dirtclod Az.
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jan 24, 2018
- Messages
- 2,766
Keep pluggin' away,it'll happen!
Vanish and FireTiger's 2019 Journal
- Thread starter vanish
- Start date
We drove around to another area we wanted to check out. As we neared the parking area, we noticed several turkeys popping up from under yuccas and moving away from the road. It seemed an odd way to spend the day but I honestly am not terribly familiar with the daytime habits of turkeys. There were several toms and this seemed a good sign, but as we pulled into the lot, FireTiger spotted a massive tom moving into a small clump of trees hoping we hadn't seen him. The Spot and Stalk game was afoot!
She slipped out of the car and into a hedgerow while I drove 1/4 mile back up the road to a slight rise. From there, I'd be able to survey the whole area, including keeping an eye on the clump where we had seen the giant tom. We also hoped he'd see the car moving away and focus on that. As I am watching, I see him bolt out, followed by a hen. He moves into the tall grass of the hedgerow 100 yards from where he'd been, and holds tight. I figure the jig is up, but I can still see his bright red head, so I keep my eyes on him.
The next time I lower my binos, I see FireTiger is only 25 yards away from the tom, following the tall grass edge. My radio starts buzzing, indicating she needs help. ( Yes, its legal here, and we're unsuccessful enough with using them that it doesn't trip my ethics meter. ) I let her know that he's right in front of her in the tall grass. Move very slow and be ready to shoot. She doesn't move. My radio buzzes again. Instructions repeated. She look at me through the binos and I know something is wrong. I start attempting hand signals, but we really didn't have anything to indicate "he's lying low right in front of you". Finally she starts moving in the right direction, but I can tell she's not gotten my message about just how close she is to him. At under 10 feet he finally pops up and dives into the seven foot tall mess next to them. I know she sees him, but I know its over now. We regroup and find out my radio is borked and only transmits about 100 feet. GAH!
She slipped out of the car and into a hedgerow while I drove 1/4 mile back up the road to a slight rise. From there, I'd be able to survey the whole area, including keeping an eye on the clump where we had seen the giant tom. We also hoped he'd see the car moving away and focus on that. As I am watching, I see him bolt out, followed by a hen. He moves into the tall grass of the hedgerow 100 yards from where he'd been, and holds tight. I figure the jig is up, but I can still see his bright red head, so I keep my eyes on him.
The next time I lower my binos, I see FireTiger is only 25 yards away from the tom, following the tall grass edge. My radio starts buzzing, indicating she needs help. ( Yes, its legal here, and we're unsuccessful enough with using them that it doesn't trip my ethics meter. ) I let her know that he's right in front of her in the tall grass. Move very slow and be ready to shoot. She doesn't move. My radio buzzes again. Instructions repeated. She look at me through the binos and I know something is wrong. I start attempting hand signals, but we really didn't have anything to indicate "he's lying low right in front of you". Finally she starts moving in the right direction, but I can tell she's not gotten my message about just how close she is to him. At under 10 feet he finally pops up and dives into the seven foot tall mess next to them. I know she sees him, but I know its over now. We regroup and find out my radio is borked and only transmits about 100 feet. GAH!
dirtclod Az.
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jan 24, 2018
- Messages
- 2,766
Closer and Closer.Every time I buy a set of radios I
always lose one.
always lose one.
We got back to the parking lot and as FireTiger was saying she needed a rest, I looked the opposite direction and caught the red head of a tom just off the property, but within a few hundred yards. FireTiger declined the opportunity to try to cut him off as I glassed up several more turkeys. I think they noticed us noticing them even though most were below a hump opposite us, but I grabbed my gear and started creeping down the fence. I was completely hidden from them, but as I got into position where I thought I would find them, they were gone. Spotting 2, then 4 more toms, strutting further up a hillside, I worked to get in position on those birds. They ghosted me again, so I headed back for a little nap, too.
