Tough birds, Funny Hunts..Lets hear the stories

[yelp]

There are always a few tough birds that all us turkey hunters run across.  I think some of the toughest are the Easterns..but I have had some challenging hunts in Eastern WA.  I have also awarded nicknames to some of the toughest..Some of them beat me at the game, others weren't that lucky.  Looking back they were the most awarding hunts to.  What are you stories, nicknames, etc.  Also any funny stories are welcome too.

Here is my first story of "Bin Laden"

I chased a big ol'tom for years, he always came back to the same roosting area. A 1/2 acre pocket of timber up in a cliff.  HE had position all of the time.  I looked for a weak spot to infiltrate his position and it was tough.  He always had hens (lookouts).  I call him "Bin Laden" because he hid in the rocks with women and children.  I felt like a sniper in Afganistan.  He didn't like decoys..because he seemed to do a head count every morning.  He like to gobble but he wasn't interested in anything I had to say.  His weakness was the hens..and he followed them all over but with all of those eyes  it was tough.  Three years we went after that bird with no luck.  Last year not me but one of my buddies got position of him and was able to sniper his ass.  He called me on my cell...I got Bin Laden...he's huge.  I almost cried..LOL  It was exciting and sad all int the same moment.  Another tom filled up Bin Laden's spot the next week.  Gotta love the pecking order.

[fishunt247]

This thread's perfect, Yelp. God I wish my dad was computer literate so he could tell some of his. He has lots of stories from back in the 80's and early 90's when they'd hunt a bird all season long. They would venture off and hunt other birds, but they'd always come back to that hard bird. I'm looking at one of his hard birds in a full strut mount right now. I have two: one survivor, one who was not so lucky.

Survivor: "LongGobble:" Years ago, I heard Ray Eye tell a story of a bird that had a gobble that was way longer than most gobblers. In the spring of 2008, I found a gobbler like that while scouting a new area. His gobble, on average, is 3 or 4 notes longer than most gobbles--it sounds really peculiar. I didn't hunt him on opening weekend, but came back one midweek morning late in the first week. Dad and I went into the canyon he roosted, got in on him and worked him for a few hours. Henned up, we left him at 8, said we'd be back in the same spot at 9. We showed up too late, as it turns out, as we spotted him strutting into our last setup with a subordinate tom and six hens. Damn. We had to leave him for that day, school was calling. On Saturday, my brother and I went in on him, got snowed on and called in two hens. We left him and headed down south. Later the second week, I went in on him again. Same scenario...loved to gobble and answer, but insisted on going the other way, no matter what way that was. On May 1 of 2008, we called in and I killed the subordinate tom, so we left LongGobble for that year. Spring of 2009, I went in and found him again. I never go the chance to hunt him, I killed my two gobblers too early. I gave him to a friend of my brothers who wanted to killo ne with a bow because I knew chances were he would survive that encounter. My  brother called him to 50 yards, but LongGobble hit the wall. The next week, I took a buddy in on him. The first day, he had hens would gobble hard until we got close, then would head the other way fast once we closed in. The last day he was henless, and I thought it was gonna pan out. Again, he got to 50, hung up, and faded off into the timber. Hopefully we will meet again in the spring of 2010.

[fishunt247]

The one who was not so lucky:
This bird lived on a place we termed "The Knob." It was, as you may assume, a knob. For some reason, it held TONS of gobblers the whole season long, despite an immense amount of hunting pressure. It was a place we wouldn't scout nor hunt until the second week of the season, to let the crowds clear out. In 2005, on The Knob, my brother and a friend of ours both killed longbeards on the youth opener. Despite being 10+ longbeards on the knob that year, there was one in particular that owned the area and had the most hens. They didn't kill him on the youth hunt. Dad and I went in there midweek of the second week, I called in a group of 3 longbeards into range. Dad killed one, but I set up all stupid and didn't get a shot. I went in and hunted the boss again the next week, only to be foiled again. On May 5, we were walking into The Knob with our headlamps on and busted a bird out of the roost. Turns out, it was the Boss. We didn't hear him until about 7 oclock when he started cranking off. He missed his sexy mistresses. We were on the east side of him, he wanted to go west. He must have been running full tilt and gobbling every 15-30 seconds for 400 yards, a period of 20 minutes or more. I'm an in shape kid, like really in shape, but my sprints did nothing to cut this gobbler off. He got to his hens before I got between them, and the woods were silent. Dad and I decided to to set up where we lost him, 60 yards from a clearing where he liked to strut for the past couple years. After 30 mins of cluck and purrs, nothing. Screw it, I thought, and cranked it up. I let out a few cuts real sexy like, sounding real slutty. In the last set of them, he cut me off maybe 100 yards away. 15 mins, nothing. So Dad whipped out a fight n' purr, created a bunch of racket, and the Boss strutted right in 5 mins later. He has a 10.5 inch beard and 1" and 1 1/8" spurs. In the rocky country we hunt, these are ENORMOUS spurs. For the Blues, they are weak, I know, but not around there. I know this gobbler got called to by us on 5 occasions in 2005, and who knows how many times in 2003 and 2004. Amazing.

