Remington12
04-10-2005, 10:12 PM
Just hunted the youth quota with my youngest and 2 other father/son groups. Had a great time but my boy could not get a shot on birds. We checked at the Central check-in Sat AM around 10 and only 2 birds were checked. One was 23 1/2 lbs and 13" beard. It was this kid's first bird (and he will be ruined for life). Weather was perfect (but it won't be on Tue & Wed) and looks like it again for the Sat/Sun quota. My boy and I got on a point Sat AM and heard 10 - 12 gobblers in our valley. We set up on the 5 - 6 on our side in the woods on the top of the ridgeline about 100 yds away. Well, they gobbled for the 15 min, flew down and would not come. They strutted for and hour just 10 - 15 yds down the side of this ridge. No hens around, but they wandered away to the bottoms. We set up on a field for the afternoon and it was a boring waste of time.
This AM we went in and set up (by 5:30) as close to to the roosting trees (as we could tell) in the dark. Well, at 6:00 we were 50 - 55 yds away and facing 3 thundering toms. It was awesome! They loved a raspy mouth call and dropped out of the tree. They refused to come the 10 yds up the side of the ridgeline! My boy was on a tree 5 yds closer and said all he saw was a couple of quick periscope heads and it was too quick for him. They gave 2 alarm putts and that's all she wrote for the morning! We all had a great time with our kids and will put in again next year!
After 2 days of hunting and comparing notes between 3 dads:
The birds are NOT in the fields but in the woods. They are still in groups. Find a pretty field with a ridgeline off of it and expect them to be roosting there. They will be partially on the side of the ridge and will drop straight down from the tree. They will stay on that elevation and NOT come to the top of the ridge and then walk around and away down the slope to the bottoms. They gobbled from a couple of minutes before 6:00 until about 6:15 and THAT WAS IT FOR THE DAY.
Do not expect any more of a target than a head/neck. Don't expect some 5 - 10 min of video highlights of some strutting tom in front of you. You identify it's a tom and shoot!
Nothing responded to owl or crow. My buddys had birds this morning double gobbling from coyote's howling in the area. They said they would have brought a coyote call if they hunted another day. I would also try a pilliated woodpecker or hawk if you have one. Step off the road before trying a locator call. Even I could tell exactly where someone was when another hunter was calling in my area.
Decoys seemed to have little effect either way. I'll take mine with me, but for the morning set up I won't waste time with them. Would use them for late morning/afternoon blind set-ups.
I'm no expert gobbler guy, but glad to pass along some experience. I'll let you know what happens after Tue/Wed. Tue is scattered T-storms and Wed is showers. I'm planning on getting between the field and roost (in the woods) the first morning and putting dekes in the field behind me. That's my game plan for now, but looking for ideas.
This AM we went in and set up (by 5:30) as close to to the roosting trees (as we could tell) in the dark. Well, at 6:00 we were 50 - 55 yds away and facing 3 thundering toms. It was awesome! They loved a raspy mouth call and dropped out of the tree. They refused to come the 10 yds up the side of the ridgeline! My boy was on a tree 5 yds closer and said all he saw was a couple of quick periscope heads and it was too quick for him. They gave 2 alarm putts and that's all she wrote for the morning! We all had a great time with our kids and will put in again next year!
After 2 days of hunting and comparing notes between 3 dads:
The birds are NOT in the fields but in the woods. They are still in groups. Find a pretty field with a ridgeline off of it and expect them to be roosting there. They will be partially on the side of the ridge and will drop straight down from the tree. They will stay on that elevation and NOT come to the top of the ridge and then walk around and away down the slope to the bottoms. They gobbled from a couple of minutes before 6:00 until about 6:15 and THAT WAS IT FOR THE DAY.
Do not expect any more of a target than a head/neck. Don't expect some 5 - 10 min of video highlights of some strutting tom in front of you. You identify it's a tom and shoot!
Nothing responded to owl or crow. My buddys had birds this morning double gobbling from coyote's howling in the area. They said they would have brought a coyote call if they hunted another day. I would also try a pilliated woodpecker or hawk if you have one. Step off the road before trying a locator call. Even I could tell exactly where someone was when another hunter was calling in my area.
Decoys seemed to have little effect either way. I'll take mine with me, but for the morning set up I won't waste time with them. Would use them for late morning/afternoon blind set-ups.
I'm no expert gobbler guy, but glad to pass along some experience. I'll let you know what happens after Tue/Wed. Tue is scattered T-storms and Wed is showers. I'm planning on getting between the field and roost (in the woods) the first morning and putting dekes in the field behind me. That's my game plan for now, but looking for ideas.