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Post by wishinone on May 3, 2005 8:04:15 GMT -5
My 2005 Season -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Left work Saturday morning and headed to RTF's, drove around a little bit and saw several nice gobblers strutting for the girls, after unloading my truck I slammed the tailgate and was greeting with a shock gobble from across the road. RTF said we would just head out the front door in the morning and take it from there, there was a good sized gobbler hanging around the house and hopefully he would sound off in the AM. We were up at 4AM and had coffee and something to eat, Wyatt RTF's 9 year old son (my grandson) would be going out with us. We went out the door and was walking up the road that came down behind RTF's house when there was the sound of branches breaking and wings flapping, the gobbler was roosted over the road about 100 yards from RTF's house he sailed over our heads and across the road. After a few curse words we cut into the wood lot and waited to hear a gobble which soon came from several directions. We headed down a logging road and soon RTF said he heard a hen yelp we stopped and searched the trees and saw two birds about 50 yards in front of us, after a short discussion we decided to bump the birds which turned out to be 4 hens and we headed toward the gobbling. We crossed a small field and forded a stream and headed up the hill where we heard a gobbler and a jake welcoming the morning. We came to the end of a pine thicket and RTF said for me to go ahead to the edge of the hardwoods and he stayed back about 20 yards and called. The gobbles were coming from my left, my bad side of course being I'm left handed so I moved around the tree so I could face the bird. In a little while the bird was on the ground gobbled a few times and shut up. A while later there was a gobble from up the hill and I turned and aimed my gun in the direction I though the gobbler would be coming from, then all was quite. After about five minutes gobbles come from my right from two birds and the wait is on. They are close and I can't see a dang thing, I hear spitting and drumming and finally see a bird move to right in front of me at about 35 yards but I have a fallen branch blocking my line of sight. I see the second bird walk into a dip in the ground and then nothing. Soon I see a bobbing head and the rest of the bird comes into view at the top of the knoll, he goes into half strutt and I put the cross hairs on his neck and fire. I see a bird fly to my left and a bird fly to my right, Wyatt asked did you get him poppie and I reply I guess I missed. I walked up the hill to see where my shot might have went and here lies my gobbler in a depression where he fell without making a flop. I never saw the third bird until it flew. The bird had spurs 1/2" and 5/8's" beard was 7 1/2 inches and weight 18lbs 10ozs. Kill was 6:30 in the morning.
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Post by wishinone on May 3, 2005 8:07:45 GMT -5
My grandson with my 2005 New York gobbler
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Post by wishinone on May 3, 2005 8:10:33 GMT -5
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- May 2, 2005 RTF and I are out and in the woods before sunrise, looks like it's going to be a nice morning, only problem there is no gobbling. We walk the top of a ridge back about 3/4 a mile and a gobbler responds to an owl call we head down the hill and are coming to a turn in the logging road and RTF says crap there's a turkey in that tree. As luck would have it, it was our gobbler and he was sounding off at everything, we just froze and waited over a half hour for him to fly down. We say heck with it let's find another bird and as we turn to go back up the hill the gobbler sails out of his tree and heads way down the valley. The nice morning is turning not so nice as the wind kicks up and clouds start moving in, we are on the move trying to get gobbler to respond but no luck at several locations. Finally we get a bird that sounds hot gobbling each time RTF calls, we move to get closer to him but never hear from him again. We head back to the house for a cup of coffee and a new game plan. On the way there two hens cross in front of us but there isn't a gobbler following them. We go for a long, make that a very long walk and don't hear or see another turkey. Heavy rain and chance of snow is moving in so I decide to head home and await the opener here on Wednesday.