[PA BEN]

Shot a 22 lb.er one year on the second day of the season. I'd been watching this tom for two weeks before season. Put him to bed the night before the opener. On my way in to get above him at 4 am, I saw a flash light in the timber going up the ridge he was on. This was my Dads land so I went over to find out who it was. A man and his kid parked off my dads land and walked in. They said they had permission, I asked from who? They gave the wrong name. I told them to leave, the man said it's the kids hunt. I told him my Dads name and to ask the right land owner. Will I set up on a flat above him with a decoy. Had him hot as hell in the tree. He flew down the the other side to his hens. When I got to the field he was out in the middle strutting for 6 hens. I watched them until they went into the timber. I would give a cutting call and he would gobble. Then shut up. Most hunters think if a tom doesn't gobble he's gone. But when they are strutting for hens they don't gobble much. After about 20 min.s another cut would make him gobble, still in the same place in the timber. I watched as two hunters walked up, they heard him gobble. They called and called and called, no answer, they started to walk to there pick-up, I gave a cut and gobble. They hit the dirt and went back after him. They set up and called and called again. No answer. They got up to leave and walked away. I gave another cut, gobble, they hit the dirt again. set up called and called on answer. I could have done this all day. Will the next morning I set up below him. He flew over my head out into the field w/the hens. They went into the same spot in the timber. I made a big circle around them and set up above them. Killed him after an hr. of sitting as they made there way up to me.

[turkeydancer]

Several years ago my buddies decided to go up this one steep hill again.  Being a little leg weary, I told them I was just going to go out in this one gap between a couple of fields where I had seen birds passing back and forth at times. I set up against a big pine (the only tree around) about 15 yards from the gap with a ground blind in front and an umbrella blind in the tree to keep the drizzle off.  When I started calling, a hen over the hill behind me got excited, and came past 3 ft to my right.  I waited about 15 minutes and started again.  Another hen behind me got excited, and started coming in.  I was looking to my right where the other passed, but this one came around the tree to my left and had her head next to my left pocket looking everywhere for the hen she had heard. After a few minutes she  finally spooked out of there, so I waited another 15 minutes before starting again.  Four jakes came up the hill sneaking to within 15 yards and I popped the lead one.  The other ones couldn't figure out what to do because the lead bird now blocked their path. The second in line was trying to get # 3 &#4 to turn around and go the other way.  By this time I had another shell in, but just as I shot he had sprung about 6 feet in the air and I missed.  He came down behind #3 & #4, as they all were going back down the hill.  I thought I pumped the empty shell out, but it didn't eject and nothing happened when I pulled the trigger again.  I gave the birds a soft call as I racked the pump again and watched the old shell come out and a new shell pop in.  I took aim and pulled the trigger. Nothing ... a dud?  The birds had now turned and were coming back up hill to my calling. I racked the shell out, picked it up and took a good look ... it looked fine.  I didn't have time to dig another shell out of my pocket, so I put the "dud" back in.  By the time I came up and took aim, lucky #2 was back up hill and just behind the now dead lead bird.  Boom ... not so lucky #2 dropped right next to the leader.  Imagine my own buddies on the hill. They hear me shoot and say to each other " hey,dancer just got one".  About 15 seconds later, they say "oops, maybe he missed".  Then a long gap of several minutes before a third shot, "What the heck is dancer doing down there?"   Half hour later when they called me on the GMRS radio, they asked if I got one.  Couldn't resist saying ","no, ... (long pause) got two" !     The jakes were 14 & 15 lbs, and was my first (but not last) double. It was a very fun trip that we will all remember ...   

