Chairman
10-26-2004, 09:29 AM
What a hunting trip! This was my first-ever Fall turkey hunt, and I ended up taking my first-ever Fall turkey...
There was a lot of hard work involved, on my hunting pardner's Henry & Jack's part. From helping me out of the truck and into my wheelchair, from my wheelchair to getting on my ATV & from my ATV back into my wheelchair, to getting me in the blind. And when the day was over, we had to do it all over again to get me back to camp.
This was no small feat in itself, but add rain & mud, and it gets a lot more "interesting"...
Add to that all the gear we were packing in & out, and setting up & tearing down of the portable hunting blind when needed (in the dark, no less), and you might get an idea of all the effort Henry & Jack put into trying to get me my first Fall turkey.
Thursday Afternoon 10/21
I met Henry in Moberly, Thursday afternoon, and we immediately headed towards our first location, to set up for that evenings hunt. Henry had been seeing turkey's in one of his hay fields, and we weren't gonna waste any time.
We had the portable blind set up by 2:30pm, along a treeline next to the hayfield.
Let the hunt begin!
The wind was blowing pretty good, so we were having a hard time hearing anything. Henry had picked a promising location, and he was pretty confident we were gonna see some turkey's.
After sitting out there for a few hours, Henry was astonished that we hadn't seen or heard any turkey's yet. Around 6pm, we decided to call it a day. Even though we were 0 for 1, I was having a great time.
After packing up, I dropped Henry off at home, and I headed for turkey camp to meet Jack. Henry showed up later, with 2 large pizza's. We discussed the strategy for the next 2 days, and then headed to bed.
Friday (10/22)
Up and at 'em, at 4:30am. Coffee & cold pizza, and we were on our way.
This morning, we were headed to Henry's deer camp property. Henry had said earlier that his property was being over-run with turkey's, and Jack & I were more than willing to help thin 'em out.
We arrived at the property, and hastily began loading me all my gear on the ATV. Henry asked if I used to be in the Boy Scouts, because after loading all my gear, it looked like I was just about prepared for anything...
As we entered the West end of the food plot, heading to the blind, Henry spotted a deer in the food plot. We had no choice but to spook her, as we headed for the blind located on the South side of the plot. We arrived at the blind, unloaded all the gear, and Henry headed out to find a flock to scatter.
The temp's were in the mid-to-high 50's, and the wind was blowing pretty good. Since we were in the bottoms, it wasn't as bad as it might sound.
We didn't see a turkey this morning, but we were entertained by a couple of ground hogs. BTW ~ I didn't know a groundhog would climb a tree!?
About 11am(?), we decided to head for Henry's deer camp. We were treated to a tour of Henry's property, killing time before we headed out for the evening hunt. You've got a NICE place there, Henry!
Since we didn't see any turkey's at the food plot this morning, I decided to try another spot where there was a ton of turkey sign. We were hoping to ambush 'em on their way to their roosting area. Another hunter had seen 2 flocks using the area, so we were pumped.
After lugging all my gear to the new hunting site & setting up a portable ground blind, we were back in the hunt. We were set up on a ridge, just off of a well-used path, and there was turkey-scratching sign everywhere. We were over-looking a saddle on one side, and a deep draw on the other. Looks to be very promising...
The wind wasn't too bad, but we did have some gusts that were pretty strong. We started hearing thunder, and some nasty clouds started moving in. There were a few moments of light rain, but that didn't bother us none ~ we were turkey hunting!
We didn't see any turkey's that evening, but we did watch a couple of entertaining squirrels. Dang things sure kept us on alert. After awhile, they were really starting to grind on my nerves, so I asked Jack if he'd like some squirrel stew for dinner. He didn't take me up on it...
Right before O'dark-thirty, we decided we'd better start getting our gear together. Taking down a huge portable hunting blind in the dark, and getting me all all my hunting gear packed and on the ATV, wasn't something to be looking forward to. The rolling thunder & light rain got us a little more than motivated to get out of there, before it started pouring.
I had a feeling we were about to get soaked. This was about the time that I informed Jack that I had left my rain poncho back at camp.
