Saturday 4/20 & Sunday 4/21
Brian Mike and I meet up with Josh and head into a different area (one where we got into birds a few times last year). We make it to the gate, jump out of the truck and the wind is RIPPING over the area. Like couldn't hear a bird 60 yds away ripping.
We have a quick discussion, we know where we hunted the day before is well protected from that wind direction, we jump back in the trucks and go over there. Wind is MUCH better and we work into the area. We strike a bird on the roost on the far ridge above where Joy had gotten hers the day before and move into position and get Mike and Josh setup. They are shooters for the day as both Brian and I have our first tags filled.
I drop back a ways calling and the bird keeps hammering on the limb. But history repeats itself and as soon as he hits the ground he clams up and moves off. Yesterday I was fairly aggressive with the one on the roost, with this one I was a bit more moderate until he clammed up, hell I dunno what they want to hear...
Anyway we moved over onto the top of that sub ridge (the same one where we heard the distant bird the day before) and waited to see if anything would pipe up. After at least 30 minutes (and some good natured banter involving Jeremy's death marches) we hear a bird over the NEXT ridge... We take a little different approach and work over to it carefully eased up on the ridge, but can't get another response from the bird. I call hard over the NEXT basin and get a couple different responses down in it and even further out, all thankfully MUCH lower in elevation than the prior day's boondoggle bird and well out of the wind. We settle in a bit to try to get a better feel for their location when Josh spots a tom strutting with a hen down on a logging road across the basin. We work out an approach and head over.
The plan is to work down the far ridge and see if we can drop in on where the bird is strutting or near by. We get closer and closer and do get a response, and are able to drop off the back of the ridge and slide into position just on the back-side of where the bird was strutting. We get Mike setup as main shooter and Josh setup to cover another angle. We call... and call... and nothing. We do that for a good 20 minutes but no luck.
Brian grabs Mike and they ease ahead on the logging roads eventually getting a response from further down in the valley. Unfortunately we're setting RIGHT on the edge of the private/public line, so we decide to relocate a bit and just call at this bird a bunch. He responds occasionally, and we keep at it for the better part of an hour off-and-on. Finally Brian and I agree we just need to bail since that bird isn't moving. We grab a snack, pack up and start hiking over on a skid trail to climb back up on the ridge where we spotted the strutter from.
We keep calling (because who knows) and a bird hammers back a ways UP the draw from us, seemingly on the same skid road we're on. We scrabble and get Josh and Mike along with Brian moved into position to setup on that upper bird. I drop back and call hard, getting some good responses from the bird above us AND from the bird that was down on private. Now BOTH birds are going. The bird on public really isn't moving, but the bird on private has closed distance. I'm the only one in a position to cover that direction so I settle next to a tiny little fir tree in the shade and keep hammering away on the call HOPING the upper bird breaks free.
Before long Brian starts calling too (he knows the lower bird is on the move) and him and I call against each other. The upper bird seems to be moving higher and possibly closer, and the lower bird is 100% on his way to our setup. I can tell he's made it off private now and is walking the same skid road we did. I cut off the calling, and Brian, who 100% knows what is about to go down (he told the guys that I was going to get that other bird 10 minutes before this) keeps calling away. I hear the bird spitting and drumming as he's working the skid road and I'm read when he pops into view. He passes my first little shooting window, I adjust to the next one, he walks through it in full strut, then drops out of strut and I touch off Hope's 20ga. Down he goes and I start cutting and making noise to hopefully keep the other bird from getting too spooked. I run down, grab my bird and keep calling as I go.
Unfortunately that was enough for the upper bird to clam up and move off. The guys break cover and come over to give me a hard time and grab some pictures (I wasn't supposed to be shooter!) Of course we all agree SOMEONE had to have shot that bird and no other person was in a spot to do it. Every single one of us would have done the same thing had the positions been reversed, but we all agree that rib jabbing would ALSO be expected.
So my 2nd tag was filled and I'm done carrying a gun for the spring. This bird was ALSO banded, all of 36 numbers off from the band on Joy's bird!
Bird cleaned, strapped into the pack we try to go relocate the upper bird. We do strike him once, way up on the ridge above us. We circle around and get where we HOPE to be above him, but get no response again. We climb out to a higher set of logging roads and get back to the ridge where Joy had gotten her bird. We do strike a single response on that ridge but get fooled by the direction and think it was in the next draw. Well after moving closer we get a response back DOWN the draw and ridge. Josh and Brian decide to head after them and Mike and I continue to head out (I wanted to get my bird taken care of).
Mike and I do get a bird to strike once on our way out but no other response after that and couldn't find him. Brian and Josh get close to the bird(s) they found, but similar problems, the birds clam up and no luck getting anything else of out of them.
All said and done Mike and I covered 11+ miles that day and Josh and Brian had to be close to 13 miles. It was a pretty big day, at least while chasing turkeys! We take care of my bird, smoke a meatloaf and a couple turkey's worth of breasts from Joy and Brian's birds (because Brian brought his with them so I'd smoke it for him
).
We were all a bit wiped out from the day so Mike, Briand and I made plans to try a short hunt near our place the next morning where Caleb had gotten his bird.
Sunday morning we make the "long" 4 minute drive and head in to the spot. Unfortunately the wind had now changed direction from the day before but not lessened in intensity and it isn't helping out at all. We do the best we can and hike through the area. We do hear a gobble twice, but can never get a response to our calls to get a better location. Calling it a hunt after only 2 hrs we head back to the house. Mike's had a good time and is content with his adventure, even though "I stole his bird" and decides to pack up and head back home. Brian & Joy stick around for breakfast and lunch and eventually pack up and head home as well.
Now my attention turns to helping my wife fill her tag and Josh with filling his two tags.
I also will be mentoring a couple new adult onset hunters, getting them a starting point on learning the ropes of calling, finding hunting spots and how to chase turkeys in the mountains. Helping those guys should be quite a bit less hands-on, mostly focused on getting them a good set of basics to build on. Hopefully the birds are more responsive for THEM than they have been so far for my crew and I!
