First Tag Filled!

Well I knew it would happen eventually.

Tuesday morning I got up before daylight and went to a green field I had seen some birds in the day before. After setting up my decoys by flashlight, I sat against a huge Oklahoma pecan tree and settled in. Shortly after daylight I had two hens come into my setup. They ambled on into the woods and the wind really started to pick up. Not sure if anyone local has noticed, but the wind has been pretty terrible the last few weeks. That morning, they were steady out of the south at 24mph, and were gusting to 40mph.

At 9am I started calling some, at first with a slate but then I picked the volume up with a box call because of the wind. I went through a few call sequences and was getting ready to leave when I saw a tom and a jake coming in from my left. I settled back down and a larger tom came in right behind him. It was obvious he'd seen my decoys and was walking straight to them, which put him on a perpendicular path to me. When he passed behind some limbs I raised my shotgun and let him walk into my shooting lane. One trigger squeeze later, and it was all over for that bird.

The other two birds ran off before I could take another shot. Excited that I'd finally sealed the deal, I stand up and start walking to the bird, and see movement near my feet. A copperhead was coiled back on me about a foot away from me. I took his head off too with the shotgun.

The turkey weighed in at 19 pounds, 6 inch beard, 1/2 inch spurs. He was a 2 year old bird.

Equipment used was a 12 gauge Mossberg Model 88, Remington 3 inch Hevi Shot Number 4, and H S Strut jake and hen decoys. Shot was taken at 35 yards.

Finally, A Gobbler

Sunday morning, after my weekend warrior debacle the day before, I decided to go to a spot I had never been before. I've also never seen any vehicles parked there.

I walked in about a mile and was coming down a slope between two ridges. There was a small pond in between them. I stood and watched a couple of does walking up the opposing slope. The does kept pausing and looking above them. Suddenly, I hear a thunderous gobble ahead of me. I then see what the deer were looking at. A gobbler coming down the ridge towards them in full strut. I don't know if those deer owed him money or not, but he was not happy with them.

Of course I was standing out in the open, so I got down on my stomach and crawled to some tall grass. There I watched the gobbler keep coming towards me. When he got to the dam of the small pond, I scrambled to a rock outcropping to my left. He came around the pond and then walked behind some cedars. I grabbed my box call and threw some yelps towards him. He cut me off mid yelp with a gobble. I could tell he was getting closer, but I still couldn't see him.

Much to my dismay, he popped out at an elevation level to me and to my immediate left. There was no way I could turn to him without being busted. Had I known the terrain better I could have moved down the hill and behind some cedars and had a good shot on him.

I let him pass, but it was sure nice to actually have a tom gobble back for once.

Weekend Warriors

Saturday morning I got up early and went to an area I've been hunting since turkey season opened. Not remembering it was a Saturday, I didn't think of anyone else being in this area. It was on public hunting land, but I hadn't seen many people in the area. I also waited until 10am to get out there to let any early morning hunters clear out and head for the local breakfast buffet.

I walked nearly a mile down an old abandoned road, and out into an overgrown field at the very end of it. If this field was brush hogged or mowed, it would be turkey strutting paradise. There is a small creek that borders it on the south and west, and the same creek flows into a nearby lake on the south west corner of the same field. As it was, however, much too grown up to be of much use. Where I was headed was to the south west corner near the lake. There I knew the woods would be clear of underbrush because the lake was low, and I also "knew" it was far enough back there wouldn't be any other hunters. To the east of the area are several wooded ridges that flow down to the water.

I found a good spot, and rather than setting out decoys decided just to call. The trees were just close enough together I didn't think decoys would be necessary. After letting the woods settle down, I made a few yelps on a mouth call. After 10 minutes, I made a few more yelps. I immediately got a response the second time. And it wasn't very far away, maybe about 50 yards to my east. I stayed quiet, because obviously the turkey knew where my "hen" was and was heading my way.

This is when the fun started. First I heard some loud crashing through the woods. Then I heard some coughing. Then just like they were beside me, I hear "I think the turkey is just ahead of us!" Yea, seriously...

Safety first, so without moving I said "Hunter in front of you, hunter directly in front of you." and then got up from my tree. I go up and introduce myself to the guys, who look like they just stepped out a Bass Pro catalog. Everything they had on was brand new, new shotguns, new turkey vests, new boots. Seemed like nice guys though, they were down from Oklahoma City. They had both gone to OU, although several years before me. Before leaving, they kindly asked me which way their truck was and where a good restaurant in town was.

My mid afternoon hunt being over, I went back to the house for a few hours. That evening, I went out to a green field where I have seen some birds feeding before going to roost. I set out a full decoy spread, and backed into the tree line about 5 feet. I called infrequently, mostly just making some clucks and purrs on my Flextone Tramp Stamp slate call. I watched another hunter walk right out from where my truck was and take off through the middle of the green field I was sitting in. He walked directly across from me and stopped in the tree line. He must have seen my decoys, because he sat there and called to them for an hour. Yes, an hour. I sat there and watched him through my binoculars. He was calling pretty decent, so I shut up and let him do all the calling for me.

