Larry A. Smail's Blog

     I had a full agenda this day so my gobbler chasing was to be much shorter than what I would have liked. I would need to be leaving the woods no later than 8:30 A.M. in order to go home, clean up and go to Clarion County, Pennsylvania to play some gospel music. These plans would force me to hunt closer to my home. A local state game lands provided the place to go.

    I had walked across frosty grass areas to wait and listen for turkey chatter. I wasn’t disappointed. A ‘coon began scolding something and gobbles erupted. The time was 5:22! i moved in on them for a set up and crept in dangerously close. In fact once the sky lit up the woods I could see a gobbler about 120 yards away.  Three toms gobbled regularly and a fourth one began calling off in the distance and would soon walk in.

Later hen talk could be heard and I watched the gobbler fly down. The woods became silent which is the norm when hens are with the old boys. I mustered out a few more gobbles and the silence was dominant.

      I walked away from this site to explore my options remember I needed to watch the time. While walking and planning I discovered some fresh bear sign and saw a rabbit and squirrel. Suddenly, I saw a red fox with puppies. I placed my shotgun on the ground and readied my camera. What a joy to watch these four little puppies romp and play. I managed a few photos.

I circled around and walked back up onto the top of this game land hill into areas where the Pennsylvania Game Commission had planted food plots and hedgerows. these hedgerows are primarily multiflora rose and autumn olive..thick stuff! I called and a hen started to putt angrily to me. Suddenly, I could see turkeys moving about on the other side of this brush.

    I saw jakes (yearling gobblers) and some long bearded birds, but I never counted accurately because I would see a bird and lose sight and the birds were circling around peering at my direction at about 20-25 yards! The trouble being I could occasionally see beards but briefly and with the confusion of randomly circling turkeys I would loose sight as to which bird had the longest beard.

Later, I crawled out to peak down the food plot and I could see, at least 6 jakes and one long beard gobbler. they continued moving away and I went home to continue on with my plans. I will not be getting home until after 11:00 P.M. this evening so I may come back here to this site to hunt.   

 (Forgot to mention earlier in the blog. I think I might have a secret admirer. Someone placed a lilac blossom on my windshield this morning. Could the initials be V.M.?)

Scarlet Tanager

  Frost on the pipes this morning made for a potentially treacherous stream crossing. I shuffled along very carefully. Bob drove around to the other side of the hill. He is smarter than I. (rarely)

I set up to listen and was disappointed that this would be the third morning a gobbler wasn’t heard on the roost. The morning was clear, followed by some cloud cover and opening back up for some sunshine around 8:30. I circled around to see Bob. He said he had heard one solitary gobble across the field. I told him I would, probably, be going to another area after circling the hill, calling and listening. While we were discussing options I noticed a red fox with some food dangling from its mouth. I didn’t get a photo. Bob had to leave early today due to a committment.

Beautiful Pennsylvania!

  I followed through with my plan and began the long trek to my destination. I sat down and began taking photos of warblers when around 9:30 I believed I heard a distant, muffled gobble. Later I did confirm, but the windy conditions made direction and distance very difficult to determine. When did the winds start?

I played around with this turkey for about 1 1/2 hours before his silence seemed permanent. He only gobbled about 10 times in all. I am not sure what had happened. I have theories! 

Green Heron

   I chased out another turkey while heading back to my vehicle. I had seen a lot of deer today and a few squirrels too. Upon returning home, I had my springer, Suzie out and was surprised to see a green heron along my backyard creek.

My girl!

When is the weather going to become like May? Bob and I were rained on today. I guess that is to be expected. We sat from 5:30 to 6:40 and never heard a “peep” of a turkey. I was surprised, but that is why this thing we do is called hunting and not getting. You can never know what a turkey will do.

Dogwood blossoms

  Despite the gloomy morning, I was pleased to see the beautiful dogwoods continuing with their annual flowering. This same area in the fall is loaded with red berries and wildlife eating them.

We began a tour around the area calling and listening. Eventually, I heard what I believed to be gobble deep in a hollow. Unfortunately, by this time, we were near U.S. 422. the highway supplied too much noise. However, I heard some sharp alarm putts and close. I counteracted with alarm putts and shortly a hen came into view. She had seen Bob move and began “cursing” the unidentified movement. I calmed her down and played around with her for about thirty minutes before she circled around me.

    I decided we should check out another area where I had seen the gobbler yesterday. I dropped Bob off at his car. He talked me out of going instead to return home and torment mom for a while. When I checked the time at 10:00 I decided to take up his offer.

Goose family

  I saw some deer too. I, also, saw a  warbler of an unknown specie and a pair of geese with goslings. The warbler photo is not of best quailty. Any one know the specie? Many  warblers are the birds I have least knowledge. One sees them so little to learn.