This week has been a whirlwind starting back on Sat 4/1/06. My buddy Max H (from WV) and I have hunted together all week and Chris (NC Limbhanger to all that know him here) hunted with us Tuesday through today. I'll be brief with these stories and ask Freddy to post some pix for me.
For opening day, we Got on 2 gobbling birds right off the roost. They played really well starting with gobbling at the fly down wing. 2 longbeards and 2 jakes. The adults strutted into view and headed our way. max thought they were fading out of gun range, but we pulled em back our way along a little contour at the edge of the field. At 35 yards max fired and all the turkeys just stood there...for a second. realizing what had happened i started calling immediately and slowed the 2 longbeards down as they started to get out of dodge. with max's warning shot out of the way, his second shot found its mark on a nice SC longbeard. 17.5lbs, 9.5 beard, .75 spurs...a beautiful 2 year old and a great way to start the season off. Max has turkey hunted for many years and informed me that this was the first bird he's ever shot at and missed. I told him, it happens to all of us!
The next day found us in a different patch of woods that has produced well in the past. We only heard 1 bird gobble well off in the distance and only 3-4x. Amazing to say the least. We stuck with it and hung in the area because of all the sign. Finally at 1030a we spotted a gobbler sneaking in to our set up after a fairly consistent period of calling. He slipped in without saying a word. 37 yards...BANG...flap, flap, flap. Gobbler flies off unscathed. Max has turkey hunted for many years and informed me that this was only the second bird he's ever shot at and missed. I told him, it happens to all of us! We laffed about it since the gobbler wasn't hit. As we sat there I noticed a crease beginning to form in the inflatable decoy we had set out...i said. I think you killed my decoy.
in about 5 minutes, her head flopped over. yep...she's dead. when i went out to pull the decoy i found where one stray pellet had punctured her. 
we laffed again. max pulled out his knife and said, let me field dress her. 
For the next two days, we hunted a new tract and chased several gobblers but couldnt get in the right set up at the right time. stay tuned on this one. i hope to spend some more time in there this year...it sure is great fun learning a new place!
we tried the new place again, and had a dandy longbeard at 35 yards but he was on the wrong side of the tree for max to shoot. that gobbler didnt waste any time sticking around either once he didnt see the hen he had been hearing calling. we stuck around for a while longer until things really quieted down. midday after being beaten around at the new place we went back to some familiar dirt referred to as the honey hole. we trolled through calling as we worked our way to a nice point of woods...one of my favorite places. freddy, nc limbhanger and limbhanger know it well. we were set up by 11a and were just doing a little blind calling off and on hoping that something would shake loose eventually. it didnt...or so we thought. at 1230p i stood up to get ready to make another move and just as i did i spotted a turkey on the ridge across from us. how it didnt see me i'll never know. when it walked behind a tree i sat back down and we all repositioned in that direction. it ended up being 3 young gobblers. when it was obvioius they weren't spooked i called soft to them and 1 of them started to strut. 2 of their heads were bright red white and blue. they slowly made their way to us, flying across a creek after we called them downhill. at 39 steps, max's gun cracked and another sc gobbler got tagged...time 1255pm.
Same deal yesterday...new place...gobblers working well. couldnt get em to cross the pasture...then had to contend with several vocal coyotes and a mouthy 2 year old that wouldnt budge out of a patch of hardwoods. we think he's had his tail whipped recently...thats our story and were sticking to it. we tried a different setup for about 1.5 hrs when we finally saw a hen slipping across the pasture about 100yds east of us...and yes 2 of the longbeards that we had been working were right on her tail...they wouldnt answer a thing we threw at them. UGH!!
Just like yesterday...when we had our fill of the new place we headed to familiar ground. NCL and I trolled some hardwoods together and Max headed to where he killed the longbeard on opening day. At our first set up , NCL and I called in a lone hen around 2p...good sign. We decided to stay put and kept calling softly off and on. around335p we heard footsteps in the leaves and before long we saw 2 nice gobblers heading our way. they were looking hard and their heads were full color! at 400p NCL's gun cracked and another dandy SC gobbler is tagged. 18lbs, 10.5 beard and 1 1/8" spurs. this gobbler had been beatup badly...relatively fresh blood, cuts on his legs, neck and breast and he had dried blood on his breast feathers along with both wings primary feathers 8 and 9 were gone and it was bloody around the base. certainly been fighting and very recently too!
Today we got on a gobbler twice but couldnt get in the right set up to close the deal. Max and Chris headed for home which leaves me solo for tomorrow...i may not know how to act.
What a blessed week...great friends, great times and more great memories!
