april 15th

[the shootist]

I stepped out the door this morning, and the turkeys were going crazy. It's funny because all you west siders are stoked about coming here for turkey while I'm stoked about going ocean fishing again with the hopes of mabey catching a few salmon! I guess the grass is always greener on the other side of the state!

[STIKNSTRINGBOW]

I am sure you could work a deal with someone to swap Turkey Hunt/Salmon Trip

[Turkeyman]

 

[Dustin07]

Heading out with dad tomorrow to investigate a new spot where the Mighty Easterns have been spotted. land locked area and we got permisson to cross the private land to get to it.

 Otherwise i'll spend the first four days chasing Easterns. that way once i get my butt throughly handed to me those Merriams will seem a whole lot easier.

 

LOL no joke. after about 6 different outtings I was thinking Turkey's in WA were like the mythical Snipe until I spent a total of 12hrs one day in the K Falls area.

[STIKNSTRINGBOW]

Heading out with dad tomorrow to investigate a new spot where the Mighty Easterns have been spotted. land locked area and we got permisson to cross the private land to get to it.

 Otherwise i'll spend the first four days chasing Easterns. that way once i get my butt throughly handed to me those Merriams will seem a whole lot easier.

 

LOL no joke. after about 6 different outtings I was thinking Turkey's in WA were like the mythical Snipe until I spent a total of 12hrs one day in the K Falls area.

I had the same thing, 4 years hunting from Rochester to LeBaum and PeEll, all the way over to the Bald Hills outside of Yelm, hunting 3-4 days a week from a month before season,until it was over, and only seeing 4 hens and 2 Toms at the winery (Johnson Creek) and finding some feathers near Galvin, I was ready to give up.
Then a friend and I drove out to Kettle Falls, and saw 2 Toms and 10 hens before we got there. Then we set up camp and drank some whiskey, woke up late the next morning to 4 hens outside our tent!
We saw a whole bunch of turkeys in the next week, and even got one, then came back here and hunted for the rest of the season and saw none.
after a few more seasons here, I figured they all got killed or something) because the only thing I could call in were Coyotes.

Now 12 years later, I am determined to get on of these damn Easterns and finally have found a few that aren't as shy as they used to be, so I am hoping........

[Dustin07]

Good luck buddy. I have basically 2 or 3 areas where I've been told people have seen Turkeys, or heard them. (Easterns). I have seen the J hooked scat in capitol forest, but thats it. I will probably give it another go myself, but time is a little more limited this year, so I'm going after the 'sure thing'.

[turkeydancer]

Last year I had surgery that kept me from chasing the Easterns ... other than that, every year since my first (2000) I have seen both sign and live Easterns at the Skook, Capial Forest, Mason Co., the Nooch, and in Pacific County. Had 3 huge toms as close as 20 feet ... the "phantoms" do exist!

Takes a lot of shoe leather (scouting), but also some knowledge of what to look for as pertains to the 3 each "mini-ecosystems" that usually merge together to form their "home" (big timber, younger reprod, & forest openings).  The toms like to fly down into forest openings (those big enough they feel they can escape from any preditors that might suddenly appear ... these also usually green up first and will hold the bugs that give them protein they need for the breeding season) ... the hens usually will nest on the edge of younger reprod (where they feel the nest is hidden and they can readily escape and draw any preditors off from) ... and while she's nesting, he'll either hang out nearby in the forest opening or the big timber (places he can be seen and/or heard to attract more hens, but close enough to rejoin his hens for late afternoon/evening feeding and flyup).  You will also usually find them within a few hundred yards of a fresh water source.  They also like to roost on the horizontal limbs that are open enough to fly up to or down from (usually on a hillside or over a bottom ... these will normally allow him to look down into the forest opening to ensure no preditors are present and to see his "harem" prior to him flying down to join them).

They also are usually "quieter" and don't "talk" as much as the other sub-species. You shouldn't either.

Good luck ....  

