Well it has been a good season to say the least. 7 birds down in 7 days of hunting. One bad rainy day, and a double on the youth opener. The youth season started with 3 toms and 25 hens in the field, an hour or so after fly down the first bird was wasdown, a nice two year old. The afternoon hunt was more like decoying geese, we were in a bottom set up and had birds above us on the hill. After some calling and patience, a hen flew off the hill and came to about five yards. A little later a jake was on the hill, but turned and went up hill and out of sight. A few minutes later that jake flew from over 400 feet above us and landed in the decoys, youth season done with a very happy kid.
Opening day found us hiked in wait for a gobble, when we did the hunt was on. After being on the bird for two and a half hours give jakes
walked by but the tom hung back. After a little more time he finally commited, and my buddy got a shot. No more shots that day, called in a group of jakes under 10 yards and got them on video.
Thursday night we left again to start hunting friday at daylight, but the water pump went out in our vehicle, so we slept on the highway instead. After getting it fixed we were hunting by 2 that afternoon. We
were on a tom by 3 after an hour or so he was right under us gobbling four to eight times in a row. He stepped out at twenty yards and my fiance dropped him. We roosted a tom that night, in the morning I was between two toms one yelp a little too early and one hit the ground running, three shots later, bird down.
Next thursday found us in a bit of a rain storm. Friday morning my buddy was the shooter. Right off the bat we find a bird roosted gobbling hard, but won't respond because he can't hear me in the wind. When he hits the ground I called and he instantly starts our way. A couple more calls and he is standing at forty yards, another bid down.
Saturday find us waiting on a bird that gobbled two times in the roost. Daylight came and no gobble so we slipped down the canyon a couple hundred yards and set up again and listened. A half hour passes and I doze off only to wake up to a mule deer buck five feet from me. About
that time the bird gobbles up the canyon from us one time and flutes down heading down the canyon gobbling. An hour later we were on two more toms we spotted above us. The wind was blowing pretty hard and the never responded. So I snuck up and peeked over the hill. There was a hen walking to my left so I backed out picked up our set up and moved down the canyon, but more on the level the turkeys were. I set up against a rock and one of the birds gobbled. I made one call and he gobbled again. About ten seconds later a tom came running in and spouted me at eighteen yards, but stopped behind a bush. After a tense thirty second standoff he peeked around the bush, bird down. He ended up having a 9 1/4" beard and just over inch spurs. Good season so far!
