Post by: haus on May 17, 2022, 07:58:54 PM
I’ll be hunting in the Kittitas County area.
Post by: Wphunt on May 17, 2022, 08:48:53 PM
Post by: brokentrail on May 17, 2022, 09:07:15 PM
Post by: Russ McDonald on May 18, 2022, 07:12:29 AM
Sent from my SM-G998U using Tapatalk
Post by: hal on May 20, 2022, 08:10:57 PM
Post by: 10Key on May 24, 2022, 08:37:27 AM
Post by: Russ McDonald on May 24, 2022, 08:50:03 AM
Sent from my SM-G998U using Tapatalk
Post by: bearpaw on May 24, 2022, 11:47:35 AM
Post by: 10Key on May 24, 2022, 02:24:50 PM
If you not around ag they will go further up in the mountains or higher elevation. They are way past mating. Tom's will keep looking byt hens most likely aren't receptive anymore. People are seeing poults in places.
Sent from my SM-G998U using Tapatalk
That makes sense then, thanks
Post by: th3rug25 on June 02, 2022, 02:51:39 PM
In the early morning, we hunted the higher elevation hillsides with ponderosas. We saw where the toms were strutting just before dark the night before, and got up there at about 4:30am. They were already all down from the roost and out on the hillsides. We set up around a bend from one that remained in the roost and just gave very intermittent calls. By that I mean about every 3 minutes. We had a jake, hen, and tom decoy. We knew there were birds all around us, but we sat and waited. Took about 3 hours, but in rolled a pack of 8 between our calls. They came over a rock less than 10 yd away, so if we had been calling any more frequently i think we might have spooked em.
Same thing for the late morning/early afternoon. Moved down into some sage, and although the birds were no longer gobbling, knew they were around from all the scat in the area. Set up with same decoys and did the very intermittent calling. Two came sneaking through the brush, only heard em snap a few twigs before they charged the decoys to fight.
I think any more frequent calling or less willingness to sit and wait, and we would not have been successful.
Post by: haus on August 13, 2022, 04:55:34 PM
I know this doesnt help you with the spring season now, but I had success a week and a half ago with the same tactic at 2 different times and habitats on the same day.
In the early morning, we hunted the higher elevation hillsides with ponderosas. We saw where the toms were strutting just before dark the night before, and got up there at about 4:30am. They were already all down from the roost and out on the hillsides. We set up around a bend from one that remained in the roost and just gave very intermittent calls. By that I mean about every 3 minutes. We had a jake, hen, and tom decoy. We knew there were birds all around us, but we sat and waited. Took about 3 hours, but in rolled a pack of 8 between our calls. They came over a rock less than 10 yd away, so if we had been calling any more frequently i think we might have spooked em.
Same thing for the late morning/early afternoon. Moved down into some sage, and although the birds were no longer gobbling, knew they were around from all the scat in the area. Set up with same decoys and did the very intermittent calling. Two came sneaking through the brush, only heard em snap a few twigs before they charged the decoys to fight.
I think any more frequent calling or less willingness to sit and wait, and we would not have been successful.
Certainly helps for next season, thanks for the info. One of the things I’d noticed when I got out at the end was attempting to locate the birds on public land that had a significant increase in human activity, and not from hunters really. Just the overall frequency in nice weather bringing more people out to recreate. I went with the must be further back approach, but it seemed to be more of an exodus to areas they weren’t in early.