flyfishmadison
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- 79
I went turkey hunting this last Thursday through Sunday. I went up to some private land near Angel Fire, NM that I hunted last year. I had to work harder this time (last year i called in a group of 3 toms the first afternoon and shot 2 of them) but I got my 2 turkeys. Friday morning I heard some turkeys and so I picked the closest one to move in on. He wasn?t real hot and would only gobble every 15 minutes or so. After him not getting any closer and not hearing him for awhile I moved in closer. I found a real nice saddle that I figured he was gobbling from. I set up on the edge and called some more but never heard him again. After about 20 minutes I heard some hens calling as they moved out of the saddle. I only saw one, but heard another give their warning putt, putt noise. I don't think the gobbler was with them, but I couldn't be for sure. I worked my way back to the truck and tried another area without any luck. My dad had his 4wheeler up there this year, so we decided to go check out some of the roads that were to rough or muddy to get to with the trucks. We covered a lot of territory and saw a gobbler with 3 hens, but they gave us the slip.
Now rewind a bit. I had a conversation with a friend a couple weeks ago and we talked about if you hear a gobbler in the morning but he doesn't come in because he has his hens then you should go back and try that spot in the afternoon after his hens have left to go lay their eggs. After thinking about this conversation I figured I would go set up in that saddle and see if I could call anything in or maybe atleast put some birds to bed.
Here is a picture of the saddle. The tom came in on the top left of the photo and then cam down behind my decoys and he is laying to the right of the decoys in this picture
So I got up to the saddle at about 4 pm, as I was setting up my decoys (a hen and a Jake) I heard a gobble off to the south which is actually the Angel Fire Ski Areas property (the fencline was just below the saddle about 50 yards). I got set up and started calling. At first I couldn't tell if he was gobbling at my calls or not because it was pretty windy and he was far off. At one point he sounded closet and then he sounder further. One of my decoys fell over so I snuck out and stood it back up. After doing this he wouldn't answer any of my calls and I thought for sure he had seen me and was gone. Then all of a sudden he gobbled and was the closest I had heard him and he was answering my calls. A few minutes later I saw him crossing up the hill from my decoys and my heart started racing, but then he just kept going and was then out of sight, but he would still gobble every now and then. I thought it was over and I was going to have to try and sneak up on him and see if I could get a shot. Just before getting up he gobbled again and came back into sight and he was at full strut. He strutted and gobbled down into the saddle. It was one of the coolest hunting experiences. The only problem was my decoys were about 30 yards from me, and he was another 30 yards past them. Once he got into the saddle he stopped strutting and stopped coming closer and just started feeding. I was afraid the longer he spent close to the decoys he would think something was up and head out. Also, my hen decoy, the one that fell over earlier was leaning and was about to tip over. I got my gun ready and lifted up over the bush in front of me but I couldn't see down the barrel because my facemask was in the way. So luckily he didn't see me and I backed down and adjusted my facemask, raised up and shot. The tom dropped in his tracks. I stood up and gave out a loud Woo Hoo! I couldn't believe the emotional ups and downs I had just experienced with this turkey. From the first gobble to me shooting the bird took 1 hour and 15 minutes. I paced off the shot at 44 yards. I would have liked him closer, but the 3in #4?s did their job. I would guess him a 2 or 3 year old bird with a 9? beard. I used both a diaphram call and a Hunter specialties push button call. I love that push button call and it has called in a lot of gobblers.
Saturday morning we hunted the other side of the property and I didn't hear a thing all morning, but my dad had heard some turkeys, so after a quick lunch we went back into the area where he heard the turkeys at about 11. The first place I stopped to call I got a response. I told my dad, who was only about 100 yards up hill. We met up and made a plan that he would stay back and call for me. The turkey was down in the bottom so I wanted to get to the edge to see down were the turkey was but just as I was getting to the edge the gobbler was there also. He went behind a bush and there was an opening about the size of a plate that he walked by and I let him have it at less than 15 yards. It was the complete opposite of the day before because from first gobble to the shot took maybe 5 minutes. It was great to experience it with my dad.
Now rewind a bit. I had a conversation with a friend a couple weeks ago and we talked about if you hear a gobbler in the morning but he doesn't come in because he has his hens then you should go back and try that spot in the afternoon after his hens have left to go lay their eggs. After thinking about this conversation I figured I would go set up in that saddle and see if I could call anything in or maybe atleast put some birds to bed.
Here is a picture of the saddle. The tom came in on the top left of the photo and then cam down behind my decoys and he is laying to the right of the decoys in this picture
So I got up to the saddle at about 4 pm, as I was setting up my decoys (a hen and a Jake) I heard a gobble off to the south which is actually the Angel Fire Ski Areas property (the fencline was just below the saddle about 50 yards). I got set up and started calling. At first I couldn't tell if he was gobbling at my calls or not because it was pretty windy and he was far off. At one point he sounded closet and then he sounder further. One of my decoys fell over so I snuck out and stood it back up. After doing this he wouldn't answer any of my calls and I thought for sure he had seen me and was gone. Then all of a sudden he gobbled and was the closest I had heard him and he was answering my calls. A few minutes later I saw him crossing up the hill from my decoys and my heart started racing, but then he just kept going and was then out of sight, but he would still gobble every now and then. I thought it was over and I was going to have to try and sneak up on him and see if I could get a shot. Just before getting up he gobbled again and came back into sight and he was at full strut. He strutted and gobbled down into the saddle. It was one of the coolest hunting experiences. The only problem was my decoys were about 30 yards from me, and he was another 30 yards past them. Once he got into the saddle he stopped strutting and stopped coming closer and just started feeding. I was afraid the longer he spent close to the decoys he would think something was up and head out. Also, my hen decoy, the one that fell over earlier was leaning and was about to tip over. I got my gun ready and lifted up over the bush in front of me but I couldn't see down the barrel because my facemask was in the way. So luckily he didn't see me and I backed down and adjusted my facemask, raised up and shot. The tom dropped in his tracks. I stood up and gave out a loud Woo Hoo! I couldn't believe the emotional ups and downs I had just experienced with this turkey. From the first gobble to me shooting the bird took 1 hour and 15 minutes. I paced off the shot at 44 yards. I would have liked him closer, but the 3in #4?s did their job. I would guess him a 2 or 3 year old bird with a 9? beard. I used both a diaphram call and a Hunter specialties push button call. I love that push button call and it has called in a lot of gobblers.
Saturday morning we hunted the other side of the property and I didn't hear a thing all morning, but my dad had heard some turkeys, so after a quick lunch we went back into the area where he heard the turkeys at about 11. The first place I stopped to call I got a response. I told my dad, who was only about 100 yards up hill. We met up and made a plan that he would stay back and call for me. The turkey was down in the bottom so I wanted to get to the edge to see down were the turkey was but just as I was getting to the edge the gobbler was there also. He went behind a bush and there was an opening about the size of a plate that he walked by and I let him have it at less than 15 yards. It was the complete opposite of the day before because from first gobble to the shot took maybe 5 minutes. It was great to experience it with my dad.