Just as it was getting dark, Henry showed up to assist Jack in getting packed & loaded up.
Henry decided to take a stroll, since Jack had everything under control, to see if he could locate the roosting tree that had to be near-by. Like I said before, 2 flocks of turkey's had been spotted in this area in the evening, going to roost. Henry returned later, reporting that he had no success. We headed for camp...
Poor ol' Henry ~ he was beginning to sweat bullets by now. One morning hunt, and 2 evening hunts, and we weren't seeing (or hearing) any turkey's. He was confused, to say the least. He had been seeing turkey's out the wazoo earlier, and he had figured we'd have out 1st turkey by now, and possibly our 2nd. He began thinking that we had some bad mojo working on us. Poor ol' Henry...
We got back to camp, and Henry announced that he had some steaks for the grill that evening. What a host!
There were a few of Henry's friends back at camp, when we arrived. Henry introduced us, as we were getting unloaded. A couple of his friends reported seeing 4 turkey's this evening. We now knew that there was turkey's out there, but they just weren't cooperating.
I had planned on taking everyone out for a steak dinner that evening, but Henry had already bought the steaks for the grill. I was surprised that Henry even had the energy, since he had spent all day walking his property, looking for flocks to scatter. And believe me, that's a lot of walking!
We arrived back at MrB's hunting lodge, and the steaks were promptly put on a hot grill. Man-o-man ~ they smelled great.
It was about this time, that I asked where the 4 turkeys were spotted this evening. Jack said, "I was hoping that you wouldn't have asked that question..." Uh-ohhh ~ I don't think I was gonna like the answer. Then Jack said, "You remember the blind that we sat in this morning?"
That's all he had to say. I was the one who made the decision to move to the area on the ridge this evening, that had all the turkey scratchings. Oh well ~ that's hunting for ya'...
There's nothing like a great steak & fried 'taters to take my mind off of my previous decision. Henry ~ you da' chef!
Saturday 10/23
We got an earlier start this morning, getting set up in the blind before dawn. Yep ~ that blind...you know which one I'm referring to!
As dawn broke, Jack was keeping an eye on the West end on the food plot, and I was keeping an eye on the East end. One of our friends from the other morning showed up. The groundhog milled around in the food plot, then retreated back into the woods.
About 10:15am, Jack spotted a NICE Tom on the West end ~ about 120yds. away. Oh man - my heart started pumping fast & furious.
We watched him stroll along the food plots edge for about 10 minutes, and there was no sign that he was gonna head our way. Finally, I asked Jack if he wanted to see if he could stalk the Tom. Jack decided against it, and said, "Let's just sit tight, and see what happens". That's Jack for ya' ~ cool as a cucumber...
I was gonna do some calling, to see if I could get the Tom to come our way, but Jack said it wasn't a good idea. Me being the novice Fall turkey hunter, I'm glad I listened to him.
Jack kept the Tom under surveillance, with his binoculars. The Tom started to leave a few times, but then he kept coming back out along the plots edge, to tease us. Man, this was getting to be too much for me to handle. This ol' Tom was huge, and his beard was dragging the ground.
Lucky for me, I had a veteran Fall turkey hunter at my side, or I more-than-likely would have blew it. I finally had to quit watching the Tom, because I was beginning to get the shakes.
Poor Jack ~ he had a tough situation on his hands. Here I was chompin' at the bit, there was a nice Tom turkey keeping us in suspense, and Jack was trying to keep me calm, all the while, trying to come up with a game plan. Courage under fire ~ from both ends...
My neck was beginning to complain, from being turned at such an angle for so long, trying to keep an eye on the Tom. I finally relented, and let Jack keep me updated as to what the Tom was doing.
A couple of minutes later, as I was scanning the woods on the other side of the food plot directly in front of me, I caught a glimpse of movement. More turkey's ~ and they're heading right for us!
I was already pumped from watching the Tom, and having more turkey's heading straight for us (about 45 yds. away), just about had the veins in my forehead a'poppin'.
