Hunting Journal

October 20th 2007

2007-10-22T14:06:00.001-07:00

Friday, October 19th, I managed to get out of work on time to head to the golf course for a couple hours of hunting. I went all the way back to the backside of the course, as close as I could get to where I missed that buck opening day. I spooked about 10-15 deer walking in. I set up next to a wide open trail that the grounds crew uses to drive there carts on. The deer I spooked were on it when I spooked them, so I knew they were using it. I didn't see anything after I got set up.

Saturday, October 20th, 2007

I went back to the golf course for the morning hunt. I set up on the edge of a hardwood creek bottom surrounded by pines. There was a field to the east of me and the course to the west. I figured I could catch some deer feeding back along the edge headed to the thicker parts of the pine trees. I was doing a can bleat/light rattling/grunt calling sequence about once every half hour. About 8:30 I saw two fawns feeding up to my stand. They milled around at 18yds for about 5 minutes before suddenly a doe appeared. She continued to feed as the fawns bedded down. I managed to draw my bow as she fed behind the top of an arched over cedar tree. As she stepped into the clear I calculated for the quartering towards me shot and let the arrow fly. My follow through allowed me to watch my bright Lumenock disappear into the side of the doe. All three ran about 40yds and stopped. I was waiting for the doe to drop, but instead she wandered off all hunched up. I let them go and waited about 20min before I got down. I found my arrow easily, I could see it from my stand. Plus, it's hard to miss that Lumenock glowing, even in bright sunlight. The arrow was almost clean, but had some guts on it. I knew the angle I had would go through the guts, so I wasn't too concerned. Just to be safe I climbed back up in the tree and continued to hunt. My next calling sequence was met with a explosion of twigs snapping and leaves rustling. I stood and readied to shoot a nice buck. Turning my attention towards the field I saw breath floating throught the air. I folled it back to the source only to find a doe and two fawns coming in. I let them walk, I had enough on my plate as it was, I was only going to shoot if it was a mature buck. To make that much work for myself I need to have sufficient justification, like the rare opportunity of shooting a nice buck. After about an hour I listened to advice I heard Stan Potts give after he arrowed his buck of a lifetime, "when in doubt, back out". I was in no rush, it was failry cool out and it wouldn't hurt to give her some more time. Dead deer don't go anywhere, so it is a win-win situation in my eyes. When I climbed down, I went over to where she stoppoed at 40yds. There was plenty of blood on the ground and when I looked in the direction that they went I saw the two fawns feeding, but no doe. I assumed she was dead, but just in case I left quietly. I took that opportunity to bring my climber back to my truck and get a drink, call friends to see how they did. By 10:55 I was ready to go back in. I walked right up to where I stood when I spotted the fawns earlier. They were still there. Now I just had to decide if I was going to spook them off and risk that doe getting up, or if I was going to just sit and observe some more and make a judgement based on what I saw. I sat on the ground and knocked an arrow, just in case. Usuing my binoculars I was panning the woods, looking for signs of the doe. I was being generous apparently, because when I put the glasses down, I saw a brown object through the brush right in front of me. I stood and saw it was the doe. Normal routine ensued, and within minutes I had started my 25 minute drag back to the truck. I didn't get to unt the afternoon, because I was getting a tour of a 200 acre farm I just got permission for.

Monday, October 22, 2007
I am sitting in my climber right now, out at CRM 6. I am at the junction of cedar run, an old mill race and a 4 wheeler trail. This spot has traditionally been a good spot, and I guess it's never a bad sign when you can see mulitple rotten old stands from where you are! They must have been there for a good reason at some time. I rushed out of work and rode home with Larry, and I forgot my binoculars in my truck. I have a great view out into this big grassy (brown in this drought) field.
I know I'm going to wish I had them at some point tonight. I'll fill you in when I am done tonight.
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2007-10-09T10:10:00.001-07:00

Okay, it's now Tuesday October 9, 2007. Last night I took Hazzard up to the property by my old house. I used my climber in the area where I had those two nice bucks pass directly under my stand last year. The same place Dad had the buck bed near him. I put Hazzard in a climber directly uphill from the horse jump. There was more deer sign in that open oak hillside than I've seen in the last three years there. I jumped a 2.5yr old 8pt from its bed as I left Hazzard and walked to my spot. The buck was bedded in a treetop that had fallen up against the fence around the big field. As soon as that buck took off another deer on top of the rock ledge spooked too. I didn't see what it was, but it appeared small. I saw a few deer moving back in the woods on the top side of the rock ledge from my elevated position near the edge of the field. The new 6 strand high-tensile fence they put up has blocked the travel corridor that I was counting on. I hoped that the deer would parallel the field as they did last year, to find a spot to cross. The fence builders/landowners or someone with a pickup truck drove the perimeter of the field at about 5:30. This spooked a handful of deer back farther into the woods. I could only make out the movement in the thick brush in front of me. I didn't see any other deer until I was preparing to climb down at dark. A bunch of deer slipped out to the edge of the field after it was too dark to see my pins. They were about 80yds out in front of me. Hazzard had one deer crest over the ridge above him, but it was dark and he was already on the ground. It was so hot these past couple of day. Monday night I was smart enough to wear a t-shirt up the hill, then change into my camo long sleeve, after letting the breeze cool my body down and re-applying copious amounts of scent eliminator all over my body. I carried the scent spray to the stand and everytime I started to sweat, I'd cool off with the refreshing mist from my scent spray. I will probably not hunt until wednesday. I'll let ya know what happens!
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2007-10-08T05:50:00.001-07:00

Well, it's 8:16 Monday October 8th. I'm in a treestand at my golf couse property. I hunted opening day (Sat the 6th) and decided that I should keep this journal updated this year.
On Saturday the 6th I hunted the persimmon tree stand at the house. Larry and Hazzard set it up when I was in Hampton at a class and man, it's a nice spot. I got in there really early, I was setup by 5:45am. This wasn't on purpose, I misjudged sunrise. It was great though, pitch black out, barely any moon, and it was dead calm. All I could here were the persimmon's falling. I didn't see anything all morning. In the afternoon, I went to a golf course I got permission to hunt. I knew there was a stream confluence that had some really defined trails crossing the water, so I headed for that spot. Sneaking through the woods along the fairways, I made it back to where I wanted to be. I only spooked 25 deer on the way in. As I started to find the right tree I spooked a doe in one direction and a fawn in the other. I was headed where the fawn went, and I continually bumped him as I kept walking. I got tired of bumping this deer and I rushed my setup. I picked a bad tree, and even with my climber adjusted as small as it would go, by the time I was only 10' off the ground the tree was too small. I sat for only a minute, then got smart and climbed down and continued to look. Eventually I found a nice area next to a dried up wetland that seemed to funnel the trails down to within 40-50yds. I set up between the wetland and the stream. I was setup by 4:30. It was about 75-80 degrees all day. I was sweating and nervous about my scent. The fawn came back through within minutes after I set up. He was within range for a long time, then moved off to about 60yds and bedded down. At 5:30 he suddenly jumped up and ran right under me. Stopping for a moment to look behind him. I kept my eyes glued in that direction and eventually heard deer running and saw a glimpse of antler in some sunlight that was poking through the canopy. I readied my bow and the buck ran right into my primary shooting area. I drew as he came within range. As I drew, the velcro on my release came undone. When that happened, I came undone as well. I had this happen a few times when target practicing, so I knew I could hold my bow, but not for very long. I bleated with my voice to stop the deer, he didn't stop, so I kept doing it, getting progressively louder. All the while, my ability to maintain composure has gone out the window because of my release. As the buck finally stops, I put the pin on his chest, and let it go. Had I not been so nervous about my release and the amount of bone on the head of this deer, I would have easily noticed the branches dangling in my shooting lane that he stopped in. Instead, the arrow glanced off a branch, then glanced off the back of the deer, and stuck in a log. I had just put a Lumenock on that arrow the night before, so it was real easy to see that the arrow just barely touched the deer. I recovered the arrow to find a few pieces of hair in the front of the fletching and that was it. That buck is obviously no worse off than he was when he came in, smarter, but not wounded. My heart sank. How could this happen. I shoot extremely well, and in the past few seasons have gotten pretty good at maintaining composure under tense situations like this, but that velcro coming undone might as well have been my treestand peeling away from the tree. I had all I could do to steady my top pin in the armpit of that buck (which I managed to do). The overwhelming excitement didn't cause me to shake as it used to, it caused me to make a poor decision. Now all I can do is hope I see him again and try to remain positive. He was easily 18" wide with a main frame 8pt rack. Nice buck for sure!
Now I'm on the otherside of the couse, and I saw a ton of deer bedded as I walked in in the darkness, with my headlamp. I'm not familiar enough with the area yet to come in blind. A doe and two fawns stayed bedded 30yds from me while I set up my climber and climbed up. Just before shooting light they got up and walked away. I have seen one fawn at 60-70yds and two does that ran in to 15 yds, then ate for a second, then ran back the way they came. I'm about to get down and go scout some spots for this evening.
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2006-10-23T17:34:00.000-07:00

Sorry that I haven't updated this thing yet, again. I have been busy moving, going to class, working, and trying to shoot a deer. I am not going to get into the deer stories now, I'm saving that for a sunday or when I am really bored. I will however, for the second year in a row, reiterate that I wish it was turkey season still. I can't wait for the spring. Don't get me wrong, I love to deer hunt, and I want to shoot a nice buck, especially with my bow, but I still feel this crazy drive to be calling turkeys in the spring
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2006-10-17T14:27:00.000-07:00

I finally got some bowhunting time in. I hunted tuesday morning for a few hours and didn't see anything at the farm around the corner from my house. I did however go looking for clues as to what all the deer where doing that I was watching in the preseason. They stopped coming into the field I can hunt when they moved all the cows back in to the field. I suspected that they were still coming off the ridge in the same spot and just paralleling the field to a neighboring field. Well, sure enough, I found a staging area full of rubs and heavily used trails. In the afternoon I hunted the spot where I shot my nice 8pt last year with my bow. I passed up a 1.5yr doe with two fawns. The doe was really small, it's not that I'm above shooting a doe. My next opportunity to hunt will be on Sat. The 14th. I will post that story later.
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Wednesday, October 11, 2006

2006-10-11T13:13:00.000-07:00

Okay, I've slacked a bit on my journal this year. I think I will finally be in the groove from now on. Last Friday (the 6th) I went out for an evening hunt at our blind with Larry and Hazzard. We pushed a bunch of wood ducks, mallards, and teal out when we set up. A few woodies came in at MACH 10, we managed to shoot 5 all night. The first one I shot, fell, and started swimming for a small clump of willows. I jumped out of the blind to get it, but couldn't. I followed the feather trail as long as I could, but I know that little guy just tucked up under a clump of grass and let me walk by him. The second one I shot made it safely into the blind. Then I shot a third one, dead as a doornail, folded up, flipped upside down, plopped in the water behind the willows across from the blind. I went to get it, but no duck could be found. Larry even helped me look for it, and we couldn't find a thing. I was pretty irritated at that point. Of course, as we were picking up the dekes, a flock of 15 or so buzzed in and landed in the thick stuff across the open water from the blind.