After an hour or so of lying in the car with the door open, I heard several turkeys get disturbed by something. A bunch of clucking and then several gobbles. They were definitely on the property and sounded quite close. I grabbed the binos and swung up out of bed. Hot dang, they're less than 150 yards away right in front of the car! Here we go again!
I started sneaking down an edge to close the distance. Wouldn't you know it they ghosted me again!
Back to the car I went. FireTiger was ready to go again shortly thereafter, so we suited up and headed in the direction those turkeys had been. As we approached the drop into the river bottom area, she looks back at me and asks "Is that a deer?" as there was something making noise in front of us ( I was 20 yards behind ). As she began walking again, I heard and and frantically started trying to get her attention, as it was certainly turkeys scratching, and CLOSE!
Luckily I did get her attention in time, and she dropped into full sneak. I hung back with Hank. She crept up to the edge and drew a bead, fired and from what I am told, completely missed. She fully admitted that there had been no reason to rush as she had, and that the tom was at least 40 yards. She had just gotten excited and blew it. Oops.
We spent the rest of the evening in the area, hunting and triple checking for the bird just in case. We managed to call in a couple of toms, or perhaps they were just working through on the way to the roost, it was hard to tell. They worked past us at about 60 yards but didn't feel the need to come any closer. It was generally quite open, so I think it was a mistake not to bring a decoy. We didn't roost any birds but had a feeling that there would be some in the some place as the morning, as that's the direction those two were headed.
After an hour or so of lying in the car with the door open, I heard several turkeys get disturbed by something. A bunch of clucking and then several gobbles. They were definitely on the property and sounded quite close. I grabbed the binos and swung up out of bed. Hot dang, they're less than 150 yards away right in front of the car! Here we go again!
I started sneaking down an edge to close the distance. Wouldn't you know it they ghosted me again!
Back to the car I went. FireTiger was ready to go again shortly thereafter, so we suited up and headed in the direction those turkeys had been. As we approached the drop into the river bottom area, she looks back at me and asks "Is that a deer?" as there was something making noise in front of us ( I was 20 yards behind ). As she began walking again, I heard and and frantically started trying to get her attention, as it was certainly turkeys scratching, and CLOSE!
Luckily I did get her attention in time, and she dropped into full sneak. I hung back with Hank. She crept up to the edge and drew a bead, fired and from what I am told, completely missed. She fully admitted that there had been no reason to rush as she had, and that the tom was at least 40 yards. She had just gotten excited and blew it. Oops.
We spent the rest of the evening in the area, hunting and triple checking for the bird just in case. We managed to call in a couple of toms, or perhaps they were just working through on the way to the roost, it was hard to tell. They worked past us at about 60 yards but didn't feel the need to come any closer. It was generally quite open, so I think it was a mistake not to bring a decoy. We didn't roost any birds but had a feeling that there would be some in the some place as the morning, as that's the direction those two were headed.
Sunday
I awoke to grey light. ****! What happened to the alarm? I don't have an answer. FireTiger grumbled, so I through my hear together and jogged toward where we had roosted them before. I forgot to mention, but for some reason my ONX was completely blank on both my devices, but working on FireTiger's phone, so I didn't have a waypoint to get the best location, but I had a pretty good idea of where they had been. Sure enough, I heard gobbling in that direction, and was able to work in to about 200 yards of a strutter. I set up to call, and could hear what sounded like the same birds as the morning before, though I could only see the one.
He danced around in that opening for 30 minutes. I crept closer, but there just wasn't enough cover to really get inside the zone, and I knew there were hens, so he had no reason to come into my calling. Once again, he suddenly shut up and ghosted on me.
After a couple of hours, I met back up with FireTiger and we decided to scout the other half of the unit. Getting to a high point, we pulled out the glass and I quickly spotted a turkey. There was a time that I swear I saw two, but I couldn't be sure as we were 3/4 of a mile away. We drove around to another position and I hiked up to a ridge and was able to pick out that turkey right away. I was within 200 yards, and couldn't put a beard on it. Darn.
