Turkey Hunting

TURKEY HUNTING REPORTS 2006

April 24, 2006

My hunting partner, Piff, and I went down to Adams Co. to hunt the season opener. After a warning from the owner to look out for coyotes that have been harassing him and his dog we both headed out to two different locations. He went to a wooded hillside between two pastures where, in past years, Toms were noted to roost and strut. I went to the adjacent property and set up along an edge of a pasture that was surrounded on three sides by brushy draws and a small ravine.

Not long after daylight I heard a few gobbles off in the distance but none nearby. I called lightly off and on with my Easy Yelper call for a while with no response from any gobblers. Just after 7:00 I thought I saw a turkey fly down on the far side of the ravine across the narrow pasture in front of me. About twenty minutes later I heard a gobble coming from the pasture on the other side of the ravine. Every now and then I could hear a hen yelp. Soon it became apparent that they were working the edge of the wooded ravine. I cranked up the volume with a paddle call but I could not coax the Tom to gobble back.

I soon decided to make a move to get closer to the ravine. When I got to the edge I could see a turkey skylighted across the ravine along the edge the pasture. I then made a few calls but again I didn’t get any response. Eventually the gobbles started sounding further away. It was apparent that now the Tom was out in the pasture. I then slipped down into the ravine, and after stopping to answer Mother Nature’s call, I made my way across the narrow creek. As I was making my way up the other side I didn’t hear any more gobbles. I thought that maybe I had spooked the birds while making my way up the tangled hillside.

As I got to the edge of the ravine I peered in front of me across the gently rolling pasture. I didn’t see any turkeys. I then took another step or two out into the pasture and looked to my right and froze. There he was! He was in full strut about 100 yards from me! He would strut and spin around doing a few slow 360s. I thought for sure he would see me! It was only a matter of time before he would catch sight of me and book! To my amazement he came out of full strut and took a few steps away from me and slowly disappeared into a slight depression in the field.

I took a chance and hurriedly made my way to a small diameter tree on the edge of the pasture. I sat down and got my gun up on my knee. I hoped that the Tom or the hen that was with him earlier didn’t see or hear me make my move. As luck would have it a brush pile was about 30 feet in front of me in the pasture between me and where I had last seen the Tom.

I then made some soft purrs and clucks with my Easy Yelper and he gobbled! That’s when the nerves kick in. The gun was shaking on my knee. I took a few breaths to settle down and purred again with the call and waited.

Soon I could see him in full strut through the brush pile. He was about 60 yards away. I sat there and waited. He eventually came closer and looked right at me through the brush pile. He turned to my right and gobbled again. He then took a few more steps to my right and cleared the brush pile. I clucked with my mouth call and he stretched out his neck. It was now or never, BAM. He rolled and went down and started flopping on the ground.

I ran him down and stepped on his neck. Just then I heard a shot from my hunting partner Piff. Cool, I thought, we both got one just seconds apart. Soon the bird expired and I counted off 43 paces as I went back to my tree to gather my things. I went back to the bird and measured his spurs at 7/8 of an inch and his beard at 9 ½ inches, probably a two-year-old.

I then called Piff and told him that I got one. He responded that he missed his. He said that he had two hens and a Tom cross the big creek and that they were making their way towards him when I shot. At the sound of the shot a bunch of geese in the creek startled and started honking and flying off. The turkeys then got spooked and started putting. He decided to take the shot before they took off. As it turned out they were out of range. He also reported that earlier he had 4 turkeys making their way towards him across a pasture when a dozen or so cattle ran into the field and spooked them.

That was it for the morning except for a strutting Tom and a hen that Piff spotted in a far-off pasture as we were eating lunch on the owners back porch. I might buy a second tag and go back down with Piff and hunt again. It seemed like there weren’t that many hen sightings. What we saw were just one or two here and there and they were in the pastures. Usually we see/hear a bunch of hens together in the woods. Hmm, maybe most of them are on the nest, which means that the Toms should have been more responsive to our calls…

May 7, 2006

My hunting partner Piff and I went back down to Adams Co. to see if we could call in a turkey for him. We set up at daylight down along the creek bottom. It was not long until a Tom started gobbling a few hundred yards down the creek from us. We also heard a Tom a long way off up the creek. I called on and off for a few hours trying to coax the Tom closer to us but with no luck.

Around 9:00 the other Tom up the creek started gobbling again. He kept in up for a long time so we decided to move his way to see if we could get close to him. We located him on top of a ridge on the adjacent property. We called to him for about an hour but he would not respond to our calls. He finally shut up and we waited for about another hour to see if he would show up but he didn’t. That was it for the day.

Here is a picture of two sheds that the landowner showed us. The 7 pointer on the left was found a few weeks ago by the owners dog. The dog came back from roaming around the property and carried this shed back to the house. The one on the right the owner found a few years ago. It was pretty chewed up.