With Katerina scoring so early in the day, we dressed her bird and had time for a big breakfast.  Afterwards Doug pointed out a flat tire on one of the ranch trucks so we jacked it up to take the tire to be fixed in town.  At this point Doug was happy his daughter was successful.  He had resigned himself to going home empty handed, since his license expired at 4:00 pm that day. 

As we drove home from the tire shop, past the ranch where Erin had been successful the day earlier, we saw a couple of turkeys under the trees.  A quick glance at the watch showed we had a couple of hours left if Doug wanted to take some turkey meat home.   We quickly dropped off the tire back at home  and changed back into camo as the seconds ticked down.  We hit the ranch at 2:30 pm and began calling every 100 yds. along the tree line. 

We worked to the east with no responses.  We back tracked and worked to the West as the evening breeze kicked up.   Doug was in the lead with the box call when he dropped behind a tree and pointed down the hill.  I hunkered down, and Doug stroked the Wet Willy.  Immediately a gobble erupted from just over the crest of the hill, and I caught a glimpse of a couple toms peeking up over the crest of the hill less than 50 yards away. 

At the same time, a blacktail doe popped up between us and the turkeys, then a yearling fawn, and another, and another doe.  All in all SEVEN deer filed past us at less than 20 yards.  We were pinned down and couldn’t move until the deer moved out of the zone of fire. 

Finally the last doe stotted cautiously into the pepperwoods, and I heard Doug’s shotgun roar.  A gobbler thrashed on the ground and I made two “Hail Mary” shots with a bow and just managed to lose two arrows. 

A quick check of the watch revealed the time as 3:15 pm.  Truly a last hour success.  Doug’s bird was about the same age as his daughter’s.  Good eating size, and with a nice fan.  The Northern Exposure team was 2 for 2 on turkeys in a seven hour time period.

That afternoon, father and daughter signed the box call that they used for both of their turkeys.  Kelsey wouldn’t part with it though since she plans to use it to call in a gobbler for her dad (me ) later this month.  Doug exclaimed that he was hooked on turkey hunting and began planning next year’s adventure. 

We probably would have gone hunting the rest of the week if we didn’t have 4 days of archery competion ahead of us in Redding.  That in itself is a whole ‘nother story though…

I met my buddy Doug Moore from Talkeetna, Alaska as he arrived in the Santa Rosa, California airport with his 13 year old daughter Katerina.  On the drive to my home we caught up on what had happened over the last year. We made plans to get their hunting licenses the next day.

Sunday, we spent the morning scouting locations for the next morning’s hunt. I had reserved one ranch strictly for this occasion and we spotted toms feeding in the open. And we made plans for Monday morning’s hunt.

Little did we know that it would be tough to find a California non resident license. Since California has its hunting year starting July1, many places didn’t have any current hunting licenses. Finally after our 3rd stop we managed to get Doug a two-day license, and his daughter a junior license. The folks at Western Sport Shop were extremely helpful and typified the reason I like to support independent retailers in the outdoor industry. If you get a chance you should check out either their Santa Rosa or San Rafael locations.

Monday, we hunted hard and Erin got a turkey after a long wait, and unconventional end to the pursuit. The details are in the post “This probably isn’t gonna work”

While Erin and I were busy with our turkeys, Doug and Katerina were playing hide and seek with a gobbler who would gobble when a distant tractor back up beeper would sound off. They got him within 50 yards, and then he spotted them and headed for cover. When they heard our shot, they called it a day, and we headed for home.

Tuesday morning we moved to a different ranch I had hunted earlier in the season. I knew there were turkeys there, but the hunting gods had conspired against us. This time I was determined to set up where I had seen 3 gobblers strutting weeks earlier.

We arrived as day was breaking and I heard turkeys gobbling from the roost directly next to our ambush spot. We retreated down the creek about 500 yards from the roost tree and I had serious doubt we would be able to coax the birds out of their usual feeding and strutting zone. Kat and Doug got set up in the pop up blind as the suns rays began to peek over the Eastern ridge. I wished them good luck and retreated to a high point about a quarter mile away to watch the action from afar.

Well, the birds pitched down out of their roost tree on the other side of the willow choked creek directly behind Doug and Kat’s hiding hole. A group of toms to the north gobbled and the three toms we had targeted began moving in that direction, away from our hunters. An inquisitive black cow pushed them even harder in the wrong direction. My heart sank as they got farther away. I thought for sure that we were done when they turned to the east and began feeding up the hill over 500 yards from Doug and Katerina. I could hear Doug on the box call pleading for their attention. I stood up from my perch and began my walk down to pick up my hunters and regroup.

