Home Forums Birds & Dogs Turkey Hunting A pure miss

I did that today. Wrapped up my season. It ends tomorrow but I'm not going. It rained all day except for about 10 minutes around 10 AM. I slept in and didn't get into the woods until around 6 AM. Heard only one gobble off in the distance on the far side of the swamp. Worked the swamp back and forth and got no return calls. Picked a seat near a 1800s vintage dam that connects the private woods on the other side of the swamp to the state forest land on my side. Decided to wait and see if anything happened later in the morning. No turkey sounds at all. Decided to call it a season around noon.

The eagles I had been seeing over the swamp have a nest near the dam. There's an adult and a flying juveline. They soared back and forth the whole time I was there.

The undergrowth has really closed in since opening day. I think a modified choke would have been entirely appropriate. Unless I would have shot down the dam, I wouldn't have gotten a shot further than 30 yards.

Saw lots of squirrels - a good thing since spring squirrel season opens on June 4. Heard several nearby owls. I thought they might have been hunters at first until they got closer and the calls were coming from the trees. I had a big box turtle wander past me. And I saw several deer. One going in that darted into my path, and several coming over a hill to my right and then up the ravine I normally hunt.

It was a little cool and raining so I turned off my Thermocell thinking I wouldn't need it. Within ten minutes the skeeters were attacking my eyes, so I turned it back on. Thermocell = greatest invention of all time (least least when you're hutning a swamp).

So, no turkey for me this spring. But I heard gobblers all 6 of my trips, got returns calls on three of those trips, saw gobblers twice, and got a shot once. The forest was gorgeous, I had no competition all spring (except for the eagles), and God kept me healthy enought to enjoy every second of the season. So it was a great season.