Ben's 2023 Semi-Live Hunt Log

[TheBenHoyle]

I might as well start my 2023 Semi-Live Hunt Log. Next week I am planning on going on a hunt/scout. It will be a coyote hunt on some public land that is also a spot that I have a spring turkey tag for. Hoping to hike a few miles, look for sign and maybe do a few different sets for coyotes.

As far as the rest of the 2023 hunting plans, I have 2 Illinois Spring turkey tags so far. I will probably pick up one more but I haven't decided what tag I am going to try to get. This year I am hunting a couple new places and I haven't decided if I want to get another tag for the season that I have a tag for already with the hopes of doubling up that season or if I want to get a tag for a different season in the county where I grew up where I normally hunt. decisions, decisions...

I'm working on a few options for new hunting areas for the fall Andy one hunting buddy will probably want to go back to Ohio in November, which would be fun. And the other hunting buddy I took out just a few weeks ago is probably going to be a bit more proactive in finding time to go shotgun deer hunting next year. And the buddy I waterfowl hunt told me he is interested in trying to get out with his bow next year. All in all it should be a busy fall season and of course I can't wait to get to it.

 

[duckhunt]

Looking forward to following along.

 

[TheBenHoyle]

Sunday wasn't productive as a coyote hunt, but it was a great day to explore some new woods.

I got to the public ground at sunrise and there were several deer out in a neighboring field. And there was still a moon in the sky.



There was also snow on the ground, which made it a lot of fun to see all the deer and coyote tracks. I spent a decent amount of time just hiking around scouting where those trails were heading and where they were going.

Not too long into the woods I heard a pack of Coyotes howling to the west. I was heading east and thought about reversing course and trying to put together a set. But then I heard another pack to the south and decided I would cross the ravine and head that way. Found a nice little frozen waterfall.



I found a nice little spot that I am totally planning on going back and hunting with my bow in the fall. Several spots actually, but one of them stood out as the pick of the litter.

I tried a set on the edge of a wooded draw to the south, near where I thought I had heard the howling. I sat there for an hour trying out my call, but all I saw were squirrels. I did notice turkey tracks in the snow, so I made a mental note that this might be a good place to revisit in April.

I also saw a bald eagle. It has flown up into a tree just behind me so when I stood up it flew away. Closest I have ever been to a bald eagle.

I hiked around to the south of that draw and set up on the edge of some cedars to do another calling sequence. Still no coyotes, but I found another set of turkey tracks so I made another mental note and headed back to my car.

IT was good exercise and I was able to do a little road scouting and saw that there is a picked cornfield just to the south of where I had set up. So I made one more mental note. I am really looking forward to hunting that property again. Next on the docket is probably another coyote hunt in March.

 

[duckhunt]

Great stuff Ben , atleast you're getting out. I've Been to busy to do anything but I am going to take the weekend over to the big river for some ice fishing.

 

[TheBenHoyle]

It's been a few weeks of no hunting for me, but that is not because I wasn't trying. Had a couple weekends pegged as potential coyote hunts, but weather or responsibilities kept popping up to keep me out of the outdoors.

But tomorrow I am heading out top my buddies spot in the countryside and we'll give our best to get some votes in range. He has intelligence that there is a group of 8 of them running along the west side of his property so maybe we'll be able to thin those numbers a little.

In other news, I managed to put up a cell camera in a spot I have hunted a little. I get a lot of empty frames and a few squirrel selfies but I have also gotten a few pics of deer milling around and some of turkey. I doubt I will hunt where the camera is hung but it definitely makes me think that there is good potential in that general area.

I really do enjoy the occasional pics that are coming my way. It's nice to feel like you are out there even when you can't be.

Hopefully I will have pics to share of my first coyote tomorrow.

 

[TheBenHoyle]

No love from the coyotes yesterday. The group that had been observed on my buddy's fence line it turns out were visiting a cow carcass in his neighbor's pasture. And of course the neighbor had removed the carcass 2 days before we tried to ambush the coyotes.

I had a great morning of catching up with my buddy and I got to try a few shots with his 22-250. I'm not very experienced with rifles so that was good.