Moving to another location, FireTiger spotted a tom doing the "hide by a yucca" thing again. As we verified it was a tom, a rooster cackled and a different gobbler sounded off. We drove around behind a hill and put together a plan. It was about a half mile hike to get into position, and once there I just started giving them the business on the call. It took about 10 minutes of calling before we finally started getting a response. Another couple of minutes and he started coming hot and heavy, gobbling at everything. The angle wasn't ideal for either of us, but there was a lot of cover in this location, unlike where we were before. This may have bitten us this time, as at some point where my hopes were highest, he faded away. I think he may not have wanted to go through the mess between us. Argh again!
We waited a bit, regrouped and covered some ground. That rooster cackled again and immediately he gave himself away again. We resolved to leapfrog closer whenever that rooster would sound off. There were several times where it sounded like the tom was right in front of us, but we never did find him.
Defeated again, we decided to continue our scouting of the area. We got to another high point and spotted two toms hanging out right in a very obvious location, half a mile away. It was a bit risky of a spot to try hunting them as surely any vehicle driving by would spook them. I decided to try the stalk anyway. Naturally, as I got to 30 yards, with the turkeys unaware but out of position for a shot, a truck came around the corner and sent them fleeing the wrong direction. GAH!
FireTiger told me she was ready to go home, so we got packed up, put on some normal clothes and headed out. Of course it was then we spotted a group of 5 toms just chilling on an edge. As much as it pained me, I waved and said "NEXT TIME!"
I awoke to grey light. ****! What happened to the alarm? I don't have an answer. FireTiger grumbled, so I through my hear together and jogged toward where we had roosted them before. I forgot to mention, but for some reason my ONX was completely blank on both my devices, but working on FireTiger's phone, so I didn't have a waypoint to get the best location, but I had a pretty good idea of where they had been. Sure enough, I heard gobbling in that direction, and was able to work in to about 200 yards of a strutter. I set up to call, and could hear what sounded like the same birds as the morning before, though I could only see the one.
He danced around in that opening for 30 minutes. I crept closer, but there just wasn't enough cover to really get inside the zone, and I knew there were hens, so he had no reason to come into my calling. Once again, he suddenly shut up and ghosted on me.
After a couple of hours, I met back up with FireTiger and we decided to scout the other half of the unit. Getting to a high point, we pulled out the glass and I quickly spotted a turkey. There was a time that I swear I saw two, but I couldn't be sure as we were 3/4 of a mile away. We drove around to another position and I hiked up to a ridge and was able to pick out that turkey right away. I was within 200 yards, and couldn't put a beard on it. Darn.
Moving to another location, FireTiger spotted a tom doing the "hide by a yucca" thing again. As we verified it was a tom, a rooster cackled and a different gobbler sounded off. We drove around behind a hill and put together a plan. It was about a half mile hike to get into position, and once there I just started giving them the business on the call. It took about 10 minutes of calling before we finally started getting a response. Another couple of minutes and he started coming hot and heavy, gobbling at everything. The angle wasn't ideal for either of us, but there was a lot of cover in this location, unlike where we were before. This may have bitten us this time, as at some point where my hopes were highest, he faded away. I think he may not have wanted to go through the mess between us. Argh again!
We waited a bit, regrouped and covered some ground. That rooster cackled again and immediately he gave himself away again. We resolved to leapfrog closer whenever that rooster would sound off. There were several times where it sounded like the tom was right in front of us, but we never did find him.
Defeated again, we decided to continue our scouting of the area. We got to another high point and spotted two toms hanging out right in a very obvious location, half a mile away. It was a bit risky of a spot to try hunting them as surely any vehicle driving by would spook them. I decided to try the stalk anyway. Naturally, as I got to 30 yards, with the turkeys unaware but out of position for a shot, a truck came around the corner and sent them fleeing the wrong direction. GAH!
