megalomaniac
Well-Known Member
Still sick feeling, not a good way to start my season.
MS opened yesterday, I had to pull a 24h shift at work. Sucks, but it meant I get the following day (today) off. Luckily, the rain yest morn kept other members from hunting the lease and I got 4 hours of broken sleep last night. I got off work at 730 on my 3rd cup of coffee, headed to the lease with the plan of hunting until I tagged a bird. Changed clothes, and left the truck for my first spot a little after 8. Another member was hunting about a half mile away, but he's a food plot camper, so I'd have room to roam.
After only 500 yds or so from the truck, I struck a bird above a side drain that meets a main creek drainage about 150y away. Beautiful woods, a great spot to work a bird. I advanced about 3/4 of the way up from the creek drain with thick stuff behind me, open woods up the ridge, and open woods down to the side drain. Called again, and he crushed it. Masked and gloved up, got comfortable, and yelped again. He gobbled back immediately, but then a hen yelped just after. Crap, game over, he already has a girlfriend. Zero expectations at this point, but I figured I'd see if I could piss her off. And I did, big time. I assume this was the devil hen I heard a few days ago about 600y away, because when I started yelping back to her, she went bezerk. Cutting, whining, yelping in high tones and low tones. And that drove the gobbler bezerk.. Gobble, after gobble, after gobble. And in less than 5 minutes, here she come, her incessant hell raising getting louder and louder as she starts looking for me.
After a couple more minutes, I can hear the tom spitting and drumming, but I can't see either of them... then I pick out the hen coming on a beeline still raising cane at 40 yards. And the top of the tom's tail fan at 60 yards. The two of them keep coming straight to me, and I have a clean shot at the tom at 40 on the same path the hen was on, confirm he is a longbeard, but now the hen is at 15 yards. I decide to wait, let the hen pass, then shoot the tom at 25 yards. The hen crosses into the side drain 6 or 7 yards from me, still yelping, and now the tom is behind a clump of dogwoods that I think are 25. She smells a rat and clucks twice then stops all her yapping. That freezes the tom behind the dogwoods. She doesn't spook, but works silently across the side drain paralleling me. PERFECT I think, I haven't called in 15 minutes, he's going to follow her and step out from behind the dogwood cluster and I'm going to get a slam dunk. She keeps working parallel but away, I still can't see the tom, he's not following. No spitting, no drumming, no nothing. I've got wide open shots to both the left and right of the dogwood cluster, and he hasn't hit either. Is he still there? Did I somehow miss him sneaking off to the side? What the heck to do?
I waited about 15 minutes and I couldn't stand it any longer. I scratched the leaves (hen had worked off to my left side completely) to check to see if he was still behind the dogwood cluster and he hammered back. Great, at least he is still hung up in easy shotgun range. Just need him to step just a foot to the left or right and he's dead. But he didn't step... another 10 minutes go by and now I'm thinking I should just stand up to catch a V in the dogwood cluster and shoot him. But I know he's looking and can probably see me even though I can't see him. I call as quietly as I can, and he cuts me off. Same spot, hasn't moved an inch in the past 25 minutes. At this point I'm actually getting a little dizzy from a combination of not much sleep, 3 cups of coffee, and a resting heart rate that hasn't gotten under 150 bpm for the past 25 minutes. I yelp lightly, and he gobbles and I can just barely make out his head behind the dogwood cluster. Maybe an inch opening, not enough to shoot. Jeez, why didn't I kill him when I had the open shot at 40y earlier? And on top of that, arms are cramping, legs are cramping, I've been at the ready for nearly 30 minutes. Scratch the leaves again, hammers back. After another 10 minutes, I see parts of his head move just a little to the right. I lean over and realize I have a 3in hole between trunks of the dogwood to shoot through if he hits it. A few seconds later, his head and neck are clearly visible between the trunks of the dogwood and I squeeze off.... and he's not flopping... he's hauling ass directly away from me up the ridge????
I run after him, but he's already crested the ridge and cant see or hear him. What the hell???? I go back to where I thought he was standing when I shot and I find no blood, no feathers, no nothing. Follow from there where he ran off... again, no blood, no feathers, no nothing. Went back to where I was sitting and looked where he was standing. Stepped off to the dogwood cluster, they were 30y, not 25. Found a few pellet holes in random leaves in the line of fire and walked away from the line. Finally found a single body feather 50y from where I shot, but it wasn't cut, it was plucked and the quill was intact. Spent another 30 minutes checking the pines he ran of toward checking blowdowns for a wounded gobbler and blood, but found NOTHING.
I still have no idea what happened. When he was behind the dogwood cluster, at no point could I see him with both eyes, so depth perception was off. But I could clearly see his eye when I shot, and usually when I can make out their eye they are within range. I didn't shoot either of the dogwoods (a few pellets, but not the majority of the shot column). The only thing I can figure is that he had worked directly away from me while he was hidden and instead of being in easy range, he was beyond my range.. I just don't know.