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Post by wishinone on May 13, 2005 7:08:21 GMT -5
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- May 4, opening day in CT I am out of the house by 4:30 and at my hunting spot 20 minutes later, weather is crisp and clear with a light frost. Nobody else is in the parking area as expected and I get my gear out, I am walking down the trail and hear a bird start to gobble below me then another far away. I say OK now it's time to wake up on my side of the hill but not one gobble, I head down the hill toward the gobbling bird. As I get to the end of the trail and start turning left there is a hunter standing there blowing his nose with a white handkerchief, I give him a wave and turn back then cut to the right where I now hear another bird gobbling. Soon a shot goes off from behind me and the gobbler I'm after shock gobbles to it, I chase this bird several hundred yards but I believe he had hens leading him away at a fast clip, but he don't shut up and keeps on gobbling until I can't hear him anymore. I walk around and come to the spot where I had a gobbler coming in last year and another hunter shot it without giving one yelp on a call, I set up two decoys and start blind calling, it's now 7AM. After 15 minutes I hear a gobble in the distance and it's coming my way but it hangs up 100 or more yards away. He gobbles to my calls and he gobbles to crows but won't head my way so I back out and cut around to come at him from a different angle. His gobbling let's me know where he is and I get as close as I dare on top of a small hill above him, he still won't come in. I get real aggressive with cutting and yelps and he gobbles somewhere right in front of me behind a small green bush which is blocking my view. Soon I hear yelps behind me and I end up going to war with a hen, we gave each other hell and the gobbler is going nuts, the hen walks behind the tree I sitting against and is mere inches from my leg, I let her get out 20 yards and we go at it again but she heads toward the gobbler. I wait another 15 minutes and don't hear a sound and figure the hen has lead the gobbler off so I decide to find another bird, as I push myself up on one knee I see the hen jump up on a log and shake about 40 yards in front of me, then I see the gobbler strutting in front of a tree close to her, neither bird sees me so I bring my gun up as the gobbler struts away from me, when he turns back toward me I yelp loud and fire, the bird goes down. I push myself up and the gobbler is shoving himself along a fallen log I start to run and he staggers to his feet takes wing and then falls about 30 yards away I fire a shot and miss and he is in the air again and heads down hill. I follow the flight path and search for an hour but can't find any sign of the bird, I feel like crap I hate to loose any bird or animal that I wound. I should have known to shoot the gobbler a second time when I saw his head in the air, just thought of it too late. Back to top
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Post by wishinone on May 13, 2005 7:12:21 GMT -5
May 5 second day of season, out the door at 4:30 again and head to hunting area suprised to see that hunters I met yesterday weren't there again. I headed low being that's where most of the gobbling was yesterday and as I walked I heard a bird sound off behind me and across the road. As I get where I want to wait two birds are gobbling on top of the hill this morning, I curse at them and then hear a bird out in front of me. I head for the area and all I hear is the birds above me, I backtrack a little bit and cut up a trail I go 100 yards and hear one then two birds gobble below me. The area is a mess from being logged this past winter and I am tripping and slipping on limbs and tree tops heading toward the birds, I see a clear area and head towards it with the birds gobbling. I slip on something and my gun barrel hits a tree, I set up and don't hear another gobble, I guess the noise spooked them. I pick up and head around the trail towards the high side of the property as I come over a rise I bump a hen, I stop and call to her, she jumps onto a stone wall and just looks at me for a few minutes not replying to any call of mine. I cover the whole area and can't buy another gobble so I head to another spot and set up my blind and put out three decoys. I set there for three hours and don't see or hear a turkey, however geese fly into the field and feed for half an hour while keeping an eye on my turkey decoys. I pick up and head home a few miles from the house I come around a bend and there is two longbeards standing in the road, I slow up as they move out of the way and I see more gobblers and a bunch of hens in the field I yelp with my voice and one of the gobblers goes into full strut at the edge of the road. A guy riding a bike scares the birds into the woods, sure wish I knew who owned the property my wife see turkeys there all the time.
