turkey hunt result

[RIHMFIRE]

Well Guys
The first day of turkey season was unbelieveable..
Got up at 5:00, threw on my camo, grabbed my 12, and headed to the local
Wildlife Management Area....about 15 miles away. see pic
The spot I headed to, was a long dead end strip of woods with thick swamps on
three sides. Made the long walk on the closed raod all the way to blind #2 right next
to the main strut area....Sat down and the turkey gobbled, which I thought was by the first O in the words roosted here. So I headed back to blind #1...Little did i know he was right behind me..75 yards away, not 200 yards away....
I walked almost right underneath him...and as soon as i sat down..
he flew down right to my blind #2 spot ....
and then the gobbling began...after about 10 gobbles...I was getting excited..
after about 50 gobbles...I was down right giddy..he answed most of my calls
and so did the hens...after about 2 hours of this...I heard him moving to my left slowly
so I took a chance to sneek up on him..Using the cover I got to within 50 yards..
still screaming his head off too...he started getting closer and closer...and then...
nothing....purred a few times....nothing...gone...he must have seen something
he did not like...and took off....about 15 miutes later i heard another gobble, way
off to the left....
The next day was way slower....he was way off to the left of blind #1
with no way to get to him and not get caught...so I moved off to the middle of the
strut area..thinking I could get him to follow the fire cut...He made it to the corner
and then I saw 1 hen fly over to him...and i never heard him again...moved around til 1
with no luck...Next day was a complete bust....Some idiot ran into the gate that opens
with a time clock at 5am...and bent the you know what out of it...so I had to drove
15 miles to the back gate....a front moved in and everything shut down...permit is over no bird!
I have never heard a bird gobble so much...well over a 100 gobbles out of 1 bird..
incredible. 3 day permit was not long enough....
now i need to find another place to hunt!

[Gobblerforge]

Great hunt. Ohio doesn't start for weeks.
Gobbler

[Pitchy]

Always something trying to throw a wrench in the works huh but good hunt.

[Shasta]

Very nice report! Bird or no bird, sounds like you had a good hunt.

SHASTA

[jshinal]

Hey, thanks for posting a pic and so many details.

It's hard to pull him away from a hen that is right there beside him.

How tall are the trees/brush in the middle of that photo ?

One vet advised me not to call much once I got an excited response, but to change to complete silence and only make a few scratching sounds or a sporadic purr. Supposedly to aggravate his curiosity, because the hen isn't coming to him. I didn't get out last season to try it though.

[RIHMFIRE]

Hey, thanks for posting a pic and so many details.

It's hard to pull him away from a hen that is right there beside him.

How tall are the trees/brush in the middle of that photo ?

One vet advised me not to call much once I got an excited response, but to change to complete silence and only make a few scratching sounds or a sporadic purr. Supposedly to aggravate his curiosity, because the hen isn't coming to him. I didn't get out last season to try it though.

trees are about 12 to 15 years old...with clear understory with palmetto
and florida holly patches...thick pine needle floor...
everthing around it is thick...
I was really surprised that he roosted in there...

As far as the calling...I thought about that at the time...
but i dont think it would have done much good with the hens..

I thought i could sneak up on this joker around 10-10:30
and I made it pretty darn close....til something spooked him....
and it was not me...still fun as heck though...