Bluegrass Bonanza, tagged out in a few hours!
I was asked by GN to join him on a spur of the moment trip to KY to hunt their opener Friday and Saturday. We arrived early enough Thursday afternoon to get driving familiar to the property we were going to hunt the next morning but we did not walk in the woods or get any roosted birds located from the road. We had no idea what to expect although the other guys at the motel that had hunted the nearby counties before were optimistic about the hunting.
The next morning GN and I floundered around in a creek crossing and GN got wet to the kness… it was 40 degrees, but we finally got headed up an old logging road to the top of a steep ridge and await daylight. GN said "The next 15 minutes is going to tell us a lot about how our day is going to be!" 5 minutes later a gobbler sounds off 125 yards away straight down the ridge from us. We quietly slipped 20 feet next to a couple trees and waited to see what would happen. A couple other gobblers joined in with the original bird and we thought there were 3-4 gobblers in front of us. While waiting for flydown the birds stopped gobbling and we started getting worried that some other hunters had bumped them. Sure enough, 5 minutes later 3 hunters walk up on us and GN tells them they are trespassing and need to leave. They didn't argue and headed back. Probably 15 minutes later we get the turkeys to gobble again but further out the ridge. We could hear hens around us and with them too. They would answer pretty regular but until GN and I started calling together and doing some serious flock talk cutting they were hanging back. The aggressive cutting tore them up and they broke away and here comes the original bunch of turkey, plus 2 other gobblers from different directions and they were going to converge in our lap. Finally heads and fans started popping up and GN and I were able to communicate to get 2 birds in the open, I clucked, he counted, we shot, and down went 2 beautiful gobblers!! What an incredible first morning in KY!! 45 minutes after first light.
You can see me in the background setup to the left of the road waving
Our hosts offered to show us around a couple more places during the day and we had some nice options for the next mornings hunt. Later that evening we were invited to a little party and GN fried up some turkey breast from that mornings hunt and we had a great time fellowshipping and eating!
The next morning we again slipped into a spot we had only seen from the road and setup in a point of woods. As if on cue, the whippoorwills stopped, an owl started, the cardinal sang, and a couple turkeys started gobbling. One in front of us and one behind us. GN turned the face the gobbler behind us and I was facing the other bird. After a little flydown routine the bird in front gobble hard all over it, but the woods behind us went silent in the area where the other bird had gobbled. I was intently watching in front and GN was covering the back door, as we were just doing a little very faint flock calling, when the bird behind us gobbled just under a rise from only 30 yards away and we actually jumped when he gobbled. In just an instant the big white head came over the hill and GN let the air out of him at about 20 yards with the 10 gauge! A 11 inch beard and spurs of 1 1/8 and 1 1/4. It turned out there was another bird right there in tow, which we did not realize until after the shot, but he didn't stick around to even try and jump on the other turkey.
We sat right there to see what else would happen with the bird in front of me. He gobbled a time or two more at 125 yards but behind some fencing that we are now able to see after it got light, but he was not really affected by the shot, so we got up and relocated on him. We slipped to the edge of a power line right-of-way and I spotted a hen feeding about 100 yards away and the birds were gobbling in the woods behind her. All of a sudden, the hen stands erect and starts putting, when out of the woods flies a big red-tail hawk and he hits the hen right in the side. He knocks her to the ground then flips around and lands on her back, trying to pin her to the ground. She managed to get her feet under her and run back into the woods, but the turkeys were totally spooked at this point. I have never seen anything like that before so it was pretty neat, but that setup was history as a more basic instinct, survival, had overpowered the mating urge for a while in that spot. We circled around 150 yards towards where we saw the gobbler run , setup and just started blind calling a little and finally the birds settled down and we had a bird gobbling again. This bird sort of hung out there for perhaps 30 minutes and then GN, who was set up behind me 40 yds, started moving around behind me, scratching and calling trying to bring the turkey in. After he got back 75 yards behind me he pulled out his Cody slate and cut loose and another bird gobbled on the next ridge over perhaps 125 yards in another direction . A repeat of the Cody jubilee brought an instant gobble, and GN quickly scratched his way back towards me 40 yds and got down flat on his back. In just a few minutes the new bird gobbled again close, and the next gobble was just over the ridge. Soon, I saw his bright red head crane up over the hill and start working our way. I knew I would have to shoot when he came out behind a large oak. It would be a fairly long shot, but I felt good about it and the bird went down.
The limit in KY is 2 birds a season so GN and I took some pictures, loaded up the birds, and headed home from another great adventure!! We figured we were in the woods less than three hours. Thanks again to our hosts and GN for another great hunt!
. Good Job!! Sounds like you had a great time.