Boyscout
04-26-2014, 10:56 PM
I didn't make the shot but I did make the scratch box I used and another regular to the camp site made the Sassafras/Sycamore box call. It has been six years since I pulled the trigger on a bird although I had called a few in for others in that time.
Opening day was pretty exciting as I got to work a trio of longbeards twice over the course of about four hours. Each time I was cut off by psycho hens and finished the day with nothing to show for it other than a good story. The second day I couldn't buy a gobble.
On Friday morning I woke up to a light rain and high winds. To add insult to injury, my plans for the morning were cancelled due to a large tree toppled over the road going to the part of the State Forest I had planned to hunt so I had to settle on Plan B.
I prefer not to hunt from a blind but it was raining so I carried it in and set up in a place I hadn't hunted in more than 15 years. I used my scratch box when the wind was down and the box call when the wind was up. By 10:30 I had still not heard a thing and was getting a little discouraged but was confident I was in a travel route for gobblers cruising the ridge tops for unbred hens late in the moring. At about 10:45, I thought I heard a few widely spaced "locator" clucks which I have seen and heard gobblers use before. As I looked hard past my decoys for the source I caught movement at 11 o'clock and had to reach for my gun which I had leaned against the blind to keep the wind from lifting it off the ground. By the time I got in position to shoot, he was at 9 o'clock 10 yards out. At 10:54, my season was over. He weighed 23 lbs, 19 mm spurs (2 yr old), and a 9" beard. It felt good to end my six year drought. I don't know if I invented the phrase "Locator Cluck" but I have never heard it mentioned on any DVD's I have watched or read about it in any articles. I guess silent birds don't make for good video. And watching guys like me call, cat nap, call and shoot wouldn't sell as well as run-and-gun on private leases.
103313103314103315
Opening day was pretty exciting as I got to work a trio of longbeards twice over the course of about four hours. Each time I was cut off by psycho hens and finished the day with nothing to show for it other than a good story. The second day I couldn't buy a gobble.
On Friday morning I woke up to a light rain and high winds. To add insult to injury, my plans for the morning were cancelled due to a large tree toppled over the road going to the part of the State Forest I had planned to hunt so I had to settle on Plan B.
I prefer not to hunt from a blind but it was raining so I carried it in and set up in a place I hadn't hunted in more than 15 years. I used my scratch box when the wind was down and the box call when the wind was up. By 10:30 I had still not heard a thing and was getting a little discouraged but was confident I was in a travel route for gobblers cruising the ridge tops for unbred hens late in the moring. At about 10:45, I thought I heard a few widely spaced "locator" clucks which I have seen and heard gobblers use before. As I looked hard past my decoys for the source I caught movement at 11 o'clock and had to reach for my gun which I had leaned against the blind to keep the wind from lifting it off the ground. By the time I got in position to shoot, he was at 9 o'clock 10 yards out. At 10:54, my season was over. He weighed 23 lbs, 19 mm spurs (2 yr old), and a 9" beard. It felt good to end my six year drought. I don't know if I invented the phrase "Locator Cluck" but I have never heard it mentioned on any DVD's I have watched or read about it in any articles. I guess silent birds don't make for good video. And watching guys like me call, cat nap, call and shoot wouldn't sell as well as run-and-gun on private leases.
103313103314103315