Tumbling Toms

[ANYFISH2]

Good luck cheetah, hoping for a biggin' for ya.

[Borch]

2 hours ago, Cheetah said:

Seeing lots of jakes but few mature toms. Passed a few shots now on jakes.  Most have no beard and gobble really well.  Uncle got a nice gobbler today.  We have a good pattern figured out where some like to roost and pass by so I'll sit there tonight.   Hope to get one soon.  Poor weather coming.  

Those merriams sure gobble!  Keep after them.

[DrJ]

Another Jake for the Tumblin Toms.Spent 5 days in the blind and didn't see one Tom. Lots of hens but few gobbles.Yesterday late afternoon I saw 3 jakes running across the field. One turned my way and came right in.Since I only had one day left to hunt I made the decision to take him. Never had to decide to shoot a jake or not before. Always have had Tom's come in over the years.But I'm happy to bring a bird home. Won't help the team much though. 15 lbs,4 inch beard and 1/4 inch spurs.Good luck to all  DrJ.....

[ANYFISH2]

Congratulations Dr. J!

My Jake was just as fun as any tom,  I hope your hunt was enjoyable.  Congrats again.

[ANYFISH2]

Not much chatter from the rest of the Tumbling Toms!!

Any luck in the "Hills" cheetah?

Crow hunter, have you got out yet, you are hunting season c, correct?  Good luck.

Good luck Ryan, I have a feeling your our ringer!

So far we have:

Featherslayer with a dang nice tom.

DR.J  with a tasty Jake.

Myself, with a finely fried jake.

Good luck to all.

[Scoot]

I hope so for Ryan but we're struggling!  It can turn around quickly though- hopefully this weekend. 

[Cheetah]

OK Fellas, I took a small jake out in the hills.  Barely worth registering, but it's better than a zero.  I'll sort out the paperwork later.  MN wasn't so kind.  I bounced an arrow off a jake's back the other afternoon, nothing else would come in close.  Since I have an archery tag I hope to get out another time or two, but it's a 3 hour run to my usual haunts.  

[ANYFISH2]

Congratulations cheetah!

When you get time let see some pics and hear about your trip.  I would love to chase Merriams someday.

Well, we are 4 for 4 so far, not bad.  Maybe we should call ourselves the Tumblin' Jakes!

[Cheetah]

OK so here's how it went down in South Dakota. 

We went in thinking we wouldn't have much action.  Last year was really poor hunting in our usual area and three of us got skunked.  This year it was just me and my uncle, since my brother could not get any time off work. 

The first morning I heard a fair bit of gobbling.  I got between two groups of roosted birds.  Some sounded like they were in some private land and I suspected the others would go to them.  Sure enough I had two jakes walk by within 25 yards.  I gave them a pass since it was the first morning.   A bit later I hiked to a spot that birds funnel through when traveling down a ridge and had a group of 6 or so go past me, I figured them for jakes or hens so did not make a move to take a shot.  A few minutes later three hens walked past me on the high side.    This was pretty good considering how bad it was last year. 

When I met up with my uncle we went on a long walk to the "killing hill".  We have killed birds on this hill most years out there, it is a long walk and birds seem to pass by it regularly.   So we get up there and are coming around the bend in the forest road when I see a flock ahead of us.  We duck out of sight before they could see us and set up to call.  I figured 8 birds with lots of red heads in the bunch.   We laid it on thick like a flock of birds just down the road, but those buggers would not budge!  They moved about 50 yards into some shade and laid down!...   I could tell they were all jakes, 8, maybe 9 of them.    I belly crawled up the road as close as I could and after a while started hearing a motor noise...  Now keep in mind the Black Hills forest roads are off limits to motor vehicles until late in the turkey season, so nobody should be out there.  Sure enough though a four wheeler came down the road, the birds spooked, I jumped up ready to shoot but they went the other way...  The guy played dumb, and we didn't see any license plates, so not much we could do about it but walk away... 

 

More to come... 

Edited May 2, 2016 by Cheetah
spelling

[Cheetah]

OK Day 2.  I went back to the area I had the jakes come by the first morning and heard what I figured to be the main flock of jakes where they were on the first morning.  There was another lone gobbler on another hill, so I went after him.   I got in tight and figured he would land in a clear-cut power lines, or maybe by the old forest road that crossed it.  I had a great spot figured out.  Then those jakes were moving my way, I heard some clucking on a clearing about 100yd behind me.  After a while my gobbler flew down, right over my head, and landed by the other birds.  I couldn't see a clear beard as he flew over, so I thought maybe it was a hen, so did not shoot.  

