Oh man it is early!  My clock reads 3:06 a.m. and I’m to pick up the Weasel at 3:45…my eyes aren’t even open and here I sit….will the turkeys be asleep when we get to our spot…they better be.

Coffee in the cup probably should be whiskey.

Today should be our day.  Weasel and I talked briefly about what we witnessed the turkeys doing the past two weekends and decided our game plan for this morning.  Both of us have an uphill spot to sit in mind and both are above the roosting trees.  Last week we went in and set up below the roost in hopes the birds would repeat what they did last year…that didn’t work…so today we are going in the opposite direction and up.

If we had a third hunter we would put them where we were last week, but we don’t and so our fingers are crossed on our game plan for this morning.  We are taking our new found knowledge with us this day, plus our rabbits feet, good luck penny’s and Gobbler Buster shells…This is our day!

Last night I studied what would have been Google Earth, but because that won’t load on my computer any more, I had to choose Bing Maps, I think it’s the same image that Google has, but that’s not the point…I studied it for the boundaries of the place we like to haunt.  Looked at the map features, studied the slope of the ground and our travel route into the hunting area.  We are setting up about 150 yards apart and Weasel will be slightly down hill from my position.

The tree line follows below the Weasel about 20 yards and wraps around the hill and then up to just under my position 25 yards.  If the birds do what we think they will do, either one of us will be in a good spot to bag the bird.  Even if he gets his first, the others should continue around the slope and into me, unless they fly.

That all sounds great, but what we learned the last two weeks is that turkeys do what turkeys do best and that is to allude the hunters.  Our only guarantee to get a shot would be to cover the hills with hunters cutting off all routes of escape and position several more in avenues for wing shots.

So, in reality, today will be a nice morning stroll of about a mile in the dark with our red flashlights shining.  Traveling from the vehicle to within 100 yards of the roosting trees before the birds open their eyes.  Is there danger in all of this?  I suppose, but who cares…we want to kill a turkey and the early bird gets the worm.  The terrain will let us slip in without being seen and if we don’t fall down, we should be just right.

Bears Butt

May 9, 2013

Later:

I had a posting issue with this story this morning, I guess the computer doesn’t like 3 a.m. either.

So, the day went as planned.  As we walked in, there were 50 to 100 eyes watching us as we crossed a sloping meadow…that was sort of spooky, but as it turned out they were all deer.  It’s the red glowing eyes that bother me.

Our spots turned out to be perfect….well as perfect as “spots” get.  However, the birds were not roosting in the same trees that they have been roosting in for 200 years…they were across the valley!  Wouldn’t you know it?

So, as light began to show our surroundings and the little birds began to chirp and wake up, there we sat in our little hide outs..perfect places.  The deer were everywhere and I had three come to within 5 yards of me and never even knew it.  I just knew a gobbler was going to do the same…not so!

This morning the birds were very noisy and gobbled quite a bit even after they flew down.  I decided to make a hasty sneak down and over to where the closest one was sounding and as I left my hideout, I got busted by a hen that was walking along the ridge behind and below me.  I can’t believe how sharp their eyes are, just my head was sticking above the ridge line, and that was all she needed and off she putted down and away.  DANG!  Did she have a gobbler with her?  I never saw one, but there probably was one somewhere close by…at least until she started to “Putt”.  I continued with my plan and hiked down and over to where the bird was gobbling, I set up and called for about a half hour but could not get it to come down to where I was.  I waited a very long time after hearing its last gobble, but nothing came.  Then I heard a shot coming from up the hill past my hiding place and on the other side of that same hill.  A minute passed and another shot rang out…then almost a minute later a third and final shot.  Did someone kill the gobbler that was with the hen that busted me?  I’ll never know.

I then saw Weasel get out from under his hiding spot and start up the hill toward my hide out position.  I figured he didn’t see me cross the valley below and so I started his way.  About half way across the valley he saw me and we waved at each other.  I continued over and up the hill to meet him.  He had not heard the shots.

After a brief time to have part of our lunch, we decided to go around the hill in the direction of the shots and see what we could see.  About half way around we decided to sit and glass the opposite hill side a half mile away…it didn’t take long to spot a hen on a far ridge and then a gobbler came into view to join her.  We made a plan!  Cut down, hide in the tree line and climb to the same elevation as those birds were on.  They should follow the terrain and come right into us but we must be quiet until we are set up and then do some soft calling.  We were quick and quiet and soon set up.  I stayed down in the trees and covered some very well used trails that came off the open hill and into the trees.  The canopy of trees made it look thick from a distance, but once inside the trees it was very much open with viewing and shooting lanes in excess of 50 yards in every direction.  To me it was perfect for an ambush.  Weasel continued up and out onto the open hillside at the level of the birds.  We waited.  I called softly and we waited longer.  An hour passed, the birds should have been there by now.

I came out to where Weasel was and he was already coming my way.  We talked softly about the next part of the plan…He suggested I give a call to see if we could get a rise….I called…right below us a hen gave us a signal and so we moved back up the draw a bit and down about the level we figured she was on.  Quickly we got set up and I began calling, but nothing came back….we moved down the draw toward her and set up again…nothing again to the call…we moved a third time and figure we were sitting where she was when she called the first time…I called for nearly half an hour with no response.  They must have boogied.

So there you have it…skunked again…the story of our turkey hunting lives.

Once back up to the sign in book for the walk in access place we were hunting, there was a single signature of someone who came in a half hour after we did…did he get the bird?  Probably.

Bears Butt

May 9, 2013 p.m. report