Saturday April 22, 2006

I joined Larry and Jason this morning out at Cedar Run 9 (a property the company we work for owns and has a wetland on). It was 55 degrees and clear. It had rained all night and it was predicted to rain all day. We arrived with plenty of time and made the walk to the back corner where Larry called in his bird the other day. We waited 'til well after light and didn't hear a thing. We worked the property around to the end of the stream buffer behind the duck blind. Since we didn't hear anything we headed down the road to Cedar Run 6 (another company wetland on private land). We started in the woods almost directly behind our duck blind we built this summer and as we got close to the field, everyone froze. There was a gobbler about 60yds away in the field, directly in front of us. Jason was leading and when he gave the word, we all sat in a hurry. As I sat, I heard the heart-wrenching sound of a turkey putting. He didn't leave though. He walked out of site and we got up and made a mad dash back to where we came from and tried to swing around and get ahead of him. We got to the NW corner of the field and set up a deke. Larry sat in a blowdown, with Beeler about 20yds in front of him. I was on the other side of the mill race that runs through the woods, about even with Beeler. I was watching Beeler's breathing, and waiting for the increase in compressions followed by a bang. All of a sudden Beeler whispered, "he's right there in the woods, past you" I couldn't see him because he was behind a large fallen log. He was putting the sneak on us. A few minutes later Larry whispered that the bird was strutting in the field behind us. I gathered Jason and we began to sneak up the mill race to try and get even with the bird, so that we could sneak into position for a shot when he was strutting away from us. Problem was, every time he went out, he went farther and didn't come back quite as close. We managed to get setup within range of where he was, but he never came that close again. Our calls went unanswered in that early morning fog and Larry even tried to belly crawl with the decoy above him along the edge of the woods. He would lift his head from feeding, but that was the extent of his interest in our offerings. We mangaged to make a wrong move sometime in our persuit, because he eventually ran out of the field, stopped and looked back once and was gone for good. Oh well, we know where he will be next time!