and a strong cup of coffee

For three days leading up to my turkey hunt, I woke up and looked at the clock to figure out how much earlier I would need to wake up to be at Staci's house on time.  Aside from ticks, the worst part of turkey hunting is the early start time.  The day of my hunt arrived and armed with my coffee, I drove to Staci's house to find some turkeys.  Her husband, John, agreed to be our designated turkey caller. Deer ran through the woods off to our right and a partridge drummed continuously as we walked to our first spot.  The world was waking up all around us but there were no turkeys to answer our calls, so we moved. I spotted the first birds of the morning, a tom fanned out with three hens (or two hens and a jake) so we parked the truck in the next field over and started making our way towards the birds.  Staci and I crawled on our stomachs to the edge of the hill and watched as the tom answered every time John called but it would not cross the field to come tow...

I think overall, I was excited for turkey season.  I really was.  Then May came and we went fishing, celebrated Mother's Day and found ourselves busy.  Dad and I had one morning to head into the woods to hunt. We had moved the blind closer into the woods and the path that   I had seen the turkeys  on when I was deer hunting. We set up the decoys and waited for it to get lighter before I started calling.  I had a box call, slate call, electronic call and a couple of apps on my phone. We called and listened. Called and listened. Called and listened. After a few hours, we made our way to the fields to see if there were birds around. It was quiet as we walked but that didn't stop us from jumping at least three deer and a pair of Mallards who were swimming in a large puddle.   We snuck into the field as best we could and crept along the ridge to see if there were any turkeys eating in the corn fields. Nothing. We called and listened. ...

I just have a feeling that this year will be my year and I will be bagging one of these birds. We moved our blind to a new spot this year and I am hopeful that it will put us closer to the birds than we have seen .  Dad, Hubby and I set it up and put a trail camera out to see if there are any birds around since last spring we saw everything but a turkey. A week later, we went back to tweak a few things and check the camera. On our drive in, two hens ran away from us and into the woods.  That was a good sign!  We parked and pulled everything out of the car and over to the blind and some newly transplanted trees.  I headed for the camera and SD card. I went through roughly 75 pictures of the trees before I came to the first of a handful of deer pictures. Unlike most springs, none of these deer were thin. The extra layer of fat that they put on in the fall was still visible and come hunting season, they should be in great shape and weight!  I kept flippi...

Here is how we got to this point. The two men did not seem to see is and Tim and I tried not to give ourselves away but we were on the edge of the field.  Tim tried calling the land owner because the property was posted and he was supposed to be the only one hunting.  No answer.  We stood there and listened as the two men began calling and waiting for a response.  They were much closer to those two birds who had just been calling back with us.  One gobble and those guys would be headed into the woods. Luckily, those stubborn birds kept quiet.  But the idea of hunters in the area made us question our decision to move on from a spot that we knew had active birds. Tim placing decoys in the field So we carefully crossed the field and got into position along the edge.  Tim called and we could hear the birds within 50 yards of us.  No matter what Tim did, they still did not want to move.  We changed tactics and I sat in the woods while Tim...

As you know, Dad and I saw way more deer than turkey when we attempted to turkey hunt for the third spring season in a row.  It is still a little surreal to think about because our first turkey season ended two weeks before I had O. My schedule was so busy that I had to cancel a turkey hunt with David Hodgkins of Blackfalcon Custom Calls and reworked my schedule to get a half day hunt in with Tim Cote of Cote and Son's Guide Service . I met Tim at 4am and we headed to a spot where he had been the night before.  He knew that there were toms around and he knew which spots they would be in.  It was a perfect set up. Come on turkeys! We sat just over a little knoll with a couple of chairs and bushes helping to keep us hidden.  Tim put out two decoys and we sat there in the earliest light of day and waited.  It did not take long before we heard the first gobble. Then another and another.  We had three or four birds calling before it was truly light eno...

The night before we were going to be heading into the woods, I looked around for my home made box call and slate call and could not find them.  I only had a store bought box call, push call and electronic call.  I have tried and can not use the mouth calls, so those are pointless. I gathered up my camo and got ready for the 4am excursion.  I can't help but wonder exactly why I want to go turkey hunting; it's a season of ridiculously early starts, ticks and warm weather. And ticks!  There is really not much that is appealing about it.  But, Dad and I were going to try to find a turkey.  We started off at the Sky Condo in a ground blind.  We sat and waited. I used the chalked-up box call and the electric call.  I listened and waited.  It was like muscle memory coming back to me since I sit and wait while deer hunting.  I called some more and heard a noise. I motioned to Dad and I watched as one, two, three sets of legs emer...

