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.
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