Spring has Come and Gone

It’s been awhile since I have made a post in my “journal”. My Mother passing away in January took the winds out of my sails. Time will heal, and I’m look’n forward to getting my bounce back in my step. We had a crazy spring for harvesting Tom Turkeys. We had Turkeys in our reach every day. Some days we could not do wrong …… then there are others, that you are scratching your head why? Our fist day out on a youth hunt with Savannah and her Dad, we had Turkeys comming to the call and the decoys …… when a fox came in and busted up the hunt. Made a second set, and another fox came to the call. Made a few more, but it was getting late, and nobody was vocal. On another hunt with Glen, we set up in some hardwoods along a ridge. Turkeys were very vocal. We worked the birds for awhile, but they had plans to move on. We found them later “bugging” in a corn field. Made plans to be there along the corn field before light the next morning. Next morning in a misting rain, we set out a hen and jake decoy … no gobble this morning. Made a few soft calls, and a hen gave us a few clucks ….. made a few more soft calls ….. got some more clucks ….. then two boss Toms came out into the field at full strutt ….. not too happy with the decoy jake. A shot was taken, but it did not connect – thats hunting!  On another hunt we had roosted a Tom the night before. This Tom was very vocal on the roost. He gobbled on past 8:00 p.m. The next morning before light we had Joe and his guide Trey not far from the roost. At 5:40 a.m that Tom was rattling the tree tops. Trey started his call’n around 6:10 a.m, and at 6:20 a.m the hunt was over with a nice 18 lb. Tom with 10 in. beard heading to Joes cooler. We had days when we could not get the Turkey’s to talk. We also had days where they came in, but something was not right for them to commit to the distance needed to make a clean shot. Bottom line … we had Turkeys everyday ….. just a matter on who was smarter or wiser on any given day.

As I write this, the Hens have hatched out their brood. Most chic’s are the size of a golf ball, and the Hens have from 3 to 8 chicks running all around their feet. Our food plots are being planted. The trail cameras are showing the racks on the bucks starting to grow. Now the wait until fall.