Saturday the 7th:
I went out to the CRM 9 blind with Larry and Hazzard. The weather was perfect for duck hunting, rain and wind at 10-15mph in the face. I wish it was from a different direction, but beggars can't be choosers. We downed one female woodie, and then Hazzard knocked a hen mallard out of the air. As he and I were looking for her, a flock of 8 decided to sit down in a different part of the wetland. We watched them land right on the upper side of berm. We knew that there was a small patch of open water there, that they were hanging in. So, Larry aborted the blind, and we all met up at the base of that berm. As we neared the top, I poked my head over to see all 8 mallards looking very confused at the situation. Without a count down, we stood up, and managed to collect 5 of the 8. Before we could even pick one up, the other three had circled back around to find out what happened to their friends. In the panic mode of reloading and aiming, we missed. Yup, we all missed! Oh well, gues you can't be too greedy, right? It's a good thing, because we were one hen shy of a limit of hens. Had we found the one Hazzard knocked down, we wouldn't have been able to shoot any more hens, and I think two of the remaining three were hens.

On the deer note.......................
I was really sick monday and tuesday, but by tuesday afternoonI felt good enough to go out. I managed to scout the big field I'd been glassing all summer, and I determined that the deer that used to be coming into that field are still coming to the edge, but rather than coming out, they are paralleling the edge until they get on the neighbors property. I found an area with a bunch of rubs where they are staging up. If I get the right wind, I will try to intercept that nice 2.5yr-3.5yr 8pt there. I also pulled my stand in the bottom of the field since they are no longer using that area. I then went to where I shot my nice 8 last year with my bow. I got in there and the wind was perfect, and the setup felt good. At about 6:15 a Doe followed up minutes later by her two fawns passed directly under my stand. All presenting shots from 40yds-5yds. The doe was young, I let her pass simply because it was hot out, and I have a busy week ahead of me and I didn't want to have to deal with processing it. I would have dealt with the hassle had it been a nice buck. The best news from that experience is that the doe used one crossing and the fawns used another, reassuring me that my stand location is still right on the money. The tenent of the land also cleared and area of the woods and put a driveway/parking lot along 300' of the stream, which means all the deer that crossed there, now have to work their way under my stand if they want to get across the property to the fields!

2006-10-04T20:03:00.000-07:00

Well, it's the night before the early opener of the VA duck season. I have to go to class tomorrow afternoon, but I had the perfect opportunity to go duck hunting in the a.m. HAD being the key word there. The property that I am moving to this month has a duck blind on it, and there are some ducks there. The company I work for sold the property to my landlord, and in the talks of renting the place, I made it clear that am not going to move in unless I can hunt it. Well, now that the lease is signed, things have changed. Originally my boss and I wanted to hunt tomorrow morning because we have to work out on that property the rest of the day. We got shut out because that is the "only" blind the VP of the company has to duck hunt. I guess if you don't count the awesome tidal wetland blind on the potomac the company has and the major wetlands we have created on a private owners land, who doesn't allow anyone to hunt, except for the VP. So, we asked if he wanted to hunt together, but he's hunting in the afternoon. We can't because of class. Well, today, I hear that he's hunting in the am. Did he have the common courtesy to ask if we would join him? Nope! I actually thought he was a decent guy. I guess I haven't stuck my nose up his ass like some other people in the company. Don't mistake this as jealousy, trust me I will never be jealous of anyone who has to degrade themselves or diminish their personal life to earn a friendship. I've been noticing this phenomenon around me a lot lately.

Bitch number two:
I've been patterning about 30-40 deer on my only place to deer hunt regularly. They have been set in their patterns for two weeks now. I was fully planning on their patterns to change as fall got closer, but I assumed the does would continue at least through this Sat which is the bow opener. Sat night I glassed and found everything to be okay. Sunday I committed to hanging a stand to shoot this nice 120-130 buck. Well, sure enough, the landowner moved about 40 cows/bulls, and a half dozen horses into the field. There was one spike within range of my stand on sunday night, and that is it, not a single deer visible in any of the fields that I can hunt or the neighboring fields for that matter. I don't know what I am going to do, except maybe go back to where I shot my buck last year, but I even think that place maybe a shutout. I noticed the tenent has moved out, and the landowner has told me I have to ask the tenent for permission. I guess if the for rent sign is up, I'm still good to go. He doesn't have a problem with it, as long as the tenents don't, and if there are no tenents, then I assume there is no problem. I am pissed, I think I gotta stop ranting now.
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Thursday September 21, 2006

2006-09-21T21:47:00.000-07:00

Okay, the last two weeks have been killing me. I am really regretting the choice to not go elk hunting this year. For the past two years I have spent ten days in September elk hunting with my bow. For the past two weeks I have been waking up to crisp, cool, hunting weather. Driving home tonight from a night class I've been taking for work, I had the windows down, it was cold, and I could almost smell the decomposing leaves of Fall. I haven't gone a single day since I shot my elk two years and 4 days ago, without atleast looking at a picture of that amazing animal. Today on my drive home I realized that on this day for the past two years, at this exact time of day, I'd be sitting on a cot in a canvas wall tent, making sure I had all my stuff packed to go home. I would be making sure that all my practice arrows are out of the target, wondering how I'm going to get all this stuff back on the plane with me so that I have it for the bow opener in VA in two weeks, thinking about how I can't believe a TEN day hunt seemed so short. Then as my friend Jason turns off the lantern, I'd lay in my cot, watching the flames from the pellet stove dance on the canvas walls, and strain to hear just one more bull elk bugle before I left. The first year I actually heard numerous bulls bugle through the night. One particularly vocal bull decided to hang out a mere couple hundred yards from camp and he ellicited bugles from a few others in the area. 3:30 am would come too quick and my last moments in Montana would be spent staring out the window of a pickup truck at the few lights that are visible along the road and the tops of the mountains silloutted by the moonlight.
So right now it is 12:30am on friday Sept. 22 and I'm wide awake and bummed out. I was going to start transcribing my journal from that first year when I shot "The Legend", however I left my journal with my dad in May so he could read it. I'll have to wait til I see him again. Deer season is right around the corner....stay calm, pick a spot, and follow through! Oh, and don't forget to call and tell me about it so I can expect fresh pictures in the morning!
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September 15, 2006

2006-09-15T12:34:00.000-07:00

Okay, I realize I never posted my Elk story this summer, like I said I would. The only person to reply to me was Bill, and he has heard the story a thousand times, so motivation wasn't too high. I also have been slacking on the recent hunting stories. On Sept. 2 I hunted the Virginia Dove season opener. We met out at one of our company's wetlands around 4:30 on that saturday. Nobody was expecting a real good shoot, since it's been two years since the wetland was seeded. I figured everyone might shoot one or two, which we did. I however capitalized and the others didn't. I think there were 9 of us out there. Everyone else seemed to be more interested in socializing and drinking beer, my trigger finger was giving me more grief than my beer gut. I managed to limit out, with one that I couldn't find. I put it down real good, but it was out in the wetland in the tall grass. I looked for a good 15min., shot a few birds that flew over while looking, and couldn't find it. I eventually got Thunder (the chocolate in the picture) to come over and help me, but even she couldn't find it. I think the total for the group was around 25-26, including my 12 bird limit. I haven't been out since, but I have been watching my hunting area for deer (without much luck). This summer the landowner put about 200 head of sheep in my favorite field, and there are about 75 head of beef in the big field that I hunt (good, but not my favorite spot). I do have permission to go into the woods, but not very far, and it is right in prime bedding area for these deer, so I am going to get up in there this weekend and do some distant observation to see where these deer are going, I know they didn't leave. I'll try to keep everything posted up to date from here on out. I am going to set this journal up so I can email stories off my blackberry, right after it happens!

Montana Hunting Journal

2006-07-05T06:01:00.000-07:00

I am just curious if anyone is still checking this thing even though turkey season is over. Last night while I was laying in bed trying to forget that my room was 110 degrees and 100% humidity, I was thinking about turkey season and how there is nothing else I can really write. There are a few little stories, but nothing worth writing about. I then got the idea that I could transcribe my hunting journal from my first trip to Montana in 2004 to bowhunt elk and deer. If anyone is interested I will post the journal entries on this thing. That will take a little effort, so I'm not sure I want to do it if no one is going to read and enjoy them. Well, I guess you'll have to read to find out if you will enjoy them or not. I'll give you a hint....a BIG elk dies.

Friday June 9, 2006

2006-06-14T04:41:00.000-07:00

Well, I think that I am almost over the initial phase of dealing with the fact that turkey season is actually over. I still wake up and think I might get to go hunting. Well, this afternoon we finished up work and then Larry, Beeler and I went down to our duck blind to fix up some stuff and have a few beers while watching the wetland wildlife. We replaced a floor board that got broken towards the end of last season, drilled holes in the floor near the door to allow the water to drain so that when you take that first step up, you aren't sliding around on a sheet of ice at 4:30 in the am in 10degree weather. We also stood up the cedars that had fallen over this spring and got them situated so that all the willow transplants that we put around the outside will have room to grow. When we got there, they were all doing good, but some of them were growing up through the dead cedars. We also clipped some more willow branches from a pretty robust plant next to the blind and stuck them in some of the areas around the blind that were lacking transplants. They should grow up nicely and minimize the amount of brush we are going to have to add this fall. There was a pair of mallards on the hole, as well as a lone hen wood duck. Larry has been spotting a bunch of woodies on the hole recently, I don't know where they were tonight. The work portion of the night took about an hour, and it was pretty easy. Earlier we stopped in to see Bobbi, the lady who owns the property. She just had back surgery, but when we pulled up she was out walking around with her daughter in the yard. She's a great lady, always very friendly, and very talkative. They offered us some iced tea and some "moose munch crunch", one of the monthly gifts that she gets from our company through a "gift of the month club". She always makes us laugh, because she gets all these treats once a month, but can't justify opening them until we stop by, or her grandchildren come. We usually have a piece of candy, or something, then leave the rest for her to enjoy, which I'm sure she does after waiting weeks to try some of the stuff. Anyway, we visited with Bobbi, then fixed the blind, and since it was a friday, we watched the sunset while sitting in the blind and had a few beers too! We decided that we are going to build a small shelf that runs the length of the front wall so that a box of shells could be stored there, rather than on the seat or on the floor. We also talked about planting some millet in the area in front of the blind, but who knows if that is going to happen. I also went fishing on Sat. morning (the 10th). I caught one nice largemouth (about 14") on a crankbait. The shenandoah does not produce really big fish, actually it doesn't produce much over the 2lb. range, at least not that I've seen in the three years I've fished it. I also brought my old Proline Bow, which I have set up for bowfishing. I couldn't get close enough to any carp, but I did have a shot on a 2-3lb catfish. I know I am not supposed to shoot those, but I have never landed anything bowfishing, so I was eager to do so. Besides, I know that at least I would eat the catfish.........I don't know what I would do with a carp, either give it to my friends to put in their garden or I would mulch it up into some coon bait for someone else. I have been thinking a lot lately about trying to trap some coons this winter, but I don't know if I will have a good enough place to do so. I've attached a picture of what our blind looked like last fall!

