Ok I know this will not impress all you slayers but I'm a little pleased with myself. No, I did not kill a turkey today but I was able to narrow things down a bit and I think I'm close. I'm hunting wma and never hear the turkeys make any sound. Today was different and things kinda clicked a little for me I think.
Part 1
I started off in the bend of a road bed that separated mature pines from some 20 footers. At about 6:30 I hear a single gobble. 20 minutes later I hear another single gobble as a squadron of geese fly by. So that's what that sounds like! It didn't sound close though and it came from the opposite direction of what I'd anticipated. My first impulse was to get up and move in that direction but I realized I have no idea how to judge how far away a gobbling turkey is. I stayed put trying to sort out where he was and what I should do. I was thinking about the area and how I might approach if that's what I decided to do. The most direct route was through the 20 footers but I know it's nasty in there and no way to be stealthy. They stretch for a couple hundred yards or so until they meet a hardwood finger. To shorten this up some, I wound up staying put until about 8:30 because I didn't want to bust him out of there if he was coming my way. The wind started coming up and I debated on whether to let him be and go to a big field that I've seen turkeys in before. I decided the odds were too high that I would screw it up so I left him for another day and headed out to go to the field. Well the road I walked in on goes up a hill and I can see the hardwood finger that was in his direction. I can't see down in it, just the tops of the trees. After looking at it, I'm pretty certain I know exactly where he was. Someone correct me if I'm wrong but I don't think turkeys roost in 20' pine trees but I could see the tops of two very mature pine trees about 50-75 yards apart in the middle of the hardwoods and I'm pretty sure that's where he was. So if I'm right I'll need to approach from a different direction but I think I can get him. All of this of course depends on the notion that he will be roosted there the next time I go but who knows about that. We'll see.
Part 2
I get to the field and sure enough there's a single hen out in the middle of the field. So I figure this has to be a learning opportunity for me. I'm just peeking over a little ridge that looks down into the field, maybe 10' or so elevation. I get settled in and I'm watching her through my range finder. She's about 225 yds. So the first thing I want to know is how good is her hearing. I give a single cluck on the mouth call pretty low and watch. I repeat this a few times getting a little louder each time. Finally she raises her head and looks 90* to my left. She heard me but didn't get a true bearing. She goes back to feeding and I rip off a series of yelps plenty loud enough for her to hear. She immediately looks my way and starts making all kinda racket and I shut up. Hot dogg!! She didn't haul a$$ out of the field when she heard me! This may not be a big deal to any of ya'll but for me it's the first confirmation I've had that I can talk to turkeys and not have them head for the next county. Well now I have her attention and she's just talkin' up a storm and I think "great, now what" Well I figure she's chattin' it up so well that maybe some more will show up but I'm not in a shooting position. I need to be in the tree line in the direction she first looked when I clucked loud enough for her to hear. I won't drag this out much further but my take aways from this are that I can talk to a turkey without spooking it and I was also able to successfully reposition to a shooting position (this was about a 500 yd or so semi circle) and ended up with this hen well within shooting range (20yds) and she never knew I was there. Now I just need a fat boy that I can do the same thing with.
So, no turkey, but for me I feel like I took a few steps forward.
