Gobblers are winning
Well, after three days of turkey hunting so far this third season, the turkeys are winning.
Friday was my opening day of the season and I never heard a gobble. Hunted until 10 a.m. (I know, should have stayed out longer) and never heard a single gobble. I did bust one bird off the roost walking in (he was in a place I didn’t expect him to be). So my opening day was pretty much a dud. So much so, that I worried whether any birds were on the property.
Never fear. Saturday morning the birds gobbled like a fire. I heard at least four different gobblers (if you are willing to believe I can tell the difference) and had a very close encounter with a jake. Actually, I had three close encounters with the same jake. He was all around me like a puppy. At one point, he was just 4-5 feet away looking intently to see my decoy (which had blown over). If he’d had more than a 1-inch beard I’d have shot him. But with all that gobbling going on…
Needless to say, I’m sitting here Monday evening thinking that jake looked like a good shot after all. I couldn’t hunt Sunday and today was a bust. I got out super early (in the blind by 4:50 a.m.) and was ready. Normally I just run-and-gun hunt and today was the first time I’ve hunted from a blind in a few years. My plan was to get close to the turkeys, call, lure them in, shoot one and be done.
Well, I never heard a gobble. Stayed in the blind until 10 a.m. and never heard a gobble. Walking out I searched for mushrooms half-heartedly. Never found one of those, either.
And just as I was preparing to cross the dam of the lake, a bird flushed from along the shoreline and flew across the lake, no more than 3 feet above the water the entire time. I think it was the same jake that had been searching for me on Saturday. Come to think of it, he might also be the bird I bumped on Friday.
Anyway, when I go out Tuesday morning (assuming I can get up) I am going to forget the blind and try to get as close to the first gobble I hear. Or maybe I’ll just set up and try to shoot that silly jake.
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