As I rounded the corner of the hill I saw the three toms on a string headed for the blind. I pulled up my binos and saw the birds pull up and start strutting for the Montana Decoy hen. Seconds later I heard the “POP” of the 20 gauge and two toms were streaking for the ridge as one lay still on the ground.

It took me a few minutes to cover the ground but I arrived to a beaming girl and a proud dad. They recounted the story from their perspective, and how Doug’s aggressive calling had captured the attention of the toms at a distance we thought was impossible.   The Montana Decoy had pulled them in close enough for Katerina to draw a bead on a young tom who was in full strut and she gave him a full dose of #6’s that left a ragged hole in the fan but anchored the bird on the spot.

We got back to the ranch before my girls had even left for school. They all admired Kat’s prize and we shot some pictures for posterity.  Our middle daughter revelled in the fact that the call Doug had used to lure the bird in was HERS.  A  Knight and Hale “Wet Willy” box call that she picked out on a shopping trip last month. 

Next time, Part 2, the Northern Exposure team scores again..

On Monday, along with Alaskan friends, Doug and his daughter Katerina, we got up at 5:30 to set up along a tree line where we had seen turkeys feeding on a regular basis. The morning started off frosty and foggy and the birds started gobbling early. We could here gobbles on three sides of us as the eastern horizon slowly grayed up. When the fog lifted at about 8:00 we could see a flock of turkeys across the road with 3 toms strutting. We called and called and coaxed one tom over a ditch, two fences and the highway to come check out our setup. He didn’t like what he saw at about 50 yards and “put-putted” off into the brush.

Shortly after, two toms came in from behind us out of range and fed back into the trees. Doug and Katerina left us to pursue those toms. By this time it was 9 am, and we were getting ready to regroup and move to a new location when Erin spotted some movement below us on the hill. It was the other two toms from across the road. I recognized one as a one legged tom with a nice beard I had seen the day before. He had been feeding 90 yards below our position that day, and the pair worked their way to that patch of clover again this morning.

That was at 9 o’clock in the morning. For two hours we called to these toms. They would look our direction and occasionally gobble, but they held their ground in the wide open. Later two hens came and joined them on that patch of clover. It was getting late. I could tell that 5 hours of sitting was getting old for Erin, despite the number of turkeys we had seen.

So I asked Erin if she wanted to see if we could get closer. My whispered words were:” this probably isn’t going to work, but let’s slide on our butts when they put their heads down to feed. When they raise their heads, we freeze. Got it?”

Erin nodded slightly and we began our stalk across the open hillside. Each time the turkeys raised their head we froze and I whispered “this probably isn’t going to work…” then the four would continue feeding and we would continue our butt-scoot inches at a time. We covered 50 yards in about an hour, through thistles and across rocks. Erin gritted it out until we were within 30 yards then as cool as a professional slowly rested the 20 gauge across her knee, and anchored the nearest tom with a perfect head shot.

I have never seen my little girl so excited. After ejecting the hull from the breech, she was admiring her prize, and grinning from ear to ear. Doug and Katerina had witnessed it all from behind us and were there to congratulate Erin as she swung that turkey on to her back and packed it back to the car.

The beard measured 9 inches and each of the spurs was a perfect 1 inch. Upon opening up the breast, we discovered #8 bird shot and evidence of a previous wound in the left breast. Apparently this tom had escaped a previous encounter and was wary, but not wary enough for this unconventional tactic that “probably isn’t gonna work”.

Well it is shaping up to be a busy few days around here.
First, my buddy Doug from Alaska will be arriving with his daughter to pursue the turkeys that have skunked me so far.

Then we head to Redding the Mecca of target archers for the Western Classic Trail Shoot.  Thursday is the Blind Draw event, and then the Trail shoot Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Doug was my wingman last year and this year he will have backup. So as things develop, I will report ‘em. but ’til then I’ll be pretty low profile.   this year at Redding the focus is on fun shooting.  I haven’t been to an archery shoot in 2009, so I’m just trying to enjoy the company of friends and archery.

I’ll be in the Freestyle division this year since I now have a 7 pin sight.  My bow is my hunting rig and I will enjoy being able to devote 3 full days to shooting it.

Now I’m not much of a “modern Country” fan, but I do appreciate it when artists sing songs about the Outdoors. in this Video Rhett akins sings about a “hung up” gobbler on the Tommy Wilcox outdoors show.

i gotta give him credit, he really captured the essence of the frustration when a big ol’ tom won’t come in. I’ve been feeling plenty of that lately.

Cal hit a new ranch in the afternoon after a morning hunt didn’t produce. He had a coyote come in and spook off two toms he called in, but still managed to keep his composure and still hunted his way into bow range on this nice tom.

His gobbler’s beard measured 10 1/4 inches.   The spurs were 1 1/4 inch each.  Truly a remarkable bird. 
It just goes to show that afternoon hunts can produce. Sometimes you just have to adjust your tactics.  Cal did and it paid off.

