Close Calls
Focus on the dual tracks in the morning dew coming up the center of the field. Two longbeards and a jake emerged from the woods on the right of the picture, and came straight towards our decoys - just not quite far enough however.
Several quiet mornings, with little gobbling activity, led me to reacquaint myself with the chapter from Jerome Robinson's excellent book "In The Turkey Woods".
The last ten days have been a mixed bag for my clients and I. Some mornings, the turkeys seem to be everywhere and just as vocal as you could hope for, while others are eerily quiet with barely a gobble. That's hunting I guess, but it is frustrating at times.
Nevertheless, we have had some close calls out there, the highlight of which was a morning in Vermont where we had consistent gobbling from 5:30 AM - 11 AM. It was exciting, and culminated in two gobblers and a jake coming in to our decoy spread. Well actually, they got close, perhaps even in shooting range, but my clients used their discretion to not take a wounding shot. The birds wandered off, and we pursued them for the rest of the morning, setting up twice more and utilizing a combination of aggressive cutts and yelps as well as a string of clucks and purrs to try to get them to come our way. In the end, they hung up out of range, but we had a great morning with plenty of action.
We've had some tough days too, however. Over last weekend, we heard exactly one gobble in two days of hunting, covering twelve miles of walking / hiking for our efforts. It was stupefying to say the least, but perhaps we were in areas where the birds had already been "educated" by other hunters in the last two weeks. We've also had no gobbles in areas that were active just a day or two before. Why?
Perhaps it's the changing weather that we've had recently - lots of low pressure systems (rain, some wind) that may have thrown off the gobbling activity. Of course, the hens also continue to play their role in this whole mosaic as well. While they sometimes are drawn to our calls, they are just as likely to take the "boys" away from us. That's how it is at times, and must always be considered as a valid excuse when you can't close the deal with a tom that seemed interested.
All of this made me question my tactics and seek advice on how to deal with turkeys when they go quiet. My favorite book on turkeys and how to hunt them, Jerome Robinson's excellent "In The Turkey Woods", has a chapter on hunting silent turkeys, and I spent some time reacquainting myself with it. The answer wasn't tremendously uplifting: be more patient in waiting out quiet turkeys in areas that they like to frequent. Needless to say, knowing the habits and travel patterns of the turkeys in the areas that you hunt is critical in eventually catching up with them when they go silent.
Thankfully, there are still times when the turkeys cooperate and we had that happen today in New Hampshire. After a fruitless first setup near a farm, we ended up covering lots of ground in the truck and making calls at various points to see if we could elicit a response from a forlorn gobbler. Finally, after many stops where my calls were met with silence, we got a gobble in close proximity to us.
Hurriedly getting our gear on and searching out good places to sit, we called and waited. It didn't take long after my combination of excited yelps and softer romantic pleas: a jake came in to our location, completely focused on his amorous goal. Ameer, on his first turkey hunt, remained absolutely motionless as the bird came within ten yards of us, taking the bird easily when it presented a shot. They haven't been that easy this year, but we'll take it ...
Nevertheless, we have had some close calls out there, the highlight of which was a morning in Vermont where we had consistent gobbling from 5:30 AM - 11 AM. It was exciting, and culminated in two gobblers and a jake coming in to our decoy spread. Well actually, they got close, perhaps even in shooting range, but my clients used their discretion to not take a wounding shot. The birds wandered off, and we pursued them for the rest of the morning, setting up twice more and utilizing a combination of aggressive cutts and yelps as well as a string of clucks and purrs to try to get them to come our way. In the end, they hung up out of range, but we had a great morning with plenty of action.
We've had some tough days too, however. Over last weekend, we heard exactly one gobble in two days of hunting, covering twelve miles of walking / hiking for our efforts. It was stupefying to say the least, but perhaps we were in areas where the birds had already been "educated" by other hunters in the last two weeks. We've also had no gobbles in areas that were active just a day or two before. Why?
Perhaps it's the changing weather that we've had recently - lots of low pressure systems (rain, some wind) that may have thrown off the gobbling activity. Of course, the hens also continue to play their role in this whole mosaic as well. While they sometimes are drawn to our calls, they are just as likely to take the "boys" away from us. That's how it is at times, and must always be considered as a valid excuse when you can't close the deal with a tom that seemed interested.
All of this made me question my tactics and seek advice on how to deal with turkeys when they go quiet. My favorite book on turkeys and how to hunt them, Jerome Robinson's excellent "In The Turkey Woods", has a chapter on hunting silent turkeys, and I spent some time reacquainting myself with it. The answer wasn't tremendously uplifting: be more patient in waiting out quiet turkeys in areas that they like to frequent. Needless to say, knowing the habits and travel patterns of the turkeys in the areas that you hunt is critical in eventually catching up with them when they go silent.
Thankfully, there are still times when the turkeys cooperate and we had that happen today in New Hampshire. After a fruitless first setup near a farm, we ended up covering lots of ground in the truck and making calls at various points to see if we could elicit a response from a forlorn gobbler. Finally, after many stops where my calls were met with silence, we got a gobble in close proximity to us.
Hurriedly getting our gear on and searching out good places to sit, we called and waited. It didn't take long after my combination of excited yelps and softer romantic pleas: a jake came in to our location, completely focused on his amorous goal. Ameer, on his first turkey hunt, remained absolutely motionless as the bird came within ten yards of us, taking the bird easily when it presented a shot. They haven't been that easy this year, but we'll take it ...
