Post by bigskyscott on Sept 9, 2007 23:26:58 GMT -5
About a week ago I got a phone call from an old friend that I used to work with at Gibson Guitar in Bozeman.
In Region 3 out here, if you want to hunt turkeys both fall and spring a resident must apply for a drawn tag. The odds of getting drawn are pretty rare. 3,000 hunters apply for only 10 permits for each season.
Well, Shane was very lucky and got drawn after years of applying.
He knew because of my job in the Region that I might be able to find some birds on property that was accessable to the general public. At the time he called me, all the birds I had seen on State land were earlier in the spring and summer and now they were gone. I keep looking all last week and finally on Thursday I located a flock at ,of all places, my hunting grounds while deer scouting. I haven't seen birds back there in over a year and a half. I took a few pics and will post them here later.
Friday night I called Shane and we set up all the arrangments for a hunt out here this morning since I had those birds "pegged"... knew exactly where their roosts were right next to a stubble field.
One other thing... Shane has never turkey hunted and this would be his first hunt plus he may never get drawn for this Region again. I offered to not only guide for him but also do the calling...good chance to do a little field testing too.
I walked Shane back to within 150 yards from their roosting area in a really nice opening clustered with junipers, cottonwoods and cedars. We set up and when the Sun got high enough I softly cut loose with a fly down cackle followed with a couple of putts and the sky was filled with birds flying down in front of us about 75 to 100 yards away. When they hit the ground, they dissapeared down into a small ditch. Suddenly, a couple of heads appeared and coming our way ! Well , the closest hen got to within 45 yards of us and stopped. Shane had his gun up and was about to pull the trigger if she would have taken a few more steps. The hen never took another step toward us. The ol' "Mother Hen" made a couple of yelps and the whole crew ( counted 11 birds) followed her away from us...out of gun rage and back into the juniper thicket. I know better than to try competing against the O'L LADY !
After waiting at that setup for about two hours and no birds returning . We decided to sneek over to the roosting trees next to the field and then follow the edge of the field toward the direction of where I thought those hens and poults might reappear. We no sooner got to the roosting trees and spotted 7 red, white and blue heads feeding in the middle of the stubble field out about 100 to 125 yards. No way to get any closer with all that open ground between us and all those boys. We set up under one of the roosts and I started calling to them. I got their attention and they VERY slowly started making their way over to us. This time about 65 yards from us. Fall gobblers act very differently in the fall....Stuborn as hell !
When I knew my calling wasn't going to make this hunt end any sooner, we just decided to wait em out. They were right there in front of us....scratching and feeding on weed seeds. Zig-Zagging back and forth from side to side , but not moving any closer. When they would start moving away, I would give them a few feeding putts and purrs and they would stop, look toward us for a few seconds and then go back to feeding,,some moving closer, some farther away.
Finally, they all moved together to our extreme left into some tall, dried grass and dissapeared out of our sight. At that point, I tapped Shane on his shoulder and signaled for him to follow me.
We fell back into the cover of the trees and high bank which runns along the fence...headed to our left ..the same direction the birds were going. I figured their crops were full and headed back into the woods to water in the nearby pond.
We crawled up the high bank, looked out onto the field where I figured the birds would exit the field and standing there in the tall grass at 50 or so yards were 7 red, white and blue heads just standing there ..not moving. I got my call out, laid a few clucks and a yelp on em and they all started moving toward us and to the left.
At 40 yards, Shane got a clear shot and dropped a nice young gobbler !
I must say, even though I didn't get to pull the trigger, this was one of the best turkey hunts I've ever experienced. I got to take a freind out to "my" hot spots on his first turkey hunt using a very special hunting tag. The day was absolutely beautiful. We saw a ton of deer with quite a few nice, young bucks, the Waterfowl was very active with fall approaching and tonight the roost has one vacant limb available.
Shane's bird appears to be a one and a half year old gobbler. We estimated he weighed some where between 17 to 19 lbs. Shane is gonna let me know the real number later.He had 1/2" spurs and a 7" beard. These Merriums out here are beautiful birds ! After our mile and a half walk back to my rig, we drove back to my house and drank a Old Mil to the Turkey Huntin Gods .Shane left, very excited about all the stops he was going to make on his trip back home to show off his trophy.
This is "Turkey Hunter " Shane with his first gobbler.
BTW, this call is one I just finished and is headin to VA. next week..along with a couple of Merrium gobbler breast feathers.