This Sunday I met up with my buddy Rich, known by many as Monsterbull from Sage Creek Forums for a Turkey hunt. 

We met at 5:45 am at my house and hustled to our setup as the eastern horizon became grey

We got situated along a disked up area that had been planted recently and had a gobbler sounding off from his roost before daylight just 200 yards away.   Who could ask for anything more? 

About 30 minutes after shooting light, the Tom flew down with a couple of hens. Problem was they fed to the West instead of coming directly to us. About a half hour later both hens came by separately, but no Tom followed.

We left our setup to see if we could locate the birds again. When we crested the ridge we could see not one but  THREE toms strutting down on a farm road leading to another field. We lost no time in trying to get around them about 270 degrees and 300 yards  from our current position.

As soon as we dropped down below the crest of the hill we heard a tractor start coming chugging down the road.

In the hopes that the turkeys might just hunker down in the willows we continued on our end around as the tractor got closer and closer. When we peeked around the trees, the three gobblers had gone the OTHER way and were working up the ridge to the East, gobbling the whole way.  The tractor just kept on going. 
Once they crested the ridge we followed them and dropped down into the tree line to try and position ourselves to call them in.

Along that ridge we worked our way with several calling setups. We would get answers and catch visions of the blue and red heads bobbing just out of range. Each setup was met with either the gobblers hanging up out of range, or the excited “PUT_PUT_PUT” as they saw something they didn’t like and scurried away.

The whole ordeal was very similar to dogging a herd of elk where the bull keeps a herd of cows between you and him. Bump and move bump and move…We worked our way along the edge of the treeline, calling before we crested the next little rise on the ridge top

Finally we caught view of two jakes with short 4 inch beards in the brush and trees at the head of a draw. I knew the draw was choked with blackberries and I had a hunch that they were looking for a place to cross the draw and wer going to head back down the draw. We hustled to a lower crossing and worked our way up toward where we last saw the jakes. Sure enough, two heads poked up over the horizon coming our direction. there was no time for a calling setup, we had been busted. The birds warily circled our position 35 yards away. Rich tried a shot but the bird stpped just as he released and the arrow whistled just over his back. We had been foiled again. This time by a couple of adolescent gobblers who have now been educated about bowhunters.

But it was a nice half-day afield in beautiful spring weather. We talked about our future hunting plans and made arrangements for applying together for a late season deer hunt.  But soon enough I had chores awaiting on the ranch and we parted ways, vowing vengence onthe Turkeys that ran us around the hills.

This Sunday I spent afield with my good buddy Cal. Together we have been a great team and had several doubles between us. This Season so far, though the cards have been stacked against us.  We did see toms, and had some encounters.  Most of them were with Turkeys…

Encounter  #1

We saw toms alright.    The first was just after first light.  The tom was with 5 hens and had all the lady company he could want.  Our pleading clucks and yelps elicited a few gobbles, but his hens didn’t want to come check us out.  We watched them feed off into the trees and elected to hit another part of the ranch.

Encounter #2 (and reason to pack bear spray)

We decided to hit the ridge on the other side of the valley where a group of long yearling Holstein heifers grazed.  I have had good luck calling turkeys here last year.  As soon as we crossed the fence, we could hear a loud bellering, as a 2 year old Holstein bull came out of the herd directly at us with a swagger and belligerent attitude.  A rock off of his forehead didn’t dissuade him from  placing himself between us and his harem. 

If you think dairy bulls are playful docile creatures, read the article from the US HOLSTEIN ASSOCIATION.

Knowing I was out-matched in a physical confrontation, we hopped the 5 wire barbed wire fence in a hope to do an end around on the bull.

Well that didn’t work….He followed us for a quarter mile bellering so we went on to other pastures.  It did weigh on my mind that had the bull caught us in the middle of the pasture, say before daylight, it could have been a different story. Bear Spray has been tested on dairy bulls in Southern California.

It takes the wind right out of their sails…

I am a vet who works exclusively with cattle in southern California.  We don’t see many bears here in Chino, but with over 100,000 dairy cows, we have more than our fair share of bulls.  Two weeks ago a worker on a dairy here in Chino was killed by a bull.  They are extremely dangerous and can weigh up to 2,000 lbs.  You must never let your guard down when you are near one.  Unfortunately, because of my work, I must often turn my back to them while I am in the corrals.  I have made it a practice to carry [bear spray] on my belt whenever I am in a bull string.  If I am not carrying it, I feel naked.  Whenever a bull crosses the line from threatening to dangerous I let him have it with the spray.  It takes the wind right out of their sails every time.  I have had to deal with enough aggressive bulls that I managed to use my entire bottle of spray.  After that man was killed two weeks ago, I am glad that I did.  If he had been equipped with a canister, I know he’d be alive today.

