| TURKEY SEASON 2003 |
| WEEK 1 2003 Piff and I hunted a farm in Scioto Co. Monday morning. We didn't hear a gobble or a cluck anywhere! We hooked up with a local and hunted 5-6 different spots around Jackson on Tuesday. We would pull in spot and walk a little ways into the woods and call, if we didn't hear any birds answering we would go to the next spot and do the same. We heard only a 1/2 a gobble (Jake) one time the whole morning! The only turkey we saw was out in a field on the way home........! |
| WEEK 2 2003 Went down to Hocking Co. Sunday eve - Tuesday. It rained all night Sunday but by sun up Monday it slacked off a bit. I hunted the ridge behind Ron and Dorothy's the first half of the morning and didn't hear a thing. Later in the morning I hunted the field behind Brewer's with no luck. I did find 4 mushrooms along the creek where we found about 45 a few years ago. Monday evening I roosted 2 Tom's on the ridge across the creek from the shooting range. Tuesday morning I slipped up the ridge West of the sleeping birds. About 6:00 they started gobbling, one sounded like a Jake. I moved to within 100 yards of them and positioned myself under a tree. As I was setting up they flew down East of their roost and gobbled off towards the end of the ridge. I wasn't expecting them to fly down so soon! I then hustled up to the top of the ridge and walked East toward the end of the ridge until I came to a little clearing at the gas well. I could hear the Tom's gobbling on the adjacent property. I then set up my decoys s and called off and on until about 9:30. Occasionally I would hear a gobble from the Tom's but I could tell that they were getting further and further away. I packed up and moved West along the ridge top calling to try to locate another gobbler but I didn't have any takers. |
| WEEK 3 2003 Went down to Hocking Co. with Craig Tuesday eve and hunted Wed. & Thurs. We climbed different ridges Tuesday eve to listen for birds flying up to the roost. Craig heard birds gobbling at dark but couldn't tell which ridge they were on. Wed. morning Craig hunted the ridge North of the campsite while I hunted the ridge to the South. At 5:30 I headed up the ridge and when I was only about 50-75 yards up the steep hill a gobbler boomed on his roost not 30 yards from me. His gobbling scared the begeebees out of me! I froze in my tracks; I didn't want to move for fear that the Tom might see me. He kept gobbling about every 30 seconds. Finally after about 5-8 minutes I could see enough in the dim morning light to realize that the gobbler probably could not see me because of the canopy of young saplings blocking our line of sight. I finally sat down where I stood and waited for the loudmouth Tom to fly down. Soon the Tom pitched down off of his perch and landed uphill about 75 yards from me. I could hear his gobbling but couldn't see him through all the ground cover. By the sounds of his gobbling I could tell that he was walking back and forth. I gave a few calls with a mouth call to get his interest. He would gobble but he would not come any closer. After about 10 minutes suddenly another bird flew down from a tree not 10 yards behind me. I couldn't see the bird and I was afraid to turn my head to see it. Soon I heard some alarm putts to my right and by the sound of the putting I could tell that this bird spotted me. A few minutes later I heard the Tom gobble further away up the hill. After few more gobbles I could tell that he was on top of the ridge. I then stood up and walked up the hill a quickly as I could to catch up with him. About 2/3 the way up the hill I was so out of breath that I couldn't blow in the mouth call if I tried! He was now up on the highest point on the ridge. After catching my breath I finally made it up the hill and sat down to make a few calls. By now the gobbling Tom was further down the ridge heading West. I then hustled along the top of the ridge toward the Tom and called again. By now the track star was over the top of the ridge and still on the move. I then decided to just set up on a finger ridge and call off and on for an hour or so. Occasionally I could hear him off in the distance gobbling every now and then. About 9 o'clock I headed to a saddle on the ridge to set up again when I heard a gobble at the edge of a clearcut on the opposite end of the saddle. I called for about 30-45 minutes until I saw/heard another hunter approaching and that ended my setup. Later that morning about 11:30 I heard two different gobbles from other ridges. That was it for the morning. Craig didn't have any luck but he said that heard the Tom that I was after and thought that he would hear me shoot because he knew that I was close to him. Thursday we went out again but we both did not hear a gobble or a cluck anywhere. About the only wildlife encounter I had was a box turtle. One more week left of hunting season. |
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