At It Again!

May 10, 2021 by larrysmailart

After a very rainy Mother’s day I was going at it again for another gobbler. Laurie and I had Mother’s day at the house with my mother, Ruth Smail Miller and step father, Bob Miller and my sister, Ruthie. My mother is 91 years of age and I am so happy to have her around.

*****************************************************************************************************************************

As I moved easterly this morning, I could see the cloud line from yesterday’s rain out ahead. The morning was looking to be a much better day than the last week. Unfortunately, I heard no gobblers with certainty during the very hours moments of the hunt. I state “with certainty” for I may have heard one very far, but I wasn’t sure.

After a time I began to move around calling and listening and looking for Morel mushrooms whenever I could keep my brain focused on the search. A fog settled in the valley for a brief time.

Somewhat disappointed, I quietly moved all around the property calling at strategic locations and still no gobbling birds. Once I reached the farthest point I turned and moved back to my early positioning.

I leaned up against a gas well to enjoy the heat from the sun. I called and believed I heard a gobble. My second call affirmed my belief. I did hear a gobble and much closer. I backtracked and circled to get down lower on this site. I wanted to set up within a thirty feet wide woodland corridor between the gas well landing and a narrow field. I wanted to cover as much area as possible.

All I heard was silence. Did the gobbler see me I don’t believe he did due to contour and terrain features, but why the silence. I became quiet, too. After twenty minutes I called again and heard a gobble seemingly from my left side. Another gobbler or did he move above my position behind the gas well?

I called twice more and definitely heard gobbling behind me on my left before silence again. Something wasn’t feeling right and I became suspicious to last year’s gobblers known as Jakes.

I decided to circle around above the gas well and try to locate the birds better. Once I reached the round top I circled around the edges calling and listening. Nothing! However, after a loud gobble call I heard two gobbling birds below me and near to where I thought I had heard the gobbling earlier. I was almost completely convinced I was playing around with young gobblers. I returned to the woodland corridor and called only to receive silence. I decided I needed to move in their direction because quitting time was winding down and I needed to fire these birds up soon.

I moved another sixty yards and called. No gobbling, but I would soon see the culprit. Four silent Jakes showed up. The longest beard was around three or four inches. Now I was seeing great photo ops, but my camera and shotgun needed reversed. The Jakes began to move around in a confused state. This fact allowed for some photos, but not the best opportunity for the birds moved into thicker vegetation.