Sincerely

Dr. Andrew B.

 

Encounter #3

With the bull behind us, we spotted 3 toms strutting in an open pasture 500 yards away.  A few calls from the tree line seemed to get their attention, but they wouldn’t cross the open ground to get into range.  by that time it was late morning and we called it a day.  However we will be going out after gobblers again in the near future.. Stay tuned…

Colorado’s spring turkey season offers hunters one of the most unique experiences in the field.

From late April through mid May, turkeys are at the height of their mating season. The hens are calling for the toms, and the toms are on the move looking for mates and putting on their displays of wild machismo.

“There is nothing else like hunting turkeys,” says Tom Spezze, southwest regional manager for the Colorado Division of Wildlife. “You call them in, the toms are making all kinds of noises spitting and drumming, and they’ll get right next to you. It’s incredibly exhilarating.”

The 2009 spring turkey season starts April 11 and continues through May 24, although dates vary in some units. Over-the-counter licenses can be purchased for most units in the state; but some areas are limited so be sure to check the 2009 turkey hunting brochure.

Turkey hunters can use shotguns and bows during the spring hunt. Shots are usually made within 30 yards of a bird. Hunters must be sure of their targets–only toms can be hunted during the spring.

Because turkeys are very wary and spook easily, hunters are allowed to dress in full camouflage. One note of caution: Because hunters wear camouflage, turkey hunting can be dangerous in popular areas. As with every other type of hunting, only shoot at what you see and clearly identify. If you shoot in the direction of a sound you might be shooting at another hunter making a call. If you need to signal to another hunter the best method is to whistle.

Turkeys roost in trees at night so the hunter’s first task is to locate the resting spot. Spezze recommends that hunters arrive near the roost just before dawn and find a place to set up without spooking the birds. Hens welcome the day with a very sleepy “tree call.” The toms will gobble in response to nearly every hen call made in the roost. After adequately announcing the day, the birds will fly down from the roost once light is full. Then they’ll begin calling to gather the flock for the day.

Seasoned spring turkey hunters will usually begin calling to the toms before any of the birds fly down in an effort to direct them away from the roosted hens.

A common mistake turkey hunters make is “over-calling,” says Spezze. Hunters should only imitate the various calls the turkeys are making at that moment.

“Nothing scares off an already-wary tom more than calls that are too loud or too frequent,” Spezze says.

As toms approach, the hunter must sit absolutely still. Any shot must be executed very quickly. Shotgun pellets won’t penetrate a turkey’s plumage, so the aim must be at the head and neck.

Two types of turkeys live in Colorado. The Merriam’s turkey lives primarily in the mountains, while the Rio Grande turkey lives on the flat lands east of I-25. Populations of both types of turkey are healthy and have been growing during the last few years.

The Merriam’s turkey is partial to open meadows and usually roosts in ponderosa pine trees. They can also be found in oak brush and pinon-juniper stands. Hunters should find areas where turkeys have cover, forage and nesting habitat. Look for meadows in narrow valleys where there are grassy areas, aspen groves and ponderosa pines. The Merriam’s, however, are wanderers and will roam over large areas.

The Rio Grande is the larger of the two birds and can usually be found in cottonwood trees and along riparian areas. The birds are creatures of habit, often roosting in the same tree and feeding in the same fields every day. Rio Grande turkeys are easier to locate than Merriam’s and hunting them is generally not as difficult.

Turkeys forage for seeds, grasses, forbs and insects. Hens usually nest in tall grass and prefer to be near a water source.

Hunters should scout areas looking for sign– tracks, feathers, droppings, scratching and dusting areas. Even if turkeys are not seen or heard, it’s a good bet to hunt in places where there are lots of fresh sign.

Turkey calls also are essential–box calls, slates and mechanical-plunger calls are easy to use.

Your calling position should have a solid back as wide as your shoulders while providing you with a wide area of visibility. Don’t hide so well that you can’t see what’s happening in front of you.

Hunters should not try to stalk turkeys in the spring because chances of success are slim. Set up in a somewhat concealed location and wait for the birds to come to you.

Hunting in the morning is typical, but toms can also be called in late in the afternoon. So don’t hesitate to hunt late in the day.

The long season also works to hunters’ advantage. Some of the best hunting occurs late in the season when hens are on the nest. If you miss opening day, you won’t be missing your chance to get a turkey.

This “right of spring” is an experience that turkey hunters look forward to every year. Successful hunters are rewarded with fine, lean meat. With careful cooking, wild turkey makes an excellent and highly nutritious meal.

Saturday morning the Birds were out and strutting their stuff. Turkey Season is just 5 days away…