Dave Richey OUTDOORS

I went looking for him a couple times lately , but he and his lady friends apparently lit out for some location where they were not visible from the road. I hope they made it safely.

Did the birds up and leave voluntarily, and after talking to a friend, it appears as if they pulled up stakes and left the area. They may or may not come back to where they were. Only time will tell whether I'll be able to find them again. It's a certainty that others  who saw that big gobbler will be checking  other strut zones in hopes of finding them.

There appear to be some big turkeys around. Another friend told me today he watched seven big gobblers cross the road in front of him just south of Mesick. That area has always been a good spot.

My wife and I went for a drive yesterday. We saw just one lone turkey in a fallow field. Only one bird for a two-hour drive isn't very good.

Some turkey decoys may scare some gobblers.

The birds we've seen in the past week seem to be getting a bit more frisky. A friend of mine who apparently has some birds roosting on his land says they wake him up in the morning. He said there are five or six gobblers in a bachelor group, and so far they've managed to scoop up just one lone hen.

He said they set to gobbling almost every morning at daybreak, and all are apparently in love with the same hen. He has seen some strutting birds over the past two days, and they have located just the one hen. She is liable to be in big trouble soon.

I went outside this morning for the paper, and heard a hen calling softly. Just the one hen, and no gobbles. She may just be passing through the area.

These warm and windy days can make for poor listening and looking opportunities. The gobblers don't talk much in very windy weather, and seem to stay close to home.

I'm wondering about using turkey decoys this spring. It's always been a last-moment decision  for me: use them or not? Years ago no one used a decoy, and we depended on coaxing the birds in close enough for a shot with a call.

Decoys add a certain something to a hunt, and when they work, the birds show up where you want them. But, I'm convinced that some gobblers are getting leery of all decoys, and I've seen birds avoid my decoys when they have produced in that same location in the past. I believe if too many birds are shot over decoys in a small area that future generations of gobblers and hens may become more skittish.

The above photo is of my old jake decoys and it's been sewed back together often.

This year, I may not use a decoy. I may spend more time hunting deeper in the timber, and make the birds come looking for me. Without a visual cue (the decoys) it can take a bit longer to get the gobbler to come, but it can build the tension factor when you can hear a bird drumming and spitting behind you but turning around isn't am option. Sometimes those birds complete the circle to stand in front of the hunter, but the truth is that sometimes the bird turns away and never comes back. Other birds may just barge in, stand near a jake decoy, and toy with it just long enough to allow a shot before it flails at it with spurs and wings flying.

I own an old soft decoy. It fooled many good gobblers, and It's been sewn back together several times. This, however, may be Jakie's last season. Soft decoys simply can't handle the raking of spurs from an adult three-year-old gobbler. Mine looks like a jigsaw puzzle with a couple of pieces missing.

But there is a certain something that happens to people when an adult gobbler begins to circle around for another look at the decoys. You must sit tight, don't move for any reason, and sit there hyperventilating with deep raspy breaths. You hope the bird will keep circling around in front before that wood tree stub finally succeeds in boring a nasty hole in your back.

It doesn't happen very often, but occasionally during a cold and nasty spring, calling attempts can bring four or five jakes and longbeards on a dead run. They start coming, crisscrossing in front of you, and all are eager to be the first bird to the hen. It's happened a few times to me, and almost always the biggest bird approaches from too far to my right and I can't swing that far without moving my whole body. If this happens, the hunter may have to be content watching a big longbeard  shred a soft decoy or try to impale himself on a hen decoy stake.

Turkey calling often works but one must wait for a bird to circle.

So I wait, let the bird circle around me, and hope he comes within easy shotgun range. Sometimes they do, but sometimes they do not. Hunters can only play with the cards dealt them.

It's been many years since I made this mistake, and hope never to make it again. I had roosted some birds near a fence line that led down to a tiny bog pond. On this occasion, I misjudged the bird's location, and set up directly underneath him.

I couldn't understand why he wasn't gobbling on that cold, clear and still morning. I gave a couple of soft tree yelps with no reply. I took my time, and waited until an hour after dawn had passed without any sounds of a fly-down or a gobble.

I stood up, and the bird flushed from his roost directly above my head. Several hard wing beats soon took him well out of range, and since I've never attempted a flying shot, I decided not to do so this time.

He was a gobbler I'll never forget. But then, he is but one of many that have found a permanent place in my memory bank. The neat thing is I can draw one of these great memories out on a moment's notice.

Posted via email from Dave Richey Outdoors