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Post by wishinone on May 13, 2005 7:14:14 GMT -5
May 6, 2005 Short morning I have a few things to do today before I head back to work tonight. Headed to state hunting area Bartlett Brook and went down trail and awaited the mornings first gobbles, all of a sudden there is all kinds of crashing around and branches breaking about 50-60 yards above me and I can't see a dang thing being it's still pretty dark. I blow like a deer and stamp my foot on the ground and the only response I get is more broken branches, I think there was a flock of turkeys roosted there and they all hit the ground when they saw/heard me. It is a quite morning and finally I hear a gobble far away and he won't shut up so off I go, I get as close as I dare and set up, he is gobbling to crows, geese even a wood duck that flys by. I give a few soft clucks and hit my hat against my leg and then the ground he goes nuts, I give a couple of cuts and figure it's just a matter of time. After 45 minutes I only see him once about 80 yards out there is downed tree tops all over the place and he won't come in, soon I hear that he's moving off so I backtrack and hit the trail trying to get around him. He's now gobbling in the trail just around the bend from me so I sit down and cluck once. As I do that I hear that dreaded sound real hens and they take the gobbler in a straight line down the hill and the bugger is still gobbling. With the rain coming in later I have hopes this bird will not be bothered tomorrow and still be around Monday, he must have gobbled well over 100 times this morning. Outside of him I only heard one other bird.
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Post by wishinone on May 13, 2005 7:15:44 GMT -5
may 9, 2005 Left work early, I figured that after the rain and wind the past two days the turkeys would start to feel like gobbling again. Got to my spot and another hunter was already there, we talked a bit and he told me where he wanted to go and I said I would head the other way. I gave it a little over three hours and only heard one gobble pretty far away, so I headed to the truck and drove the long way home. I see turkeys in a field so I pull over and walk back and yelp a few times, not one gobble, so I walk back a little further and see that one gobbler is still strutting and another three are looking at me. Back in the truck I head to the farm down the road and I see a bird strutting there, he didn't want to gobble either. Hope I have better luck tomorrow with a high coming in later today.
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Post by wishinone on May 13, 2005 7:16:58 GMT -5
May 10, 2005 What a freaking morning, turkeys gobbling all over the place until flydown and hens yelping. I think I heard 9 different birds this morning and I had them working to me from three ways, I had three decoys out a jake and two hens and I had my video camera set up with them in the frame. Now all I needed was a bird or two to come to the decoys, gobbling was getting closer and closer from behind me the other birds shut up and I knew it was just a matter of time. As hunting goes "crap happens" I had two longbeards behind me about 10 yards one strutting and one spitting, they gobbled and another bird along with a jake gobbled farther behind them. I watched through a slit in the blind and hoped that the birds would come into the field, no luck they moved off but I was able to call them back. I had the scope on one but told myself I had to give it a try to get it on film and let the birds walk. Around 8AM I head a gobble and decided to head towards the bird leaving my gear in the blind, I came to a ridge and peeked over and saw three longbeards a few jakes and hens, too far away to shoot. I called, hens yelped and gobblers gobbled but not one would head my way, soon they headed over a stone wall into a preserve where no hunting is allowed. I go back to the blind and call every 10 minutes, at 9:15 I have a bird to my right gobble then a second one out in front of him. I call with yelps and cutts they gobble but too many girlfriends take them away. As I leave the property I look into the horse pasture and here is three longbeards strutting with a few hens running around, tomorrow is another day and I think I'll leave the video camera home.
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Post by wishinone on May 13, 2005 7:18:13 GMT -5
May 11, 2005 Spent from 4:45AM to 12:00 noon in the woods and don't have a thing to show for it. Overcast and spotty fog this morning had the gobbling down from yesterday but one bird was sounding off as soon as I left my truck to head down the trail. Had birds across a ridge gobbling like hell, soon two hens were squaking behind me and I lite into them and we had the gobblers going nuts but they wouldn't budge. After a half hour two hens come up the hill and walk between my decoys my luck no gobbler following them, all is quite after 7:30. I sit and blind call for a couple of hours then decide to take a little walk to streach my legs a bit, I walk over to check the horse pasture and hear a gobble from the other side of the valley. I head back to my blind calling every 50 yards or so and getting replies every time, these birds are gobbling until 11:45 but they won't cross a small stream to come to me. I thought today would be the day I can't hunt this property again until next Wednesday, I hope the birds are broken up by then.