I was surprised that he didn't think it was weird that the turkeys weren't moving at all. When it was time to leave I walked out to my spread, waved at him, and headed back to the truck.

Got to love weekend warriors.

Oklahoma Spring Turkey Season: Week 1

You hear that? If you said no, then you heard what I've been hearing in the woods. Absolutely nothing.

I hunted hard for 5 days straight. Morning hunts, afternoon hunts, and evening hunts. One day I stayed out 12 hours. Yet not one gobble. Last Thursday was my first day to hunt due to work, and I got out to a likely looking green field at 5pm. I made it about 100 feet away from my truck before seeing my first turkey. I walked over a little rise and up to a hen that was feeding about 50 feet away from me. I managed to keep her from seeing me by ducking through the woods and continuing further into the field. The area I was hunting was a 50 acre green field bordered on the west and south sides by the same creek, so I went to the southwest corner thinking there would likely be a roost site nearby. After setting up and calling for a while, I called up 3 hens on their way to roost. They came within 5 feet of me walking into the woods, so I at least knew my calling skills and camouflage were good to go. So far things were looking good!

The next 4 days were spent in the same general area, sometimes hunting along the creek and sometimes along some ridges that feed down into these big green fields. I kept calling up hen after hen, but neither saw nor heard a gobbler.

Sunday morning late I found a well used strut zone actually down in a creek bed. That evening I set up about 10 feet away, and had 3 hens come in a roost. Thinking a gobbler surely must be roosted nearby, I quietly extracted myself and decided to come back Monday morning. A few hours later I was already waking up and headed back out to the same spot. In the pre-dawn chill, I walked down to the creek and slid down the bank. The creek has about 8 foot banks with reeds growing heavily on the sides, so I sat down in the sand with my back to the bank. It was actually the most comfortable place I'd sat down in a week. With the strut zone 20 feet away from me and the roost trees beyond that, I sat quietly and waited for daylight.

Just when I could see the ground I heard a fly down cackle, and readied my shotgun. A hen glides effortlessly towards me and lands within 10 feet of me. I slide the safety off and wait for the tom to hit the ground behind her. And wait. And wait. The tom never shows up. The hen pecks around the strut zone for a while then takes off towards the big green field. I waited another 15 minutes, then tracked the hen out into the green field. By now she was 400 yards away from me. I believe she was headed to either sit on a nest or lay an egg.

Since that had turned out so dismally, I decided for the rest of the day to do a little fishing and hang out at home since I had to work the next 48 hours on the ambulance. My dad and I go to a pond that adjoins a green field that is about 1 1/2 miles south of the field I hunted that morning. The fishing was pretty good, and after about an hour we decide to leave. After sitting at the back of the truck shooting the crap for a bit, we get into the truck and start to back out, almost running over four 2 year old jakes. Ok, they were 50 feet behind us, but they still surprised us. My dad throws me a shotgun and hits the box call, and they cut loose a gobble that shook the hills. Being in shorts and a t shirt I decided not to pursue them through the woods. This was at 4:30 in the afternoon of all times.

At least I finally got to hear a gobble. Tomorrow I'll be in near that pond in a one man blind for sure with my decoy spread. Maybe I'll get to hear a gobble followed by a boom?

New Logo

Well I spent a little time and finally got around to redoing my logo. The old one I threw together in about an hour, and although it was ok, it wasn't nearly as modern or professional as I wanted. So I spent about 4 hours with my computer and put together what you see at the top of the page. I was an advertising major in college so it felt good to get a little graphic design work done. Hope everybody likes it!

Ghost Hunting

Ok, not really hunting ghosts, but it sure feels like it.

First weekend of turkey season, and I've been hunting hard since Thursday evening. It's now Sunday, and it already feels like I've been at it for weeks. I've had some really great set ups, and have been very successful in calling hens up. So far I've called or seen 11 hens.

But the bearded ghost of the woods has so far eluded me. I thought I had a pretty good idea of where the roost is, and I still think I know. During pre-season scouting I purposely kept away from the area and trying to find the roost tree because the public land I'm hunting gets a lot of pressure, and I didn't want to push the birds to another area. I've been set up at the edge of the woods near dark and have had hen after hen walk right past me into the creek bottom, so I know I'm within 200 yards or so.

Where the toms are going after fly down continues to elude me. I'm seeing hens at all times of the day, and common knowledge leads me to believe the toms aren't far away from the hens.

The weather here in Oklahoma has been incredibly dry and incredibly windy. We're in the middle of an extreme drought. Personally I think the toms are staying in the creek beds. There is still some water there, but they are high banked so they are out of the wind and they still have easy access to food, water, and hens. The hens I've been seeing I believe are feeding and nesting.

Tomorrow I switch up tactics. I've found a strut zone down in the creek bed, so tomorrow morning I'm going to ease in there well before daylight, keep quiet, and see who shows up. Might just be that old bearded ghost.