The flock walked away, no interest in me, so I followed after them.   I lost track, but as I was walking down the trail I looked up over a small hump and saw turkey heads looking back.  I could have shot, but that many jakes in a bunch would mean a few dead birds.  They knew I was there but were not super spooked, they just kept walking away.  I followed, hoping for a better view of maybe something bigger than a jake.  I caught up yet again with another shot opportunity over some rocks, but again they were in a bunch and all I saw were jakes.  

 

I met up with my uncle, he was near birds, but no luck.   We went to the house for lunch and a nap.   That afternoon we set up near a roost area but no birds came by. 

 

Plenty of hens walking around mid-day by themselves, but no gobblers out in the open. 

 

 

Day 3, Sunday. 

We went the same directions to roost areas in the morning, but my area was silent.  I finally heard birds in the distance, which brought me in a circle right back to my uncle.  He did not go after the closer flock which I thought he would because there was a herd of 9 elk blocking him in the low light.   So he went for the same flock as me.   I tried to ambush the birds, but they were too fast.  Turns out the walked just out of range of my uncle who was above me.   We went back towards the flock closer to the car and heard them on another hill.  We tried to chase them, but they just kept walking.  The usual in the hills.  

The other flock that we both went after on roost ended up staying very close to where we left them.  My uncle was not interested in another chase through the hills, but I was.   I circled these birds to try to cut them off, but they didn't move.  They ended up going right back to where I started...  Eventually they split up and I heard some gobbles further ahead, so I ran for them.   I figured I was too slow, and was looking for a spot to sit to try to catch the lagging birds, when I looked up and saw my group of 8 jakes standing in a blowdown hillside staring at me at about 40-50 yards.  As usual, all bunched up, no shot.   They walked out of sight and I ran at them and could have shot one but only saw a head.  I let them go, again...    

The lagging birds wouldn't actually come any further, a hen and I were having a conversation about it, but they just walked right back where they came from... 

Somewhere in there I did hear a gun go off, figured it was my uncle.  He heard me talking to the hen as he was coming out, so he was a little behind me.  He had a nice two year old gobbler with him.   Glad one of us finally found a mature bird.  

 

 

[Cheetah]

OK, Day 4, Monday

I was planning on hunting until Tuesday morning, but there was snow in the forecast starting Monday night and falling all week!  The last thing I wanted was to be stuck in the hills in a blizzard.  So I planned to get in close and shoot the first legal bird I could get today so we could hit the road by lunch time. 

I made the same move as the last few days.  Start walking to where I thought some birds would roost, and plan to double back if needed.  That's exactly how it played out.   I had to run back down one hill, past my car, and up another to get on birds roosted on the other side of the valley.   Fortunately for me, it was colder than the past few days, so the birds were staying on roost late.  I didn't know that at first, but that's what happened. 

I had a flock gobbling way back by the road, which was a bit of a hike along the ridge.  Some crows were keeping them gobbling while I worked my way into position as best I could.  I got to where it started to get steep and tough to walk when a bird sounded off within 100 yards of me right below me!   I froze, worried I walked in on roosted birds and blew it.  But they didn't see me.  I backed up to a good spot to sit and did a little light yelping as it got light.  I realized I had a whole flock of gobblers below me, easily 6 or more.  When called to they would all light up, it was cool.  

I eventually shut up, these birds were just not coming down out of the trees.  It was almost 1.5 hours since first legal shooting time when they finally started getting ready to come down.  By then I could make out one, then two, then three birds about 100-150 yards out in the trees.   Funny how hard they are to see sometimes.  

So the birds start coming down, and I'm ready to shoot whatever I see.  They start coming up the hill, I see a little fighting going on, they look like jakes.   Sure enough, it was my friends, the eight jakes I have run into so many times now.   Most didn't have beards, but the lead bird had a couple inches of beard sticking out.  They did not want to come right to me.  They started angling away, so when that first bird stepped out from behind a tree by himself, I shifted my gun on him.   He saw me, his head went out, and I took my shot. 

