Unfortunately, that's all we did... was look. But it was a VERY cool experience. I said I'm not much of a turkey hunter in another thread... not much of one at all. I wasn't even planning on going this year honestly until my oldest boy, who's about to turn 7 this summer, asked if I was taking him a couple weeks ago. I woke him up at 4:40 a.m. and we headed to a friend's farm which I know holds a few turkeys. We set up the Double Bull and positioned a lone hen deke out nine yards in front of the windows. We had birds gobbling from the roost, but they sounded WAY off. (I still can't tell how near or far they are. Last time I hunted this farm about four years ago, I heard one gobble and went towards it. Turns out I sat down directly beneath him. ) This one must have been a little closer than I thought, because not too long after daylight, he popped out in the field about 150 yards away from us. He worked his way under two fences towards us, strutting most of the way as he closed to around 100. Then he slunk back off into the woods and we never had any more action. He may have seen us excitedly peeking out of the windows, as we were like two kids in a candy store with an unlimited gift card... Or maybe he just wanted the "hen" to come down to him and didn't like the fact that she wasn't coming at his beck and call (though he never called). Who knows... but I do know we had a blast while we could see him! Our deke out in front: And the big boy... You can't tell from this frontal view, but his beard was dragging the ground. We had a blast watching him.... Next time we'll work on being more still. We did succeed right after that in getting something in range, however: This was right after the gobbler left, so maybe it's THEIR fault! We moved the blind down to where the bird came out today and left it set up so we can sneak back into it in the morning hopefully under the cover of darkness.
Ah Greg, that's turkey hunting for ya. He might have seen those horses and thought otherwise. I do love deer season but there is something about calling in a big ol' tom that is truly exciting.
I thought about that too, Rob... may head to Wally World and see what we can find for a few bucks tonight after he gets through with football camp tonight.
That's why It's called hunting and not getting right Greg? Excellent photo's there sir!!! Memories and good times were made, sounds successful to me.
Well, so much for the excellent plan.... didn't see that one coming! We're walking across the field to our blind at 5:45 this morning and we were having a hard time spotting it in the dark, even though there should have been plenty of light to see it skylit. When we got to where it was, we figured out why we hadn't seen it: the horses had tore it down sometime during the night, even ripping two of the pockets out that hold the poles coming out fo the hub. It wouldn't even stand back up for us with two sides incapable of being "popped out". We were both dressed in black from the waist up, but Matthew wanted to hide in some weeds for a little bit and give it a shot. We never heard any gobbles on the farm we were on (some WAY off), so we called it a day shortly thereafter. Now I've got to see if I can find someone with a sewing machine big enough to get my blind fixed.
Horses are nasty for biting and destroying things... especially things that are new to them. Good luck on your turkey quest with your boy !! If you do get to kill a turkey... it will be a memorable turkey season for you two. LOL Tim