I knew that Jack had his eyes glued to his binoculars, and all I could whisper was, "Jack, Jack, Jack ~ turkey's, turkey's turkeys ~ right here, right here, right here in front of us"! Oh man-n-n! They were gonna be right on top of us, in a matter of seconds...
As I got my shotgun up, the turkey's changed direction, just before they entered the food plot's edge. Jack told me to wait for the last one, because it was the biggest of the bunch. Once I saw where they were gonna come out (30-35 yards away), I placed the shotgun's bead on the opening. Jack had his shotgun up too, prepared to back up my shot.
There were 4 turkey's in all, coming into the food plot. I was thinking that the turkey's would come our way, towards the decoy's, as they entered the food plot. But No-o-o ~ they started heading West, towards where the Tom was located on the far side of the food plot.
As the 4th turkey entered the food plot, Jack said, "Now..."
Nothing...
Again, Jack said "Now..."
More silence...
Little did Jack know, as I was keeping the bead on the 4th turkey, some tall weeds had blown into my sight picture. I couldn't even see the turkey's head...
The wind finally quit blowing the weeds in front of me, plus I had just shifted to the left, and there the hen's head was ~ BOOM....
She's down! Jack kept his shotgun on her, to make sure she wasn't gonna pull a disapperaing act. As I was pumping another round into my Rem. 870, I looked to the left, and the 3rd turkey that had come out was heading back towards the downed hen.
I turned towards Jack, and whispered, "There's another turkey still out there ~ to the left. Take him, take him!"
Once Jack was sure that the hen I had shot was down for good, I saw his shotgun barrel swing to the left. That's when I realized that I'd better cover my ears, cause Jack was to my right ~ aiming to the left. I coverd my right ear, and ducked...
BOOM... Another turkey down!
Woo-Hooo ~ we double-teamed 'em! Now tha'ts what I call team work...
I must be on fire, this year. I got my first-ever deer with a crossbow on 10/02/2004, and 3 weeks later my first-ever Fall turkey. http://www.jesseshunting.com/forums/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/banana-man-yeah.gif
http://www.hillbillyzone.com/images/Jack_Rick_102304_small.jpg
There was a lot of hard work involved, on my hunting pardner's Henry & Jack's part. From helping me out of the truck and into my wheelchair, from my wheelchair to getting on my ATV & from my ATV back into my wheelchair, to getting me in the blind. And when the day was over, we had to do it all over again to get me back to camp.
This was no small feat in itself, but add rain & mud, and it gets a lot more "interesting"...
Add to that all the gear we were packing in & out, and setting up & tearing down of the portable hunting blind when needed (in the dark, no less), and you might get an idea of all the effort Henry & Jack put into trying to get me my first Fall turkey.
Thursday Afternoon 10/21
I met Henry in Moberly, Thursday afternoon, and we immediately headed towards our first location, to set up for that evenings hunt. Henry had been seeing turkey's in one of his hay fields, and we weren't gonna waste any time.
We had the portable blind set up by 2:30pm, along a treeline next to the hayfield.
Let the hunt begin!
The wind was blowing pretty good, so we were having a hard time hearing anything. Henry had picked a promising location, and he was pretty confident we were gonna see some turkey's.
After sitting out there for a few hours, Henry was astonished that we hadn't seen or heard any turkey's yet. Around 6pm, we decided to call it a day. Even though we were 0 for 1, I was having a great time.
After packing up, I dropped Henry off at home, and I headed for turkey camp to meet Jack. Henry showed up later, with 2 large pizza's. We discussed the strategy for the next 2 days, and then headed to bed.
Friday (10/22)
Up and at 'em, at 4:30am. Coffee & cold pizza, and we were on our way.
This morning, we were headed to Henry's deer camp property. Henry had said earlier that his property was being over-run with turkey's, and Jack & I were more than willing to help thin 'em out.
We arrived at the property, and hastily began loading me all my gear on the ATV. Henry asked if I used to be in the Boy Scouts, because after loading all my gear, it looked like I was just about prepared for anything...