FireTiger told me she was ready to go home, so we got packed up, put on some normal clothes and headed out. Of course it was then we spotted a group of 5 toms just chilling on an edge. As much as it pained me, I waved and said "NEXT TIME!"
dirtclod Az.
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jan 24, 2018
- Messages
- 2,766
You two are seeing a lot of ghosts/or not seeing a lot of ghosts,whatever the case may be.
It aint over till its over,I,ll keep rooting for you.
It aint over till its over,I,ll keep rooting for you.
WildWill
Well-known member
Keep after them good luck this weekend.
Friday Night
We arrived almost half an hour before I expected, giving us plenty of time to do a little roosting. There was a couple other camps in the area, so once again I left the obvious birds and headed toward the place we had roosted them the previous weekend. I didn't even make it to my calling spot before I heard some gobbling, so expectations were high. As the full moon started to rise, I checked to make sure our log bridge was still in place and crossable, confirming we'd be good for that access in the morning. From there, I gave a coyote howl and was answered with a train of gobbles all down the river bottom, including the exact set of trees I was hoping they'd be in. Bingo!
Saturday Morning
We planned to get in position extra early. There was a full moon meaning we would not even have to use lights to find our way. I wanted to go very slowly as I knew that while we didn't bust the roost last time, the bird had noticed the amount of noise we'd made setting up and never came to our side of the grove.
( I swear I had nailed the time on that photo! A little Colorado humor )
We eased across the bridge and were closing in on our setup location with 30 minutes before legal shooting light. There was a large cedar I thought would do well to keep Hank and I hidden, with FireTiger on the opposite side where I expected the birds to pitch down, cloaked in shadow. The gobblers I had roosted were sounding off about 150 yards away. With 10 yards to go until we were safely hidden, woof wff wfff wfff. Balls! A bird busted us! We paused, looked up in the trees more closely, and realized we were probably screwed. That moonlight was easily giving us away to the birds roosted right above us. Noob move! I had been so fixated on the birds gobbling that I didn't check for silent ones.
More and more birds pitched down well away from us, but as we were already set up and there were gobbles on both sides, we decided to hold steady. After a half hour of shooting light with no sound of birds approaching, I decided to stand and survey. Sure enough, there was a strutter with some hens 250-300 yards out where we expected them. He was glorious, with the sun shining on his green and copper feathers, swelled up like a balloon. With calling getting no results, FireTiger decided to attempt to close the distance.
Her target was the cedar in front of here. The strutter was about 150 yards beyond that, with the hens out there in the tall grass somewhere to the left. There's a bit of a ditch she's using to cover her approach. She made it, but not undetected. About 2/3 of the way there, the birds started hearing her. I attempted to signal to her to slow down as they were looking for her, but she didn't get my message. They never saw her, and eventually calmed back down, but had grouped up more towards the center of the frame here.
We still weren't having luck, so I grabbed the jake decoy ( yes, I had all 3 foam decoys with me this time ) and slithered up through the ditch, with the goal to stick it on the grassy hump to FireTiger's left. After slithering back with only minor cactus injuries, I hit the calls and the tom seemed to flare up. The was a few minutes of excitement as we thought he saw the decoy and was coming to kick its butt. Nevertheless, he felt no need to leave his hens, eventually fading away. I don't understand how they can do that with it being so open!
It was now almost 9:00am, meaning we had been working that bird for over three hours! We investigated some other local leads, with a few sightings but no real opportunities, and then headed back to take off some clothes. The action was cooling down but the weather was heating up.
We arrived almost half an hour before I expected, giving us plenty of time to do a little roosting. There was a couple other camps in the area, so once again I left the obvious birds and headed toward the place we had roosted them the previous weekend. I didn't even make it to my calling spot before I heard some gobbling, so expectations were high. As the full moon started to rise, I checked to make sure our log bridge was still in place and crossable, confirming we'd be good for that access in the morning. From there, I gave a coyote howl and was answered with a train of gobbles all down the river bottom, including the exact set of trees I was hoping they'd be in. Bingo!
