4 more hunts
21 April-I'm off into the Big Club again to hunt South Ridge, where I heard multiple birds gobbling on the morning (19April) that I killed bird #2. The lay of the land is odd down there, a mixture of pine plantation, tornado woods and a small sliver of hardwoods along a narrow hollow and a creek bottom. The hollow opens up onto a large hayfield which is not open to hunting. I walk hard in the predawn light to arrive on a small shelf on the hollow side, the general area where I believe I heard the birds two mornings ago. It's cold, I.m layered up in fleece like it is deer season, but the morning is clear and calm. I hear nothing, call intermittently and see nothing, and leave after approximately 4 hours on the shelf.
23April-I make a scouting/roost trip at dusk, parking short and walking a paved roadway adjacent the hayfield described above. I see multiple turkeys and hear several birds going to roost in or near the little shelf I'd hunted on the 21st, to include one big gobbler that stalks across the paved roadway about 7:30PM, so dark I cannot believe he is still on the ground. We eyeball each other at 200 yds or so down the pavement, and he flushes and flies across the the hillside with the shelf. I'll be there in the morning!
24April-I'm on the little shelf just as dawn breaks, and immediately hear hens calling to each other in the trees around me, I'm right there amongst them! It's another cold morning, but I'm dressed right and am certain there is a gobbler close. I tree call to the hens ever so softly to join the party then hush. It's 30 minutes, well into morning light before I hear a gobble further south, say 300 yds. long the creek bottom and hayfield which is posted. I answer with the slate and there is no response. The next gobble I hear, close to half an hour later, is even further south, say 600 yds. I can't say if it's the same bird or not. Regardless, it's way to far to call, and I cannot pursue onto posted land. I hear a third gobble, again about 30 minutes later, just within my hearing range, likely close to 3/4 mile away. I stay put and call intermittently, hoping that there are other gobblers about with the hens I heard at dawn. I cannot chase those birds to the south and have few options. About 9:00 AM I am startled by a PUTT-PUTT hard off my right shoulder and very close. A bird has snuck up close and spotted me, despite me being still and well camouflaged in a make shift blind. I never see it, and can only hope it was one of the hens from dawn. I never did hear any of them come out of the trees, despite the fact I was inside of 100 yds on all of them. I stay on the shelf 'till nearly noon, then ease out, with no further action.
25April-Frustrated with the birds on the small shelf on South Ridge, I hunt North Ridge this AM to try my hand with ol'Slick, the bird that whupped me on 18April. I'm out on the far end of his ridge with the pretty saddle by 6:00AM, not dawn, but walking in I would have heard any gobbling from this area or Middle Ridge nearby. Once out on the saddle, I can hear further north as well, over onto two tracts of posted, private property. I stay all morning, comfortable and concealed again within a makeshift blind, but hear nothing. I stay 'till 1:00PM, convinced I will hear some midday gobbles, but it doesn't happen.
27April-The weather turns sour, again, and I have multiple tasks to complete on the domestic front , but I slip off in the afternoon for an evening field hunt at KP's after a rainy day. The weather clears nicely as the PM goes on, and I am rewarded about 6:00PM by a lone hen that crests the hill to my front some 300 yds off, then bugs her way down the hill side over the course of the next hour. She ignores my calls and decoys, except for a long stare at one point. No gobbler appears, nor do I hear any birds fly up at roost time, and no gobbles ring the dusk. I see KP on his porch as I leave, and he and his wife advise they have heard gobbles on two mornings recently. That's encouraging, and I will keep field hunts in mind here for PM's or rainy days in what's left of the season.
I'm obligated to travel out of state with family issues for the next several days, through the weekend. When I return I will have one week left to hunt.