Turkey Season/ May 13th 2012

May 13

Well, today would turn out to be a bust! After reluctantly awakening at 3:30 a.m., I convinced myself to journey south, to possibly chase some longbeards. Now to say “convince”, I am currently at about 4 weeks straight of getting up at or prior to 4:30 a.m. This, coupled with working 6 days a week, has seemed to take its toll on me as of late. This week (last couple days) have been extremely difficult, as a sore throat and flu symptoms, have really got me down. And, to top it off, I am loading my truck in the darkness, when I was welcomed by a nice light rain! Anyhow, not only did I “convince” myself to go, I had made a previous commitment to my hunting partner.

I arrived at my partner’s house a little early, 5:10 a.m. After messing around with his new puppy, for 20 min., we decided that the seemingly massive green and red on the radar, looming to the west of us, was not going to make the morning of chasing birds very pleasant. And, I had no the slightest of hint of rain protection in my truck. So, we trekked across the field to our fail safe blind location, situated on his place.  

Once at the blind location, we patiently waited in the pre-dawn for the songbirds to awaken. After sometime, we began to try a few soft calls mainly to locate any would be suitors. Well, after several feeble attempts, nothing. So, with rain off in the distance, we hunkered down for what ended up being a long sit!

This location historically is a travel route for the birds, coming from the roost, up to the field. This was just a waiting game and a way to stay dry. Well, the morning crept on and no birds were to be heard. Eventually, several lone hens traveled through, with no other birds in sight. Later, a Jake had made his way up the logging road. He approached our decoy setup and suddenly became wary, possibly of the other Jake (decoy) in his territory. After 5 min. or so, he wandered off. The morning would continue with much of the same. Several more groups of Jakes would pass by, but nothing we were wanting to harvest. After a pretty lengthy lull in the action and a constant rain setting in, we decided to call it quits after 4. hours in the blind.

The season is quickly coming to an end, with only having one more Sunday to hunt! This upcoming weekend will test my dedication to Turkey hunting. As the lack of birds this year, along with another painstakingly (pre) 4 a.m. wake-up, will have me (once again) trying to “Convince” myself to go!