|
NWTF
Every Turkey Hunter Should Belong
Eastern
Turkey Hunting
Lodges & Outfitters
Meriams Turkey Hunting
Lodges & Outfitters
Osceola
Wild Turkey Hunting
Lodges & Outfitters
Rio
Grande Turkey Hunting
Lodges & Outfitters
Gould's
Turkey Hunting
Lodges & Outfitters
Ocellated Turkey Hunting
Turkey
Hunting Seasons
Every State w/ Turkey
Links
to Turkey Hunting Equipment MFG
Map of Turkey Species
Ranges
Turkey Hunting
Articles
|
I Turkey Hunt
A Morning Class Interrupted
by John Coit Check out John's Website
http://www.PVHC.net
5-10-05
Turkey hunters are usually charged with the challenge of making decisions based
on the workings of a pea brained, hormonally over zealous idiot, called a tom.
Reasonable thinking may apply, but more often than not, hinting notions and
vaudeville performances are required to topple his majesty. Some toms seem to
beg to be killed, but come with a series of lucky mishaps that routinely save
their neck. Those are the best tests and the greatest of toms! Follow us along,
on a springtime teaching by Professor tom , at Paradise Valley Hunt Club.
A light drizzling rain was falling as south Floridian , Rick Johnson and I slid
quietly through under and around a maze of 25 foot high planted pines. Rick and
I were making a move towards the back of a hidden cypress bay, long since
surrounded and blended by the surrounding South Carolina Low Country pine
plantation. We had a destination in mind , but as anyone knows who has ever
trekked through un thinned planted pines in the dark knows , we were hoping to
come out into the bay close to where we hoped , but weren't counting on it.
Navigation in these tracts can be tricky before the sun comes up, add overcast
skies hiding dawns early light and we were lucky to find the bay at all. A bit
of relief hit me when I could verify the open skies of the cypress bay; a
familiar tree loomed ahead we moved in to set up.
Rick and I were hunting out of Paradise Valley Hunting Club in the low country
of SC http://www.PVHC.net on a fantastic piece of low country land that was
holding a super tom in a cypress head at the moment. Michael Scott, a turkey
guide for Paradise Valley, had worked this tom he previous day, and seen his
exit from the bay. The two of us swapped information, narrowed down the roost
area and fortunately, a scouting trip later that same day had given me just
enough know how to get right to where we needed to be. Rick and I set up, on the
edge of a small grassy opening on the edge of the bay.
I eased out into the opening under the cover of darkness and planted a feather
flex hen in a squatting position 17 yards from Rick's position. My hopes were
that the gobbler would use this rare opening in the middle of the thickets to
land. At worst I hoped he would see the hen deke and set his sights on her as
his first love of the day. A sharp cluck, woke me from my turkey hunters
wandering mind. Perched 15 feet above Rick's head, the real deal, Mrs. boss hen.
I could barely make her out huddled tight against the trunk of the pine. Her
feathers brushing the coarse bark made an unmistakable sound, I'd been found
out. With nothing to lose, I eased back under the tree figuring the hen would
certainly spook. She didn't.
In almost every turkey hunt a line is crossed where, the pre test is over, it's
final exam time, and you are handed a list of questions to answer that while
having a wide variety of possible answers, rarely has more than one right one.
Decision time, blow the hen out or hope she settles down and can't see us
through the wax myrtle bush hanging over us. I made the call to spook her.
Despite the cover between us I felt there was little chance of calming her down
enough to insure she wouldn't spoil the hunt. With plenty of darkness left, over
cast skies, intending to keep the birds on the limb later than usual I answered
question one with moving until she flew out cackling. Nothing else stirred, that
bothered me. Did I make the right call? Silence set in and the rain continued to
drizzle.
Fifteen minutes had gone by, and now we were quickly approaching the time that
makes a turkey guides mind race, gobble time. Nothing stirred, no birds made a
peep. Second guessing the scouting report from my co guide, my decision to spook
the hen early, and my always lingering grass is greener syndrome, another cluck
woke me up from my minds wandering. 45 yards to our left, one hen clucked again
then made three weak tree yelps. In a nervous manner that only a turkey hunter
would know, I forced air from my diaphragm to make a cluck of my own. Time to
ante up , and get our name in the pot. Out it came in poor rendition, but no one
could hear the nervousness in my call, thunder rolled before the sharpened of a
finished cluck could be heard! Perched 35 yards directly in front of us twice
the distance of our deke, was our tom.
Down the line came a new flurry of final exam questions. Can he see us in our
location? Can he see the hen deke? Are there more hens? Are there more gobblers?
Should I call again? Should I let the hen fly down to him or try to coax her to
the deke with a wing flap and purring? One by one I made my choices as follows.
Due to the evergreen nature of a wax myrtle bush we had good cover I assumed
that from a perched position it would be extremely difficult for any bird to see
us from any angle. This tom had been seen with several hens the day before and
with no reason to expect any different today .I had to assume there were several
more in the immediate vicinity. I was doubtful that there were anymore toms
close by this was due to the fact that this tom was holding so many hens days
prior and it wasn't likely this early in the season that any tom would pick that
fight with so many willing hens. Calling was going to be dictated by the hen to
our left. I decided due to our position between the birds, the favorable landing
area in front of us and the deke that short of answering her every note , there
was no need to coax anyone to the gun, it would happen naturally. My only charge
was to keep that tom aware that I wanted the tom first by cutting her off each
time she spoke.