Ole Gimpy Legs...
In Region 3 out here, if you want to hunt turkeys both fall and spring a resident must apply for a drawn tag. The odds of getting drawn are pretty rare. 3,000 hunters apply for only 10 permits for each season.
Well, Shane was very lucky and got drawn after years of applying.
He knew because of my job in the Region that I might be able to find some birds on property that was accessable to the general public. At the time he called me, all the birds I had seen on State land were earlier in the spring and summer and now they were gone. I keep looking all last week and finally on Thursday I located a flock at ,of all places, my hunting grounds while deer scouting. I haven't seen birds back there in over a year and a half. I took a few pics and will post them here later.
Friday night I called Shane and we set up all the arrangments for a hunt out here this morning since I had those birds "pegged"... knew exactly where their roosts were right next to a stubble field.
One other thing... Shane has never turkey hunted and this would be his first hunt plus he may never get drawn for this Region again. I offered to not only guide for him but also do the calling...good chance to do a little field testing too.
I walked Shane back to within 150 yards from their roosting area in a really nice opening clustered with junipers, cottonwoods and cedars. We set up and when the Sun got high enough I softly cut loose with a fly down cackle followed with a couple of putts and the sky was filled with birds flying down in front of us about 75 to 100 yards away. When they hit the ground, they dissapeared down into a small ditch. Suddenly, a couple of heads appeared and coming our way ! Well , the closest hen got to within 45 yards of us and stopped. Shane had his gun up and was about to pull the trigger if she would have taken a few more steps. The hen never took another step toward us. The ol' "Mother Hen" made a couple of yelps and the whole crew ( counted 11 birds) followed her away from us...out of gun rage and back into the juniper thicket. I know better than to try competing against the O'L LADY !
After waiting at that setup for about two hours and no birds returning . We decided to sneek over to the roosting trees next to the field and then follow the edge of the field toward the direction of where I thought those hens and poults might reappear. We no sooner got to the roosting trees and spotted 7 red, white and blue heads feeding in the middle of the stubble field out about 100 to 125 yards. No way to get any closer with all that open ground between us and all those boys. We set up under one of the roosts and I started calling to them. I got their attention and they VERY slowly started making their way over to us. This time about 65 yards from us. Fall gobblers act very differently in the fall....Stuborn as hell !
When I knew my calling wasn't going to make this hunt end any sooner, we just decided to wait em out. They were right there in front of us....scratching and feeding on weed seeds. Zig-Zagging back and forth from side to side , but not moving any closer. When they would start moving away, I would give them a few feeding putts and purrs and they would stop, look toward us for a few seconds and then go back to feeding,,some moving closer, some farther away.
Finally, they all moved together to our extreme left into some tall, dried grass and dissapeared out of our sight. At that point, I tapped Shane on his shoulder and signaled for him to follow me.
We fell back into the cover of the trees and high bank which runns along the fence...headed to our left ..the same direction the birds were going. I figured their crops were full and headed back into the woods to water in the nearby pond.
We crawled up the high bank, looked out onto the field where I figured the birds would exit the field and standing there in the tall grass at 50 or so yards were 7 red, white and blue heads just standing there ..not moving. I got my call out, laid a few clucks and a yelp on em and they all started moving toward us and to the left.
At 40 yards, Shane got a clear shot and dropped a nice young gobbler !
I must say, even though I didn't get to pull the trigger, this was one of the best turkey hunts I've ever experienced. I got to take a freind out to "my" hot spots on his first turkey hunt using a very special hunting tag. The day was absolutely beautiful. We saw a ton of deer with quite a few nice, young bucks, the Waterfowl was very active with fall approaching and tonight the roost has one vacant limb available.
Shane's bird appears to be a one and a half year old gobbler. We estimated he weighed some where between 17 to 19 lbs. Shane is gonna let me know the real number later.He had 1/2" spurs and a 7" beard. These Merriums out here are beautiful birds ! After our mile and a half walk back to my rig, we drove back to my house and drank a Old Mil to the Turkey Huntin Gods .Shane left, very excited about all the stops he was going to make on his trip back home to show off his trophy.
This is "Turkey Hunter " Shane with his first gobbler.
BTW, this call is one I just finished and is headin to VA. next week..along with a couple of Merrium gobbler breast feathers.
Ole Gimpy Legs...
I offered to carry it for him and he refused the offer...I totally understood. 