First off, let's get one thing out of the way...
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU
Thank you all for sharing the stories, gear, tactics, knowledge, everything.
Secondly, although I did pretty extensive research on here and other websites, I truly discovered what most of you say all the time... You cannot become a better hunter on the computer. You have to get boots on the ground and get hands on.
We made so many mistakes its almost comical, I won't list them all. Mind you, we are are first generation hunters with literally ZERO knowledge passed onto us from family/friends, etc.
MISTAKES:
1. Went hunting with my cousins and a friend (4 people total). I was the only one that purchased a portable ground blind. 4 Large humans trying to squeeze into a 10 foot blind and still have enough room to move we quickly found out was not going to happen. Which led us into #2.
2. One of our members thought hiding behind a couple of overhanging tree limbs would provide enough cover to remain concealed. Surprisingly enough we had some luck calling some hens and a jake over and right when the turned the corner they stopped turned around and left.
3. Impatience. Sometimes after calling for 30 mins and no response / movement we left our position.
4. No on the ground scouting prior to hunting. We did a lot of it over the computer and talking to locals but we found out that in person scouting is imperative. We just didn't have time in our schedules to get out there and scout. Next spring & in the fall we will make it a point to add it to our to-do list.
We made so many more but those were the big ones.
Day 1 - 3 no luck. Switching positions multiple times, impatience, and different scouting hikes.
Day 4 - Morning we tried position from day 1 and decide to be patient. We get gobbles back from our box call but they are pretty far away (probably about 300 yds) and don't sense much movement. But I fight the urge to leave and call for about another half hour because they are gobbling back at me. Finally I change it up and box call right after each gobble. We're going back and forth probably every 30 seconds, I got them real horned up and now they are moving. We set up our decoys and blind and I start to play hard to get. 5 minutes between calls. They round the corner about 60 yds from our decoys. Our hearts are racing, we cant believe we did it. I do a couple more calls and get them within 25 yds but we don't like the shot. They begin to walk down a hill which will bring them completely out of our window and we make a slight movement, they spook, run away. We try calling them back but they are gone. Afternoon we setup in the same spot but get no gobbles back.
MORAL is at an all time low. We continue wishing that we had taken the shot and we only have one more morning opportunity to hunt before we hit the road. We run into another land owner that said we can hunt on his land and we decide to give it a shot.
Day 5 - Morning we are posted up and start calling. We hear yelps at our 12 and gobbles at our 7. Hour later hens fly out of their roost about 100 yds away and walk toward us. Gobbles continue at our 7 about 500 yds away. Hens walk right right past us about 200 yds and wait. Finally we see the tom coming down the hill about 400 yds away. They meet up behind us now about 200 yds and I try everything but he doesn't come. They start to walk away but the tom and 2 hens go one way up a hill and 2 hens go another way. I remembered reading either on here or another website where if you get in between them you might be able to call the tom into you. So book it up this giant hill with just my shotty and the box call. The two hens run even further left separating themselves from their tom even more. By the time I get to the top I felt like my lungs were going to explode. I remained hidden from the tom on my way up so he didn't run away from me. I had pretty good tree coverage and it was very shaded so I propped up against a tree and called. Heard a VERY loud gobble. I called one more time and he was very close, seconds later I see them pop their heads over the hill. He is within 20 yds and I slowly put him in my sights and pull the trigger. Turkey down.
Sorry for the long post but I am very excited. A lot of things I'll do differently next year but without this forum I'm certain it would've been a complete failure.
Pics to follow.
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU
Thank you all for sharing the stories, gear, tactics, knowledge, everything.
Secondly, although I did pretty extensive research on here and other websites, I truly discovered what most of you say all the time... You cannot become a better hunter on the computer. You have to get boots on the ground and get hands on.
We made so many mistakes its almost comical, I won't list them all. Mind you, we are are first generation hunters with literally ZERO knowledge passed onto us from family/friends, etc.
MISTAKES:
1. Went hunting with my cousins and a friend (4 people total). I was the only one that purchased a portable ground blind. 4 Large humans trying to squeeze into a 10 foot blind and still have enough room to move we quickly found out was not going to happen. Which led us into #2.
2. One of our members thought hiding behind a couple of overhanging tree limbs would provide enough cover to remain concealed. Surprisingly enough we had some luck calling some hens and a jake over and right when the turned the corner they stopped turned around and left.
3. Impatience. Sometimes after calling for 30 mins and no response / movement we left our position.
4. No on the ground scouting prior to hunting. We did a lot of it over the computer and talking to locals but we found out that in person scouting is imperative. We just didn't have time in our schedules to get out there and scout. Next spring & in the fall we will make it a point to add it to our to-do list.
We made so many more but those were the big ones.
Day 1 - 3 no luck. Switching positions multiple times, impatience, and different scouting hikes.
Day 4 - Morning we tried position from day 1 and decide to be patient. We get gobbles back from our box call but they are pretty far away (probably about 300 yds) and don't sense much movement. But I fight the urge to leave and call for about another half hour because they are gobbling back at me. Finally I change it up and box call right after each gobble. We're going back and forth probably every 30 seconds, I got them real horned up and now they are moving. We set up our decoys and blind and I start to play hard to get. 5 minutes between calls. They round the corner about 60 yds from our decoys. Our hearts are racing, we cant believe we did it. I do a couple more calls and get them within 25 yds but we don't like the shot. They begin to walk down a hill which will bring them completely out of our window and we make a slight movement, they spook, run away. We try calling them back but they are gone. Afternoon we setup in the same spot but get no gobbles back.
MORAL is at an all time low. We continue wishing that we had taken the shot and we only have one more morning opportunity to hunt before we hit the road. We run into another land owner that said we can hunt on his land and we decide to give it a shot.
Day 5 - Morning we are posted up and start calling. We hear yelps at our 12 and gobbles at our 7. Hour later hens fly out of their roost about 100 yds away and walk toward us. Gobbles continue at our 7 about 500 yds away. Hens walk right right past us about 200 yds and wait. Finally we see the tom coming down the hill about 400 yds away. They meet up behind us now about 200 yds and I try everything but he doesn't come. They start to walk away but the tom and 2 hens go one way up a hill and 2 hens go another way. I remembered reading either on here or another website where if you get in between them you might be able to call the tom into you. So book it up this giant hill with just my shotty and the box call. The two hens run even further left separating themselves from their tom even more. By the time I get to the top I felt like my lungs were going to explode. I remained hidden from the tom on my way up so he didn't run away from me. I had pretty good tree coverage and it was very shaded so I propped up against a tree and called. Heard a VERY loud gobble. I called one more time and he was very close, seconds later I see them pop their heads over the hill. He is within 20 yds and I slowly put him in my sights and pull the trigger. Turkey down.
Sorry for the long post but I am very excited. A lot of things I'll do differently next year but without this forum I'm certain it would've been a complete failure.
Pics to follow.