Sunday June 4, 2006

2006-06-04T12:53:00.000-07:00

Here are some of the other pictures that should have posted with the June 2nd post.

Thursday June 1, 2006

2006-06-01T03:51:00.000-07:00

Well, a seven hour drive seems like twelve when you don't have any pretty feathers blowing out of the back of your truck! I had to get back to work to download some pictures and right this one. Tuesday night Aaron and I went up to roost the birds at the Hughes property where the poop eater lives. We had taken Collin fishing after he got home from school, but it began to pour on us after about an hour. Bill and I had taken Collin fishing over the weekend up at Putnam's and he learned how to cast his pole by himself and reel them in and even take the fish off the hook by himself. He had a blast, and we did too. He asked to go the next day, but we didn't have time, so Dad wrote him a note to get out of his after school program and come fishing on Tuesday. Nothing better than introducing a young kid to the outdoors. These are a few pictures from both days. Anyways, after it stopped raining on Tuesday we headed up to roost. There were two rainbows visible from town. As we drove closer, I realized that the one rainbow went right into the property where we were going to roost. I hoped that the pot of gold at the end was a big ole gobbler that was ready to make a fatal mistake. The picture with the farm equipment in it shows the very top of the tree where the two birds were roosted that night, even though we couldn't get them to gobble. If you look just above the mowing deck on the right, the first tree in the hedgerow coming off the woods on the right side of the picture is where they were. I located them from the top left corner of that field the next morning. I debated going into the woods on the left and getting on the same level as him, or running across the top of the field and setting up just below him on the right side (as you are looking at the picture). I opted to get close to him, and he flew down and went to the woods on the left. See yesterday's post for the rest of the story. The final picture is of my final sunset in Cobleskill, how could you not want to be in a place like this?

Wednesday May 31, 2006

2006-05-31T10:08:00.000-07:00

NO BIRDS! I went all season without shooting a turkey. This morning Aaron and I went up to the Hughes property where chased the "poop eater" around yesterday. I wanted to try for a different bird, so we hiked to the other end of the 700ac. that he owns. We were standing at the corner of a woodlot looking across a field at another woodlot when I hooted for the first time. Two birds sounded off at the opposite end of the other woodlot. We ran around the field and got setup in the woods before they flew down. They didn't gobble that much, but they did gobble a few times. We were about 300yds downhill from where I ran into that gobbler yesterday, the one that was charging out of the woods at my first call. I assumed that these birds were the same and would want to come in our direction naturally, so I didn't call a lot. Well, sunrise came and went and the fog burned off some, and the birds flew down. I made the first call as they hit the ground, and only one responded. I shut up for a while, and then heard the bird gobble again across the field. HE WAS WALKING STRAIGHT AWAY FROM US! The other bird never answered, but I figured I better stay with the one I can see. We stayed long enough to give him an opportunity to turn around, or for the other bird to show up. Then I spotted 4 hens pecking in the manure up behind the farmhouse, which was just above where that bird was strutting. "He couldn't be? No way is that the poop eater bird", I thought. Well, I got into a better position to glass and when he strutted, I noticed the characteristic two missing tail feathers of the poop eater. I knew we were in for some exercise, so we immediately tried to sneak around on him. I headed for the woodlot that we originally were in, and headed towards the bottom of the hill where he was. We were in postition with that bird about 150yds from us, finally strutting with those four hens. I noticed one hen leave the manure and head for the patch of manure where we have been seeing them the past couple days. I was setup within 50yds of that spot yesterday, so I knew where to go. I backed out and used the topography of the open field to my advantage. As we slid into position at our respective trees, I saw all four hens leading the tom directly towards us. This couldn't be any better. There was a ditch in the field that would allow me to keep my gun on my lap until they were almost to me, then have time to get it up and still be comfortable when the shot came. Well, they were half way to us, just getting ready to go into the ditch and they all got real tall. I didn't hear any cars on the road, and I didn't see anything else to spook them, so I kept an eye on the whole situation. All of a sudden they picked up and flew into the woods....right where we were just setup. I quickly stood, alerted Aaron, and headed to the top of that woodlot. They were up there yesterday at 10:30 when we were heading out, so I again assumed they would travel in that direction. As I started walking I noticed a big, shiny, "HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY" balloon floating over the manure spots in the field. I know what it said because I made a point of driving by where it landed on the side of the road and stomping the crap out of it. Anyway, we quickly were setup in the top of that woodlot, and my first call was answered from a long way off. I could't believe that they were heading in the opposite direction. I snuck up to the edge of the woods and glassed again, and of course, the tom was strutting about 100yds from the tree he roosted in. I made another call and he perked up, ran down the hedgerow away from me, then came down through it. I thought he was excited and looking for a good place to cross a stream which was below the hedgerow, but that wasn't the case. He literally walked directly under his roost. The hens were heading towards me, in fact they had all disappeared from sight into the woods below me. I knew he was over there alone and I couldn't get across the field again in the daylight. My only option was to go all the way up to the truck, and then drive around and park at the farm and drop over the edge into the woods. We beat feet and got back to the truck pretty quick. As we walked carefully down to the edge of the woods, I heard a gobble. Sure enough, it was right back where we just were. How do they do that? I got back in the truck and drove around the road again, trying to spot the birds so I could figure out just what the heck they were doing. I spotted a hen, and while glassing, I heard the bird gobble. He was pretty much right where he ran to when the balloon spooked them. That's right, so now we are on setup 5 and back to the same place as number 2. I figured the only way we could get on that bird was to go in by his roost and sneak up the woodline behind him. I spotted him pecking around a manure pile all alone on the far side of the woods as we got closer to the woodlot. I decided that it was best to go straight at him and get as close as possible. To finish off this painful story, it was ten when we setup, and at 10:30 with no sign of birds we left. The best chance to get on a bird at this point in the game, basically the final hour of the season, was sausage hill. It was minutes away, and always proved good in the late morning during late season. Long story short, we hunted up behind the sheep farm and didn't hear a thing. With a half hour left, we ran up to the top of the hill. With fifteen minutes left, I got an answer from a hen that was probably nesting in the aspens, just like always. She never came in and at 11:57, we unloaded and walked back through the millions of tent caterpillars that have infested the woods. Today was the worst tent caterpillar day yet, and to make the last few minutes of the last day of the season even worse, we had to put up with all the tiny strands of webbing that they decend on, being wrapped around every part of our bodies. When I got back to the truck I picked 67 tent caterpillars off my vest alone. I'm pretty bummed right now, and I will make a few more posts, so don't give up on this yet. I have some pretty good fishing pictures from when I took Aaron's son Collin fishing. The only other words I have to say are probably better left unwritten.........................................

Tuesday May 30, 2006

2006-05-30T09:52:00.000-07:00

"GOOD THINGS COME TO THOSE WHO WAIT" That is the moral of the story for my turkey season and especially today. Aaron and I set up in the green clearing inside the woods where we watched that gobbler go to roost last night up in the new spot I got the other day. We snuck in from the same side we did yesterday and got within 10yds of the clearing. I put my hen decoy in the logging road that comes out of the clearing and set Aaron up so he was watching downhill and behind me. I setup looking into the clearing. I assumed that bird would fly into the clearing, but if not, we had plenty of options to move and get ready. Well, at 10min to 6, that bird gobbled at less than 80yds and eye level. I couldn't see him, but I was sure Aaron could. The bird eventually flew down and I made sure I was the first hen he heard. He gobbled immediately. I yelped soft again and he was much closer, the kind that makes your whole body vibrate. I could only see Aaron, so I was reading the birds off his actions. His gun moved in my direction, and the thumb clicked the safety off on that old 20GA. I was just praying that the bird was close enough. Suddenly he shot, I jumped and turned just in time to see a bunch of birds flush up and out of the treetops, and out over the field. I looked, and looked hard, but couldn't find a bird flopping on the ground. I kept looking thinking that he may have shot him stone cold dead, but that wasn't the case. He instantly admitted to screwing up and Ifelt pretty bad for him. He knew how hard I'd been working for a turkey this month, and he knew that he just blew the best situation I'd had all year. I just grabbed the decoy and my calls and started for the truck. I figured the sooner we were on a new bird, the sooner I would cool down and forget about it. Well, forget for the moment anyway. That hunt will live with me for the next 330 days if I don't get to pick one up by the feet tomorrow. Had Aaron waited just a few more seconds that bird would have been within 20yds, and it wouldn't have made a difference if he was shooting a 20ga. or a 12ga, or a 28ga. for that matter. As we headed towards the spot where we saw the big redhead stutting as his hens picked manure, I told Aaron to call Bill and let him know what happened, because I was sure he was just sitting around waiting for the word, he knew my plan, and he knew it was going to work. We rounded the corner and sure enough, that big gobbler was strutting in the manure again. It was 6am. We sat up by the farm and glassed him for a while, to make sure he was going to commit to that side of the road before we made the long hike in to get him. While glassing, Aaron heard another bird gobble directly behind the farm, so I thought it would be beneficial either way, if we went in. If the "poop eaters" left and crossed the road, we would still be able to get after the other one we heard. We made it across all the open fields and into the last patch of woods and the bird was still strutting by the road. I made the decision to use the topography of that really open area to get as close as possible. I setup about 200yds from him under the last possible tree I could. My first call struck the right nerve as that bird started gobbling his head off. Over 100 times in all before it was said and done. He gobbled at everything, but I knew he had 3 hens with him and would be reluctant to come to the call. I tried soft and easy, trying to coax the hens in, but didn't succeed. I tried aggressive calling to get him to break away, and he gobbled but wouldn't leave them. He eventually dropped behind another rise in the field and I was able to sneak up to the tiny patch of pines that he was just in. When I got there, I heard a putt. He was standing 80yds away, but hadn't seen us. He may have heard us or something, I'm not real sure. He walked off gobbling with his hens. When he was about half way up the hill towards my truck, I was able to turn him and bring him back to 100yds. The hens came with him, but then turned and headed back towards the top of the hill. I saw this as a good opportunity to get out of there before we spooked him. I was also kind of anxious to get a chance at the other bird we heard. When we reached the bottom edge of the last patch of woods we needed to get through, I gave a loud call on my box call. A bird sounded off about 100yds into the woods in front of us. We were almost to the corner of the field. The corner was between us and him. I immediately set the decoy in the field and had Aaron sit next to it just inside the woods, and watch the woods. Good spots to sit were scarce and I knew I was going to have to totally commit my shots to the field. I tried to run up about 50yds to be able to shoot over a little knoll, but as I neared my tree I spotted the gobbler charging out of the woods at full speed. I am not sure who was more surprised, me or him, but either way the jig was up and I just turned around and grabbed the decoy. We headed up through the woods following a wetland swale towards a cove in the top field. The area seemed like a likely spot to run into a bird when I saw it on the way in. Just below it Aaron thought he heard a gobble in the field, and a few steps later we spooked a bird just inside the woods. I figured if that bird went quietly, we still may have a chance at the gobbler. So I fired up the box call again and was answered by a chorus of gobbles. The bird that we were after intially gobbled up and to our left in the field. Another bird gobbled directly above us in the field and then to our left a bird with a real deep, long gobble sounded off at about 50yds. We sat right where we were, and it was actually a really good setup. I made my first call on my box call again, but didn't get an answer. We waited for 15min but no more gobbles or anything. Cautiously we worked up to the field and found that all the birds had left. We made it back to the truck without any more confrontations. It was 10:45. Why? Why does it take until the last day or two of the season to figure out a spot like this, or to finally get action like this? Good things come to those who wait, but I can only wait until Noon on May 31st. At 11 we pulled into the spot where I killed my bird on the last day of the season last year. We witnessed three longbeards go up into there on Saturday, so I was optimistic. We called our way across the ridge, and about 10 min into it, I heard a cutt and a yelp. We setup right where we were. The bird clucked the whole way in and yelped a few times. The yelps were slow and raspy, just like a jake should sound. I trained my eyes on the ledge in front of us and as the bird appeared behind my bead, I was ready. I must have burned a hole in the breast of that hen trying to find a beard, but no such luck. She walked 5yds from Aaron and then circled behind us. She stood behind a blow down at 20yds for the next 20min. I kept purring and clucking, and cutting and yelping, and she obliged with the continuous purrs and clucks and occasional yelps that a hen will give you in such a situation. She couldn't find her lunch date, and I finally realized it was getting close to noon. No gobblers were going to make the rendezvous before the noon whistle, so I thought I would have some fun. I just spoke up and told the hen that she could go back to her nest (even though she appeared to be a yearling and most likely didn't have one), the I told her that she didn't have a beard, so it was time to go. Then I finally just started barking out, "leave, go, go on, now" and she just gave me a curious cock of the head and started towards me again. I finally just stood up when she was circling at about 45yds. We walked out, defeated again. One more morning is all that is left. The heart is starting to get a little heavy, the breaths a little short, but like they say, "good things come to those who wait".