Saturday Morning
We planned to get in position extra early. There was a full moon meaning we would not even have to use lights to find our way. I wanted to go very slowly as I knew that while we didn't bust the roost last time, the bird had noticed the amount of noise we'd made setting up and never came to our side of the grove.
( I swear I had nailed the time on that photo! A little Colorado humor )
We eased across the bridge and were closing in on our setup location with 30 minutes before legal shooting light. There was a large cedar I thought would do well to keep Hank and I hidden, with FireTiger on the opposite side where I expected the birds to pitch down, cloaked in shadow. The gobblers I had roosted were sounding off about 150 yards away. With 10 yards to go until we were safely hidden, woof wff wfff wfff. Balls! A bird busted us! We paused, looked up in the trees more closely, and realized we were probably screwed. That moonlight was easily giving us away to the birds roosted right above us. Noob move! I had been so fixated on the birds gobbling that I didn't check for silent ones.
More and more birds pitched down well away from us, but as we were already set up and there were gobbles on both sides, we decided to hold steady. After a half hour of shooting light with no sound of birds approaching, I decided to stand and survey. Sure enough, there was a strutter with some hens 250-300 yards out where we expected them. He was glorious, with the sun shining on his green and copper feathers, swelled up like a balloon. With calling getting no results, FireTiger decided to attempt to close the distance.
Her target was the cedar in front of here. The strutter was about 150 yards beyond that, with the hens out there in the tall grass somewhere to the left. There's a bit of a ditch she's using to cover her approach. She made it, but not undetected. About 2/3 of the way there, the birds started hearing her. I attempted to signal to her to slow down as they were looking for her, but she didn't get my message. They never saw her, and eventually calmed back down, but had grouped up more towards the center of the frame here.
We still weren't having luck, so I grabbed the jake decoy ( yes, I had all 3 foam decoys with me this time ) and slithered up through the ditch, with the goal to stick it on the grassy hump to FireTiger's left. After slithering back with only minor cactus injuries, I hit the calls and the tom seemed to flare up. The was a few minutes of excitement as we thought he saw the decoy and was coming to kick its butt. Nevertheless, he felt no need to leave his hens, eventually fading away. I don't understand how they can do that with it being so open!
It was now almost 9:00am, meaning we had been working that bird for over three hours! We investigated some other local leads, with a few sightings but no real opportunities, and then headed back to take off some clothes. The action was cooling down but the weather was heating up.
Saturday Afternoon
We did a bit of scouting roads we hadn't driven before and attempting a shock gobble here and there. As an aside, my crow call was useless on this trip. I don't know if there is a pheasant cackle call out there, but it would have been much more effective, as there were plenty of natural shock gobbles due to the live roosters running around. The temperature kept heating up to unusual levels for an April afternoon, so we decided our best bet would be to find a shady travel area, set up a natural blind and the decoys, and just hope ... whitetail style.
This lead us back to the area where FireTiger had missed the prior weekend. It was a strip of trees a little more dense, with no other cover between it and the river on one side, and most tall grass and a ditch between it an the road several hundred yards away on the other. We knew the turkeys travelled through there and setting up in the center of the cover would allow us to shoot to both edges, where I expected turkeys to travel.
We weren't exactly quiet as we stacked up logs as it was around 2pm and almost 90 degrees. I placed the decoys on the south side, knowing they'd be visible to anything traveling the river. It was obviously then nap time.
With such a drastic temperature swing, the afternoon winds came pretty hard. One of the benefits of this location is the amount of leaf litter on the ground, meaning even while napping anything coming through would give itself away. However, there were also several branches with leaves still on them nearby, meaning half the time it sounded like rustling leaves anyway.
