Larry A. Smail's Blog

Maiden Hair Fern

I was set up above where the gobbler had been roosting. Now I waited! A buck walked to me. He was two steps away before he sensed something was amiss. I could have touched him with the shotgun. He ran fifteen yards downhill, and snorted for a couple of minutes.

I heard a distant gobble. I waited! Gil-obble-obble-obble, and he was about a hundred yards below me. Great I thought to myself. The bird is roosting close by. I have a grassy gas line running diagonally past me. An open field is directly behind me, and that is where he will most likely head once he flies down. I waited.

I heard a gobbler to my right, but far across the road. Then I heard the soft yelps of a hen from exactly where the gobbler is roosting. I knew this could become an issue. I still had a lot of positives in my favor. I called  with soft yelps. Later, I used some clucks. They knew where I was. I quit calling.                            

A second issue was becoming a problem. The gobbler from across the road was now on my side of the hill. He was heading towards the field. The birds below me went silent. I pondered what might be going on. I didn’t hear the two turkeys fly down, but they had left their roosts, and he was, now,  gobbling towards the other gobbler.  Silence until I heard them all in the field. I was done! I have never ever been able to do anything with turkeys in this field. It is complicated, so I will not detail as to why this field is such a problem.

  I later saw gobblers, and hens in the field. I went to another place, and made a tour around the hill. No gobbling. I did see a woodcock.