Hunting Washington Forum
Other Hunting => Turkey Hunting => Topic started by: birddogdad on March 31, 2022, 11:17:06 AM
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and so it begins! 600 miles + 10 hour drive after work tonight to NORCAL. hope to have same success as last year in this first state adventure. Will post to share late next week! Weather looks dry and 80ish by day! Hope i can stay out of that poison oak i got in last year there!
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I've been getting ready all day today .
To take the kid on the youth opener .
Going through hunting bags,day packs.
Calls,decoy, just basic stuff.
Getting a little worked up.
Maybe a little evening drive ,see if we can see any turkey before dark. Too put us in the strike zone.
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Little Pathfinder is counting the hours (Can't go in the morning because he has school, but he has plans for after baseball practice tomorrow...).
Planning to go set up the ground blind tonight and watch em go to roost... :tup:
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Good luck to all
We are leaving tomorrow for grandsons first real hunt with bear paw
He was one of the winners of the youth hunt
Cannot wait
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You'll have a blast over at Dale's. :tup:
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You'll have a blast over at Dale's. :tup:
Looking forward to it😁👍
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We did see some turkey before dark.
A group of jakes or toms ,three hen,two other turkey.
New road that I had seen on onx ,but thought it was gated.
Was all open road ,drove it a few miles before dark and seen two turkey ,one was a red head tom.
I tried calling at him with no response,about 3000 ft elevation. I'm just hoping that turkey up that high are responsive . surprisingly not a lot of mud pretty dry roads.
So we are gonna head up a o dark thirty,and see if turkey isn't a little better in the mourning.
🙏
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We did see some turkey before dark.
A group of jakes or toms ,three hen,two other turkey.
New road that I had seen on onx ,but thought it was gated.
Was all open road ,drove it a few miles before dark and seen two turkey ,one was a red head tom.
I tried calling at him with no response,about 3000 ft elevation. I'm just hoping that turkey up that high are responsive . surprisingly not a lot of mud pretty dry roads.
So we are gonna head up a o dark thirty,and see if turkey isn't a little better in the mourning.
🙏
👍
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We roosted about 60 birds last night (not on the property we have permission on, but the neighboring one-we usually have to call them about 500 yards from where they fly down). Can't hunt this morning, I'm a teacher and LP is a student, but if we have time after baseball practice tonight we may give it a go. Either way, tomorrow morning we'll be out there for sure...
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Good luck everyone.
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and so it begins! 600 miles + 10 hour drive after work tonight to NORCAL. hope to have same success as last year in this first state adventure. Will post to share late next week! Weather looks dry and 80ish by day! Hope i can stay out of that poison oak i got in last year there!
Awesome to hear.... I am looking forward to reading on about your undoubted success.
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Good luck to all
We are leaving tomorrow for grandsons first real hunt with bear paw
He was one of the winners of the youth hunt
Cannot wait
How awesome is that. how'd he do?
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We roosted about 60 birds last night (not on the property we have permission on, but the neighboring one-we usually have to call them about 500 yards from where they fly down). Can't hunt this morning, I'm a teacher and LP is a student, but if we have time after baseball practice tonight we may give it a go. Either way, tomorrow morning we'll be out there for sure...
How did LP do? BTW, fellow teacher here.
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First trip report - Northern CA, Redding area. Well, the drive took about 10 hours, did a red eye overnight arriving just at first light. Of course i was on fumes but managed to get out for daybreak to find silence. Felt a bit deflated. This area produced well in 2021 for me. First day i never had a tom respond. UGG! Second day i woke to strong windy conditions, again wondering what i was into here. Most of the day spent moving and trying to gain contact on a tom. Shooting ends at 5 pm in CA so i napped until eve and managed to find a bird with shock call. Game on! Day 3 again was a bit on the windy side but the bird i located was on a steep side out of wind. Managed to draw him in and finally harvest a bird! That afternoon, things picked up. Again 1 bird per day limit had me shut down only to locate for day 4. I awoke to 30's , front blowing in a gale and the birds were completely shut down, this ended by noon and i located a bird with only 15 minutes of shooting left staying outside of the bubble, no chance. This was my last day and it was a bust, just not a great weather pattern and birds not being hot yet. The morning i left i woke to near perfect conditions but had no way to stay longer. So, end result was a nice Rio but i think this time i was about a week early on this area or weather had shut things off before i got there. Oh, one other note, i got poison oak last year in the area, had not really payed attention, this year i did and it was physically impossible to stay out of it if you stepped in woods anywhere! Probably will work a new state next year and pass on this area. Stop #2 next!
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That looks like a brute, birddogdad. Has to be over 15 lbs.
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Cool story. Glad you got bird.
