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May 5th, Opening Day
Was in my blind by 5 AM and immediately began to call the Gobbler. His hens flew down and fed within a few yards of the blind. He gobbled often but did not show himself until he flew down and that was the last I saw of him. The hens left the area and he followed.
Calling the gobbler - gobbler responds (dark video, good audio) (597k) Video of the setup and our morning hunt (good video and audio) (1.1mb) As I left the blind I spooked a jake that had come in quietly to my decoys. I won't make that mistake again.
Evening Roost - I had left my blind setup in the same spot to hunt on Thursday morning. While scouting Wednesday evening, I located the gobbler but there was trouble. He was roosted practically on top of my blind. If I did not go after this bird on Thursday, he may not be there again. If I did try, I could spook him off the roost and blow it for the rest of the season. I'll decide early Thursday morning.
Calls used this morning
- Knight and Hale Screaming Hen IV - for cuts and raspy yelps. Gobbler responded well to this call.
- Knight and Hale Double Reed Split - my favorite for doing kee-kee run calls. I use this when it is apparent the gobbler is not going to leave his hens. The thought is to pull the hens in with the kee-kee and the gobbler may follow. Have had good success with this call and shot my turkey last fall using this technique.
- M.A.D. Super Crystal - a good slate call that works well when wet with the graphite striker. It was raining a bit so I used this. Good for purrs and soft yelps.
