As most of you know, I bow hunt for deer 99% of the time, but I hunt turkeys with a shotgun 100% of the time. I just never got bit by the bowhunting bug for them. Weird I know. I left work and called the wife, she said i was on my own for dinner since she was at the in-laws. My mother in law is a cook to die for and I thought about running over there, but realized with a 2.5 year old and a new born at the house that I really needed to get out since I could. I never have much luck in the evening, so I opted for a local piece we lease just outside of Atlanta. We see a turkey here and there, but the habitat is not great, and we have alot of yotes so they don't make alot of racket. I set up on a ridge and called for 30 minute or so, moved and repeated again. I was not hearing a thing so I decided to move to the last ridge on our piece and try again. I eased over the top and 2 hens were feeding, saw me but did not putt or bug out. I sat right against a tree and let them feed off before I purred on my diaphram. They came back to the top of the ridge, I could hear them scratching but they never came back into view even though they were less than 30 yards. I leaned my head against the tree and thought about heading home as it is about an hour until fly up time... gobble...WAYYYYYYY off, did I even hear that. 2 minutes later GObble, yeah I heard it. Soft cluck and a series of yelps. GOBBLE, he has turned but still a LONG ways off. I weigh my options and figure what the heck. I literally run 200 or so yards down a gas line and through a bottom and set up. Call for 5 minutes or so and nothing...dang, maybe I missed judged his distance and he heard me crashing through the bottom and moved on. GOBBLE, GOBBLE he is 150 and coming. He will have to cross 2 very deep creeks, but that is not a big deal over here because we hunt right on the Chattahoochie river and there are a ton of tributaries. If they did not cross creeks regularly, they would live in a VERY small area. He moves into the bottom to my right so I swap sides on the tree, 5 minutes later he gobbles to the left and close. I risk it and move again as it is pretty thick. I hear something, put my cheek to the gun and here it is...DEER. I let them see me and run them off, he gobbles but back away again. I softly yelp and scratch the leaves. Next time I hear him, he rings my ears and has crossed the creeks and the dirt road. I see a black body, full strut and a beard. He gives me a shot at 30, but cars are coming down the dirt road and he kind of spooks. He can see back to the road, and I guess he got nervous. He was leaving when I hit a very soft purr...GGGGGOOOOOOBBBBBBBBBLLLLLLEEEEEEEE, he struts a semi circle, spots me or the deke (she is behind me now) and stretches his head. I figure he is 35 yards or so and I squeeze the trigger. He never moved. The old tried and true 870, with remington choke and 4/6 mix put another one down. It was a great hunt after all, been a tough one for birds as our honey hole now has a subdivision on it. WMA hunting has been tough as usual, but these 20/30 minutes really eased the pain. I usually call and let my friends/co-workers shoot. I go anywhere for these birds if someone needs a caller and I realized last night why I don't pull the trigger much anymore. I HATE cleaning the dang things...lol. Thanks for listening to my story, and I know I don't do it with the bow, but again this is the greatest site on the web and I am glad I could share it with ya'll.
Great job Michael. On a side note I was just out in my backyard shooting my bow and saw my first turkey in my neighborhood. It was a lone hen out in the woods. I have never seen a turkey out here in the four years I have lived here. It was cool.
Thanks guys...I know most seasons are getting going now, so i hope to see all of you behind birds soon.
Yeah, sometimes the bigger buck states call for me, but georgia allows me to hunt deer from early Spet until jan 31st, turkeys from middle March until may 15th and yotes year round. I see some of you guys that have to wait until may and get 1 week draws, I could not do it. I guess if you grow up that way it is not so bad though. Heck, if I only had a week, I would have wasted it chasing a old nasty gobbler that lives at the top of a hill and runs from hens... I will kill him in the next week or two and should have known better after he kicked my butt last year. I did call him in at the end of season, but my buddy fudged the shot...he is a hoss, probably pushing 25 lbs, which is a giant down here.
Here is my story of how to kill a LA public land bird: I roost a bird Friday afternoon in Kisatchie National Forest near central LA at a spot that I'm confident nobody will be in the morning. It's near a heavily traveled road with a huge dump site near. God bless LA. I arrive at 5:45 am just to be safe. Of course, someone is already there. Goddammit. Plan B. I hit a few more locations where I have found birds in the past, but nothing. Frustrated and just wanting to hear a bird this season, I go back to the bird I roosted the evening before. I park on top of the hill, notice another truck is now parked next to the other, and listen to 2 gobblers sound off in the bottom for about 5 minutes. This gives me a bit of frustrated energy, so I decide to drive to an area of Kistachie near my brother's house that always has birds, but is also very heavily hunted. I cross my fingers as I turn down the road hoping that no one is around. Trucks everywhere. Piss. I decide to drive down a road with all private land. I know I can't hunt it, but again, I just want to hear some birds. I drive to the end of the road, no one was anywhere near, and cut hard once. 3 birds cut me off. This forced me to question my morals. I'll admit I even grabbed my gun and took a few steps towards the closest bird. But alas, I did what was right, cursed at the birds a few times, and drove off, moping and cursing some more. It's about 8:30. I have a few more spots to check, but I'm not very confident. I drive down another crappy forest road, stopping on hills to call and listen. Then I stop on a hill over looking a bottom, call once, hear something out of place, call again, and confirm that yes, it is that marvelous sound. I grab my gun and run down the bottom. Call again. He is a good ways in. I'll cut the distance. I walk maybe 20 yards. He gobbles. Holy crap he has already cut the distance in half. I lunge towards the nearest tree I could find. This 4" pine sapling will have to do. All of a sudden, this creepy fog engulfs the entire bottom. I can't see 40 yards. He gobbles again. He is close. I can hear him spitting. Goddamn fog. He gobbles again to my left. Still can't see him. A few minutes pass, and I haven't heard anything. I softly purr. He immediately gobbles to my right. How the hell did he get over there? I hear him running up the hill to me. I quickly switch to my left hand (thanks Dad for forcing me to learn to shoot ambidextrously). He runs up the hill, and jumps on a stump about at about 20 yards. Stands tall, struts, gobbles, then stands tall again, anxiously searching for his love. No love for him this morning, just Nitro. Dead bird. This lonely 2 year old could not get to me fast enough. 8" beard, 1" spurs
Michael congrats on the bird buddy! I've only made it out once so far. Had some strutting but no shot at them. Looks like I'll be able to get out again Fri morning for a little while. This made me laugh