I don't have anything scheduled until the second week in April when my first turkey tag is valid. still need to work out exactly where I can hunt it. Need to make some calls.

 

[TheBenHoyle]

My first turkey season opened on Monday and I will finally be able to get out and hunt on Thursday and Friday. I'll be staying with my parents and hunting in the woods where I have gotten both of my bucks.

It will be lows of 50s and highs of the upper 70s which is pretty strange for this time of year. I have some high hopes though. I know there are turkeys in that neighborhood and I am hoping that I will be in the right place at the right time.

In Illinois you can only hunt until 1PM so I should have time to help my dad with some projects he is working on around the house. I'm really looking forward to having time off of work and getting a chance to get out into the woods again.

 

[TheBenHoyle]

I had two days set aside for this turkey tag, Thursday and Friday. But it looks like I'll have to do something else with Friday because I tagged out today.

I have to say that I am so happy to have gotten a turkey. I have been a day late and a dollar short on so many turkey opportunities since the last turkey I got in 2018, so this is a bit of a redemption for me.

On top of it being a successful hunt, it was just a really cool hunt. One in which I felt like I did all the right things and kept myself from making the stupid choices that have scuttled my hunts the past few years.

I had originally planned to get out to the woods at sunset on Wednesday to see if I could roost a bird but then I realized I had a meeting on the calendar that would go until 9pm. And it is a 2 hour drive out to my parents' house, so less than ideal. I needed up getting to bed at midnight with an alarm set for 4 am. Not knowing where the birds might be, I told myself to just get into the edge of the block of timber and sit until I could hear gobbles and then I could sneak into a better set up once the turkeys had flown down.

And that worked out pretty well. I didn't scare anything off the roost and at sunrise I could hear some gobbles to the west of me. I wasn't sure exactly where, but I thought they were a ways off.

This is a small block of timber (<20 acres) that is L shaped and I was sitting in the southeast corner of one leg of the L. There is an old quarry that runs to the center of the L and then a draw that runs north up the other leg of the L. I like to set up in the inside corner of the L. I have seen so much deer and turkey activity there.

So I snuck down the quarry and took some time looking around with my binos to see if there were any turkeys out in the center of the woods, but I didn't see anything. There were some deer that busted out into the field to the south and something flew up into the trees above me from the field edge, but it was a drake wood duck. It just sat there in the tree and gave me a real good look.

Feeling pretty confident that there were no turkeys in the immediate vicinity I popped out of the quarry and made my way to the base of a big cottonwood that would give me a nice vantage point for that inside corner of the L. And right where I wanted to sit, I found a turkey feather.



I decided that this was a good sign and got myself all set up and I put out a full fan tom decoy. I was tempted to put out a couple of hens and a Jake too, but I decided to keep it simple. It is so hard to know which decoys to use. But I decided to just use the tom.

I sat down and waited about 15-20 minutes and then made a few clucks with the mouth call and almost immediately I get a response. It is a hen cutting and it sounds like it is right back where I was at the end of the quarry. I call back and forth a few times and get some far off gobbling in the mix as well and boom there's a hen sliding past my decoy. She circled around in front of me for a few minutes, coming within 10 yards but never pegged me. But she decided I wasn't worth hanging around for and headed off to the west, towards those gobbles.

I was hearing gobbles to the west but for all of my scanning with my bins I wasn't seeing any birds. I did see a bald eagle fly overhead and heard a lot of sandhill cranes, but the toms were just out of sight somehow.

Eventually I caught some movement out in the field on the west edge of the timber. I think the turkeys must have been roosted on the west edge of the timber and they had flown down out in the field and they were just over a little rise where I couldn't see them and that was why they sounded so far away.

I told myself to just be patient and hopefully those toms would want to come back into the timber. In the meantime 4 deer came in from the north and wandered around giving me something to look at.

The deer eventually headed out into the field in a southwesterly manner. And then I noticed that there were two fanned out strutting toms just inside the west edge of the timber. I was seeing flashes of other turkeys (presumably hens) moving hither and yon, but these two boys were just putting on a show and not moving too far.