Monday May 29, 2006

2006-05-29T18:50:00.000-07:00

Last night Bill and I went over and aquired permission from the guy who owns that nice field where our gobbler went yesterday morning. He initally said no, but upon further conversation agreed, since he was just a deer hunter and not a turkey hunter. He not only gave us permission for behind his house, but also up behind the sheep farm, where I have commonly heard birds, but never had permission to go in there. He actually gave us that permission right off the bat, not realizing we just wanted to turkey hunt. So, now the game was on. We had the three of us again this morning and we could surround him. Aaron and I took the breeder decoy up to the top of the new field and Bill went in from Chris's house and setup a little closer than Aaron and I did yesterday. He didn't gobble nearly as much this morning on the roost. He did gobble though. He also sounded like he was almost all the way down the hill and possibly across the street. I wasn't going to call this am, just as I hadn't yesterday, to preserve whatever comfort he had in the area he had been spending so much time in. Well, when I heard him so far off, I knew I had to do something. I started calling. He answered a bunch, not every time, but enough to keep me interested. He eventually started working his way up the woods towards us. He cut the distance pretty good, but wasn't very close when it comes to getting real excited. He eventually started moving off down the hill again. I walked over into the woods to try and coax him by moving my setup. Once in the woods, I realized that I was pretty close to Bill, I could hear him calling. I backed out and we used our radios to confirm the bird was moving down and that we should move in on him and setup again. We did, and he still moved off. Another long story short, he went across the road and the hunt was over. Bill picked us up back down on the road and told us how he had seen a few birds in the bottom of the field when he was walking out and decided to go back and give them a shot. In doing so, he may have spooked a bird, but he doesn't think so. He did see a big bird pick up and fly across the road from about 50yds from him. We headed back over towards Putnam's. On the way we couldn't pass up The Corner's, and this time there were no birds visible, besides the same hen that we've seen every day, in an adjacent property just pecking around in a field. However, I did find a gobbler's left primary feather on the road into the pond, so I know there is one in there somewhere. We didn't waste much time there. We wanted to be up and in position for the Putnam birds before the time we tangled with them yesterday, which was 8:30am. We were up there by 7-7:15 today, and we didn't get one rise out of anything up there. After that we drove back towards the spot where Jason had killed that jake on opening day, and there was a stutter in the same place where I had seen a bird right before Jason and I went in. We did the same thing, minus the calling through the woods thing, and we just ran down the edge of the woods to minimize noise. It's hard with three people to be quiet. We got into position, with Bill on the calls behind Aaron and I. Bill's first yelps on the box call brought a distant gobble, and then silence. I thought a I had heard another gobble when he made his second call on the box, but I wasn't 100% sure. He kept switching back to his slate, so picked up my box call to see if I could make something happen. I clucked, yelped, cutt, yelped, and cutt. As I lowered my hands, I was almost shocked to hear a cutt, cluck, cutt come from in front of me, close too! I slowly dropped my box call between my legs, box first, then paddle, and grabbed my gun. Sure enough, seconds later a hen came clucking and cutting all the way in. She got to about 35yds and looked around and walked off. I thought the stutter we had seen would be right with her, so I fired up my diaphram to get her back. Like a puppet on a string, she came yelping and cutting right back. Still no gobbler, and nothing for her to see, she walked off yet again. This time we moved up to the field, put out a hen deke, and tried again. We never heard anything else. On to the next spot. As we were nearing the end of the road, we were going to turn and head down to Sausage Hill to see if that bird had made it back out to the fields. Before we got to the end of the road however, we spotted a real nice redhead with two hens just getting ready to cross the road, on the same farm where we just were. The terrain is pretty open, but there were two main woodlots he could have been heading towards. So, instead of left to "the hill" we went right and tried to sneak into the back of one of those woodlots. On the way over to the woods, crossing a big open field, we spooked a couple turkey's but didn't care much since we had a real nice one in our sights. Once we got to the edge of the woods, I glassed for a few minutes to see where they were going, and I watched them walk right back across the road and into the thin strip of pines that we could see right through. The only way to get at that bird was to go back to the end of the road, and get below him in this big ravine and try calling him down. Everything up top was way too open to move in on him. Well, we went down there and spent the remainder of legal hunting down there, without a single peep from those damn birds! I still have two more days, and something has to happen quick. I was going to go back to Rochester today and hunt with my dad in H-town, but he doesn't want me to waste the gas money to go hunt where the turkey hunting isn't as good. It doesn't matter much to me, I'd much rather see my dad, and possibly kill a bird with him, than hunt without him and not kill anything. The problem is, there are definitely birds here and I have a lot more land, and I only have two days left, and dad would have to work both days, and, and, and.... you get the idea. I don't know what to do, but financially I think I am better off just staying put here for the next two days. I know, I never think about money, especially when it comes to hunting, but dad isn't too optimistic about the hunting situation up there, and I know he has to work. I also feel like I need to give a little back to my old landlord, who puts me up in his own house every turkey season and treats me like one of the family. Very few people would do what this family does for me, and I can't think of a really good way to show them how much I appreciate it. I cook them dinner every once in a while, but that doesn't do it. If I could get Aaron a bird, I know he would be very happy, and that would take some of that pressure off. Don't get me wrong though, it's a little hard to justify my weekly trips up here to everyone in VA when I don't come back with anything. They all think I'm nuts, but truth be known, I just can't help it. If I had to choose one thing to do the rest of my life it would be turkey hunting. Some people golf, some people fix cars, some people drink, dance, play sports, have family's........I hunt. I hunt everything, but I find myself thinking of turkey hunting no matter what my target is that day. I was just talking about it this weekend, how I was sitting in my treestand one day this past fall wishing I could call deer like I do turkey's. An hour later I grunted in the biggest bow buck of my life, and as I watched him drop in that field, I was extremely happy, but I also thought about how excited and happy I get when I'm turkey hunting. I'll figure it all up from my receipts when it's all said and done, but it's looking like $1100 in gas, $100 in hotels, $200 in food, and about 65hrs of drive time since April 29th. Some may say I have a problem, but there are much worse things to spend your time and money on. At least with this, I stay healthy, have fun, enjoy the company of friends and family, and make memories that last a lifetime! Oh yeah, tomorrow, Aaron and I are headed back up to go after the gobble head roosting below Sausage Hill, but we are going to sneak right into the woods and get right in his strut zone where he was walking this morning. We went up to roost and watching him cut into the woods right in the same spot as this morning, still flanked by his 5 hens.

Sumday May 28, 2006

2006-05-29T18:38:00.000-07:00

This morning I had Bill Lang and Aaron Haig with me. Aaron and I had scouted the bird that was strutting below Sausage Hill the other day, so now we had a plan. Aaron and I set up in the lowest corner of Chris's property, just above where that bird is roosting, and right in the hedgerow where he strutted for about a half hour on Friday. Bill sat on a lone tree up on the big cornfield, incase the birds worked up the grass field behind us and we couldn't get around on them. I used the breeding decoy that Larry let me borrow, thinking that it would entice that gobbler across the property line if it wasn't already in his plans. Bill was guarding "Henrietta" from any possible assults. I thought that we had all the bases covered. I had seen this bird four or five days now in the same spot. At 10min. to 5am a goose on the pond below the road woke up our gobbler. He gobbled right where I expected him to be. From that point on, I tried to count, but lost count early. Bill had a better idea and just counted the time between gobbles. For over a half hour that bird averaged a gobble every 12sec. and the longest stretch was a whopping 32sec. That is in the neighborhood of 150 gobbles on roost. Long story short, he flew down and went in the opposite direction. I know there is a nice mowed field over there that is flanked by pines on one side and the woods where he sleeps on the other. It is up behind a log cabin and is pretty secluded. I would go there too! We gave up on that bird at about 6:30 and headed to Putnam's. On the way we ran into three or four birds crossing the road at The Corner's and we tried to get on them, but it didn't work, when we left we saw them on the other side of the road, and they all appeared to be hens. So, we eventually made it to the back hill at Putnam's and hiked up to the first clearcut. I worked those two jakes and a longbeard up there with Sayers on the opener, and Bill and Aaron worked a couple birds there the following weekend. We called our way up the hill and about 250yds from the clearcut, to the north, we got two mature sounding birds to answer back. They were hot and we set up quick. They cut the distance in no time, and slowed up at about 100yds. They wouldn't come any closer, and the only thing I can figure is out is that they didn't want to come through some young growth that was between us. In the middle of that battle we had a bird gobble over on Loder's, a two other birds gobble above us, and one bird gobble up across the road, on the same side as Putnam's house. After that it was just a lot of hiking in 80 degree heat and too many clothes. Shower time was right around the corner.