[yelp]

Anymore stories guys..I like the ones I have read so far.

[steen]

This would be my husband's bird.  I'll call him the "Walk the Line" gobbler.


  It was a guided hunt in Oregon.  They sat in a blind for quite a while in the morning hearing several gobblers.  As the morning went on none came in to the calls and slowly some wandered off.  One was still gobbling but he would sound close then slowing get farther away and then come closer again.  Finally my husband talked the guide into letting him stalk the bugger.  I'm sure alot of you know how hard it is to sneak up on a turkey.  He kept creaping slowly forward while his guide called occasionally.  When the turkey was close he stayed still but as he moved down the hill following his "line" he sneak a little farther.  This took at least a hour as he could only move when he heard the tom's gobble farther away.  He put himself into position while the tom was below  and waited for the shot.  Sure enough that tom came right back on the same line he had been going back and forth on and my husband shot him.  I'm sure there was more to the story but it was an interesting hunt for him.

[yelp]

Steen - That hunt reminded me of a few hunts I have had.  Some toms have strut zones where they will gobble and strut back and forth in a very specific area.  I have snuck in when the gobbler was away and waited for him to show back up.  The normal thing is that hens go to the toms.  So most toms will strut back and forth kind of trolling for hens.  The beauty is that they are very patternable and with the right call it can be a great set up.  Anytime they give you a weakness and you can capitalize it is great.

[turkeydancer]

Geez Yelp ... what happens at turkey camp, stays at turkey camp !   

I have done that same sneak on a strutting tom. I'ld wait until he turned and was going away to sneak up. He would stop and then gobble at the end (about 20 yards), I'ld freeze and then he would come back the 20 yards, gobble, then turn and head back again. After a hald dozen evolutions I was standing 30 yards from his starting point.  Good for me, bad for him.   

[yelp]

Geez Yelp ... what happens at turkey camp, stays at turkey camp !   

I have done that same sneak on a strutting tom. I'ld wait until he turned and was going away to sneak up. He would stop and then gobble at the end (about 20 yards), I'ld freeze and then he would come back the 20 yards, gobble, then turn and head back again. After a hald dozen evolutions I was standing 30 yards from his starting point.  Good for me, bad for him.   

That's right..I forgot...LOL

[Raul Duke]

My 1st year Turkey  hunting.

   My freind and his dad had taking me out turkey hunting a few time that year, and it was towards the end of spring hunt. I had a real good idea of what to do and could not wait, to fill my tag.
  We had been scouting this area and knew these Toms that would walk around and cross the edge of a frield everyday about the same time (9:30-11am).
So on the last day of the hunt we got are game plan together. We would walk in befor sunrise. Sit and not call,no deeks. Just sit and wait it out.once they cross, Kukes will make a call and we open fire. Untill then just sit tight.
About 7am 2 other hunters walked in and sat about 50yrd above us.We let out a quick call, to see if they would see us,and maybe leave. Nope.  We decided to just sit tight. They never saw us. Wait and see what happends.
  Rite away they start calling, and the jakes start calling rite back. Here we go, not what we planned but we got action. This is my sons 1st hunt. First time my son gets to hear a turkey call back, ruffle its feathers and scratch. This was going on about 20yds behind him. He was sitting with his back to some thick brush.  About 20min into the calling we hear clucks. These Jakes are about 10yds away, and I can see them now. I was sitting at the highest point, then a freind, then there was a log ,, behind it was Kukes and my son.

Sweet, here comes 3 jakes. I see them strech out there necks and call... I slowly start ro raise my shotgun.Wow these birds are really worked up.  They are about 6ft in front of me..just passed Kukes and my son. BOOM! ..........BOOM!.. WTF?
I'm not ready yet.. I didn't hear the call. DAMIT KUKES!
My boy manages to get a shot off, wounding the last jake. Kukes drops the 2nd one on his first shot,  (then his semi jamz, he was already getting ready to fire again) the 1st bird flys up hill towards the other hunters BOOM, they drop it.