 

[TheBenHoyle]

Those birds were about 100 yards away and I thought I might be able to sneak closer to maybe 50-60 yards, but I told myself to stay put and just watch. I am sure they could see my decoy and they could hear my calls, but they were happy to stay where they were.

And then the deer were back and one of the deer decided that need to sniff some turkey bottom, which was unacceptable to the tom and I was treated to a nice little game of chase. I had never seen something like that and I was really enjoying it.

And then the deer left and a big red tractor moved in. The field that wraps around the south and west edge of the timer was being disced up and the turkeys decided they need to head East. Toward me...

They got to about 40 yards and hung up, partially because the hens around them were edging north but also I just don't think they like my decoy. I was able to shift around a little to get an open shooting lane, but these two toms were either not in the lane or both in the lane. In waiting for a shot at just one of them, they slipped behind a big oak to the north where I could no longer see them.

In my head they were scared of the Tom decoy and headed away from me and I had missed my chance at these birds right now. I decided that I would wait 10 minutes or so and then I would crawl up and set out a hen decoy and then crawl over and take down the tom.

As I was sneaking forward to put up the hen, I got about 15 yards and was able to see the toms on the other side of the big oak tree. They hadn't really gone anywhere they had just moved out of my line of sight. So now I am about 25 yards away, with the rising sun at my back and they have no idea I'm there.

I still had to wait for an opportunity to shoot just one of these boys, but it didn't take long and I pulled the trigger, putting the bird down immediately. Surprisingly there was probably 10-12 other turkeys that ran or flew off as I stood up to go pick up my bird.



That's an as he lay photo. First time I shot a turkey where it didn't flop around a whole lot.



I taught myself how to use the time delay function to get a grip and grin.



I'll be honest, I spent a long time admiring this bird.



The walk out was pretty brutal, by this time it was in the 70s and I was carry an extra 19 pounds the 1/4 mile back to my car. But I had my lucky feather in my cap so I made it eventually.

A couple things about this hunt. This is the first time I was successful as a solo turkey hunter, my other two turkeys came as part of a group hunt where I wasn't the only one shooting. It is also the first time I was successful at sneaking up on a turkey. I have tried it so many times and almost pulled it off before but it finally worked. Finally, I went into this season hoping to fill at least one of my 3 tags, and I have immediately pivoted to now wanting to fill all three of my tags... Gotta love the way a hunter's brain works. But seriously I couldn't be happier about this hunt.

 

[Desk Pop]

Awesome

 

[TheBenHoyle]

Heading out tonight to my parents so I can be within 45 minutes of some public land I have a tag for.

I have hunted this area a little in the past and I know there are turkeys in the area, but I definitely don't have it all figured out yet. I'm hoping tomorrow will be an opportunity to hear the morning chorus and then in the evening I can roost a bird and be ready to seal the deal Sunday morning. But however it works out, I will be out in the spring woods, which is what it is all about.

 

[TheBenHoyle]

I am reporting this from the couch on Sunday night, totally exhausted, and without a turkey...

I kind of expected this as I was hunting a new piece of public land so I knew I would probably make some mistakes and I would end up doing a lot of walking since it is a large area and I wanted to see a lot of it to make subsequent hunts more productive. I was right on both accounts.

Saturday was in general a ridiculous day. I had rain, sleet, snow, small hail and sun. At one point I was driving in almost whiteout blizzard conditions while the sun was shining. Even so, it was a really nice day. And it was neat to see the little snowball things getting caught in the various spiderwebs.



Those were everywhere I looked. Like someone had planted snow flowers.

But enough about the weather and scenery, let's talk about the hunt ands all the mistakes I made.

I had been to this public ground a few times before and had a vague idea of where I wanted to be Saturday morning, but due to the cloud cover and my relative unfamiliarity, I decided to use my headlamp walking back into that spot. I try not to use headlamps and I can't be sure that it bogeyed up my opportunity at a turkey right off the roost, but I'm sure it didn't help.