Up to now the furthest I have shot a bird was 45 yards, and I had to shoot that one a second time.  I shoot 3" #4 loads out of my 12ga Rem 870.  Nothing fancy, it gets the job done usually.   This jake got knocked down into a depression next to a log and was trying like hell to get himself out.  I ran up to him and he was very alert.  Fortunately he didn't have much for spurs or I'm sure I would have had to finish him off with the gun instead.

 

Here is a photo of what one of the birds looked like out in the trees.  Two more were a couple trees right of him and behind them.   Others were mixed into the pine boughs that you can't see through.    If you can't find him, look directly above the big rock in the middle. 

 

And here he is.   All 13 pounds of him.   Beard is maybe 3 inches long, and the spurs will be tough to actually measure...    I shattered one of the thighs, and put some bbs into his body on the side facing me.   No holes in the head as far as I can remember.  

[DonBo]

No shame in taking a jake Cheetah, especially out of state on public land.  Way to stick with it and make it happen.

[Scoot]

Thanks great- congrats!

[rundrave]

thanks for sharing, you must be in pretty good shape I get tired just trying to picture your adventure. that's tough country out there where you were hunting and especially when your doing a run and gun turkey hunt. I get exhausted just thinking about going up and down those hills trying to keep up with some turkeys

 

 

[Cheetah]

If I wasn't hearing other birds in the area I would have definitely shot the first jake on the first day and been happy.  Last year was super rough with no birds shot and few heard in the same area.  A good nesting season last year made a huge difference. Hopefully this year is good as well, should really help for next spring. 

I think this group if ~8 jakes gave me 5 good shott opportunities over those four days...    I did not see a single mature gobbler the entire time, but there were some gobblers in the area that I heard but could not get eyes on.  

I really am in poor shape.  I work in the IT industry so I spend all day sitting on the computer, and I have two toddlers at home with very little time to work out like I used to.   Fortunately I still have youth on my side.   The elevation out there is 5200', which I hardly notice.  Mostly my feet hurt by the end of the first day, but by day three I felt great and was ready to run those birds down.  Some day I might get smart and take out the rifle and stop chasing so much.  

 

Oh, one more thing.  If anyone goes out and finds a pair of mint condition Vortex Diamondback 10x42 binocs on a hill, they are mine.  

 

[ANYFISH2]

Thanks for the great read cheetah!   Congrats on a successful trip.

[DonBo]

4 hours ago, Cheetah said:

Oh, one more thing.  If anyone goes out and finds a pair of mint condition Vortex Diamondback 10x42 binocs on a hill, they are mine.  

 

Ouch. Don't tell your wife.

[Borch]

Congrats Cheetah!  It's amazing how those birds eat up ground and it doesn't matter how steep it is.  I gotta get my self in better shape and head back out there again.  They sure are fun!

[Hoyt4]

Cheetah

I know Cabelas is all out of the sale diamondbacks but Sierra trading post has the same set for 149. so 9 dollars more than what CAbelas had them for.

[Cheetah]

I'm not in a hurry to buy new binocs just yet.  Considering some compact models at the moment.  

[ANYFISH2]

Seeing a lot of birds the last 2 days, they seem to finally be leaving the woods for more than a few fleeting seconds!

Go get em boys!

Forcing my son to go this evening, poor him!

[Scoot]

Headed out with Ryan in the morning!  Hoping for a dumb bird to stumble by...

[ANYFISH2]

Good luck to Ryan!

Stay warm!

[Borch]

Go get one Ryan!

[Scoot]

Another disappointing morning.  27 degrees when we left the truck and the wind was cutting through the blind.  I was ready to quit about an hour after we started, but Ryan insisted we stick it out.  We stayed until the wind started blowing our blind up- left the stakes in the truck and did our best to hold it down for an hour.  I finally said enough and we bailed.  Not sure of the windchill, but it was cold. 

We didn't see a turkey (again) and didn't hear a gobble.  We did see two bears, which is uncommon in these parts, so that was very cool! 

Struggling terribly and not sure how much more we'll be able to get out.  Ryan shot a huge tom in CA, but that one won't help our team due to it being before the start of the contest.  I'll try my best to get out again with Ryan and I can assure Ryan will to, but it's going to be tough to get back out much.  I'd have to find a place that gives us enough hope to bother getting back out to want to try too hard.  The birds have just vanished and when we put some miles under our boots we can't find them with our eyes or our ears.  My hope is the wind and goofy weather has them shut down, but who knows...