Gobbler City

Went out to the Boone Public with my friend Jon Jones to again try at gobblers with a bow. This time I got to try the blind sitting with Jon. We got in early, set up quietly and waited for the birds to wake up. Legal light came and went. When they woke up, they woke up loudly. We had six different birds behind us in the ravines all morning. At one point a group of three guys walked the trail about 200 yards in front of us. Not 20 minutes after they walked by a hen and a longbeard came out of the woodline to our left. Big bird. He strutted and starred at our decoys and then vanished. The hen remained in the field until one of the other guys stopped at the field edge and glassed our birds for us. How very thoughtful of them. He proceeded to then walk across our entire path thus spooking our bird. Nice.
Once we lost site of him the woods behind us lit up. There was a gobbler behind us that was so hot he would gobble at air. We decided to move our blind to the bottoms where the birds seemed to want to be all day. We got down quietly and set up without busting any birds. Again, there was about 20 minutes of silence before the woods opened up again. This time we had four separate birds within a couple hundred yards. At one point the bird we saw above gobbled and he was right behind us. Just about the time we had these birds in the bag as we were pulling them in on a string, the woods shut up again and we had nothing. 10 minutes later we were greeted by some of the most horrendous turkey calling that has met the woods. The guy calling was clearly strangling his cat, and he was failing miserably. Then another chimed in. And another. This was our cue to get out and find food. At this point we weren't even mad. This guy sucked so bad we pitied him. We just left and of course, busted a bird 100 yards from the parking lot. All in all, a great outing, but I am becoming a little weary of public land users.



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Thanks Dad

I had not been on the river in some time and even turkey hunting needed a break. When Nick came back to Boone from home he toted the boat. This has given him the opportunity to figure out where the fish are on the Des Moines River. I of course, felt the need to try this out as well. The best part is I get to just sit back and watch. Nick took us to a few of his honey holes which produced nothing. At one point we were watching what we thought were carp jumping along the far bank. We anchored mid channel and started pulling in fish. Carp, an occasional drum, and the jumping fish, surprisingly turned out to be channel catfish. It was an enjoyable outing. Nick even managed a walleye. Kinda.

We may not have slammed them, but we both couldn't have cared less. It was just great to be out and not cooped up in an apartment. Thanks Dad for loaning us the boat.



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Turkey Time

 Finally have found some time to enjoy the turkey woods. Last Friday I went out all morning and afternoon and walked almost 8 miles. One small hen. It was a great day in the woods, but it was a little disheartening to not even hear one.

This morning I decided to get up early and try again. Got to the spot and was followed in by another guy. We talked a bit, and parted ways. He gave me precedence both because I was first and because I only had my bow. I was able to locate a gobbler and get close. I was one ravine off though. When he lit down from his roost he was spitting and drumming. He would gobble and it shook the leaves. AWESOME! He was 44 yards across this ravine in thick timber. I just never had a clear shot. I snuck back out to the field and sat for a few minutes. Nothing. I doubled back towards his last location but nothing. I decided to call it a morning and busted a jake in the middle of the field I was in. Damn. Tried to stalk him but that was not going to happen. Great morning to get out and now I have the fever...Until tomorrow.



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