with long (3-5)min pauses. Last day is always the best day. Thanks for reading I like every ones comments or helpful tips on this site.