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Post by wishinone on May 13, 2005 7:19:07 GMT -5
May 12, 2005 Got the winds that RTF had yesterday, not a gobble this morning and for the first time I was bothered by bugs I'll be sure to pack the Thermo Cell for next weeks hunting. Seen one gobbler strutting by himself this morning on the way home. Weather is screwed up mid 70's yesterday and frost tomorrow, and rain for the fourth weekend in a row.
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Post by wishinone on May 18, 2005 12:07:18 GMT -5
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- May 18, 2005 Screwed up yesterday, not by missing a turkey but by, well. First I had to work the night before and when I went in I asked a guy if he wanted to come back in at 3AM and work my last four hours, he said no he didn't want to be there now. So I set myself to work my 12 hour shift, at 2:30AM the phone rang and my co-worker asked if I still wanted to leave at three, I said you bet ya. I got to my hunting spot before 4AM and changed into my hunting gear and still had an hour to kill so I decided to rest my eyes a little bit. You know what happened I woke up and it was after seven o'clock, I kicked myself in the butt and walked the whole area and didn't hear or see a thing. Today I headed to the private land I hunt, I had to dodge five deer on the way there so I figured it was going to be a good morning with wildlife on the move. I wanted to try and video a hunt so bought my camera with me again, as I was setting up my blind I was getting worried that there was no gobbling going on but soon I heard a bird over the hill. As it turned out he was the only one gobbling and doing darn little of it, instead of flying down my way he went across the bay to other property. I heard two other birds fly down but not one yelp or cluck out of either plus I never saw them. I found out that the other hunters had another good weekend and killed more birds, plus the guy that works for the state DEP got one so that's seven gobblers taken off of 70 acres. I have to hunt there two more days, tomorrow and next Wednesday, I hope it won't be a lost cause. On the way home I have four jakes walk across the road in front of me and I see two longbeards elsewhere plus another five deer.
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Post by wishinone on May 21, 2005 14:48:05 GMT -5
May 19, 2005 Left the house at 4AM with raindrops on my windshield, but must have been one cloud because that was the end of it at my driveway. Got to my spot at 4:40 and was getting my gear out and heard a gobble right off, I thought to myself son of a gun as I headed to where I left my blind set up I hear another then another bird start to gobble for a total of five birds, I was a happy camper. I put out my dekes and got into the blind I had two birds over to my right and one was close and the other birds were on the sidehill in front of me. The close bird to my right was hot and he gobbled his head off to my soft yelps and purrs, soon I saw him strutting about 150 yards out on top of a bump in the field. Before I could get him to come in I had a bird right in front of me start gobbling his head off just on top of the hill, instead of coming down the trail he was on he went out into the field and was walking the woods edge gobbling all the way with the other bird gobbling also. This son of a buzzard sees the other gobbler and instead of coming to me he puts a mad dash on to the other bird who gobbled one more time before turning tail and heading down the far hill, now both birds are gone. I blind call for 45 minutes and get no replies so I head over to the far side of the field and sit in a ground blind put up by other hunters and I call there for 45 minutes hoping to hear or see one of the birds. I decide to head back to my blind and get up and throw my gun over my shoulder, I go maybe 50 yards and I come to a rise in the field and here is a gobbler heading my way without making a sound, he looks at me I look at him and we both have legs and butts moving fast. I try to pick him up in the scope but it was a lost cause, I spent the next two hours blind calling and hear nothing so call it a good day and head home. Forgot to add I had a buck feeding 40 yards in front of me when I was sitting in the blind, his antlers were maybe 5 inches.
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Post by wishinone on Feb 6, 2006 8:32:59 GMT -5
Another season will be here in a few months and I as all of you can't wait. Weather here has been very mild hitting the 60's the last few days. Driving down the road the other day there were six longbeards in a field with one strutting, guess he was feeling pretty good with the warm sun on him.
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