In search of our turkeys, we walked down this camp road.  It was around noon and there were some great spots to sit and call from along the way.  Right from the start we knew this was an animal haven!  The tracks and scat were all over the place.  Some of the tracks actually surprised us.  A fresh bear track. Check out those claws. Two bear tracks.  A better view of the palm of the paw. It was like Grand Central Station for turkey up and down both sides of the road. Turkey tracks and turkey scat. While we did not see any turkey that day, Brian did call in five Toms the next day.  The great thing about hunting and being outdoors is that you never know what sort of adventures you will have during the day.

I have been thinking about it since Friday.  The gobbling that just got closer and closer, seeing the quick movement in the dense trees and brush just in front of me, that black band across the top of those dark brown feathers and his white head stretching above the blow downs to find that purring hen that he was after.  I could hear the drumming and strutting as he got closer.  Finally, there he was in front of me.  He stepped out, his long neck leading his puffed out body into the slight clearing... The field where we started calling.  Dad and I woke up a little before 2:30am in order to have breakfast and meet our guide, Brian for our turkey hunt.   We got to these fields around 4:30am with just enough light coming up that we didnt need flashlights. Brian knew that there was a Tom around and that it would be a good place to start.   He brought along a blind for Dad and I.  It was raining a little as the first light of the day c...

On Thursday night, before our big outing with Brian , Dad and I sighted in our new shotgun.  We paced out 30 yards and started shooting at our make-shift turkey heads. Dad shooting at 30 yards. Dad's pattern. My pattern. My comment to Dad after I took two shots at this piece of paper: "As long as a turkey comes in from my left, I should be in good shape."  Oh the irony!  Dad and I were confident that as long as a turkey was within 30 yards, we would be in good shape.  I worked on setting the bead in the middle of the gun so that it would not pull to the left.   It was a new gun for us and long - 28 inches but it was comfortable and I was confident that I could shoot it. We went to bed around 8pm so that we wwould somewhat functional when the alarm went go off at 2:30am. What happened next has been playing over and over in my head ever since...

As I write this, I am almost 38 weeks pregnant.  I finished up my first season (more like sample) of turkey hunting with Dad and have found some things are vastly different than then were 22 weeks ago when I was deer hunting. For starters, Dad and I are novices when it comes to figuring out how turkeys operate.  Give me a rainy weekend and I can tell you the times of day that the deer will be moving and when they will bed down.  With these turkeys, that rule doesn't seem to apply; they are out in a complete downpour.  When I make noise by rattling antlers or using a bleet, I know if I am trying to imitate another buck or a doe.  I have no idea what sort of bird I sound like when I use my box call.  In the fall, I can sit in a tree for hours and as long as I dont move too much or make too much noise, I can shoot a deer from 30-100 yards away.  Dad and I learned this spring that not only do you have to be hidden, but you have to be close to those birds ...

Well, we know we are in a good area and that our calls work. We got into the woods by the Sky Condo a little earlier than we did on the first day.  The weather predicted rain so we wanted to get in as much time as possible.  We got to our ground blind, set up the decoys and settled in to start calling.  This morning though, we didn’t have to start anything.  We heard a gobble within five minutes of sitting down.  I got my box call out and called back.  He answered almost immediately.  We had a great conversation for a steady 30 minutes with him often double or triple gobbling.  Then the gobbles became more spaced apart but did not stop.  Dad decided that be would circle down to the power line where we were pretty sure the turkey was hanging out.  We hadn’t been able to get him any closer in the past hour and knowing the area as well as we do, if I could keep him gobbling, Dad could find him and get him. I kept using t...

It is hard to hunt anything when there are rain drops falling off the trees.  It is probably the worst during deer season when everything sounds like the snapping of a branch.  But, this was my first day of turkey hunting and having never been before, I had no idea what I should be listening for besides a gobble. Our turkey decoys Dad and I had two decoys set up about 15 yards away from us.  I had a slate call, a box call and my camo on.  It was starting to get light out when we reached the blind; that time of morning when you can not tell if you really are seeing something move or if it is just your eyes.  It was probably a little later than we should have been in the woods, but we are new and learning. About a half hour after we sat down, I saw a bird fly down.  There was still some ground fog so I could not tell if it was a jake or hen (or tom, but it seemed kinda small).  Dad couldn’t tell either.  I continued to cal...