We stand up and walk out of are blinds. Kukes is already turning red.
Me: "what happend to making the call"
Kukes:  "i did"
My son: "no you didn't I was sitting rite next to you with my finger on the saftey , waiting for they call also"
Me: "cockblocker"
We go talk to the other 2 hunters, they apologize for comming into are area. It was fine, are group got a bird, so did they.
Well that was Kukes 1st Turkey he ever shot. He has been hunting turkey off & on for a couple years. It was my 1st year & my sons 1st turkey hunt. I guess , I'll let it go this time.
(little did I know , he would cock block on me again, with a 4x4 whitetail, and a spike elk all in the same year. but those are stories for another day.)
He says I bring him good luck.

[Shootmoore]

I'll probably catch hell for my hunting tactics but I was a kid and did not know any better.

My first year turkey hunting in the Okanogan Valley.  Well they opened Turkey hunting in the Chilliwist unit so I bought my tag that first spring.  I didn't have any turkey calls, didn't know that turkeys were smart and had no idea what I was doing.  Sooo my first two years I hunted Turkey's like I would grouse.  My first year was a jake, I knew that they had to have a beard but that's about as far as my knowledge went.  I was up on knowlten knob area and was driving up to the area I was planning on hunting.  I seen some birds back in the pecker poles so I grabbed my shotgun and slipped into the peckerpoles to try and sneak up on them. 

I was concentrating so hard on the 3 or 4 birds that I could see (trying to spot a beard) that I got a little tunnel vision,  I closed in to about 20 yards but could not see a beard on any of the birds.  It then registered in my brain that I could hear clucking and and what sounded like a heard of wild mountain gerbils moving through the pine needles.  I finally broke out of the tunnel vision and looked around.  I was dead smack in the middle of about 20 birds.  I seen one about 6 feet away with a beard and shot his head off.  Day two of my first turkey season over with.  By the way make sure you cover up when 20 turkeys take off through the peckerpoles, sounded like a heard of wounded Buffalo.



Season 2 up on Arkansas flats, I drove up and started working one of the sagebrush ridges along the South edges as I heard a grouse drumming.  I figured it was a grouse but did not know if turkeys made that noise to (no turkey knowledge still)  found the grouse and watched him for awhile.  I then continued down the ridge and seen a tom strutting out in the sagebrush down the ridge from me.  He had a couple hens with him and was really putting on a show.  I sat there and watched him for a bit and I have to say it was fun to watch.  So I snuck down the ridge using sagebrush and greasewood to hide my approach, got to within about 30 yards of him and shot him in the head.  Season two over with 3 days in the woods. 

I kind of faded away from turkey hunting after that season, being young and dumb I thought it was kind of a waist of time since I could only shoot one a year. Since then I learned that I was hunting them wrong and think after all these years I might give it another try and hunt them the correct way, I figure it might be more of a challenge that way.  Besides I'm not as sneaky in the woods as when I was younger.  I'm planning a turkey trip over to my great uncles ranch north of colville this spring and bought me a couple turkey calls this winter.  Going to try and hunt em the right way now.

Shootmoore

[Tom Tamer]

Last year the entire month of May I spent chasing one we called " Booger", First encounter I had my wife out for her annual turkey hunt and our anniversary to boot. So I take her to my favorite spot and wait for sun up. As dawn approaches we here one lone gobble that answers everything I had. And if you guess he's in another ridge about a mile away on the other side of a canyon, you'd be right. And wouldn't you know he;s the only game in town. So I let the wife make the call, I personally would've went after him but I didn't want to drag her against her will so it was her call.We get to the road at the bottom of the canyon and locate him again, he's right above us 1/4 mile though. The only way to cross the creek sent us right into a steep ridge littered with blowdowns, that most of us wouldn't chase Elk through let alone turkeys. Again I give her the ultimate decision. Her words were" Take lots of pictures, so I have proof I climbed this!" Right on!. So we head up see him strut for an hour with out making anyground, so we sneak and call, sneak and call Finally it sounds like He's about fifty yards out( echoing off something to decive me. So I poke my head up over a log and here's a bunch of turkeys about 15 yards in front of us. In a panic I pop up yell" There he Is!" and immediately loose an arrow, which hits a limb and glances off his back. although he gave a good impression of being hit as he staggered for a minute. After it's done I look at the wife who is pissed to beat the band over me jumping the shot....gonna take awhile to live that one down.
  Next weekend, I take my Dad and daughter after turkeys, again Booger is the only game around, so we sneak in set up on the road he's gobbling on, I and my daughter are behind a root wad while Dad is out front in shooting position. we here him gobbling and moving, then my Daughter'8' tells me she thinks she sees a turkey, but not sure. I know she knows what they look like, so i ask her what is it doing, she answers" It's dancing" BINGO! wouldn't you know it we set up one way and he comes in a completely different way? So with my bow in hand and as out in the oepn as you can be and Dad stuck looking 180* out and pinned down. My Daughter watched awild turkey walk right down to 15 steps of us strut, spit, gobble and we can't twitch an ear hair.
 Next day, we're under his roost tree in a couple blinds, Dad in one and us in the other one, I see Booger pitch out 70 yards up the hill, eye my dekes and flip them the middle feather. But as he seems to have a change of heart I hear and odd rustling in Dad's blind. While I turn to tell him to quit I notice Dad,blind, gun, chair and all rolling a$$ over tea kettle down the ridge we just climbed up . Funniest darn thing I've seen in the woods nothing you could do but bust out in tears laughing.