After a couple of hours, FireTiger pulled out her brand new box call and did a little sequence. I was napping on the other side of our shade tree, when I noticed the wind slowing down, but the leaf rustling maintaining. Something is walking nearby! I reached for my gun and bumped my own box call, giving off a funny squeak. Immediately a turkey periscoped just over 20 yards away. She caught me moving and started with her warning putts. Crud ... Dropping down into the ditch, I eventually saw her on the other side, moving away swiftly. However, her warning had been ignored by the other two turkeys following the same path. All three ended up being hens.
Several times over the next hour I was able to glass those hens just chilling under a tree, on a log and feeding in the leaves. Over the next two hours, FireTiger managed to call in what we suspect was the same hen _four times_. There were also a couple other hens that came in, one I believe saw the decoys and immediately boogered out. Its possible she could have seen me, though.
I started to wonder if FireTiger's new call was sounding more like a young turkey, which was why the hens were so interested, as it has a much higher pitch than my own call. It didn't seem to matter to the gobbler that finally sounded off downstream from us. He was coming in hot and was really into her calling. It was after 6pm at this point, and finally cooling off. I imagine he was working his way to the roosting area on the other side of us, and it was a natural place to run into a hen. She handed me the call as he closed in, getting on the gun instead. Next thing I knew there he was at 40 yards, angling toward us. At 35 yards, with no warning, he about faced and went right back were he came from. It was incredibly frustrating.
We did a bit of scouting roads we hadn't driven before and attempting a shock gobble here and there. As an aside, my crow call was useless on this trip. I don't know if there is a pheasant cackle call out there, but it would have been much more effective, as there were plenty of natural shock gobbles due to the live roosters running around. The temperature kept heating up to unusual levels for an April afternoon, so we decided our best bet would be to find a shady travel area, set up a natural blind and the decoys, and just hope ... whitetail style.
This lead us back to the area where FireTiger had missed the prior weekend. It was a strip of trees a little more dense, with no other cover between it and the river on one side, and most tall grass and a ditch between it an the road several hundred yards away on the other. We knew the turkeys travelled through there and setting up in the center of the cover would allow us to shoot to both edges, where I expected turkeys to travel.
We weren't exactly quiet as we stacked up logs as it was around 2pm and almost 90 degrees. I placed the decoys on the south side, knowing they'd be visible to anything traveling the river. It was obviously then nap time.
With such a drastic temperature swing, the afternoon winds came pretty hard. One of the benefits of this location is the amount of leaf litter on the ground, meaning even while napping anything coming through would give itself away. However, there were also several branches with leaves still on them nearby, meaning half the time it sounded like rustling leaves anyway.
After a couple of hours, FireTiger pulled out her brand new box call and did a little sequence. I was napping on the other side of our shade tree, when I noticed the wind slowing down, but the leaf rustling maintaining. Something is walking nearby! I reached for my gun and bumped my own box call, giving off a funny squeak. Immediately a turkey periscoped just over 20 yards away. She caught me moving and started with her warning putts. Crud ... Dropping down into the ditch, I eventually saw her on the other side, moving away swiftly. However, her warning had been ignored by the other two turkeys following the same path. All three ended up being hens.
Several times over the next hour I was able to glass those hens just chilling under a tree, on a log and feeding in the leaves. Over the next two hours, FireTiger managed to call in what we suspect was the same hen _four times_. There were also a couple other hens that came in, one I believe saw the decoys and immediately boogered out. Its possible she could have seen me, though.
I started to wonder if FireTiger's new call was sounding more like a young turkey, which was why the hens were so interested, as it has a much higher pitch than my own call. It didn't seem to matter to the gobbler that finally sounded off downstream from us. He was coming in hot and was really into her calling. It was after 6pm at this point, and finally cooling off. I imagine he was working his way to the roosting area on the other side of us, and it was a natural place to run into a hen. She handed me the call as he closed in, getting on the gun instead. Next thing I knew there he was at 40 yards, angling toward us. At 35 yards, with no warning, he about faced and went right back were he came from. It was incredibly frustrating.
