Post by: irork on May 26, 2014, 09:29:33 PM
I THOUGHT I had their location figured out so Saturday morning I walked the ridge of the canyon on a grassy, bear bench. I went to set my decoys at 3:45am and all hell broke loose. I was setting a jake decoy on the edge of the canyon "cliff" for the birds to see from a distance, when all of the sudden at least 15 birds start sounding the ALERT noise. I was standing on a cliff, and they were sitting in a few tree tops, eye level with me, at no more than 30 yards. Needless to say I backed out as soon as possible, and quietly. I set my deeks up anyhow and sat down. Stayed quiet and the birds calmed down. They made a few gobbles, and when the first hen flew down, I spoke up. That entire group of birds hit the ground RUNNING the other direction from me.
I was down, and flustered, but gave another call. From about 1/8th mile away across a larger valley with a hwy at the bottom sounded a bird. I gave him an answer and he cut me off again. This went on for a few minutes and I could tell he was MOVING. I repositioned myself so he would come in from a doable spot. I went silent and let him call the shots. Still sitting near a cliff, I am able to see this little black dot literally running, running straight up the canyon wall. He gets to about 100 yards and stops. I let out the weakest, whimpiest call i could manage and he erupted and went back to a run. He popped out from behind a large stand of brush in full strut, running as fast as he could. He went by me at about 3 yards, and proceeded to destroy my Jake decoy at 6 yards. The rest is all in the photos!
Thanks for reading.
(https://hunting-washington.com/smf/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi847.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fab38%2Firorky%2F2-5.jpg&hash=556441a2f73e89be5e0d63741c87cc26e3dd60e3) (http://s847.photobucket.com/user/irorky/media/2-5.jpg.html)
(https://hunting-washington.com/smf/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi847.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fab38%2Firorky%2F1-6.jpg&hash=c932d9030bb620152b0b5b781d1efbdb042b19e8) (http://s847.photobucket.com/user/irorky/media/1-6.jpg.html)
(https://hunting-washington.com/smf/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi847.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fab38%2Firorky%2F10362414_10203207128412320_1590011040_n.jpg&hash=f1e75a4fbf7cfed6331254918d1d35c627bec0a6) (http://s847.photobucket.com/user/irorky/media/10362414_10203207128412320_1590011040_n.jpg.html)
(https://hunting-washington.com/smf/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi847.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fab38%2Firorky%2F10409801_10203207214614475_698962263_n.jpg&hash=8100b187ed0758f97993da009e608cd95019af69) (http://s847.photobucket.com/user/irorky/media/10409801_10203207214614475_698962263_n.jpg.html)
Post by: bowhunterforever on May 27, 2014, 12:57:53 AM
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