Moose Droppings

Turkey Season opened this past Saturday and I was in Caswell County late Friday for the opening. I unfortunately did not get up there in time to roost one but I knew where I wanted to hunt and where I expected a few gobblers would be. Saturday morning about 30 minutes before light I started making my way to my secret spot when the first few drops of a steady rain shower hit me. It rained for about 20 minutes but I stayed fairly dry under the tree canopy in my spot overlooking the creek bottom. With the rain stopped and the official opening of the 2007 North Carolina Turkey Season now here I sat with anticipation straining my ears for the sweet sound of the gobble. With only the morning to hunt I was disappointed when no gobblers sounded off around me. The morning went by with out me seeing a bird but that’s ok it’s just the opening day.

Sunday although you can’t hunt it was a day of driving rain and wind that most would have stayed in anyways. I returned to Caswell County and the hunt club with the last of the rain leaving but the weather out look for the next day’s hunt was not good with high winds expected. By midmorning on Monday I was convinced that this is some of the toughest conditions I’ve ever hunted it. The wind was in the 45mph range and I saw numerous trees and branches crash to the ground as the rain soaked ground was not a good foundation for many tree root systems. The wind was so strong that inside a blind with a roof the wind was continually blowing my hat off.

Rick and I returned to the clubhouse midmorning to rethink our hunting plans, as we pulled into the yard we discovered that a huge old tree in the yard had been done in by the wind and years of rot as it laid mere inches from the front of Rick’s CRV. That’s when I realized the early morning decision on whose vehicle to take was more important then I ever would of imagined because the tree fell right where my truck had been parked.

Not wanting to give into a little wind we decided to try to hunt areas that were partially secluded, away from any large dead trees, and hopefully out of the wind. I went to a small clover field with a pop up blind that seemed to me that would be partially screened. I was right I could hear the wind whipping over my head but my decoys hardly moved at all. I saw 5 hens yesterday afternoon and one that blew up like a gobbler when she hit the field including flaring her tail. I’ve never witnessed a hen do this before but I understand it’s an aggressive posturing probably a reaction to the two hen decoys moving into her territory. They were feeding heavy on the clover and hung around for a long time but no gobbler showed up. Needless to say with the promise of continued wind this morning I decided to hunt this same field again.

I got there early and was greeted by a gobble at 6:15 am not to far from behind the blind. He sounded like he was on the creek bottom with a small clear cut between him and me. I knew there was no way I could slip through that mess to catch up with him so I hoped he would check out the field. I began setting up my decoys when I heard him gobble a second time.

Although it was windy compared to yesterday it seemed considerably calmer but the clover patch was really calm. I did some tree yelps on my slate pot call from Ed’s Custom Calls.
I did some light calling every 20 minutes or so but had nothing that suggested anything was even paying attention to it. Around 7:50am I heard some crows fussing in the clear-cut behind me but I wasn’t sure if this was meaningful or not but I was hopeful. About 10 minutes latter I heard something moving through the pines immediately behind the blind but I couldn’t tell what it was but I felt it was a turkey. I did some light very soft purring on the slate call and then I just sat and waited. It was very quiet and I about jumped out of my skin when the silence was broken by a Tom spitting and drumming about 20 feet to the side of the blind. Up until this point every turkey I’ve ever seen enter this field never entered where this guy was coming through so I was caught completely off guard. He could see the hen decoy in the clover and it wasn’t until he strutted into the field did he see the Jake decoy. As soon as he saw the Jake he strutted / trotted across the field in record time. He briefly faced off the Jake and then jumped at him a lot quicker then I had expected. Not having sponsors that supply me with decoys I figured I’d better act quickly if I wanted to save my decoy. The number 5 hevi shot hit him with such devastating force he dropped at the decoy with his wing resting on the back of the decoy.
I let out a gobble of my own as I popped out of the blind to check on my trophy.

He is one of the best birds I have ever taken with a beard that is 10 ½ inches long and a 1 ¼ inch very sharp spurs. The spurs on this bird are by far the sharpest I’ve ever gotten not the more blunted round ones I’ve gotten in the past. It was obvious this bird was a fighter not only by the actions I saw but also the condition of his feathers showed signs of fighting. His wing tips were also wore down from strutting.

I’m sure there were a few people the last few days that past on hunting because of the high winds. Although the conditions were less then ideal I tried to make them work for me and obviously it did. Hunting in conditions like yesterday especially, one must be careful about how they go about it to reduce the risk of injury.

There are 3 of us from the club that are turkey hunting this year and all of us have tagged one already 3 days into the season. A great start to what many have predicted would be an average or worse turkey season and the weather has been less then ideal.

Note: Ed’s Custom Calls out of Hertford, NC 252-426-1781 is a call I picked up at the Raleigh Bow Hunting Show after meeting the call maker. This call is a sweet call making some great turkey sounds. Ed makes a variety of turkey calls as well as waterfowl calls. Look for his calls in your local shop or contact him direct at above number.

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