[Dustin07]

Cool, thanks much for the feedback. I've had a hard time deciding... am I better off picking a spot and sitting quietly all day hoping someone walks by? or should I just hike and look? people tell me they always see or hear you long before you see them, so hiking a lot doesn't really help.

Your storie  jives well with others I've heard. down on the river I've had a number of guys tell me they've seen turkeys walking along the shoreline outside of the onalaska area.

[Wacenturion]

Hiking a lot helps to locate sign....primarily droppings.  Can't stress enough how important that is, and the sooner before the season the better.  February is a good starting point and the weather we have had is a bonus.  The more you're out looking, the greater the chance of locating birds either by sign or by  getting lucky and hearing a few gobblers go off.  

Once you have found a group of birds, monitor their activity by checking for fresh droppings up till the opener.  Then park you butt and hunt the sign......patience with a capital P.  That doesn't mean you can't relocate given the situation....like an obstacle between you and the bird....fence, creek etc.  Outside an obvious obstacle believe and wait, calling infrequently and softly.  Those Easterns are killable.  

[Dustin07]

awesome, i'm starting to get excited to chase easterns again 

[Turkeyman]

All good info just remember scout, scout, find sign and have patience. BELIEVE BELIEVE. they are killable.

[Phantom Gobbler]

This Phantom Gobbler will be chasing Phantom Easterns in Western Kentucky this year.     Wish me luck!

I will leave the Western Washington Phantoms for you die-hards to chase.  May the force be with you this year!   

I will be heading over to NE WA for the opener again this year to try for Mountain Merriams!

[bow4elk]

Heading out with dad tomorrow to investigate a new spot where the Mighty Easterns have been spotted. land locked area and we got permisson to cross the private land to get to it.

 Otherwise i'll spend the first four days chasing Easterns. that way once i get my butt throughly handed to me those Merriams will seem a whole lot easier.

 

LOL no joke. after about 6 different outtings I was thinking Turkey's in WA were like the mythical Snipe until I spent a total of 12hrs one day in the K Falls area.

I had the same thing, 4 years hunting from Rochester to LeBaum and PeEll, all the way over to the Bald Hills outside of Yelm, hunting 3-4 days a week from a month before season,until it was over, and only seeing 4 hens and 2 Toms at the winery (Johnson Creek) and finding some feathers near Galvin, I was ready to give up.
Then a friend and I drove out to Kettle Falls, and saw 2 Toms and 10 hens before we got there. Then we set up camp and drank some whiskey, woke up late the next morning to 4 hens outside our tent!
We saw a whole bunch of turkeys in the next week, and even got one, then came back here and hunted for the rest of the season and saw none.
after a few more seasons here, I figured they all got killed or something) because the only thing I could call in were Coyotes.

Now 12 years later, I am determined to get on of these damn Easterns and finally have found a few that aren't as shy as they used to be, so I am hoping........

Good, I'm not the only thick-headed Western Washington Eastern hunter around here    I called a big 'ol Tom into about 5 yards and never saw him until I stood up to move.  If you think grouse rattle you, try a 20 pound gobbler erupting out of the salal.  How he got in that close is beyond me.  He never gobbled or made a peep.  I was hunting on sign alone - one wing feather, a few random tracks, and a couple "J's" in the road.  The bugger is the only turkey I've physically seen in years of hunting them on the west side.  Still looking to tag my first bird...

[STIKNSTRINGBOW]

The same thing happened to another guy that was hunting in the same are as me.. He learned to be patient.

[jackelope]

This Phantom Gobbler will be chasing Phantom Easterns in Western Kentucky this year.     Wish me luck!

I will leave the Western Washington Phantoms for you die-hards to chase.  May the force be with you this year!   

I will be heading over to NE WA for the opener again this year to try for Mountain Merriams!

I think you will find that the eastern kentucky birds are far from phantoms...they're everywhere!! you should have a great hunt. we were there one year and drove to a shooting club and there was turkeys in every field along the way.