 We let it calm down for an hour and call again, well booger answered so I went off up the ridge on assault and my Dad and daughter stayed behind and she fired up a pot call and got her first Tom to answer her. But  he flinched or I was still breathing to heavy when I crested the hill when i taught him what #6's sound like in flight.

 The next( and final) weekend. I'm near the roost tree 45 minutes before any light from the sun would show, as I get close I decide to lean against another tree for rest. My plan is with all the racket I caused this month, i figure I get as close to the little opening Booger always pitched into and as his feet hit the ground the hammer strikes the firing pin. Now in position I sit and wait, as day light comes I realize Booger has moved. He gobbled from the tree I was leaning against earlier hoping I didn't scare him I let out a tree yelp( change of plans) He hits me like I'm the last hen on earth. So as I get poised for his arrival, a robin ptiches out of the tree next to me. I almost had robin for dinner that's for sure!
 Well booger lands right in front of me but about 50yards out, but i got the finest gobbling, strutting and spitting show' I ever seen..... it lasted for another 30 yards

 I was taking pictures of him at 5:05 AM and was back to camp by 6 and his tail now graces my Daughter' room, for that was the bird that first answered her and the one she named "Booger"

[turkeydancer]

TT - I did your dad's trick this year after I dropped two birds ... got so excited as I tried to exit the blind ... me, my chair, the blind, etc tumbling down a slight hill ... thank God for the fence that stopped me ... and the fact none of my friends were there to see it !!! 

[Big game archer]

A couple years back I went hunting with my dad and older brother on a piece of private land we had got permission to hunt. We started of the day hunting the backside of this property and couldn't get on any toms so we walked into the other side. We were on a hill facing the dirt road which was about 50 yards from us. We were looking at a hillside across the road from us. Immediately we spotted a Tom feeding on th treed hillside across the road. We started calling but he didn't seem to interested and he walked over the mountain. We kept calling and suddenly a Tom appeared in the river bottom across the road in full strut and he was all by himself! He then proceeded to walk right up the mountain like the other Tom had done before. We began to get anxious and started pulling out our whole arsenal of calls. He never came out of strut. But for some reason he was walking away from us right up the mountain. We had been calling to him for 1 hour now and he was starting to get near the top of the mountain about 175 yards from us. It had just started raining so I began to lose hope and as the Tom was 5 yards from the top of the mountain we got up, gathered our dekes and started to walkaway. I looked back and the Tom was just about to crest the top. I look back 5 seconds later and the Tom is gliding to our side of the road. I told my dad and brother to get down quickly. We dove into a little depression and started calling. My dad insisted after 1 minute of calling that he should go take a look over th edge of this hill we were hiding behind to see if the Tom was even there. Well it was at 60 yards holding tight with it's head all alert. It must have seen us on it's flight over and of course it ran when it saw my dad. Next time I will hold tight till I lose complete sight of a bird no matter how it is acting. It must havejust wanted to get at a higher ground level than we were at so it was just an easy glide over. What do you guys think?

[Tom Tamer]

Big game...I think you hit the nail on the head..I was once told by an old turkey hunter...." When you decide to move, wait ten more minutes"

 I thought it was good advice but if you adhere to it to strictly, you'd still be there would you?

