Off the beaten path....Turkeys.
How many guys are getting ready for the turkens? I don’t do any turkey hunting cause I can’t keep from not thinking about the crappies. I’ve been on two hunts and both were very action packed. My very first trip I was able to bag a 3+ year old tom that I knew nothing about.
A fellow co-worker (Gary) at the time kept insisting I go with him. At the time I was employed at the Atlanta Bass Pro Shop while I was attending school in GA. Hunting and fishing was talked about everyday. I finally gave in to going knowing I was just going to sleep in the woods. I knew my attention span would not be there. Quickly I thought, well, if I spend some $$$$ on this then I might just give it a little more attention it deserves. Before that trip I bought me the cheapest Primos glass slate call, HS mouth call, HS locater owl hoot, and a box of #5 shot 3” federal shells. I gave the mouth call 2 days practice figuring I would master this thing in no time since I played the clarinet in school all my life. Little did I know I would sound like a choking chicken with the flu instead of a turkey. I gave that mouth call route up really fast and decided that the slate call was my money ticket. I’m an avid woodsman/fisherman so I had most everything else I needed. Like always I hit the range to make sure the gun was patterned.
Saturday and opening day. I met Gary at his house in the early morning. I have since found out that turkey hunters can be just as nocturnal as waterfowl hunters. My hat is off to you hardcore guys who chase these critters. We get breakfast and hurriedly go to the spot that Gary had hunted so many times but SO MANY YEARS ago on public land. So it was a shot in the dark from the get-go. We hike about half a mile and he stops to say he’ll set up there for the morning. Gary points telling me to go on down the logging trail and find a good starting point. While at Bass Pro they had all the turkey hunting videos playing repeatedly all day so I had an idea of what to do. I never did sit but kept slowly creeping along in the dark hooting like a fool. As I was about to top a ridge/hill the first wild gobble I have ever heard blasted away about 40 yards from me and scared the *&%$ out of me. I froze and stopped hooting. I quickly thought out a game plan. I once heard a turkey hunter say to never call from the top hill but down the hill and make the turkey come over the hill. I was close to having a heart attack from that gobble but finally settled down. I quietly crouched and worked my way back down the hill.
Daylight came and I moved away far enough downhill that I couldn’t hear the tom fly down. I just softly purred with nothing really drastic/aggressive like what you see on TV. Gary says don’t call too much just sound like you’re eating and don’t care about him/Tom. Still softly calling I just keep telling myself to not care and call softly with a few clucks. About 15 minutes pass after light, I am starting to lose interest, and want to stand up. My legs are beginning to cramp and my behind is getting sore from sitting without moving for what seemed like forever. As I get ready to stand I hear a slight rustling in the leaves. As soon as I hear leaves rustling I see a red head pop up and in full strut slowly come over the hill. My gun sounds off and the Tom disappears. I get up, and run towards the last area I seen the tom. As I get closer to the top I see him flopping around. I’m ecstatic and quickly savor the moment. Ten minutes passes and I see Gary walking my way. We quietly hoot and holler in the woods celebrating while still trying to be as quite as possible.
Gary was much older than me being in his early-60’s while I was only 21 at the time. After that morning hunt I finally realized that he wasn’t much on bagging anything. He was more after the solitude in the woods and the beauty of nature. He looked like he had just woken up from a nice nap in the woods. He told me he waited for daylight and then napped until my gun shot woke him up. I went once more with him and have yet to be back to chase old tom.
Season opens to the general public this weekend unless you have already gone with a kid. The crappies have me tied up in the mind and I’m always still burned out from deer season. I have been seeing some Big Boys on public land, but I don’t plan to go after them. I fish this area all the time and have yet to see a Turkey hunter take advantage of these public land Toms. I see them every year. Good luck to you guys that go and be safe.