Saturday May 27, 2006

2006-05-27T12:09:00.000-07:00

I wish I had some pictures to post on this thing. This is getting kind of old. Who wants to read all this without something cool to look at. Anyway, I got to hunt with Bill Lang today, for the first time this year. We started up behind Putnam's house going after the two birds I tangled with when my dad was down. We went straight up the hill before first light. I wanted to be in position to move on them from above when they gobbled. I hooted early to see if we could raise one, and my second hoot did. It really gave me some confidence with my voice hoot. We moved into postition and those birds gobbled some more. I heard four birds fly down, but never saw one. They gobbled 12 times total between the two of them this morning. Once they hit the ground they shut up and walked off. Story of my season so far. We tried to swing up and over the top to cut them off, but I don't know where they went. We couldn't even get them to shock gobble. We were on our way to The Corners after that when we saw three longbeards cut across the road and head right into where I killed my second bird last year on the last day of the season. I have to knock and ask every time for that spot, and I wasn't willing to go knock at 7:30 on a Saturday and risk making them mad. So, we went and worked the corners. We made a call at the bottom of the pine plantation below the road and got a raspy, slow series of yelps in response. We setup anticipating a jake to come in. We didn't hear anything after that. We were about 50yds back up into the pines when I spotted the bird about 60-70yds out in the field adjacent to the pines. We used the dark pines, and quiet footing to back up and set up again. The bird paid us no attention and walked back out into the field. As we neared the road, I put the binoculars on it and was able to witness that is was indeed a hen, so we didn't feel so bad. After that we went and asked for my spot where we saw those birds, but we couldn't because he had just dropped off his son-in-law from New Jersey, who had been hunting all morning and heard the birds gobbling up there. We moved on to Sausage Hill, where we covered the front and back sides well, with no action at all. We decided to head back over to the Corners to see if we could get a rise out of the bird Aaron and I heard yesterday at noontime. On the way I thought we'd stop and give a few calls down on that new spot where Sayers killed his bird on opening day. That was a wash, there were people bombing around on dirt bikes and four wheelers in the woods. So, we spent the remainder of the morning set up in the field above the pond at the Corners. As noon rolled around, Chinese food sounded really good. So we headed to town. Bill made a good point when we were waiting for Gen. Tso to show up......"It's a good thing NY state shuts us down at Noon, cuz we are like stupid gold fish, we'd just keep going 'til we killed ourselves." And yes, he has made the stupid fish face a few times while saying that today. I'm thinking ambush on the strutter with all the hens with him up by Sausage Hill at first light. Hopefully I'll have some visuals for the next post!

Friday May 26, 2006

2006-05-26T13:12:00.000-07:00

I got to hunt with my old landlord from Cobleskill today. Aaron and I went up to Sausage Hill because I haven't been up there yet this year for a morning hunt. I didn't spend much time listening on the top, because I had a good feeling that the bird I heard on last Sunday would be on the backside again. Well, we got down there and sure enough, he gobbled. He was a long way off, but it was possible we could sneak along the top of the ridge and get on him. Well, as we made our way to the top of the ridge, we ran into a hunter, walking away from where the bird was, so I gave up on that one. The main reason I wanted to go up there was so I could try and pattern this bird that is just off the property and make up a game plan to try and hunt him one of the days that I will be here. Well, when we got back to the truck at about 6:30 I gave a call and a distant gobble rang out. I wasn't sure where, so we got to the edge of the woods ASAP. It turned out to be coming from the direction of the field where I had seen that bird strutting with the 6 hens last weekend. As we drove out, we spotted the birds on the crest of a cut cornfield right behind the barns, WHERE I CAN HUNT! We immediately snuck around behind the barn, using an old shale bank as cover. I belly crawled out a bit and set out a breeding tom/hen combo decoy with bobble heads. I made a few calls and didn't get the immediate "running in" response I was looking for. I didn't know what their plan was, so we just drove back up on the hill high enough to observe through my new awesome Leupold bino's. The group of 4 hens and the one longbeard had moved to the far side of the hill. While watching them Aaron spotted a pair of jakes sneaking in from the bottom of the bowl, on the other side of the pond. They were actually going after a fifth hen that had left the group to nest, and they were following her back up on the hill. I thought that we could sneak around the pines behind Larry's old house and get a chance at calling to them. As soon as we took two steps away from my bright yellow truck that didn't seem to bother them, they bolted. They headed right to the spot where Bill Lang killed his bird on opening day last year. I figured we could get up by where Larry used to have his treestand and get a real chance at calling them. We drove up, ran all the way down the ridge, then down to the finger ridge where they were. We setup in a good spot, called and called, but no response. We decided they must have gotten past us. So, we hiked back out and got in the truck again, and as we got to the bottom of the hill, we spotted the big tom and his hens headed in the same direction, but at a much slower, feeding pace through the cornfield. I killed my bird first weekend last year from the same spot. So, back up the hill we went again. We sat up by the aspens to watch and make sure they were going there before we committed to the hike again. Good thing, because the gobbler turned his hens and went back towards the barns. As we watched I noticed the hens heading back towards the finger ridge. This time the gobbler broke strut and followed. Gobbling the entire time by the way. Well, when it was obvious they were coming to the ridge behind the cornfield, I made my move. We ran down that hill all the way, past where Bill had shot his, to the very end of the cover. I could see the birds through the pines, and I snuck out and put a hen decoy in the open. I had Aaron set up on a rock, and man, even with dark, leafy camo, I couldn't even see him, and I knew he was there. It was perfect. Well, I tucked back into a lone pine tree and called softly. The bird gobbled at me, and the hens fired up with short series' of yelps and clucks. I could see them working towards us and I warned Aaron. The strutter ran up onto the side of the finger ridge even with us, but at about 100yds. I shut up with hopes that he would come investigate. I watched him go more than 100yds from his hens earlier in the morning and return with a new hen from the woods. Well, he never gobbled again, and as I started to get nervous, I had to make another move. I told Aaron to sit still, and I ran back behind the pines to the edge of the woods, calling the whole time and then I walked down to the field where I could sneak a peek at what was happening. I didn't see any birds, so I went back and got Aaron and we admitted defeat. Well, as we were packing up, I witnessed the hens all heading over the hill behind the barns, and then out of no where, the gobbler came up from below the crest in the field. After coming in, he must have walked straight away from us and made a huge loop. We hiked out yet again and left for good. I couldn't tell where the birds had gone. I ran down to the college and picked up my degree and the we ran back up to The Corners. I saw one hen behind the vacant yellow house. Then we parked at the culvert and walked in towards the pond. It was 11:30 now. My first call was cut off by a gobble above the pond. That's the first bird I've heard up there in three years. The last one being my dad's first bird ever, that ran in and we killed in minutes. So, when I heard that we sprinted up to the same trees we sat on for my dad's bird. I called and he gobbled every once and a while, but not very aggressively. I decided he was still over 100yds out, and decided to move up on him. I moved up to the lower edge of the big pine plantation and made a few calls. NOTHING! I don't think we spooked him, I think it was the weather. He was gobbling at the thunder just a few minutes before, and as the minutes passed, the sky turned completely black. I leaned forward and asked Aaron if he had seen the bird, and he said no. "It's time to get out of here then", I said. We made it half way back to the truck and the sky opened up. It rained so hard the windshield wipers couldn't even keep up when we weren't even moving. The truck clock read 12:15, so I guess legally, it's a good thing we backed out. It's hard to keep track when you have gobbles to listen to!

Tuesday May 23, 2006

2006-05-23T06:06:00.000-07:00

Every year, prior to the start of the NY season, I get a little serious case of cabin fever. Once the songbirds start returning, and I hear their mating calls it's hard to think of anything besides turkey hunting. I also like to sing along with country music when I am driving and especially when I am making the 6-7hr commute to NY for hunting. While sitting in Northern VA during the last week of April, I was singing a Johnny Cash song and started to improvise my own lyrics. This turned into a song writing "stint". Below are a few of the songs that I wrote, as well as some that Bill Lang wrote.

Eastern Birds: By: Brian Gottfried. In the tune of Hank Williams Jr, Texas Women

I've got some fond memories of Ontario/ and I've seen some long beards in South Monroe/ but the best lookin' gobblers that I've ever seen, have all been in Schoharie and all finely preened.

Chorus:
I'm a country hill boy/ not a city pill boy/ and I don't eat sushi, but I have killed some fish/ drive a pickup truck/ trust in morning luck/ and I live to hunt Eastern turkeys.

I thought I'd seen beauty in faraway places/ 'til I looked upon those blue and red faces/ spent plenty of nights in those Adirondack Hills, but they weren’t nothin’ like one night down in Cobleskill.

Repeat Chorus

I'm a pretty fair judge of the subspecies silvestris/ and I ain’t seen nothin’ that will touch em' yet/ they may be from Summit or out in Arkport/ but one thing about it they all come from New York

Repeat Chorus

I'm a gobbler fan not a soccer man/ and their heads are red and so is my blood/ and they make it boil with that loud morning bawl and I love em’ all, Eastern turkeys.

Schoharie County Blues: In the tune of Johnny Cash, Folsom Prison Blues

I hear the bird a gobblin’, it's stuttin on a limb/ And I ain't heard that sweet song since I don't know when/ I'm stuck in Northern V-A and time keeps draggin' on/ But that rooster keeps a crowin', I know it won’t be long

When I was just a youngin’, my mentor told me/ "Son,Always be a good boy; don’t forget ta’ clean your guns"/ But I shot a lot of fowl/ just to bake and fry/ When I hear that silent misfire, I hang my head and cry

I bet there's birds a gobblin' on that hill way out far/ They're probably hangin' posters and smokin' big cigars/ But they know they have it comin', they know they can't beat me/ Cuz' I will keep on askin/ and I will find that tree.

