Well I was able to make it out for this trip last week. Went out solo on Monday and stayed in the NE until Wednesday night. I was able to put together a trip that included some backpacking and biking.
Monday I drove from the west side and got to where I would start hiking in that afternoon. I was able to cover a couple miles before dark, looking for a good place to camp and listening/looking for birds. I was able to locate a roosted bird that night and I camped downhill several hundred yards. Boiled some water, ate some food, and got up bright and early. I set up my hen decoy in a small opening about 100 yards downhill from where I thought he was roosting. 45 minutes later he started gobbling. I let him do this for 30 minutes or so then let out three yelps on my slate call. He gobbled back immediately and continued to do so every several minutes. His gobbles started to change in location just slightly so I figured he must have flown down. Telling myself not to over call like I heard new hunters do, I waited another 10 minutes or so and again yelped a few times. He replied, and did so again several minutes later, but he was obviously moving away from me, up the hill. My call another 10 minutes later was met without reply. I waited hoping he'd come back for another hour or so. I decided to go chase some gobbles and scout some more. I found a few gobbles to chase that morning but couldn't get much of a reply if any. From mid day on I spent hiking some miles around looking for other areas to try. I eventually moved camp that evening to be closer to some water and some other birds I'd heard.
The following morning I set up near a private/public boundry where I had seen several toms and hens. That morning was a symphony of gobbles, from three different directions, all within 200 yards or so. I set up in a small clearing in the woods, which in hindsight I don't think my decoy was visible enough. I got replies from multiple directions to my soft yelping after they had flown down. Again trying to practice restraint in calling, I waited, hoping one of the 5+ different gobbles would come my way. Unfortunately, they all slowly moved away from me, mostly into private land where they'd been. I went chasing gobbles again, but wasn't successful. Both the day before and this day had been quite hot and apart from some coyotes running around in a field, I didn't see much moving around. The coyotes got to about a 100 yards, and I tried calling them closer with my diaphragm call, but they went back to chasing varmints. I snuck in to about 50 yards on them before they busted me.
I decided to pack up and hike out to try a different chunk of public land not too far of a drive away. Chased a gobble or two on the hike out, to no avail. A short drive later I was biking up a non motorized vehicle trail on national forest land and found a trail that brought me close to a farm and public land interface. The afternoon was hot, dry, quiet, but it was going to be a last chance to find a bird before I had to return to the west side. Biking a long, maybe 80 yards away, I watch a bird slowly meander into the woods at the top of a ridge, that dipped down on the far side. I couldn't tell gender from my quick glance. I snuck in 20 or so yards from where the bird ducked in and called once or twice, no reply. At that point, having seen other hunters around and lacking confidence in my ability to lure a bird to me, I decided I would try and loop around and cut off the turkey. I still hunted my way through the woods for 45 minutes or so, never to see the bird again. I continued biking around and bumped into an old hunter who shared my lack of success over the last several days. I figured if someone had been turkey hunting in NE WA for the last 30 years without success, my chances weren't great. I enjoyed my ride downhill to my vehicle, packed up, and drove into the night back home.
Having had time to reflect, some thoughts:
-I think that second morning I should have tried to position my decoys in a more visible spot and also hung around another hour or two. I felt confident in my ability to make several different sounds with my calls, however, knowing when to say what was something I wasn't comfortable with.
-Definitely will try and go with an experienced hunter or guide down the line, if only to pick their brain and learn, because the whole experience was quite humbling.
-Being on your own hunting solo in an area you don't know hunting a new species got lonely at times, I have a lot of respect for solo hunters.
-Bringing gear in to hunt turkey and to have a camp for yourself is a lot of gear, more than I brought on multi day mountain goat hunts in Alaska. I over packed not knowing the area I was going well, but camping by the car and waking up a little earlier to bike or hike in is worth it in the end I think.
Lastly, I wouldn't have had the confidence to take this trip without the help of many of you on here who took time to message me, text me, or like Russ and the NWTF to speak to me in person at their events. I have lots to learn and look forward to springs to come.
