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It all came together this morning, though I didn't think it would. I've been hunting one of my hotspots, but the turkeys have been inconsistently there and someone shot one on Wednesday. Here's today's hunt:
At 6:01 a turkey gobbled about 125 yards to my north, and I responded with a soft call. He answered back, but sounded like he was on the ground and in a field at my back. On Tuesday I had called four down along the edge of the field, but had no shot, so I turned to make sure I could cover that this morning. I didn't move much, but when I did, a big gobbler flushed from a tree about 35 yards away -- I didn't know he was there because he had never opened his mouth, and he was roosting right where two trees crossed so I didn't see him.
There were still 2 gobblers, but instead of coming right to me, they went into another field across the ravine. I could see them fanning out and gobbling, about 150 yards away. They would answer, but seemed to want to stay in the field. So, I got aggressive. I began yelping, cutting, purring, and clucking loudly on the little custom scratchbox I make. I went on for a full minute, and really got them fired up. They came to the edge of the woods, about 100 yards away, and they stopped there. So, I fired up my call again, and here they come. I stopped calling and watched.
When they got into the ravine and I couldn't see them, I started what I figured would be my last series of calls. They came across the ravine in a heartbeat and at 35 yards one of them took a load of #5 shot. He went down hard enough that I didn't need to hurry over there. He dropped right under the tree the silent one had been roosted in. Now, his buddy flew off in the same direction.
I'm expecting both birds that flew to be there tomorrow. I'll take my buddy's wife there and see what we can do, but I'll have to leave at 6:30 to head to Franklin for the Pennsylvania Outdoor Writer's Conference.
I have 2 PA tags; #1 is filled (6:48 AM, 19 pounds, 9-inch beard. He had 1 broken spur and the other was a sharp 1" long). A nice 2-year old. Plenty of time now to fill tag #2.
Steve.
