After my first successful hunt in Connecticut, things change for the worse… Being new to the state I wanted to find other areas to hunt so I would have several different places rather than just throwing my eggs in just one area. Unfortunately, after scouting 8 different pieces of state land that were close to the house I was not finding anything close to a Turkey. No turkeys at all… l didn’t hear turkeys, didn't see turkeys and didn’t see anything close to a fresh sign… I was getting frustrated and realized that I’d have to drive further from the house and I started virtually scouting pieces that were around an hour plus from the house.
Fast forward to the interesting part of my hunts. I had two days to play with and I Found some spots that looked like they could hold turkeys unfortunately that was not true and didn’t hear a thing at my first spot and didn’t see or hear a thing at the second spot of my first am. The third spot looked like what I was looking for. The terrain was consistent and was Loaded with white oaks and beach nuts. I had this gut feeling that I finally found a good spot. While walking in I would blind call before every High Point or Ridge. I got onto a flat that looked good and I made a couple of cuts and heard what I thought was a gobble. Sat there for a second and he gobbles again!! Game on!! The woods were so dry and noisy enough that there was no way that I was going to be able to sneak into his bubble but, somehow I cut over the ridge and he’s only 80 yards away on what turned out to be a very nice oak flat. I got pretty aggressive with the bird and he would double triple gobbling on everything that I threw at him and then I shut up for a while. After about 2-3 minutes he gobbled but he was further away. I decided to go to where I saw him last and set up. While I was setting up he gobbled and he was less than 50 yards from me but on the hillside right below The bench that I was on. I did some light yelps and some soft purring and scratched the leaves. He gobbled and was getting closer and I shut up and waited him out anticipating a head to pop up. The next time he gobbled he’s probably 100 yards away. At this time I’m thinking that he’s with a hen and she doesn’t like me. We end up playing this game for about an hour and he would never get into shooting range. I was able to hunt the next morning so I marked the spot and made a trail on my onX maps to get there first thing in the morning.
Got up at 2:30 left the house at 3 knowing that I wanted to get there first and luckily for me I did. It was a pretty warm morning but nice and quiet, the ground was noisy as all get out though. Crunching through the woods was an understatement… The area that I was hunting was a wide-open oak flat that had fresh signs everywhere. These birds could see easily 300 yards through the woods on this bench. As I’m walking through the woods in the dark everything looked totally different and I started second-guessing myself that I’m getting too close to where I need to be. I knew that I was at least 200 feet where I needed to be and I decided to stay put until It got a little lighter. I had a nice rock break in front of me to cover my silhouette if I needed to move left or right of the location.
It’s a little before 5 o’clock and the birds have been tweeting for a little bit and then I heard my first gobble. He was about 300 yards to my left, right on the private border. Lucky for me I was on the Higher ground from him. He was roosted on the hillside of this long bench that I was on. For at least what felt like five minutes I was moving back-and-forth in about 50-yard perimeter trying to find a perfect spot unfortunately, it was wide open and I really couldn’t find A spot that gave me a good cover. I settled for some young hemlocks that had some good cover to the left where I was expecting the birds to come from. I put a decoy out just because it was wide open and I knew that it would be hard for me to pull in a bird when he wasn’t going to be able to see a thing related to a hen.
During this time he’s been gobbling nonstop he’s been sounding pretty hot and sounded like he wants to play the game. It’s now around 530 and I’m feeling that it’s about time To test the waters with a couple of tree yelps. I do a couple of really light sounds and he faces me and gobbles. I do some more light calling and he gobbles some more. Game on!! I waited a couple of minutes and he’s still gobbling nonstop, I called to him a little more and he was eating up everything. For some reason, I decided to do a fly-down cackle just to see what happens. I pull out a turkey wing that I never use from my vest and do a fly-down cackle and listen, he double, triple gobbles. 30 seconds later A hen about 50 yards from me that I did not realize was there, flies down to the bottom of the private land. My heart sank for a second thinking that I just screwed the pooch. Right after the hen flew down I started getting a little aggressive and the Tom was still facing me gobbling nonstop. For the next 10 minutes, I periodical would do some scratching in the leaves and some light purrs and clucks and then I just shut up. This whole time he was gobbling nonstop and I felt that he needed A little break from me. What felt like forever was probably just about 10 minutes. I called one more time and then he shut up. At this time I knew that I was either in the game or he was gonna fly away for me, I was ready!! I yelped a couple more times lightly and just waited. The next thing you know I see a bird glide right down to the hillside of the bench that I was on, landing about 100 yards for me. I get ready and cock back my hammer on my single shot and waited for this tom to come my way. I Started hearing a Jake yelp right from where the bird landed and then I started hearing some nervous clucks. In the corner of my eye, I see a bird get on top of the bench with me and it was a bigger bird, At this point, he was about 50 yards away. I could hear spitting and drumming, it was the Tom and he had a white head. The Jake in front of me was sounding pretty nervous fortunately the Tom was still spitting and drumming and walking right to me looking at the decoy. At this time he’s about 40 yards and in shooting range, he ends up walking in full strut right up to the decoy with Jake about 30 yards behind in front of me. The Tom Is now right in front of me wanting to beat up the Jake and I couldn’t take anymore, he lifted his head real quick and I Put the red dot on what I thought was his head and pulled the trigger. He drops in his tracks with a puff of feathers behind him. The Jake didn’t like what was going on and took off.
Bird down!!!
He was a mature bird that had almost an inch and a half spurs and still weighed over 22 pounds. While dressing him I realized that he had been shot before and his whole breast was scabbed from what turned out to be BBs.
Video coming soon so you can see it with your own eyes.
You’re supposedly allowed to shoot five birds in one day in Connecticut for some reason. I feel like that’s way over what it needs to be. I’ve hunted in quite a few other states that had a lower bag limit and I would see much more signs, birds, and would hear a gunshot or more each day. I’ve been out for several mornings and the only gunshots I’ve heard are the two that I’ve taken. A five bird limit in the springtime and a five limit in the fall on either state or private is a great way to ruin your turkey population. Hopefully, this changes soon for the good.