[Turkeyman]

Turkeys cant tell time. They do what they want when the want. Patients will kill allot of gobblers. If you think you have been at your set up to long and need to move stay longer. I have stayed in one set up for over two hours before a gobbler came into range.

[Wacenturion]

Turkeys cant tell time. They do what they want when the want. Patients will kill allot of gobblers. If you think you have been at your set up to long and need to move stay longer. I have stayed in one set up for over two hours before a gobbler came into range.

Turkeyman.....agree.
When I'm hunting Easterns on the west side and I have done my homework....... which means lots of scouting and hopefully getting into a whole bunch of sign (droppings), I'll spend the first 2 hours calling softly and no more more than every 12-15 minutes or so.  In other words just making natural turkey sounds.  If nothing has responded during that time, I don't panic because I now know that I have convinced every turkey within hearing range, that I'm the real deal....a turkey.  Now the game begins.  May never come, but more than naught, sometime during that day something will eventually check me out.  That usually results in a dead bird.  Of course other things will too...like cougars...lol

Every hunt is different and one might have to relocate for one reason or another, but I killed my fair share of birds, Easterns, Rios and Merriam's with this "boring" patience type approach.

[Shootmoore]

Turkeys cant tell time. They do what they want when the want. Patients will kill allot of gobblers. If you think you have been at your set up to long and need to move stay longer. I have stayed in one set up for over two hours before a gobbler came into range.

Turkeyman.....agree.
When I'm hunting Easterns on the west side and I have done my homework....... which means lots of scouting and hopefully getting into a whole bunch of sign (droppings), I'll spend the first 2 hours calling softly and no more more than every 12-15 minutes or so.  In other words just making natural turkey sounds.  If nothing has responded during that time, I don't panic because I now know that I have convinced every turkey within hearing range, that I'm the real deal....a turkey.  Now the game begins.  May never come, but more than naught, sometime during that day something will eventually check me out.  That usually results in a dead bird.  Of course other things will too...like cougars...lol

Every hunt is different and one might have to relocate for one reason or another, but I killed my fair share of birds, Easterns, Rios and Merriam's with this "boring" patience type approach.

You just have an unfare advantage, your well known to all those birds ancestors 

Shootmoore

[Wacenturion]

I had my shortest hunt back in the 90's hunting Easterns in western Washington.  A friend and I had walked into an area 100 yards or so from where I usually parked in one of our particular spots, an area I might add, we generally just walk through to get at least 1/2 mile in behind the Weyerhauser gates. My son however had been scouting in this spot a couple days before I hunted it, and had seen some sign a stone's throw from where I park. So we only went in a short distance, found a good spot to set down, waited for the woods to quiet down for about 10 minutes or so and then I made a few soft yelps. Nothing responded, but out of the corner of my eye I spot movement to my right....a gobbler coming quietly. I'm thinking...what the hell, that's not possible.

Where we were sitting was in a patch of semi open dark pecker pole woods. Lighting wasn't the best. The bird came within 10 yards head on and I wasn't quite sure what I was seeing. Knew it was a gobbler, but wasn't going to pull the trigger till I was 100% positive as he was silent the whole time and my mind somehow just could not quite equate what was happening. He backed off and moved to my left and found another lane to my position. As he slowly came in toward me....and I'll never forget this for as long as I live, an almost comical turkey moment....he paused at about seven yards, then looked both left and right and then stuck his head straight out in my direction and as softly as he possibly could, he gobbled. The softest gobble I have ever heard...like a whisper gobble. Boom...dead bird.

Total time from calling....the only calls I made I might add, to the time I shot the bird was exactly 5 minutes.  I know the exact time because my friend had looked at his watch when I called and then again when I shot.  He couldn't believe it.  If I would have taken him when he first came in it would have been 2-3 minutes tops.

The only thing I could figure out being a two year old bird, he was trying to avoid bringing down the wrath of the boss in the area. Too funny.

Best thing about that hunt was that a couple of our friends were hunting their butts off, to get an eastern that year.  Unfortunately they didn't put in the time scouting from February on like we did.  Knowing I had already taken a bird they would call asking for advice as they weren't having any luck.......I would reply......

" Well if you have about 5 minutes, I might be able to help you out". 

Unfortunately I can't post their response....lol.