Well, if they gave me some permission/ if that hill terrain was mine/ I bet I'd sneak closer, a little farther down the line/ Closer to that big Oak/ that's where I want to stay/ And I'd let that lonely gobbler/ give his tree away

Sunday May 21, 2006

2006-05-22T17:03:00.000-07:00

Last day to get a bird. I have been reminded numerous times that my guiding was not working, in a joking manner of course. I decided to try Sausage Hill first, because we hadn't been there yet, and all my other spots were wearing thin. I also didn't want to pressure Putnam's any more than I had. We listened just above the tower and at 6:00 I decided nothing was going to happen and I assumed that the strong winds the night before could have forced the birds to roost down on the backside. We got to the trail that drops down there, and I made a locator call on my Lynch's world famous turkey caller, but nothing answered. Again, we reached the first switchback and I turned to tell Ned I was going to make a call. Before I could do so, a bird gobbled about 50yds away. I was so shocked I didn't know what to do. We quickly setup on the closest available trees. The bird sounded off again with the coolest gobble I'd ever heard. It was almost like a whine-gobble. There was a high pitched whine right before he broke into gobble. He sounded off four times, and on the fourth my heart sank as I realized he might not be on the ground at our level on the hill, he may still be in a tree. Sure enough, my realization was true, the next sound I heard was him flying down, onto the bench above me. It was easily a 30ft. elevation change, with no good way to get down to us. Had I realized he was in a tree, we would have ran back up the road and setup on that bench above us. I called very softly on my Primos Power Crystal, but he wouldn't answer. The next gobble came as he crossed the trail where it starts to drop over the ridge. He left us on a "good" note however, as he made on final double gobble about 150yds away. We gave him ample time to vacate the area and walked out. We ran into two guys, one who wasn't wearing a facemask, and was drinking coffee out of a silver thermos. That guy never even saw us as we walked five yards from him and turned down the trail to get out of there. I saw that his gun was pointed away from us, and was laying across his lap, so I didn't bother to let him know we were there, he would't have been able to get the gun around on us if we startled him. We went over to the Corners and worked from the bottom of the pines where Jason Sayers and I ran into the opening morning bird for the third time all the way down the valley to where that bird was roosted on the 6th. No birds to be found there. As we got back to the truck it started to downpour. Since it was a chilly 44degrees, and I had a seven hour drive ahead of me, we opted to call it a weekend. I hated giving up early, and I repeated my own advice of "persistence pays off" all the way through PA on the drive back. This is starting to get frustrating, but I have confidence................and patience! With any kind of luck, my next post will be accompanied by at least one picture!

Saturday May20, 2006

2006-05-22T16:55:00.000-07:00

This morning I figured that I would move in to where we had the close encounter with the birds behind Putnam's the day before. We got into a good spot, and waited, and waited and waited. No gobbles on this side of the road. The bird across the road gobbled again, once! I started a series of calls, and on my first call a bird sounded off to my call, about 400yds up the mountain. It was one of the birds I met with my Dad two weeks ago. He answered 4 times, but moved up the hill, just as knew he would, and I should have just went up there first and gotten around on him. We worked Loder's again, and found 4-wheeler tracks that were fresh. The same joker that rode past Bill and Aaron two weeks ago was in there again. We didn't see or hear anything in there. We headed over to the Corners, and as we sat in the truck finishing up the stories from the ride over, a hen flushed 50yds in front of the truck. Oh well, get all the hens out of here! We worked the lower side of the corners and on our way back up to the pond we ran into that hen and spooked her again in the clearings just above the road and below the pond. We went over to Sausage Hill, and started working along the ridge. The wind was really whipping today, and it made the top of that hill almost unbearable. I decided to drop off the back side of the mountain, where it is protected from the wind. As we neared the first switchback on the trail going down, I told Ned about how I had called birds in there before and the we should call. Well, my first series of calls was answered by some yelps and cutting. We set up and brought a hen in to about 10yds. Ned caught movement out of the corner of his eye, and the slight motion of moving his head spooked the hen. The motion turned out to be nothing, and we were done for the day!

Friday May 19, 2006

2006-05-22T16:42:00.000-07:00

Back to Cobleskill! I met Ned Holmes in town today to kick off our three day hunt together. He is the man that started me out hunting. Since my Dad or anyone in my family and friends didn't hunt, I signed up for the Apprentice Hunter Program through the NYSDEC, and I got Ned as a Mentor. Our first meeting was at 3:30am in my garage, I had overslept, and my Mom wanted to meet the guy who was going to take her 12yr old son out in the woods before she let me leave. He took me out on a turkey scouting trip and that is an entirely different (and long) story. We started the morning off up behind Putnam's house to hopefully tangle with the birds I got into with my Dad on the 7th. The birds I was looking for didn't gobble, but one did down low, right behind the houses. I also heard a bird that seemed to be above the wire where we park on the Loder piece. After the sun was up I decided to make a move down to about the level of the pond and get in the woods to intercept the bird that was down low, as he moved up the mountain. We worked into a decent setup and then made a call. The first call was answered by a gobble about 150yds out in front of us, on the same level on the hill! This was good, I can call a bird across a hill. Well the second call was answered by not only the gobbler, but the hen that was with him, as well a chorus of yelps and gobbles from about 60yds above us, just over a ledge. I kept on the calls and I realized the birds above us were jakes, I could hear the yelp, yelp, gobble of the pair of jakes. There were hens with them, and they were fairly talkative also. I worked the birds for probably 10min. when I saw a bird coming towards us, dropping down to our level from the ledge above at about 75yds in front of us. I told Ned and he re-adjusted his position for a shot. Well, shortly after that, I could see anymore birds, the gobbling ceased, and that was that! We went across the road to try for the bird I heard gobble over there, but we didn't work it like we normally do. I came in from the east end and went straight to the field where Ned killed his bird last year. As we watched some deer snort at us at about 40yds, I heard a hen yelp a few times. We setup, with a hen decoy and a jakester tailfan decoy and made some calls. Nothing answered, and we move on. After skirting the entire property, I came over a knoll and saw my truck, and at that moment a hen took to the air about 50yds from my truck. Amazing! She must have been the hen that I had heard when we first got into the area. We worked all my other spots with no luck. We did see a stutter just below the houses on Sausage Hill, with two hens, on property I can't hunt.

Sunday May 14, 2006

2006-05-22T16:35:00.000-07:00

Happy Mother's Day! That goes out to all the hens in the world. All we saw today was one hen. We opted to start out in a different part of the property in H-town today, just to see if we missed something yesterday morning. We setup in a hedgerow where I called three jakes into my Dad last year, and very close to where I called in three longbeards and a jake to Bill a few years ago. Sunrise came and nothing happened. I decided to sit tight, because it was a good place to intercept a traveling bird. Well, suddenly I caught movement out of the corner of my eye, just after a series of calls. The bird appeared out of nowhere across the field to the North and looked like it was quartering towards me. I got excited, but wasn't going to get all shook up for a hen, and I put the glasses on her and sure enough....no beard, brown, fuzzy blue head, hen! I tried so hard to put a beard on that bird, but couldn't. An out of place feather would have sufficed at that point. Anything to make it worth calling to. I called anyway, hoping her counterpart was right behind her, but no such luck. She actually had a nest in the field and circled it a few times and then sat on it. We backed out and tried the corner where we started yesterday, with no answers. We left. I had to pick up a gift for Mother's Day, and we were close to the stores, so that's what I did and the hunting was over for the weekend. I did see three jakes picking gravel at the end of a driveway along Whitney Rd. in Penfield! A damn suburban neighborhood!

Saturday May 13, 2006

2006-05-22T16:24:00.000-07:00

I chose to head to the Rochester area this weekend because it was Mother's Day and I wanted to see my Mom and my Grandma. This means that I had limited land to hunt, and from reports from my friends, the birds had been pretty quiet all week. This morning I went with my Dad to H-town, our spot in Henrietta. My dad witnessed numerous birds fly down and work to the west on opening day, and then following day when Bill Lang connected with that Jake, he witnessed the same thing. So, common sense told me to setup to the West of the roost. Well, we snuck in to the west, something I don't like doing because you have to cross a few open fields and it can be pretty noisy. In the journey, I think we found where all the deer hide in the fall. There is a lot that is just full of young dogwoods and willow, that has some of the greatest deer trails I've ever seen. We could walk upright and straight down the trails, no twisting to get between some of the trees! Well, anyway, as we got to the woods, we were about 150yds from the roost, and in the right direction, so I was pretty optimistic, as we set up in a real nice opening in the hardwoods. Sunrise came and left and not a single bird was heard. I figured that the other birds on the property would be on the move after just flying down, so I motioned to Dad and we got up and started after them. Well, as soon as I stood up, I spooked a bird out of a tree about 80yds away from me, straight back in the woods. It obviously saw us as we came in, I can't believe it was roosted where it was, and that it was alone. In all the years I've hunted there, they have always been roosted where I thought they would be. Anyway, we hunted the rest of the property, to no avail. There wasn't anything happening. On our way home we stopped at the Quinn Oak Openings state land in Rush. We made a few calls, and didn't hunt it very hard. There was nothing gobbling there either. I have a hard time putting a lot of effort into marginal turkey habitat when I don't have any sign to rely on, even though I know they are there.

Sunday May 7, 2006

2006-05-10T13:40:00.000-07:00

Okay, so Bill and Aaron heard a bunch of birds up behind Putnam's house yesterday morning, so we agreed that my Dad and I should go after them. He said there were 5 or 6 birds gobbling up there. He went after them yesterday, but they shut up when they hit the ground. Well, this am Dad and I got up to the best listening spot right about 5:07am. As I leaned against a hemlock and looked at my dad to say, "they should start gobbling about now", they did! The first gobble was at 5:08, just like yesterday for both Bill and I. Two birds were close, right across a small stream that divides the hardwoods and the hemlocks. We climbed up the extremely steep hill to the first major bench and set up. In previous years all the birds I've worked over there have moved up the hill, so I was a little unsure of the setup, but I thought they were to close to try and navigate up the hill any farther, because it gets pretty open up there. The birds were about 150yds away and one was even with us and the other about 150yds up the hill. Two or three other birds joined in the morning chorus from behind these two, a little to far to worry about though. As flydown time approached, I did a series of fly down cackles using my hat to make wing sounds. The birds were gobbling at everything, and I was primarily using a crow call to keep my position hidden until flydown. The birds didn't necessarily gobble at me once they hit the ground, but I could shock gobble them whenever I needed. Once I determined they were working up the hill, I gathered Dad and the decoys to continue up the hellish hill in front of us. We kept track of the birds with the crow call and when I figured we just couldn't get any closer I would set up. We set up a few times before we reached the top of the hill. Once at the top, I found a good spot and could hear the hens making noise, we each set up against two big white oaks. The spot was pretty nice, except that there was an abundance of beech tops lying on the ground which made it difficult to decide where the bird would come from, but they did offer the cover we needed to get close enough. I called and tried to mimick the hen I was hearing, but she was just as stubborn as the boys, and eventually walked off. With the new perspective on the terrain, I realized these birds were just feeding along a side hill and still moving away from us. The top of that side hill was a good flat bench and the grade change between the side hill and that bench would offer perfect concealment to get around on these birds. I felt bad that I had dragged my dad up this steep hill all morning, but I know he wants to kill a big gobbler more than anything, and he would surely be ready to make yet another climb. So, I let out the obligatory, "psssst" and made the motion and we were off and running again (well, not running, that hill is pretty damn steep!). We snuck through where those birds had just been scratching, and I could still hear the two gobblers competing for the hens that were with them. We made it up to the absolute top of the mountain, and it was as flat as flat could be. The birds gobbled again and the vibration in my chest was all I needed to know that the birds were right over the ledge, directly below us. The one bird sounded so close I thought he was right on the break and he was going to pop his head up at any second, so we dropped to the ground like a fat kid in dodgeball. Dad put the gun up, and knelt behind him for support. We were sitting in a patch of very young red maples and they were about as tall as we were sitting down, and that was the only comfort I could find in the setup. I was so nervous that the bird was going to pick us out immediately that I think I actually wished him farther down the hill. His next gobble came in response to his buddy sounding off below him, and he was indeed lower than I initially thought. I decided to make the move and told my dad to get up to a big oak about 10yds ahead of us. As we stood and took our first steps, two birds...both hens, jumped into the air and flew off the ledge and over the trees. I prayed that they wouldn't put and that maybe, just maybe the gobblers wouldn't catch on, but as they both pushed off like hang gliders on the side of that hill, they both putted and putted and flew and flew. I sat for a moment to see if the birds would gobble, and I decided to make one call.... a series of putts, to try and ease the tension. I knew that all I was doing was educating the birds, but after the effort that we put in, I figured it was atleast worth a shot. Well, no gobbles came, and we headed down the hill, still trying to accept the defeat. I don't look at it as a loss really, now I know the lay of the land better, and the habits of those birds better. With any kind of luck, the next time I am in that town in two weeks, I will educate one of those birds and eat the other! As for the other people I know, Larry "LB" Brissing and Matthew "Highball" Stanley hunted over near LB's uncles on Saturday and had two birds shot out from underneath them, and didn't really work any other birds. On Sunday however, the made the trip up to Sausage Hill and connected on this nice jake, his second NY turkey ever. It was one out of a group of four, and LB just couldn't get a good opportunity for a double. Bird tagged, they continued the hunt, and two calling spots later they called in a bird with a mature fan, and little to no beard visible, and Larry managed to get a shot off, but the situation didn't end favorably, and I will leave it at that. Congrats to those two on a successful hunt, and wish us luck next weekend!

