What a weekend. Friday was miserable and rainy, but we did manage to stumble onto a nice tom with his hens, a bird we heard at dawn. We heard loud hen yelps and thought it was a hunter, until the gobble about 100 yds away in open terrain. Afraid to set out a decoy for fear of being seen, we hunkered down behind a log. The hen and I talked to each other back and forth for a minute, loudly, and then the tom came right in, but stopped at 50 yds, stuck his head up and gave our log a good looking over, and then vanished. We didn't feel comfortable taking that long a shot.
Saturday was miserable. A bunch of guys had shown up Friday night near where the birds are, and were target practicing in the afternoon. At least 150 rounds. Ridiculous! Of course that was the end of seeing/hearing any birds. Public land sucks. If anyone has private land they would be willing to let me hunt on in Klickitat or elsewhere (I live in Tacoma), I can trade gun stock work (see my website at
www.larsongunart.com), and my friend used to be a chef for an Orvis lodge. Thanks.
