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Spent Friday - Sunday at our place in Kentucky for the last three days of gobbler season.
Friday morning was Syd's turn, but we had just a few hours to hunt. We ended up close to a group of 13 jakes, but no really great gobbling action.
Saturday morning was Gunner's turn, and we saw two different strutters in my partner's field, one of which appeared to commit to coming in, but veered at 150 yards and faded off to the woodline around 9:45. On our way back, we found a gobbling bird just above the cabin, and worked him from 10:30 to 12:30. He gobbled hard and approached the plot we were in twice and from different angles, but just wouldn't close the last few yards.
Saturday evening I took a walk to our upper field, just enjoying the smells, sounds, and sights of a springtime evening. A throaty sounding bird gobbled three times from the ridgeline 150 yards above the field around 8 pm. Toms sometimes roost in that area, so our plan for the last morning was set.
Syd and I set up in our plot in the dark, and he soon started gobbling, right where we wanted him. But it wasn't to be that simple. He gobbled hard on the roost, flew down on the ridge line, and gobbled a bunch there. Then a second gobbler came over the ridge top on the other side of us and got to gobbling. The two had a shouting match for about 3/4 of an hour. During that time, both were gradually working in, though the first bird was circling a long way to do it.
Then suddenly the first bird started walking away, gobbling as he went. The other gobbled closer still, and before long, he entered the lower plot, gobbled twice, then worked his way through the weeds and briars to the plot we were in.
<span style="font-style: italic">(Speakers UP if you want to hear the gobbling)</span>
Syd's Hunt Video
If the setting in the clip looks vaguely familiar, it's because the decoys are setting almost exactly where they were for my gobbler on the first day of the season; the blind is just positioned farther up the hill.
19 1/4#, 9 3/4" beard, 1 1/4" hooks
Friday morning was Syd's turn, but we had just a few hours to hunt. We ended up close to a group of 13 jakes, but no really great gobbling action.
Saturday morning was Gunner's turn, and we saw two different strutters in my partner's field, one of which appeared to commit to coming in, but veered at 150 yards and faded off to the woodline around 9:45. On our way back, we found a gobbling bird just above the cabin, and worked him from 10:30 to 12:30. He gobbled hard and approached the plot we were in twice and from different angles, but just wouldn't close the last few yards.
Saturday evening I took a walk to our upper field, just enjoying the smells, sounds, and sights of a springtime evening. A throaty sounding bird gobbled three times from the ridgeline 150 yards above the field around 8 pm. Toms sometimes roost in that area, so our plan for the last morning was set.
Syd and I set up in our plot in the dark, and he soon started gobbling, right where we wanted him. But it wasn't to be that simple. He gobbled hard on the roost, flew down on the ridge line, and gobbled a bunch there. Then a second gobbler came over the ridge top on the other side of us and got to gobbling. The two had a shouting match for about 3/4 of an hour. During that time, both were gradually working in, though the first bird was circling a long way to do it.
Then suddenly the first bird started walking away, gobbling as he went. The other gobbled closer still, and before long, he entered the lower plot, gobbled twice, then worked his way through the weeds and briars to the plot we were in.
<span style="font-style: italic">(Speakers UP if you want to hear the gobbling)</span>
Syd's Hunt Video
If the setting in the clip looks vaguely familiar, it's because the decoys are setting almost exactly where they were for my gobbler on the first day of the season; the blind is just positioned farther up the hill.
19 1/4#, 9 3/4" beard, 1 1/4" hooks
