Shawn Crea
04-24-2006, 09:43 PM
Well, sorry, I don't have pics, but I went turkey hunting this past weekend, for only the second time in my life, and was successful.
Three of us started off on Friday morning, and were driving to our chosen area in N. Central Idaho and right out off the road in a field were 3 turkeys, with one nice tom in the bunch. We drove on past several hundred yards and set up, but they wouldn't come in. We moved several times over a distance of about a mile with no success. We then set up just off of a deep creek and were calling for about 5 minutes and heard some clucking behind us. Two birds were coming in but saw something they didn't like and didn't come within 50 yards and disappeared.
Towards dark, our "guide" (long-time friend that really knows his turkeys) had us just drive around, shutting the engine off, then honking the horn and slamming doors and hooting like an owl! We weren't getting any response, and were beginning to wonder if he was pulling our leg since the the two of us were greenhorns at this. Our last stop that evening, we did the drill, and got multiple gobbles! He's used this tactic many times to locate roosting birds, and they gobbled every time we made any kind of noise. I couldn't believe it! Have any of you used this tactic before? Sure ups the odds to locate the birds the night before so you don't waste time going to barren ground.
Saturday morning we got out there early at first light, and it was snowing hard. As we drove past the spot, gobbles galore! We hiked down below them, set up two decoys, a hen and a tom, and 4 of us that morning got set up all camouflaged and hidden amoung trees, and began calling. It wasn't even 5 minutes and 4 of them came running down the hill. They passed within 5 yards of two of us and got a bit nervous at the decoys, and none of us were set up very well, but two of us were able to swing on them at the same time and two toms went down! Nothing big, but it sure doesn't matter; it was a hoot! A strutting gaggle of toms 10 yards from you is quite a sight!
Later that day, we got a lesson in safety. We had set up the two decoys and were calling for about 15 minutes with no indication of any turkeys. Our "guide" had his two daughters and they were practicing their calling. Some of us were taking a nap when all of a sudden....BOOM! We were set up in two different locations, and each group was looking at the other wondering who had shot. Finally we determined that none of us had shot, and yelled out "Did you get it?" Two other hunters came up over the hill looking pretty embarrassed; a grandfather and grandson. The grandson had shot our tom decoy. They had only seen the heads of the decoys, and snuck closer and watched them for quite awhile, and later reflected that it was odd that the "birds" weren't moving. It was fortunate that none of us were lined up with their shot. There were three killing BB's embedded in the tom head though. I've always read that you should never wear red or blue when out turkey hunting, and I'm a believer now.
It was a fine weekend, with some squirrel shooting mixed in during mid-day. And we even spotted a nice big chocolate black bear down on the Salmon River, but too far away to get to before dark.
Three of us started off on Friday morning, and were driving to our chosen area in N. Central Idaho and right out off the road in a field were 3 turkeys, with one nice tom in the bunch. We drove on past several hundred yards and set up, but they wouldn't come in. We moved several times over a distance of about a mile with no success. We then set up just off of a deep creek and were calling for about 5 minutes and heard some clucking behind us. Two birds were coming in but saw something they didn't like and didn't come within 50 yards and disappeared.
Towards dark, our "guide" (long-time friend that really knows his turkeys) had us just drive around, shutting the engine off, then honking the horn and slamming doors and hooting like an owl! We weren't getting any response, and were beginning to wonder if he was pulling our leg since the the two of us were greenhorns at this. Our last stop that evening, we did the drill, and got multiple gobbles! He's used this tactic many times to locate roosting birds, and they gobbled every time we made any kind of noise. I couldn't believe it! Have any of you used this tactic before? Sure ups the odds to locate the birds the night before so you don't waste time going to barren ground.
Saturday morning we got out there early at first light, and it was snowing hard. As we drove past the spot, gobbles galore! We hiked down below them, set up two decoys, a hen and a tom, and 4 of us that morning got set up all camouflaged and hidden amoung trees, and began calling. It wasn't even 5 minutes and 4 of them came running down the hill. They passed within 5 yards of two of us and got a bit nervous at the decoys, and none of us were set up very well, but two of us were able to swing on them at the same time and two toms went down! Nothing big, but it sure doesn't matter; it was a hoot! A strutting gaggle of toms 10 yards from you is quite a sight!
Later that day, we got a lesson in safety. We had set up the two decoys and were calling for about 15 minutes with no indication of any turkeys. Our "guide" had his two daughters and they were practicing their calling. Some of us were taking a nap when all of a sudden....BOOM! We were set up in two different locations, and each group was looking at the other wondering who had shot. Finally we determined that none of us had shot, and yelled out "Did you get it?" Two other hunters came up over the hill looking pretty embarrassed; a grandfather and grandson. The grandson had shot our tom decoy. They had only seen the heads of the decoys, and snuck closer and watched them for quite awhile, and later reflected that it was odd that the "birds" weren't moving. It was fortunate that none of us were lined up with their shot. There were three killing BB's embedded in the tom head though. I've always read that you should never wear red or blue when out turkey hunting, and I'm a believer now.
It was a fine weekend, with some squirrel shooting mixed in during mid-day. And we even spotted a nice big chocolate black bear down on the Salmon River, but too far away to get to before dark.