Way to persevere! :tup:
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So i forgot to finish my 2022 spring swing story. California was posted. My biggest problem with Shasta was Poison Oak. It kicks my butt.. The rest of my spring season was taking antibiotics to get it to stop festering! My wife has told me that trip is over so 2023 will have to try something different. IDK maybe closer to coast or further south i may have to run in CA. For now CA is over for me. Next stop was NE corner of WA. Took my father as he still likes to travel with me and camp. He gets around some but time is no mans friend. I set camp around dinner time first night. Pulled a chair out and had 3 Toms tell me where they were for flyup. Good night! Up before daylight on my first WA day. Was a 40 minute walk to get close to the bird i chose. Setup good. Tom wakes up the hillside.... after about 15 minutes of gobbling, i replied. Immediately i was lit up by a hen that was on the ground behind me! well, she was not happy i was there! Tom was on fire over our argument that lasted maybe 5 minutes. She walked by me so close she almost stepped on my boot! Tom got silent.. ok he was on the ground.. 45 minutes go by, silence.. 1 soft yelp and he responds, moved away from me! Time to reposition, end around in place, ridges in my favor. Down the ridge and up on top, he is working it toward me, occasional gobble. Setup good. 1 soft yelp... reply, he is close! heads! 3 hens and a Tom. OK no wonder he wasnt interested in my sweet talk.. Glad i didnt over call , he was hen'd up and they would have turned him away from me. putting on a show for his girls.... 30 yds... done deal!
So i returned to camp, dad was reading a book, sitting outside, said he had a gobble just below camp so he was there watching. I intentionally camped in this spot for that reason in previous season but that comes later! i hang the first bird. Evening flyup next order of business, hear a nice gobble in distance, pin set on onx... here we go morning cant come fast enough! this was a familiar valley i have worked and knew exactly what this guy was up too.. down hill, catch the tote road, walked out to a bend that i have had encounters before, setup in dark, missed my setup location, daylight, gobbles further in.. he is on the ground, time to reset lets move!.. quarter mile in, OPS! heads down the tote in front of me just over a rise.. nope they didnt catch my motion! hands and knees now. turkey vest off... i am totally exposed on this road if i move forward over rise.. 85 yds to birds, wonder if there is a tom... BVVVVVV drum and spit spit.... ! yep, he is in that group. ok, i crawl to edge of road, up rise is knee high grass that should mask my movements.. i just need the 40 yards to top of rise where the grass is thickest on the one edge of tote road... here we go! slow, easy, dont press luck! was laughing at myself slow crawling like that! took around 15 minutes, thought to myself you are an old fart! every muscle was now on fire! getting close.. oh~ there is the fan! hes on my side of his harem, working his girls hard. ok i am good, cant go any closer or someone will pick me up... hes 40 yds... make sure no ladies in shot.. wait, he is in full strut, turn sideways... there ~ mouth cluck to stand him up... Yes.. girls in flight~~ 2nd down.
Next morning kind of slept in with dad... thought maybe a setup near camp would get him a chance.. he cant go far these days... ok dressed warm, got your gun? Chair? lets go... couple hundred yards outside of view of camp, here .. decoy up.. setup, call sequence, GOBBLE,, hes close.. Dad! hear that, yes , right out of a textbook, run into decoy, anytime... boom! could not have scripted anything better for my 82 yo father! Well that was our time in WA last spring... If you have not been bitten by spring turkey fever, hope this story primes you for 23...
Next week i will finish with my ID run that was end of spring season for me..
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So i forgot to finish my 2022 spring swing story. California was posted. My biggest problem with Shasta was Poison Oak. It kicks my butt.. The rest of my spring season was taking antibiotics to get it to stop festering! My wife has told me that trip is over so 2023 will have to try something different. IDK maybe closer to coast or further south i may have to run in CA. For now CA is over for me. Next stop was NE corner of WA. Took my father as he still likes to travel with me and camp. He gets around some but time is no mans friend. I set camp around dinner time first night. Pulled a chair out and had 3 Toms tell me where they were for flyup. Good night! Up before daylight on my first WA day. Was a 40 minute walk to get close to the bird i chose. Setup good. Tom wakes up the hillside.... after about 15 minutes of gobbling, i replied. Immediately i was lit up by a hen that was on the ground behind me! well, she was not happy i was there! Tom was on fire over our argument that lasted maybe 5 minutes. She walked by me so close she almost stepped on my boot! Tom got silent.. ok he was on the ground.. 45 minutes go by, silence.. 1 soft yelp and he responds, moved away from me! Time to reposition, end around in place, ridges in my favor. Down the ridge and up on top, he is working it toward me, occasional gobble. Setup good. 1 soft yelp... reply, he is close! heads! 3 hens and a Tom. OK no wonder he wasnt interested in my sweet talk.. Glad i didnt over call , he was hen'd up and they would have turned him away from me. putting on a show for his girls.... 30 yds... done deal!
