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Birds at the Buzzer!
Late-season spring gobblers are some of the toughest birds you’ll ever hunt. Sometimes they seem like post-rut bucks. These turkeys have been run out of fields, called to, and in some cases shot at. Survivors all of them, it’s tough to fool one into range. One of the latest gobblers I’ve ever killed also had the most beards. I almost didn’t hunt that day. In some ways my late start helped.
Licking my wounds, late in the season, and still carrying a New Hampshire tag, I didn’t even get up early that Memorial Day morning. I hit the woods a little after 9 a.m. To find the bird, I didn’t use a locator call, but spied a daub of red 100 yards away in a plowed cornfield. I sat down and slipped a slate out of a vest pocket.
Always the fall hunter, instead of hitting the bird with a high-pitched hen call, something it likely heard that season from local hunters, I offered a raspy three-note gobbler yelp: yawp, yawp, yawp. Autumn gobbler chasers will tell you that calling approach can work in October. Pecking order is always on the mind of gobblers. I thought that approach might work in late May. It did.
That gobbler imitated me note for note as it walked in—out of the field, into the woods. Gun up, I waited, and a minute or so later the turkey appeared to my right—not strutting, but walking in, looking hard, studying my location. That was the last thing it did. The three beards hang in a shadow box nearby as I write this.
Any of you Strut Zoners pull off the impossible recently? What tactics did you use? What calls? Did you set up tight on the roost? Did you hunt midmorning, and approach the area differently than before? Did you finally kill a bird that has given you trouble all season? Did you tag a gobbler you missed earlier in the season? How? Your tags are filled. We’re still carryin’. Any tricks to share? Let us know.—Steve Hickoff
Any of you Strut Zoners take a late-season gobbler?
What tactics did you use? What calls?
Did you set up tight on the roost? Did you hunt midmorning, and approach the area differently than before?
Did you finally kill a bird that has given you trouble all season? Did you tag a gobbler you missed earlier in the season? How?
Your tags are filled. Some of us are still carryin’. Any tricks to share? Let us know.
Have a great weekend,
Steve Hickoff
OL's Strut Zone
Posted by: Steve Hickoff | May 23, 2008 at 08:24 AM
Field Report, Friday May 23---We turkey hunters are constantly talking about where the birds are in the breeding cycle. When gobblers are ready to breed and hens are not, toms are relatively easy to call in. When gobblers are henned up, the equation changes. Then there are those seasons in which the birds are pretty much gobbled out by mid or late May.
Judging from this morning's action, the birds here in the Northeast are perfect right now! If you've still got a tag and your season is still open, get out there. I heard no fewer than 10 gobblers from first light through 9 a.m. Although I worked one adult bird that still had several hens with him, others that I saw or worked were hen-less including the nice longbeard I whiffed on just a couple hours ago.
I suggest trying my absolute favorite tactic for late-season turkeys. If you get on a gobbling bird, but just can't close the deal on him, go try and find another turkey. If you fail at that, head back to where you left the first bird. Often, he'll be right in the same spot. However, this time he might be without his hens and more susceptible. Give it a try.
Posted by: Gerry Bethge | May 23, 2008 at 09:17 AM
I took a tough old bird to tag out here in Pennyslvania on Tuesday.
A friend and I had been hunting this area all season because of an abundance of gobblers we had seen through scouting and the early season hunts. We knew of at least 5 gobblers in a relatively small area and, although they were getting lots of pressure, no one was prevailing.
2 weeks in we called a decent 2 year old right off the roost and my buddy George killed him at 18 yards. Knowing of 2 more old birds and 1 or 2 more 2 year olds, we kept at it.
We pushed too hard one morning and spooked them while they were still roosted. While they didn't bust out, they shut up on us and gave us fits each time we hunted them afterwards.
Finally, we decided to play dirty. We set up in the corner of a field the birds almost always traveled through well before light and didn't put out any decoys, nor call to them while they were on the roost. For all they knew, it was just another day in the woods.
After gobbling all morning, the bird I ended up killing finally flew down when we had a tom come out in the field behind us and let loose with a couple gobbles of his own. As my bird walked into range, a couple soft putts pulled him in a little closer and I collected a nice 3 year old with a 9" beard and 1 1/8" spurs.
Not the most exciting hunt, as he didn't come in gobbling like a fool, but he is my biggest bird!
Posted by: Adam Freeborough | May 23, 2008 at 03:02 PM
Good bird, man. Congratulations Adam. Woodsmanship killed that gobbler.
I love it when we can figure things out like that, and fool wild turkeys the one time when we need to . . .
Great story. Thanks for the report.
Steve Hickoff
OL's Strut Zone
Posted by: Steve Hickoff | May 23, 2008 at 03:07 PM
Field Report, Saturday May 24--The action continued unabated this morning here on the last day of spring gobbler season in Mass. Although we ran into a couple of longbeards that remain henned up--one bird had 4 hens, the other had only 1--we also worked a bunched up group of 3 or 4 adults that worked perfectly--well almost. I was doing the calling for a friend's son and just as he was ready to punch out the bird, a truck careened down a nearby road goosing the bird just enough to take him out of gun range. Tried to work him back in, but to no avail. Great last day of the season. Wish we had another couple of days.
Posted by: Gerry Bethge | May 24, 2008 at 11:00 AM