As we entered the West end of the food plot, heading to the blind, Henry spotted a deer in the food plot. We had no choice but to spook her, as we headed for the blind located on the South side of the plot. We arrived at the blind, unloaded all the gear, and Henry headed out to find a flock to scatter.
The temp's were in the mid-to-high 50's, and the wind was blowing pretty good. Since we were in the bottoms, it wasn't as bad as it might sound.
We didn't see a turkey this morning, but we were entertained by a couple of ground hogs. BTW ~ I didn't know a groundhog would climb a tree!?
About 11am(?), we decided to head for Henry's deer camp. We were treated to a tour of Henry's property, killing time before we headed out for the evening hunt. You've got a NICE place there, Henry!
Since we didn't see any turkey's at the food plot this morning, I decided to try another spot where there was a ton of turkey sign. We were hoping to ambush 'em on their way to their roosting area. Another hunter had seen 2 flocks using the area, so we were pumped.
After lugging all my gear to the new hunting site & setting up a portable ground blind, we were back in the hunt. We were set up on a ridge, just off of a well-used path, and there was turkey-scratching sign everywhere. We were over-looking a saddle on one side, and a deep draw on the other. Looks to be very promising...
The wind wasn't too bad, but we did have some gusts that were pretty strong. We started hearing thunder, and some nasty clouds started moving in. There were a few moments of light rain, but that didn't bother us none ~ we were turkey hunting!
We didn't see any turkey's that evening, but we did watch a couple of entertaining squirrels. Dang things sure kept us on alert. After awhile, they were really starting to grind on my nerves, so I asked Jack if he'd like some squirrel stew for dinner. He didn't take me up on it...
Right before O'dark-thirty, we decided we'd better start getting our gear together. Taking down a huge portable hunting blind in the dark, and getting me all all my hunting gear packed and on the ATV, wasn't something to be looking forward to. The rolling thunder & light rain got us a little more than motivated to get out of there, before it started pouring.
I had a feeling we were about to get soaked. This was about the time that I informed Jack that I had left my rain poncho back at camp.
Just as it was getting dark, Henry showed up to assist Jack in getting packed & loaded up.
Henry decided to take a stroll, since Jack had everything under control, to see if he could locate the roosting tree that had to be near-by. Like I said before, 2 flocks of turkey's had been spotted in this area in the evening, going to roost. Henry returned later, reporting that he had no success. We headed for camp...
Poor ol' Henry ~ he was beginning to sweat bullets by now. One morning hunt, and 2 evening hunts, and we weren't seeing (or hearing) any turkey's. He was confused, to say the least. He had been seeing turkey's out the wazoo earlier, and he had figured we'd have out 1st turkey by now, and possibly our 2nd. He began thinking that we had some bad mojo working on us. Poor ol' Henry...
We got back to camp, and Henry announced that he had some steaks for the grill that evening. What a host!
There were a few of Henry's friends back at camp, when we arrived. Henry introduced us, as we were getting unloaded. A couple of his friends reported seeing 4 turkey's this evening. We now knew that there was turkey's out there, but they just weren't cooperating.
I had planned on taking everyone out for a steak dinner that evening, but Henry had already bought the steaks for the grill. I was surprised that Henry even had the energy, since he had spent all day walking his property, looking for flocks to scatter. And believe me, that's a lot of walking!
We arrived back at MrB's hunting lodge, and the steaks were promptly put on a hot grill. Man-o-man ~ they smelled great.
It was about this time, that I asked where the 4 turkeys were spotted this evening. Jack said, "I was hoping that you wouldn't have asked that question..." Uh-ohhh ~ I don't think I was gonna like the answer. Then Jack said, "You remember the blind that we sat in this morning?"
That's all he had to say. I was the one who made the decision to move to the area on the ridge this evening, that had all the turkey scratchings. Oh well ~ that's hunting for ya'...
There's nothing like a great steak & fried 'taters to take my mind off of my previous decision. Henry ~ you da' chef!
Saturday 10/23
We got an earlier start this morning, getting set up in the blind before dawn. Yep ~ that blind...you know which one I'm referring to!