May 6, 2006

2006-05-09T03:49:00.000-07:00

Well, I spent my first full weekend chasing turkey's in Cobleskill this past weekend. It was fun, as always, but not very successful. Saturday was a perfect morning, low 40's at sunrise and overcast, with a rain storm in the forecast. I took Dad over to the corners where I had tangled with that big longbeard off the roost opening day. Hoping he still had the same pattern, I setup where I saw him last, hoping that he would eventually get there if he wasn't there already. Well, as soon as we got to the spot where we had to be real sneaky and get setup within 30 or so yards, I stopped to tell my dad that I had called this bird in right where we were standing. As soon as we stopped I heard a distant gobble, 5:08am. I knew right away it was the same bird. This is the first time that I have ever really been able to differentiate between specific birds. Sure, I've heard birds in the same roost and known that it was the same bird as before, but this bird has a distinct gobble. Don't all true trophy's have something characteristic about them that keeps you chasing? That bird gobbled his head off on the roost, but I was afraid to move, so we snuck the final 25yds or so into the position I wanted to be, just in case another bird had utilized the same roost as he did last Monday. It wasn't flydown time yet, but I had a good feeling that there were no birds in front of us that day, so I did the obligatory "pssst" and the quick flick of the hand and we were off! It wasn't really that distant, as we came up on an open section of hard maples, I realized the bird was only about 125yds from us, and I didn't want to risk getting caught in the middle of that as it was getting pretty light out. We set up and I put out a decoy. That bird gobbled and gobbled, just like they all are supposed to. He flew down and continued to gobble at my calls as well as the crows and the hens that I am sure were with him. He eventually stopped anwering most of my calls, only responding to a hoot or a crow call. I tried to move in on him, because it sounded like he was stutting away from us, then coming back, and leaving, and coming back. I figured if I kept moving up on him, and using only locator calls, I would eventually break the threshold and be in his stutting zone, and that first call I made would turn him inside out. Well, I kept after him until I made one more move, and ended up on some state land. He shut up after that, and I never heard him again. I made it back to the truck just as the rain started at about 7:30 and drove up to where the state land meets the road. There was a truck from Mass. parked directly above where I last heard that bird gobble. I never heard a shot, so I hope the bird just shut up, or maybe that guy walked in and spooked him. That wouldn't be that good, but at least he would be alive still. That truck was parked there for the better part of the morning, as I stopped back around 10:30 to try a mid morning assault on the big guy. I never entered the woods, I didn't want to step on that guys toes, and I didn't want to pressure that bird any more than I had earlier. Bill Lang took Aaron Haig up to my Beard's Hollow spots and they heard multiple birds but couldn't really get anything to give them a good look, except one bird up behind the big field and that bird got close and then shut up, maybe spooked somehow, they aren't sure.

Tuesday May 2, 2006

2006-05-05T08:58:00.000-07:00

BILLY LANG BREAKS THE H-TOWN CURSE!

My dad and I have been hunting a piece of property in Henrietta, NY for a bunch of years, tangling with multiple gobblers every year. The first time I scouted I had 5 mature longbeards shoulder to shoulder within gun range. However, we have never been able to drop the hammer on a redhead on this property. Dad came close yesterday, but did the smart thing and waited for a clear shot, which never came. He saw numerous jakes and three longbeards. Due to obligations at work he couldn't hunt this morning, and Bill was on his own to try and get one. Well, I was driving to my jobsite just after sunrise when the phone rang. Sure enough, I heard a panting, excited Bill. Bird down! Bird down! He had the longbeards within eyesight, just not shootable. However, moments later a lonely jake came yelping his way in the backdoor. Luckily, Bill was on watch and called him in the rest of the way and knocked his head off! Congrats to Bill, we all know it isn't easy to get birds in H-Town.

Monday May 1, 2006- NY OPENER!!!!!!!

2006-05-05T03:46:00.000-07:00

For some reason this didn't post when I originally posted it, I just found it saved, so here it is.

Okay, it is May 1st! I have been waiting for this day since May 31, 2005. Seriously, last year during turkey season I told Bill Lang that this is my favorite thing to do, and I told him I would verify that by telling him the same thing during bow season in the fall, which I did, multilple times. Last night I sat up on Puro's pond and listened for gobbles in the "corners", an area where I have permission on multiple properties around a certain intersection. One of my last hoots brought a single gobble from just across the road down in the creek bottom below the pine plantation. I knew right where the bird was, so I had my morning plan all ready! Jason Sayers met me out front at 4:30am and we drove up to the corners. We parked and walked down the road to the edge of the pine plantation. He hooted once and the bird gobbled about 100yds away, I knew where he was and the terrain was right, so we snuck into position around a small green knoll just inside the woods. It was warm, about 50 degrees and no wind and a clear sky. The bird gobbled his head off for a while until it was light enough to fly down. Jason was setup about 75yds from me towards the road and I was in the lower corner of the clearing. It was almost necessary for him to fly down to this perfect little opening to begin his daily courting. We split up to ensure we could cover the entire clearing, neither of us are that greedy that we HAD to setup together. Well, I saw the bird pitch down towards us, after I gave him a short, soft tree yelp on my new Woodhaven Scorpion. As soon as I heard him hit the leaves I gave him the good stuff, and he answered right back. He gobbled a bunch and then proceeded towards us! I shut up to draw him in the last few yards, so he didn't gobble back, and I was scanning for the first sight of that snowball boppin' through the woods. Well, next thing I knew I heard that all to familiar sound of spitting and drumming. Where was he? Well, he was standing directly behind a baby pine tree that was only about 3' tall. I could see him turning his head in search of a hen, but I didn't have a clear shot, he was only 35-40yds. He turned around and I couldn't see him anymore, so I just waited, and the next time I heard him, he gobbled about 150yds down in the woods. I called and he answered, and so on.....as I got more aggressive, he got more excited, and ran right back to the clearing. This time I saw him moving around the edge of the clearing, just out of Jason's sight, and too far for me to make a good shot. He poked his head up once to check for the hen, and didn't see anything, and went back down into the woods. Jason is against decoys for the most part, so I would like to blame this on him, however I didn't think we needed one in this situation. Oh well, what fun would a two minute hunt be right? We snuck down through the pine plantation to try and get ahead of him, and when we reached the edge of the extremely open hardwoods, we called once and were answered by the gobbler who was standing about 80yds in front of us and in plain view. We froze, waited for the right moment and sat down. I was able to coax him in again, he paralleled the edge of pines at about 60yds and wouldn't come any closer until Sayers started scratching leaves behind him, since he was laying flat on his back because he missed the tree he was trying to sit on. The scratching brought the bird closer, but he never offered a clear shot. The beard on this joker was over 10", I'm guessing between 11"-12". He eventually walked off again. We made one more circle on him, and when I set up I was within 50yds of him, but he just gobbled and walked off. I guess they don't get that big being stupid! We made tracks getting to the next spot only to walk up on another hunter before making our first attempt to locate a bird, so we went across the road to another spot I have. We setup in the most likely spot and called for a while to no avail. I thought I heard one gobble, way off, but that was it. Jason said the same thing, so we just walked out into a little opening and gave the box call a try. It was answered by a pile of birds up on a mountain. It was hard to hear because there are multiple streams in the area that drown out most sounds. We started up the hill, which is steep as hell, and as we neared the bench where I wanted to setup, we stopped to catch our breath. As we stood there calming down, the birds gobbled about 75yds to our right. I sat right where I was, and Jay ran back behind me about 70-80yds. His first call was answered by at least three birds, all sounding like jakes. I didn't care, I just wanted the action. These birds were cutting Jason off as he called and each one gobbled, double gobbled, and triple gobbled at the others gobbling, so there was quite a show in front of us! The first bird to appear was a longbeard, and he strutted at 50yds on the top of the ledge in front of me. He turned and made a few steps down the hill towards me, and then stopped behind a tree at 40yds and stutted. The next birds were two jakes that came running along the top edge of the ledge until they were 35yds from me and turned to head down the ledge. They gobbled and looked around for the hen that was making all that racket! Just then a bug flew into my eye and I didn't have any choice but to blink hard. The jakes saw me and started to putt, and turn circles. I thought that the jakes getting nervous would make the big boy step out from behind the tree, and I fixed my eyes on that area. Well, by the time the jakes and given me plenty of opportunity to shoot one of them, and walked off over the ledge, I had realized that the big bird had snuck out of there stage left, without me noticing. Screwed up, my fault, move on! We headed over to a piece of property where I didn't have permission, but had seen three jakes and a hen the day before. I put my life at risk and walked up to a house with three doberman pinchers to ask who owned the land. I stopped by the farmers house and got permission for hundreds of acres, including where I had seen the jakes. That farmer was quite a character, and that is another story all in itself. Anyway, to make a long story short, we called our way into the woods and about 400yds deep, we were answered by two birds less than 100yds away. We dropped in our tracks and got ready. The birds came in fast, and showed up to our right, both jakes. We didn't have our guns in the right direction, so we had to wait it out. One jake came straight at us until he was about 15 feet from Jason and I. At that point, he turned around and put his head in the leaves to find some food. Sayers rolled off his butt and onto his knees, and put the bead on the bird, making enough noice to scare any wild animal within a few hundred yards. The bird never even lifted his head. With a quick yelp from his mouth, Jason raised the birds head and then lowered it with a bang. First bird of the year, down at 11:10am on May 1! We made it back to the house in time for me to get picked up by Jason and Libby and hear about Beeler shooting his first turkey ever with Greg and Tyrell over in Middleburg, NY. Congrats to both on their birds!