So i returned to camp, dad was reading a book, sitting outside, said he had a gobble just below camp so he was there watching. I intentionally camped in this spot for that reason in previous season but that comes later! i hang the first bird. Evening flyup next order of business, hear a nice gobble in distance, pin set on onx... here we go morning cant come fast enough! this was a familiar valley i have worked and knew exactly what this guy was up too.. down hill, catch the tote road, walked out to a bend that i have had encounters before, setup in dark, missed my setup location, daylight, gobbles further in.. he is on the ground, time to reset lets move!.. quarter mile in, OPS! heads down the tote in front of me just over a rise.. nope they didnt catch my motion! hands and knees now. turkey vest off... i am totally exposed on this road if i move forward over rise.. 85 yds to birds, wonder if there is a tom... BVVVVVV drum and spit spit.... ! yep, he is in that group. ok, i crawl to edge of road, up rise is knee high grass that should mask my movements.. i just need the 40 yards to top of rise where the grass is thickest on the one edge of tote road... here we go! slow, easy, dont press luck! was laughing at myself slow crawling like that! took around 15 minutes, thought to myself you are an old fart! every muscle was now on fire! getting close.. oh~ there is the fan! hes on my side of his harem, working his girls hard. ok i am good, cant go any closer or someone will pick me up... hes 40 yds... make sure no ladies in shot.. wait, he is in full strut, turn sideways... there ~ mouth cluck to stand him up... Yes.. girls in flight~~ 2nd down.
Next morning kind of slept in with dad... thought maybe a setup near camp would get him a chance.. he cant go far these days... ok dressed warm, got your gun? Chair? lets go... couple hundred yards outside of view of camp, here .. decoy up.. setup, call sequence, GOBBLE,, hes close.. Dad! hear that, yes , right out of a textbook, run into decoy, anytime... boom! could not have scripted anything better for my 82 yo father! Well that was our time in WA last spring... If you have not been bitten by spring turkey fever, hope this story primes you for 23...
Next week i will finish with my ID run that was end of spring season for me..
Great read, thank you. I'll be curious to hear your Idaho story as I think I may give the state a try in Spring 2023.
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part 3 IDAHO - weather was not going to be on my side for this trip. heavy rains and wind predicted. worked and area near Lewiston/ Clarkston generally and yes was wet! Took my ebike over for the adventure and in the grease it was sporty to ride! Traveled back in logging roads stopping to scratch a call and gain replies. tough to hear with wind and rain.. toms were pretty hen'd up we did manage to pick up birds.. Funny thing, on 3 separate occasions thru my time there, i walked in on groups of Elk that had birds under feet! attempts to get in on the toms strutting were unsuccessful.. elk too spread out, wind swirling and poof! the elk were running .. each time, the darn turkeys would line up and chase the elk over hills and out of sight. i actually had a tom strut from one side of an elk , under legs and stay in strut exiting from the other side of the critter! i look back and wish i pulled my phone and recorded this as i have never heard of this before! i took a couple guys along and they hunted together closer than my ebike ranging.. had a pair of toms they were lined up on but screwed up the attempt to run a 1-2-3 shoot double and lost on both. wet and cool enough that i didnt see any rattlers this time but had my gaiters on full time! took my 20ga and had several toms hang out beyond 60yds that are now going to be a year older for me this coming spring!
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part 3 IDAHO - weather was not going to be on my side for this trip. heavy rains and wind predicted. worked and area near Lewiston/ Clarkston generally and yes was wet! Took my ebike over for the adventure and in the grease it was sporty to ride! Traveled back in logging roads stopping to scratch a call and gain replies. tough to hear with wind and rain.. toms were pretty hen'd up we did manage to pick up birds.. Funny thing, on 3 separate occasions thru my time there, i walked in on groups of Elk that had birds under feet! attempts to get in on the toms strutting were unsuccessful.. elk too spread out, wind swirling and poof! the elk were running .. each time, the darn turkeys would line up and chase the elk over hills and out of sight. i actually had a tom strut from one side of an elk , under legs and stay in strut exiting from the other side of the critter! i look back and wish i pulled my phone and recorded this as i have never heard of this before! i took a couple guys along and they hunted together closer than my ebike ranging.. had a pair of toms they were lined up on but screwed up the attempt to run a 1-2-3 shoot double and lost on both. wet and cool enough that i didnt see any rattlers this time but had my gaiters on full time! took my 20ga and had several toms hang out beyond 60yds that are now going to be a year older for me this coming spring!
Good report, thank you. Were these Rios you were seeing or Merriams? I've seen birds around elk down there but not UNDER them. That would have been something to see. I have a rich history of running into rattlers down there in warm weather. The birds (on the Washington side) were so few the last few years I didn't even hunt there last year. Good call on the ebike. I used to take a mountain bike down there and use it to get from spot to spot, it was so nice to be able to glide into an area with stealth.