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A plan came together


bigbucks

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Hunted Season C this year, which ends today.

 

Wednesday got up to hunt, but hadn't set a blind out the night before, decided if it was raining I would skip the first morning, as the next day's forecast was better.  Scouted/observation hunted from my truck around some of my properties that are bordered by roads Wednesday night.  Did see some across the road from one farm I had permission on, but it was crappy & I could tell they were going to head to roost over there.  Walked & called earlier on a different farm that night, but saw one hen.

 

Thursday was colder than all get out, but dry, although overcast.  Went to a different farm close to home & setup where my cousin had seen am birds when he hunted during A season.  Saw nothing, heard 1 or 2 gobbles not to far behind me, but he never showed.  Had to work so only hunted til 7:30.  Thursday night it was my daughter's birthday, so we had to go out to supper, so no hunt.

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Friday am was cold, but not quite as bad, I think I was just better geared up for it.  Had thought about setting blind on another farm that is normally my #1 spot, but when I'd driven there on my way home from work Thursday night there were birds out there, so I decided not to educate them.  In the am took off with my blind & decoys right down the middle of this basically 80 acre field.  It has a ditch across it, a couple of little brush fingers & it's rolling, so you can only see about the N third of it when you pull off the road.  I walked about two thirds of the way down & setup my blind & dekes on the transition line from corn stubble to hay.  Basically I was almost smack dab in the middle of 80 acres of open ground.  I'd seen countless birds over the years come out from various places & walk N basically up this seam.  I thought my strutter would probably pull them in from quite a ways if they could see him.

 

5908cb7fa6801_TurkeyDecoys.thumb.jpg.8fd9600aec42013398564cd3d714d28f.jpg

 

I heard a few gobbles from a bird in the woods to the W, in the right of my picture, but he never showed.  I was calling occasionally & at some point I thought I saw the top of a fan & then maybe two against the woods in the SW corner of the field.  I decided I was seeing things, but then after a bit I could tell I wasn't imagining it.  Soon there were 5 fans & a couple of hens, I think, one hen was mostly white.  They were 300+ yards away, this field is half a mile long.  They work out a little & then work E, so they're straight S of me & invisible behind that rise in the field.  I don't know if they're heading E or have turned N & are coming up the seam right to me or what.  None of these birds have made a peep before they appeared or after.

 

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I don't know if these birds are coming, going or already gone.  It's probably 6:45 at this point.  Then I see one headed back WNW, fairly quickly, all of a sudden there are 8 of them & they all look like jakes.  They are under 300 yards, but not much.  Then I see a couple of hens, including the white one, working along the same line, but even further N.  Then I see part of a fluffed out gobbler straight S down the seam & decide he must be the boss tom & actually drove the jakes off.  4 of the jakes have now disappeared in the woods to the right, but there are still 12 turkeys in the field.  At this point I'm wondering where in the world these are all coming from, it's nuts, still no turkey sounds.  At some point they're looking at my dekes & acting like they want to work my way, the closest birds are maybe 250 yards, 10 seconds if they commit & come a running.  All of a sudden they all start moving very quickly & exit the field where the first 4 went.  I'm think what the heck.  At 7:10 or 15 it's obvious they're gone & I'm thinking I need to move my blind down to the S end next to the woods somewhere for Saturday am.  When I'm standing up out of the blind I can now see over the rise & see a 6' tall turkey in the edge of the neighboring woods SE of where the birds were.  Aah, no wonder they spooked off, Bozo spooked them.  He probably did nothing wrong, but from my perspective of course.

 

I packed up & hustled down there & found the spot 50 yards E of the SW corner with a brush pile behind it, that I will be putting my blind at right away every year from now on.  I've scouted & hunted this place a lot, but it's now obvious that's THE SPOT.

 

Went back to my Thursday am farm on Friday night, walking, calling, scouting, nothing.  I didn't push it too hard day 4 of 4am wake up was coming & I had a lot of confidence in my next am spot.

 

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Does anybody ever really get to their spot when they'd like to?  Seems like I'm always pushing it, especially on the am hunts.  I make the half mile walk down the open field to the blind & get there right about legal shooting, 5:35ish.  20 yards from the blind I hear the first gobble & it's maybe 100 yards behind the blind & is answered & answered & answered, by more birds all in this little 1-2 acre strip.  I'm praying none of them can see me & thinking as long as they come to this field & don't go S it could be a really short hunt.

 

It's not long & I can hear walking a fluffing right behind me.  Probably 6:05 a hen steps out 25 yards W of me, then there are 5 hens, then there are a bunch of jakes.  Finally I sort through the PILE of turkeys within 30 yards of my blind & there are 6 jakes, the 5 hens & 1 big long beard.  He's strutting around & fanning right in the middle of all these birds.  They're so close together any shot would be a 3 for 1.  I'm almost for sure going to get a turkey quick, but I only want 1 & definitely want that certain 1.  Then hens swing right in front of the blind directly N of me pointed E.  They separate a bit & then in the gap between the two groups stuts Mr. Tom.  He sticks his head up a bit & kaboom!

5908d46ae4345_Deadbirdintheliveones.thumb.jpg.e3266a71cca3592d78e658a9249c0599.jpg

 

Here his is dead at 6:15 am with I think the jakes still right there.  I never put my decoys out or called once.  I'd decided I wouldn't do either until about 7:30.  I figured if they wanted to come here I'd just let them.

 

Here he is close up.5908d562bba35_Closeupofdeadtom.thumb.jpg.d0e174d6d7e688b3315153130941bc46.jpg

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Congrats on the great bird! Just love it when a plan comes together! All the sweat, headaches, dog tired mornings, and failures vanish in a hurry as you soak in the satisfaction of that moment. Love it. Way to make it happen!

Edited by PFUNK
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5 hours ago, bigbucks said:

Took a HS kid from church out Saturday am, Sunday pm & Wednesday pm.

 

5914cdd972019_Noahsbird1-5-10-17.jpg.a9a7c45b95a4e532e327aa14a9fb5fba.jpg

 

Way to be a good role model and mentor to a young person.  I'm sure he will remember this hunt for a long time! Nice Bird. :)

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