Saturday April 22, 2006

2006-04-26T14:36:00.000-07:00

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!

A bad dream I had....Monday April 17, 2006

2006-04-24T04:48:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I get set up in this really thick section of woods. It's been raining all night and it is just starting to rain even harder. The birds should be gobbling, but they aren't. I call about 5-6 times just to try and get something going. Nothing. I'm not real surprised, I am in an area better suited for deer hunting during the peak of the hunting pressure. There is no way any self-respecting turkey would walk through this briar choked patch of oaks, he might risk snagging a freshly preened feather or worse yet get eaten by a predator that could hide so easily in this mess. After a few more minutes of silence, I decided that I needed to get on the horn again, with a pretty aggressive cutt, yelp, cutt sequence. I was rudely cut off mid sequence by a booming gobble less than 100yds away. I couldn't believe it so I cutt again and was answered immediately. I looked around and found a tree that would be a little better for shooting down the logging road I was on and made a quick move. The only shot I could possibly get would be a bird walking down this road. Well, I called again just to see where he was, and gobbbbbblllleeeeee, about fifty yards away. I readied the gun in the direction he was headed, he should pop out on the logging road within range any moment. Well, a minute went by and I didn't see him or hear him, I figured I could hear a 20lb bird walking through this thick stuff at that distance. So, I called again. I couldn't even finish my call and the gobbler boomed back, nearly blowing my hat off. His gobble was followed by the "it's now or never" sound of a spit and drum. I switched my eyes to the brush directly in front of me just in time to see a snowball-white head pop in between two trees at ten yards. This is usually a good thing, but my gun was pointed at 9 o'clock and the bird was at 12. The head disappeared behind a big oak tree and I made my move. I am not sure if he heard me move, saw me somehow, or what, but instead of the head coming out the other side of the tree, it reappeared in the gap between the two trees and before I could adjust a few inches to the left, the bird had already started walking away, DIRECTLY BEHIND THE BIG TREE. I felt pretty sick for a few minutes, but then I realized that if I shot every single one I tangled with, it probably wouldn't be that much fun anymore. At least that is what I keep telling myself!

Friday April 14, 2006

2006-04-14T12:35:00.000-07:00

I spent a few nights this week walking C.F. Phelps WMA in Southwestern Fauquier County. With the aid of some aerial photography that I got at work and a road map I tried to pinpoint the most logical places to find turkeys. That place is actually really nice. It's state owned and open to public hunting, and they have agricultural fields spotted throughout the entire place. There are even ponds to waterfowl hunt. However, I didn't see one piece of turkey sign. I saw plenty of deer, a fox, and tons of squirrels, but no red-headed thunder chickens. I checked numerous fields, pipelines, powerlines, and hardwood ridges and draws. Enthusiasm ran high as I stepped out of the truck, but with daylight waning and peepers peeping, tree frogs buzzing, I made the trek each night back to the truck with only the echoes of past birds gobbling in my head. As most could relate, each stump, grass clump, branch, downed tree, and rock looked like a turkey to me. The drive time and rediculously priced gas seemed worth it on the way down, but riding in the truck back to the house, I had to give my maps, calls, and motivation a little pep talk. Time and effort never seem wasted, but the nearly $2.00/gal of gas that I burned on the trip really got to me. Friends here have already killed birds, and one of them has killed a few. When I say killed, I don't me personally, but he was a part of the hunt. The guy he took out this morning killed his first turkey ever, an 11+" beard with hooks just shy of 1.5"! He had 8 or so birds gobbling around him this am, and he has already had mornings with over 10 birds within earshot. I am struggling to just find a track or a feather, and it's starting to piss me off. I'm not pissed at him, or anyone for that matter. I am pissed at the fact that I can't find a place to hunt. Sure, I can go to the state land, and park in a parking area with three other trucks, and just get bumped around all morning. The one place I wanted to hunt on Thompson WMA near the house had 4 cars parked at 10:30am on opening day last weekend, and it was real shitty out, raining hard, wind was whipping, and the fog up there made it difficult to walk down a trail. What would make me go up there on a decent day? I haven't "hunted" Phelps yet, but I plan to in the AM. I will not be the least bit surprised to find a bunch of vehicles camped out at each of the parking areas. I don't know what I am going to do then, maybe I'll just give up again. There is a lot of nice land surrounding the state land, but I think I learned my lesson tuesday about that. I was up near Thompson WMA asking permission from a farm where I had spotted a flock on Saturday on my return trip from the state land. The guys name was Eugene Bedell, seemed like a good 'ol farmer name! It seemed better than the Mr. Vanderbilt, Dr. Mellon, or any of the other uppity, old money, estate owners that I've asked in the past. Well, as I pulled up the driveway the Princeton and Harvard stickers on the back of his SUV were shining in the sun like big NO TRESPASSING signs. I approached the door, didn't get an answer, and proceeded to the tenant house at the beginning of the driveway. The mexican lady that answered the door said he would be back later and that she doesn't think he has anyone hunting the land. Well, I called him on Tuesday night, and he said he had a bunch of guys that have been workind on the farm for years that hunt it and that he can't let me hunt. He said, "those guys work so that they can hunt here", then started laughing and said, "you don't work here, so you can't hunt". My mind said, "Prick", but my mouth said, "okay, thanks for your time." Bottomline here is......the majority of the people down here are just unbelievably unfriendly and the few that aren't are so hard to find, it almost makes it not worth it. I really hope that this spring and summer all these people who don't allow hunting on their land spend thousands of dollars on repairing or replacing their landscaping, and then when they leave the driveway, I hope they drive their shiny, expensive car, right into the side of a male deer. that way, they get screwed with fixing the car, hurting the animal, and they still wind up with the same increasing population of deer next year.

Monday April 10, 2006

2006-04-12T20:44:00.000-07:00

Monday April 10, 2006
Sunny, Clear Skies
Temps High 50's early
No Wind
Unknown Bar. Pressure
Catlett, Virginia

Larry and Jason went out to CRM 9 this am. They were in the truck by 6:45 suckin' down coffee. They called two in from the southeast corner of the property and Beeler couldn't get a clear shot, and when the time came, LB knocked the head off this one. Congrats LB, nothing like connecting on the first morning you hunt!

Saturday April 8, 2006

2006-04-12T20:00:00.000-07:00

Saturday April 8, 2006
Steady Rain/Overcast
Temps 50f-55f
No Wind
Unknown Bar. Pressure
Middleburg, VA

Today was the opening day of Turkey season in Virginia. Matt Hazzard got permission to hunt birds on the farm where he deer hunted this fall. I saw birds on that farm during the later part of the season last spring, so I was hoping they would be there this year. Matt heard a gobble down by Goose Creek one night a week or so ago, while walking his dog in the woods. It has been raining since about 9 o'clock last night. We stayed inside until it was about that time, we probably should have left sooner, but it was raining and overcast, so I knew the birds would be a little late anyway. We listened for about a half hour down by the first horse jump on the trail going in. From there we should have been able to hear any birds in the open hardwoods behind the horse pasture, behind the blind guys house, and up on the knob in the back of the property. We didn't hear anything so we walked all the way down to the creek where he was when he heard that bird gobble the other day. We took shelter from the rain under a big rock that was protruding out of the hillside. A goose was nesting on another big rock about 10yds in front of us, the only way to get up there is to fly, so she's got a good spread. All she has to do is keep an eye out for avian predators and maybe a snake. We sat and called to the meadow across the stream, hoping to just get a gobble, let alone call him across the creek. At about 8am, we figured it was a lost cause and headed for the house. When we got back, Hazzard was getting dry clothes to change into and I was standing in the driveway. I put in a diaphram and gave a little cluck, cutt, yelp series, and to my amazement, it was answered by multiple gobblers behind the house. It sounded like they were across the creek and up in a field I could make out through the trees. I yelled to Hazzard, "you wanna call some birds in, even though we can't shoot them?", and I was answered with a quick slam of the door. We were off down the hill. In a hunting situation I would have crossed the creek and setup in the floodplain meadow. However we didn't have permission to be there and we couldn't hunt on his landlords property, so we just setup on her side of the creek, minus firepower. I made a few calls with my diaphrams, and within minutes spotted the two jakes moving across the floodplain towards our setup. I knew they wouldn't cross, but I figured we could get a good show! Just then a big, long, deep gobble boomed from the sidelines and in walked a big boy. I could only see his beard swing in front of him for a second, but I knew he was a good one. Once he started gobbling the jakes shut up. I managed to get them all going at once, by switching to my Woodhaven Hornet and giving them some kee kee run action. Too bad they were a little behind us so it was difficult for me to see them and impossible for Matt. Eventually they walked off and I grabbed the deke and we were back in the driveway in minutes. We were headed to hunt Thompson WMA from the top (which didn't end up producing anything but a few pieces of turkey crap), when I said, "Let's go ask permission over where those birds are, what's the worst that can happen, they say no?" Well, I was wrong, my third attempt at knocking on doors brought an answer from a lady wearing some turqouise beaded thing. I asked if she owned the property where we had just seen the turkeys and she asked if I was a hunter. I was standing there in full camo, so I knew she was preparing a good one. I said, "yes" and she said, "well I'm an animal rights activist". I responded quickly with, "I'll take that as a no". She attempted to start an arguement by asking me if I feel sorry for all the animals that suffer, but I cut her off with, "Listen, we can do this if you want to, but I would prefer that we didn't, you sure as hell aren't going to change my mind, and I won't change yours, so let's cut our losses here!" I also said, "The only animals I see suffering are the ones around here where no one lets anyone hunt and these animals are way over their carrying capacity and they have to resort to eating YOUR shrubbery through chicken wire mesh and end up getting hit by cars everyday". It actually never escalated any further than that and eventually I made my way back to the truck only to meet her husband who asked how I was doing after my ass-reaming. I told him it was one of the more pleasant encounters I've had with an animal rights activist and he said, "yeah, I wish we could shoot every one of those goddamn deer, but everytime I bring it up she'll hear none of it" On down the road we go....to finish the last hour and a half before noon at Thompson walking through marginal at best turkey habitat.