I got set up in a narrow grassy strip between two rows of cedar trees that are backed by hardwoods. The grass is sort of the top of a ridge between two ravines that run down to the river. I was about 40 yards west of a bluff that drops about 40-50 feet down to the river.

SO I was set up, but I didn't put a lot of effort into the set up. I didn't expect there to be any turkeys real close and I was just hoping to be deep enough in that I would hear gobbles and maybe be able to move to a better spot closer to the action.

As it turned out there were some gobbles on the north side of the ravine to the north of me. I thought about trying to move around to that side, but there would have been a good chance that might be on private since the property boundary is up that way.

Not long after legal shooting light I heard a shot to the east, which would have been on that same public land, but on the other side of the river. I was hearing gobbles away to the south east, which I think was birds following hens up the ravine and out the top of the draw into some prime nesting grassland.

All of a sudden I had a gobble just over my left shoulder maybe 80 yards away. It got closer and kept gobbling and I thought I had a real good chance, but then I heard a gobble right behind me and never saw the bird or heard him again. Either I wasn't hidden well and he saw a part of me he didn't like or he got a look at my decoy set up and decided he didn't like that.

ABout an hour later I heard a shot off to the south of me and I think that was probably on the south side of the ravine that was south of the one that was south of me. But I hadn't yet explored that area so I wasn't sure exactly what was down there.

I packed up and decided to hike around to the south side of the ravine that was south of me. Thinking that I had heard gobbles moving in that direction. It was about 10 when I got around to the other dies and I was pretty tired from lugging all my gear and the fact that I am not in any kind of shape.

SO I decided to just tuck in under the cedars (This ridge top had that same grass strip with cedars bordering the hardwoods in the ravine) and just relax. I gave no thought to setting myself up with concealment or even watching my surroundings, I just sat and pulled out my phone...

Next thing I know, I turn my head to look at what I think sounds like a squirrel and boom, a turkey freaks out and launches into the air. It was probably 10 feet away. Not sure if it was a tom or a hen, but it flew down into the ravine that was north of me. I waited about 10 minutes and then moved along the edge of the ravine to approximately where I thought it might have landed and then set up under a tree hoping to call it in, but I never saw it again...

After a while I got up and worked my way west around the ravine to the south to around where I think I had heard that shot earlier. There was a nice little grassy area near the top of the ravine with a 10 acres picked cornfield that I thought could be a promising place to catch some turkeys.

I ended up walking back to the car and saw a hen out in the nesting grass which paints a picture to me that the turkeys were roosting in the ravines and then working west to come out into that grass, following the hens.

Back at the car, I decided to drive to a couple of the other parking areas to eyeball what might be available. Met a nice game warden and then I headed out to my parents in hopes of taking a nap.

 

[TheBenHoyle]

After a nap and dinner, I drove back out there just before sunset in hopes of roosting a bird. I went back to that spot near the picked cornfield and I was able to confirm that there was at least one or two gobblers in that ravine.

This morning the plan was to go set up in the grassy area between the head of the ravine and the little cornfield in hopes that the hens would want to get some grain and the toms would just follow along.

In theory that planned worked. In actuality I messed it up.

I had three or four gobblers working in the woods within 100 yards from legal shooting light until about 9:30. I had set up two hen decoys hoping that they would bring in the toms, but at some point I saw a hen at the edge of the woods and she didn't like the looks of the decoys and ducked back into the cedars. The gobbles that seemed to be getting closer hung up and just kept milling around in the cedars.

At about 9:30 I had one gobbler getting closer and I was really getting ready. There was a gobble that seemed within about 25 yards but it came from an angle I hadn't planned on so he must have been able to see the decoys but was hidden from me by vegetation and or a little drop in elevation. And that was all she wrote. That one last gobble that seemed so close and then nothing. All the gobbling shut off...

I sat there for a while and then I decided to take a stroll along the south side of this ravine. Instead of a narrow strip of grassy this was more like an open pasture since the next ravine was quite a bit further south. It was nice to do some scouting and in general I think I have a lot of info to make my next hunts better. I am going to make time to get out there in the fall for archery season and I have an application in for a firearm tag for that area. And I will definitely try to pull a turkey tag for next year as well.

