| TURKEY SEASON 2000-Craigs First Turkey |
| My brother-in- law, Craig, and I went down to Hocking Co. Easter Sunday evening and tried to roost some turkeys for Monday's season opener. We did not hear or see any fly up. Monday morning as I was making my way up a long point leading up to the main ridge when a Tom gobbled on the roost about 150 yards from me. Since it was getting light I could not slip up any closer to him so I sat down against a tree and made some soft tree yelps. He gobbled for about10 minutes and finally flew down but not in my direction. |
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| Just then I heard a bunch of noise and some hoof beats and 5 deer came charging down the hill and just about ran me over! I had to pull my feet out of the way in fear that they would be stepped on by the deer that ran only a few feet from my toes!!! Meanwhile I could hear the tom gobble as he walked up the hill and he eventually went over the other side of the ridge. The rest of the morning I walked the ridge and yelped occasionally with my box call. Twice while I was moving down a finger ridge I spooked single birds before I had a chance to set up and call. |
Craig had a tom come in over a ridge and stop and look his way but before he saw Craig's decoys a hen yelped and the tom went after her! I had to come home Monday evening for a Tuesday morning doctor's appointment but Craig stayed down and hunted. When I got back down there Tuesday evening he told me a story about him falling asleep in the woods only to be awaken by some rustling in the leaves behind him. When he peeked over his shoulder he saw 7 deer preparing to bed down. Apparently one finally saw him and gave him the foot stopping and head bobbing routine before alarming the rest of them. Wednesday morning I only heard 1 gobble way off and that was it for the rest of the day. Craig on the other hand had 3 jakes and jenny slip up behind him and purr and putt about 6 feet from him before looking at his decoys and then walking off. He later in the same place had a tom gobbling and working closer to him only to be intercepted by another hen who yelped 3 soft yelps. All in all not to much gobbling heard in the morning. Even the mushrooms are scarce! We will be back at it again this weekend. |
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| Sunday morning Craig decided to hunt atop a ridge hoping to hear a tom gobble from that high vantage point. Well sure enough shortly after daylight he heard a couple of gobbles further down the ridge top and he headed that way. As he is making his way toward the far off gobbles he suddenly has the urge to deposit the bodily waste of last nights venison burgers if you get my drift. He drops down over the ridge and finds a log to aid him with his duty and removes his decoy stuffed backpack and his fanny pack and unhooks his camo bibs. As he is in his squat mode he hears the gobbles getting closer and closer! He hurriedly rushes the task at hand and does the TP thing, slings on the bib straps, unbuckles his 30 year old Boy Scout backpack and sets up a jake and a hen decoy not 5 feet from his stinky pile of white TP, grabs his gun and fanny pack and empty backpack and runs about 15 yards to the nearest big tree and sits down against it. |
| Craig then puts in his mouth caller ( I hoped he used the other hand that he wiped with :) ) finds his push button box call and yelps 3 times softly. The tom gobbles just above him on the ridge top. He mounts his gun on his knee and points it towards the oncoming gobbler. He then yelps once with his mouth call and a blue and red head appears peering down from the ridge top. The bird spots the decoys and runs down to the jake and walks right along side of it and stands there nearly rubbing up against it and pauses. It then takes 1 step behind a tree and is hidden from Craig's view. Craig tries to make a putt or yelp from his mouth call but it makes a sound that no turkey has ever made! The gobbler hears it and sticks his head out from the tree and WHAM the bird goes down! Craig's first Gobbler, a 14 pound jake. One I am sure he will remember. |
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| The last weekend of the season we had the whole gang down for some camping and quad riding. I hunted both Saturday and Sunday mornings without and luck. The only thing that I saw was a box turtle! Saturday night we deep fried Craig's jake and it turned out delicious. We had apple and pecan pie for desert topped with homemade ice cream. While the season was a bust for me, we all enjoyed ourselves with the time spent in the woods and camping out. Well that's all for this year's turkey season, I hoped you enjoyed my stories. Steve |
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