There is not too many noises in the woodlands during springtime that can match
in volume and sheer excitement than a wild turkey gobbling from the limb. At 100
yards it dominates all sound, speeds heartbeats, and crushes pure nerve. At
fifty yards, rib cages rattle and the physical function of a gobble can be heard
plainly. At 35 yards, it's almost too much to take, scary in fact. The tom now
turned around on the limb, nailed scratching bark, gobbled on top of us
repeatedly. We were afraid to move or make a sound. He gobbled again, making the
blood pressure rise steadilly. This is the time that the questions begin to
become second guesses. 21 seasons of turkey hunting has never landed me a
surefire set of rules for how to act when encountering a tom up close and
personal. Patience is the only answer when in doubt, do nothing, fly by the seat
of your pants. Many times I've said to myself, "if my hunters ever knew just how
totally unsure I am about what to do next, they would leave me at the truck".
Old gobblers have a way of making you feel like that regularly.
Minutes went by, and then there was silence. No clucking, no gobbling, something
was about to happen. With a quick flurry of wing beats, the hen to our left
sailed down through the pine limbs in between our deke and the tom. With her
approval, all hell broke loose in the pines. Silent hens launched from all
around us, all steering for the base of the toms tree. As turkey hunters, we
were golden right at that moment! Right in the mix, sure to be a part of the
pie, in perfect position to tumble tom minutes into his morning. The boss hen
scooted quickly to the base of the tom's tree purring excitedly, completely
ignoring our stationary deke.
There's probably nothing more appealing to a man than a willing lady at his
feet, gobblers take no exception. With one rattling gobble and two wing beats to
slow his descent and soften the landing, the tom broke his limb strut and hopped
off the limb, obviously focused. Squatted 30 yards from us, slightly obscured by
brush the hen waited for the smashing she was about to receive. As if rehearsed
by circus acrobats, the two adjusted position , one by air one by ground until
with a resounding thump the tom landed directly on her quivering back .Covering
her up with his wings he bred her, seemingly, before his feet hit the ground. It
was first class wild turkey porn, we were peeping at the scene from the bushes,
not guilty in the slightest.
A fully involved full grown eastern wild turkey in your midst deserves a name.
He demands notice, he screams until you hear him, and up close his authority is
hard to deny. Standing up and turning towards our deke with a wrestlers look, he
flexed his shoulders, blew his feathers out and triumphantly gobbled as he chose
his next rape victim. I can only liken it to the victory screams of Godzilla
after a defining victory over an opponent in a cheesy 70's monster flic. He was
center stage, he was the star, and we were absolutely impressed as was he in
himself. We should have killed him at that moment , top of his game, king of the
spring, glorified beyond reason , Godzilla was 35 yards away and the hens were
closing fast.
In a record paced flurry of breeding no less than 1 dozen hens from all
directions moved to the tom. In turn he covered them, bred them and stood for
the next hen. Rick Johnson, steadfastly held his gun on the tom, waiting for
just the right moment and opening to slip a load of number sixes into his head.
Brush, hens, and adrenalin blurred yardage were blocking the shot. At the lowest
tone and volume a human can muster we discussed the shot and both said
confidently he was still out of range despite the fact we both knew better. We
held off the shot and waited.
Back to the questions and final exam we were taking. Shoot or don't shoot? Now
or never? With no reason to suspect that any of the turkeys had seen us and the
position of our deke we were secure in thinking it was only a matter of time
until Godzilla came and flattened the old feather flex hen. His previous day's
route had taken him this way and with an absolute certainly he knew the hen was
there. Answer, wait for a better shot, it's only a matter of minutes until it
happens.
Jakes make a three yelp run that sounds like the hoarsest boss hen that's ever
called in the woods. Calking, is a sound that thrills fall hunters and on this
day disappointed two spring hunters. From behind us, out of the very pines we
walked in under came a troop. Not a jake , not two or three, but 15 or more
stiff bearded 13 lb jakes eased into the bay , now chock full of turkey . Some
split left towards our hen deke some stopped 10 feet in front of us, and still
others rushed ahead interested only in the toms doings. It seemed, in the
numbers they showed they felt it was time to stop this absurd dominance of the
Godzilla. They moved in. My heart started to sink, our opportunity was about to
be over. I began to suspect I had made a wrong answer.
In a protected retreat, the tom eased away from us half strutting. Rick and I
spent the next hour and forty five minutes trying to muster enough vengeance to
kill one of the jake offenders. Anything less than Godzilla that morning just
wouldn't suffice. We let what eventually turned out to be 21 jakes walk through
and watched as they moved behind that tom the rest of the morning harassing and
taunting him. It was an incredible morning at Paradise Valley we weren't
disappointed in the least.
Each spring I go to the woods with another year of experience in turkey school
behind me, each year new tests are given and some of them I fail to pass. On
this morning, the test had been an intense one and a simple, adrenalin charged
misjudgment in yardage caused a wrong answer to emanate from my lips. "Don't
shoot, he's too far." That simple answer wrong in fact, let Godzilla live
another day and in fact survive the rest of the spring turkey season. Godzilla
is well and good at Paradise Valley and has sired a whole new generation this
spring, we will play again. Class dismissed!
|
|
|