I had pretty much decided to be done, but I told myself to stop at the other parking lot near the north boundary to make a call and see if there was a gobbler up there. So I got out and gave some yelps but I didn't hear anything so I peeled off my top layer and sent some text messages to my mom and my wife and then hopped in my car and headed north.

Just north of that parking lot is a private land field of picked corn and wouldn't you know it? There is a tom in full strut headed south. He was about 70 yards south of a group of 4-5 other turkeys at the edge of the field and I can't help but think he was leaving them and headed to my yelps. I suppose I could have taken the time to check that field before I decided to drive away, but I'm content thinking that even of I had tried to set up on the fence line and call him over he would have stopped 10 yards out in that private field and put on a show but never crossing over to where I could get a shot.



There he is, still puffed up. Although as soon as I slowed down my car he made a beeline to the edge of the field back by the trees.



There is one of the other turkeys that were on the north of the field. You can almost see two other to the right in the grass at the edge of the field.

It was a good hunt, but like I said, I made a lot of mistakes. The first of those is to ALWAYS BE HUNTING. It is easy to let your guard down or to tell yourself that there's no chance that a bird or a deer or a whatever you are hunting is going to show up in that moment. But if I had taken the time to set myself up or to take a few more moments looking at possibilities I would have a turkey in the freezer.

I also think I need to rework my decoy plans. I have had turkeys come running in to decoys and I have had turkeys run away from decoys. I'll be honest, I think I would rather not lug them around and I see a lot of you tube videos where they don't use them. I think I might start going without.

Anyhow, I have one more hunt planned for turkeys. This will be private land, but it is new to me so I don't know what to expect. But I'll be out in the woods and I'll share the story.

 

[vanish]

I tried decoys on public for years and feel more effective without them. Just more stuff to lug around and they also make you more committed to a setup, which I think is a negative.

 

[Pahoundsman]

I quit using decoys years ago. They blew up more hunts than I can remember.

 

[TheBenHoyle]

I went out with a buddy on Saturday. We saw a couple of hens early and then we watched a coyote about 500 yards away just walking around in circles for about 20 minutes. Later we saw one of the hens pretty close. She was within 50 ish yards for about 45 minutes. And then it started raining and we gave up.

I'll be out in that same spot next weekend. I am hoping that with some hens in the neighborhood there will be a good chance that a tom might come round.

 

[TheBenHoyle]

My last tag is up this weekend. I'll be in that same place I went with my buddy last weekend. I'm hoping that hen will still be around and that a tom is out looking for her. Hard to tell what will happen, but I will make the effort to be out there.

 

[Pahoundsman]

Good luck!

 

[TheBenHoyle]

I went out Saturday morning and heard a few gobbles. They sounded like they were north and east of my position but I was hoping I could get him to come my way after he flew down, but a few minutes after sunrise the gobbling stopped. I did see a hen skirting the field edge at the north end of the property, but other than that it was very slow.

It was a nice day in the spring to be outside, although something must be blooming that my allergies don't like. I was blowing my nose a lot...

I decided against going out this morning. It would have been a low odds dice roll that there would be a turkey to shoot and I feel like I have had enough hunting for this season. I'll be doing some woodworking and some yard work today instead.

It is a little sad to think that it will be almost 5 months before I can hunt again but I will keep myself busy until then. I am trying to get in better shape so I'll need to get into a routine of walking/running. Also I have a recurve bow I got from my dad that I would like to hunt with. I can generally hit what I am "aiming" at but I have no idea how the "aiming" works and I do send some errant shots at my target occasionally. SO I need to get that all worked out. Lot of practice needed.

I do feel like in general I have some good plans sketched out for my fall deer/turkey/waterfowl hunting. Perhaps I will post some updates as those plans get settled.

 

[TheBenHoyle]

Finally got my turkey fan display finished up. I will post in the woodworking thread about the making of it, but here's what it looks like. Really happy with it, but I need to convince the wife that there is a wall that it would look perfect on...