Larry A. Smail's Blog

I was in the hollow prior to five on this frosty morning. By the time the gobbler let his position known, I was already closing in. I settled down at about 100-125 yards from his roost. I elected to stay put for I was concerned of being spotted with a full moon still shining and the woods becoming lighter. His first gobble was about five-twenty.

In a little time, I could hear several toms in the same area. I surmised these were the jakes with the older gobbler. I called lightly and a hen began softly clucking close by. Oh no, I thought, here we go again with hens. As the morning moved along I would see five hens leave their roosting trees. One was in the tree next to me. Another was about twenty yards above me. the gobblers would go nuts when I called loudly until the hens and toms got together. All was silent!

Beautiful spring leaf-out.

I moved around trying to get an answer and decided to go to another site I have taken many birds in past hunts. I arrived close to the top around 9:30 when my cousin, Donnie called me. we chatted for about 15-20 minutes. he had heard eight toms, but they, too clammed up. The sun felt so good as I listened for late morning turkey activity . I fell asleep!

Time was moving fast towards the noon-time season quit. I went up and over the remaining hill calling to no avail. I moved down hill and called. I saw movement up ahead. It was a scratching and feeding hen. In seconds I saw the dark-body and full fan of a longboard gobbler. They were about the sixty yard mark. the time was one hour and fifteen minutes until quitting time. I watched for a time before using soft clucks and purrs. the hen would look and go back to feeding. The gobbler only had one thing on his mind and that was the hen. he circled her displaying his full fanned tail. I knw my only chance was to lure her towards me, but she didn’t care much about the strange hen back in the woods.

I tried different calls before  realizing the time was getting short. I gobbled several times. No interest! I began cutting loudly and I mustered three gobbles from the male. the hen was still unconcerned. I took some photos before easing backwards. I could have used the terrain to get a shot, but that is not my style. And besides it is unethical and illegal. I was just thrilled to have had this chance to watch these two birds doing what they do.