Scouting While Hunting
By Rick Spoerl
As the rain let up early in the morning we got a late start out to the blind. The last thing I wanted to do was walk out to the blind in the pouring rain. I figured the birds would be getting on the ground late. As the rain let up just before sunrise my 14 year old daughter Haley and I climbed into our blind at opening but Uncle Al who was hunting a couple miles down the road was walking across the field when the woods came alive.
As soon as he got out of his truck the birds began to gobble. He started running (well, walking fast) some three hundred yards to his blind at the other side of the hay field and as he arrived at his blind a Tom came into the field and was walking right to him. He barely got the window zipped up and gun loaded before the Tom was twenty yards from him. The turkeys must have decided to meet in the field the night before because before he knew it there were a dozen birds around him. He slid the gun through the zipper and ended a very quick early morning hunt. Even after the shot the turkeys fed and mingled before slowly feeding into the woods. Some hunts are like that and some are like the one my daughter and I would experience.
Haley and I sat all morning and although we did hear some gobbles and saw a few jakes and hens, we didn’t get to witness any Toms. Later in the day we put the sneak on an unsuspecting Tom that was all by himself, some whines and purrs brought him to twenty yards and my daughter had her first Turkey. We arrived back at camp and Uncle Al told me of the early morning hunt and suggested I hunt there in the morning. With all that action I was sure to get a bird.
I arrived at the blind and was pleased to hear the four different gobbles one of which was only about 150 yards up the hill. I would have gotten closer but the Tom was borderline close enough and really was gobbling more at the other Toms than my soft tree yelps. That bothered me a little and I figured the Toms would try to meet up before worrying about the hens. I tried to stay pumped up and hoped they would come to the field. I did the fly down cackle and started typical clucks and lost hen yelps. To bad I was right, the turkeys all got together on the ridge and faded away. We didn’t hear or see anything else all morning and decided to go in for lunch at 11:00am. It just goes to show you that turkeys are only as predictable as they want to be and mood swings will dictate wear they go.
If I’m unsuccessful at roosted birds in the morning sometimes I’ll scout new areas or areas I haven’t hunted before. That’s probably why 90 percent of the turkeys I’ve killed have been in different areas. After breakfast I told Haley we would drive around and try to find some birds. From there we would set up a plan to get close to them and work the Toms. She thought that would be fun and was tired of sitting in the bind anyway.
We drove the farm roads stopping occasionally and glassing fields and edges. As we approached the area we hunted earlier I noticed a black ball on the edge of a small field that we had permission to hunt. I stopped the truck and put the binoculars to my eyes. There he was in full strut with one lady friend with him. I told Haley that if he stays there about a half hour more we would have a great chance at him. He will be difficult to call away from the hen but if we get real close, like say fifty yards, we might get lucky.
I drove around the side of the hill, parked, grabbed my binoculars and gun and ran up the steep hill opposite of the Turkey some three hundred or so yards away. We would have to climb the hill then descend the thorn infested thick woods towards the bottom where hopefully the Tom will still be.
As we skirted the side of the hill the twenty plus mile per hour wind covered most of our noise and I glassed through the woods but couldn’t find the Tom. Slowly we made our way creeping down the hill. Than finally I glassed the big fan only a hundred yards away as it turned back and forth displaying every angle to his girl friend. I got down on all fours and so did Haley. I motioned for her to stay here as I began my methodical approach. Later Haley said I looked like a mountain lion sneaking up on his prey.
I moved ever so slow hoping that the turkeys would stay there and hoping the hen wouldn’t see me as I still haven’t pin pointed her location. She would be the one to tip him off as hens have burned me in the past.
I got to what I thought was about sixty yards and spotted the hen feeding. I was safe for now but I would have to split my vision keeping an eye on the both of them. Suddenly I heard a loud "Putt, Putt, Putt". "Oh no" I thought, as I looked to the left I saw another hen that had snuck into the field and was nearing the two birds.
I got up on my knees and figured the hen had seen me. I knew it was now or never. It was farther than I wanted but figured the #4 Nitro Mag 12 gauge pellets could make it if I placed the shot right. The Tom slowly came out of strut and the gun barked. The bird immediately hit the ground and the hen began putting again. She than pecked at the other more subordinate with her wings outstretched and chased her into the brush. Than she walked over to my dead tom putting and pecking at him. Haley came walking down the hill and the hen trotted into the woods. I sat at the edge of the field resting my sore neck and knees admiring the big Tom.
After a prayer we analyzed the hunt. We figured that the second hen probably never saw me and wanted to establish that she was the dominate hen. Even after the shot she remained in the field only forty yards from my position. I was a little surprised that it was a forty yard shot but it was down hill and in the woods. I thought it was at least fifty. I was lucky the birds never moved more than ten yards or so from the edge of the field.
That was a fun hunt and something a little different. We started out scouting but ended up hunting. Those turkeys were in the same spot for at least an hour and maybe more. It goes to show you that if you’re sitting in one spot, the turkeys may be doing the same thing, somewhere else. Sometimes it’s a good tactic to do a little scouting while hunting.
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