One of these mornings I’m going to sleep in and enjoy the day!  But today is one of those days when the turkeys are calling and I gotta be there!  I’ve been invited by Weasel and Kenzie to join them in a morning hunt.  An unusual morning hunt I might add.  Why?  Well, we got to sleep in, per Kenzies request.  Why do we have to get up at 2:30 in the morning to go turkey hunting?  That was the question and the answer….we don’t!

So, it is now 5:43, a time we are usually sitting in the blind waiting for the gobble wake up call.  We are still at home with an hours drive time to get to the blind.

This will certainly be a different day of hunting and perhaps one that will pay off.  Gobblers don’t like to get up before it is time and we don’t want to disturb their sleep.  Maybe by obliging them, the Gods of turkey hunting will offer us a reward.

Do we have a plan?  Sure.  But in the rain it might not pay off.  I do have my newly waxed boots on and that will be a story coming soon!  Today will be a great test for them…it is raining by the way.

Do we live in Oregon?  Perhaps with the Continental drift theory that I hold dearly too, we may have entered into that part of the world.  We have had rain nearly every day now for two weeks and the forecast calls for rain for the next week as well.  Some folks are still saying “We need the water”!  Farmers in the local community are calling for an end to it and I watched as one local guy (Arnell) chopping his week long laying cut hay, which means he got tired of watching it lay there molding and decided to chop it up for silage.  Smart move.

Dear God:  Please let us have a week of sun!

The West coast is getting hammered with small earthquakes, we are getting unusual rain, the rendezvous is being rained out, nobody I know is going camping this long weekend and we are going on a turkey hunt and joining the late goers.  Something just doesn’t seem right today.  But I will be posting up a follow up story on here later today.  As for now, I have to go make a sandwich or two and get my things ready for todays hunt!

Bears Butt

May 23, 2015

UPDATE:  When we got home from our hunt yesterday I had a rain gutter issue that needed to be addressed and by the time I got done with that it was too late to update this.  So here you go:

We left later than usual to go hunting which was a nice change.  Like is said, to keep doing the same thing over and over and expecting change that doesn’t come is quite stupid.  So mixing it up just might be the ticket.  Our hopes were high.  We decided to take the long way into the hunting area as the rain was coming down very hard and we knew we did not want to venture out into it just to get soaked.  Our trip took us past the 2015 CVR rendezvous site:

A very muddy mess.  Sorry guys!

We made it up to our hunting area and looked over part of the area from the dry confines of the truck and could see no sign of it letting up.  No turkeys either.  Our decision was to go for a drive and maybe even up to Hardware Ranch looking.  We left this spot and headed for Mendon.

Mendon is an area with quite a few turkeys.  Enough in fact that the residents have complained loudly and the DWR created a Fall turkey hunt in this area to thin out the flocks a little.  So, even though it was raining hard we still thought we might see a turkey as we drove in…and by golly, we did!  One lone hen working her way to her nest.  We only saw one other vehicle in the area and that won me a beer from Weasel who thought we would see at least 4…my bet was two.

From here we headed to Hardware Ranch where we have seen turkeys before in the middle of the day.  What we found up there was a poor young gal trying to fix a section of wooden fence that had fallen down.  We stopped and tried to help her get the fence upright, but that failed and so she made the decision to pound in a few T-posts and string some barbed wire.  We did that and were on our way within an hour.  She really appreciated the help and I for one appreciate the fact that she was willing to try and do all that work by herself.  She is a part time summer hire for the ranch and doing a very good job!  Sara!  I’ll put in a good word for you!

Back in the valley, the rain had stopped!  YEAAA!  The folks over at the rendezvous site will be happy(er) now!

At our hunting spot we looked hard for turkeys and made a great hike through the thick and wet grass and brush.  The mud was slicker than snot and Kenzie found her behind on the ground more often than not as we slide down a very steep hillside.  Traversing up the other side was not an easy task either, but we made it in pretty good form.  Up on top of that hill we glassed and glassed to try and find the birds.  Nothing seemed to be on our side of the mountain.  So, up and over the next ridge we went.  As we peered down into what we call the “steep and deep”, we spotted 4 gobblers an a ridge 600 to 1,000 yards away!  Big old big birds for sure.  Three of them had beards we could see from that distance as we looked through binoculars.  There was no way for us to get on those birds and so we decided on another plan in hopes of hearing gobbling closer to where we were.

After an hour or more we took a short break to eat some Kipper Snacks and rest:

Sometimes it isn’t about the killing of the animals you are in pursuit of, it’s the little things that happen during the hunt that makes it a memory.  This is one of those moments for me.

Good times for sure…Turkeys 12, hunters 0.

Bears Butt