As dawn broke, Jack was keeping an eye on the West end on the food plot, and I was keeping an eye on the East end. One of our friends from the other morning showed up. The groundhog milled around in the food plot, then retreated back into the woods.
About 10:15am, Jack spotted a NICE Tom on the West end ~ about 120yds. away. Oh man - my heart started pumping fast & furious.
We watched him stroll along the food plots edge for about 10 minutes, and there was no sign that he was gonna head our way. Finally, I asked Jack if he wanted to see if he could stalk the Tom. Jack decided against it, and said, "Let's just sit tight, and see what happens". That's Jack for ya' ~ cool as a cucumber...
I was gonna do some calling, to see if I could get the Tom to come our way, but Jack said it wasn't a good idea. Me being the novice Fall turkey hunter, I'm glad I listened to him.
Jack kept the Tom under surveillance, with his binoculars. The Tom started to leave a few times, but then he kept coming back out along the plots edge, to tease us. Man, this was getting to be too much for me to handle. This ol' Tom was huge, and his beard was dragging the ground.
Lucky for me, I had a veteran Fall turkey hunter at my side, or I more-than-likely would have blew it. I finally had to quit watching the Tom, because I was beginning to get the shakes.
Poor Jack ~ he had a tough situation on his hands. Here I was chompin' at the bit, there was a nice Tom turkey keeping us in suspense, and Jack was trying to keep me calm, all the while, trying to come up with a game plan. Courage under fire ~ from both ends...
My neck was beginning to complain, from being turned at such an angle for so long, trying to keep an eye on the Tom. I finally relented, and let Jack keep me updated as to what the Tom was doing.
A couple of minutes later, as I was scanning the woods on the other side of the food plot directly in front of me, I caught a glimpse of movement. More turkey's ~ and they're heading right for us!
I was already pumped from watching the Tom, and having more turkey's heading straight for us (about 45 yds. away), just about had the veins in my forehead a'poppin'.
I knew that Jack had his eyes glued to his binoculars, and all I could whisper was, "Jack, Jack, Jack ~ turkey's, turkey's turkeys ~ right here, right here, right here in front of us"! Oh man-n-n! They were gonna be right on top of us, in a matter of seconds...
As I got my shotgun up, the turkey's changed direction, just before they entered the food plot's edge. Jack told me to wait for the last one, because it was the biggest of the bunch. Once I saw where they were gonna come out (30-35 yards away), I placed the shotgun's bead on the opening. Jack had his shotgun up too, prepared to back up my shot.
There were 4 turkey's in all, coming into the food plot. I was thinking that the turkey's would come our way, towards the decoy's, as they entered the food plot. But No-o-o ~ they started heading West, towards where the Tom was located on the far side of the food plot.
As the 4th turkey entered the food plot, Jack said, "Now..."
Nothing...
Again, Jack said "Now..."
More silence...
Little did Jack know, as I was keeping the bead on the 4th turkey, some tall weeds had blown into my sight picture. I couldn't even see the turkey's head...
The wind finally quit blowing the weeds in front of me, plus I had just shifted to the left, and there the hen's head was ~ BOOM....
She's down! Jack kept his shotgun on her, to make sure she wasn't gonna pull a disapperaing act. As I was pumping another round into my Rem. 870, I looked to the left, and the 3rd turkey that had come out was heading back towards the downed hen.
I turned towards Jack, and whispered, "There's another turkey still out there ~ to the left. Take him, take him!"
Once Jack was sure that the hen I had shot was down for good, I saw his shotgun barrel swing to the left. That's when I realized that I'd better cover my ears, cause Jack was to my right ~ aiming to the left. I coverd my right ear, and ducked...
BOOM... Another turkey down!
Woo-Hooo ~ we double-teamed 'em! Now tha'ts what I call team work...
I must be on fire, this year. I got my first-ever deer with a crossbow on 10/02/2004, and 3 weeks later my first-ever Fall turkey. http://www.jesseshunting.com/forums/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/banana-man-yeah.gif
http://www.hillbillyzone.com/images/Jack_Rick_102304_small.jpg