Its now after 6:30 and we're running low on time. We can hunt up until sunset here in Colorado (about 7:25 today), but not half hour after like all the other species.
Lucky for us, FireTiger's new call struck again, with a pair of gobbles to our West and they were excited, responding consistently. This was less than ideal as we didn't expect any from that direction, and if we tried to face that way, the sun would be right on us. She suggested I sneak over to the ditch and position there, but I said let's try to judge how far away they are on their next gobble. A few minutes later and eruption answered the question ... don't move, their right on the "ridge" above the ditch.
I did my best to get an angle on them, but it was to my right. As one of the toms dropped into the ditch, the other hung up there and surveyed. The closer was only 25 yards away, but they were perpendicular to us and neither could get on the close one without busting. The ridge tom was very suspicious, and started moving back southwest along the top, but his brother continued into our cover. Finally, the ridge tom gave in and rushed over to join the other. This gave me a chance to swing around to the S side of the tree and for FireTiger to get her gun ready.
Wouldn't you know it, those buggers swung out to 50 yards and did a circle around us, looping SE, then South. I couldn't believe another opportunity was going to pass us by. They hit the river opening and we were saved.
The decoys.
Those boys locked on that jake and came steamrolling over. We both had our guns trained on the jake, which was about 20 yards away from us. The toms started questioning as they got to 30-35 yards (10-15 yards from the decoys) and halted. As they turned away, I knew this was now or never and nudged FireTiger.
B-BANG!
We had ourselves a couple of nice #longbirds!
Lucky for us, FireTiger's new call struck again, with a pair of gobbles to our West and they were excited, responding consistently. This was less than ideal as we didn't expect any from that direction, and if we tried to face that way, the sun would be right on us. She suggested I sneak over to the ditch and position there, but I said let's try to judge how far away they are on their next gobble. A few minutes later and eruption answered the question ... don't move, their right on the "ridge" above the ditch.
I did my best to get an angle on them, but it was to my right. As one of the toms dropped into the ditch, the other hung up there and surveyed. The closer was only 25 yards away, but they were perpendicular to us and neither could get on the close one without busting. The ridge tom was very suspicious, and started moving back southwest along the top, but his brother continued into our cover. Finally, the ridge tom gave in and rushed over to join the other. This gave me a chance to swing around to the S side of the tree and for FireTiger to get her gun ready.
Wouldn't you know it, those buggers swung out to 50 yards and did a circle around us, looping SE, then South. I couldn't believe another opportunity was going to pass us by. They hit the river opening and we were saved.
The decoys.
Those boys locked on that jake and came steamrolling over. We both had our guns trained on the jake, which was about 20 yards away from us. The toms started questioning as they got to 30-35 yards (10-15 yards from the decoys) and halted. As they turned away, I knew this was now or never and nudged FireTiger.
B-BANG!
We had ourselves a couple of nice #longbirds!
bowhuntmontana
Well-known member
Yeah! Right on. Doubling up no less. Congrats.
Closer and Closer.Every time I buy a set of radios I
always lose one.
I have bought 8 of those radios, and we're down to 2 working ones. I make sure to tether mine now, but I still managed to lose one during my pronghorn stalk last year.
WildWill
Well-known member
So you smoked a couple yesterday
oh Colorado. Seriously though congratulations getting a double with your better half sounds like a amazing time. Always enjoy your updates.
oh Colorado. Seriously though congratulations getting a double with your better half sounds like a amazing time. Always enjoy your updates.
Mudranger1
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jun 30, 2010
- Messages
- 3,046
Congrats to you both
dirtclod Az.
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jan 24, 2018
- Messages
- 2,766
Congatulations you two,Great hunt and another great story.