Will probably be the best hunt I'll have this year, and one that I'll never forget. Hopefully he makes it (his body was still behind one of the trunks of the dogwood when I shot).
the rest of the day was uneventful... my walk of shame took me 6.5 miles over the next 8 hours. Struck one other bird who gobbled twice, but only after throwing the kitchen sink at him. He was henned up on the property line and I lightly bumped him while repositioning. Time for a glass of whiskey to drown my sorrows
MS opened yesterday, I had to pull a 24h shift at work. Sucks, but it meant I get the following day (today) off. Luckily, the rain yest morn kept other members from hunting the lease and I got 4 hours of broken sleep last night. I got off work at 730 on my 3rd cup of coffee, headed to the lease with the plan of hunting until I tagged a bird. Changed clothes, and left the truck for my first spot a little after 8. Another member was hunting about a half mile away, but he's a food plot camper, so I'd have room to roam.
After only 500 yds or so from the truck, I struck a bird above a side drain that meets a main creek drainage about 150y away. Beautiful woods, a great spot to work a bird. I advanced about 3/4 of the way up from the creek drain with thick stuff behind me, open woods up the ridge, and open woods down to the side drain. Called again, and he crushed it. Masked and gloved up, got comfortable, and yelped again. He gobbled back immediately, but then a hen yelped just after. Crap, game over, he already has a girlfriend. Zero expectations at this point, but I figured I'd see if I could piss her off. And I did, big time. I assume this was the devil hen I heard a few days ago about 600y away, because when I started yelping back to her, she went bezerk. Cutting, whining, yelping in high tones and low tones. And that drove the gobbler bezerk.. Gobble, after gobble, after gobble. And in less than 5 minutes, here she come, her incessant hell raising getting louder and louder as she starts looking for me.
After a couple more minutes, I can hear the tom spitting and drumming, but I can't see either of them... then I pick out the hen coming on a beeline still raising cane at 40 yards. And the top of the tom's tail fan at 60 yards. The two of them keep coming straight to me, and I have a clean shot at the tom at 40 on the same path the hen was on, confirm he is a longbeard, but now the hen is at 15 yards. I decide to wait, let the hen pass, then shoot the tom at 25 yards. The hen crosses into the side drain 6 or 7 yards from me, still yelping, and now the tom is behind a clump of dogwoods that I think are 25. She smells a rat and clucks twice then stops all her yapping. That freezes the tom behind the dogwoods. She doesn't spook, but works silently across the side drain paralleling me. PERFECT I think, I haven't called in 15 minutes, he's going to follow her and step out from behind the dogwood cluster and I'm going to get a slam dunk. She keeps working parallel but away, I still can't see the tom, he's not following. No spitting, no drumming, no nothing. I've got wide open shots to both the left and right of the dogwood cluster, and he hasn't hit either. Is he still there? Did I somehow miss him sneaking off to the side? What the heck to do?
I waited about 15 minutes and I couldn't stand it any longer. I scratched the leaves (hen had worked off to my left side completely) to check to see if he was still behind the dogwood cluster and he hammered back. Great, at least he is still hung up in easy shotgun range. Just need him to step just a foot to the left or right and he's dead. But he didn't step... another 10 minutes go by and now I'm thinking I should just stand up to catch a V in the dogwood cluster and shoot him. But I know he's looking and can probably see me even though I can't see him. I call as quietly as I can, and he cuts me off. Same spot, hasn't moved an inch in the past 25 minutes. At this point I'm actually getting a little dizzy from a combination of not much sleep, 3 cups of coffee, and a resting heart rate that hasn't gotten under 150 bpm for the past 25 minutes. I yelp lightly, and he gobbles and I can just barely make out his head behind the dogwood cluster. Maybe an inch opening, not enough to shoot. Jeez, why didn't I kill him when I had the open shot at 40y earlier? And on top of that, arms are cramping, legs are cramping, I've been at the ready for nearly 30 minutes. Scratch the leaves again, hammers back. After another 10 minutes, I see parts of his head move just a little to the right. I lean over and realize I have a 3in hole between trunks of the dogwood to shoot through if he hits it. A few seconds later, his head and neck are clearly visible between the trunks of the dogwood and I squeeze off.... and he's not flopping... he's hauling ass directly away from me up the ridge????
I run after him, but he's already crested the ridge and cant see or hear him. What the hell???? I go back to where I thought he was standing when I shot and I find no blood, no feathers, no nothing. Follow from there where he ran off... again, no blood, no feathers, no nothing. Went back to where I was sitting and looked where he was standing. Stepped off to the dogwood cluster, they were 30y, not 25. Found a few pellet holes in random leaves in the line of fire and walked away from the line. Finally found a single body feather 50y from where I shot, but it wasn't cut, it was plucked and the quill was intact. Spent another 30 minutes checking the pines he ran of toward checking blowdowns for a wounded gobbler and blood, but found NOTHING.
I still have no idea what happened. When he was behind the dogwood cluster, at no point could I see him with both eyes, so depth perception was off. But I could clearly see his eye when I shot, and usually when I can make out their eye they are within range. I didn't shoot either of the dogwoods (a few pellets, but not the majority of the shot column). The only thing I can figure is that he had worked directly away from me while he was hidden and instead of being in easy range, he was beyond my range.. I just don't know.
Will probably be the best hunt I'll have this year, and one that I'll never forget. Hopefully he makes it (his body was still behind one of the trunks of the dogwood when I shot).
the rest of the day was uneventful... my walk of shame took me 6.5 miles over the next 8 hours. Struck one other bird who gobbled twice, but only after throwing the kitchen sink at him. He was henned up on the property line and I lightly bumped him while repositioning. Time for a glass of whiskey to drown my sorrows
