Starting to Figure things out

Now that I have two birds under my belt for my new state I want to do a little more scouting and find a couple more public spots For next season. Work was busy so I only had a couple of days to play with. I marked areas on the map that looked good and checked them out. The first morning I didn’t hear a thing on the roost but while walking around I did see Sign in and at least I knew there were birds around.  While leaving the public peace I saw a real big Tom strutting right next door to the public peace and I marked that spot for another day. Drove to another area and I saw more birds and kept on marking every bird I saw on private pieces. Checked out another spot and didn’t see much so I kept on driving and I kept on marking birds in an area about the circumference of a mile. I ran out of time and had to go home. 

The next morning that I was allowed to hunt was a Friday. Went to a spot in the area where I saw the birds and listened on at High Point again. Around 5 o’clock I heard a faint gobble and it was right on the edge of the public. He wasn’t gobbling much so I gave him a pass and decided to go do some more scouting.  Marked him on my onX maps for another day. I ended up driving around every road near another public place and I was seeing birds. 

Finally, I found a healthy pocket of birds and was comfortable on chasing a bird in this area. I saw a really big bird on a private piece that was about a quarter-mile from a public piece so my brain started turning. There had to be some insubordinate toms around the area knowing that this big guy wasn’t gonna allow them to hang out in his area.  Went home did some work and then did some virtual scouting that evening. Found a perfect public piece that was close to where I saw that big bird. My goal was to go to the highest point on the property and listen. 

It's Saturday and my guts saying that it's going to be a good am. Head to the public piece pretty early so I wouldn't have to compete with anyone. Start walking a trail on a high point and I catch two sets of eyeballs less the 10 feet from me. Turned out to be a porcupine mom with her kid. That was a first for me so I checked them out for a bit. Get to my spot and hang out for a bit waiting for 5 to hit. I faced the direction I anticipated hearing a bird and relaxed for a second. 

5 o'clock hits and right on the dot I heard a faint gobble. I get up and move to an open spot in the woods hoping to get a clearer gobble and the right direction. He gobbles again and it sounds faint but I'm pretty sure the woods are muffling his gobble. I cut down to a trail and hall tail to the bottom about 500 feet. I stop and listen and he's in killable range and I know it's game on. Of course, he's on private and it's going to take some persuasion to convince him to check me out. I marked him at about 500 yards away. That's far but it doable.  I give the bird a test with some light tree yelps and he cuts me off with a facing gobble. I do it again and he cuts me off again. I shut up for a while and realized I was in the wrong spot to convince him and haul his tail to a bench on the other side of the private property. Now I'm about 700 yards from him but he's going to have to look for me now being on an open bench. 

It's starting to get to be that time for fly now. I get aggressive and he gobbles every time. He shuts up and I know he has to be hitting the ground soon. The next time he gobbles he's further away and I cut him off aggressively. The next time he's closer to where I started and I cut him off again. For the next 30 minutes, I played hard to get and he finally he's getting closer and closer To the point that I could feel his vibration in his gobble. At this point, he's 150 and starts to get stubborn so I give him the silent treatment he gobbles about 5 minutes later further away and I cut him off with a couple of yelps and then a Jake yelp. He shuts up and I knew it was going to tick him off. He gobbles closer and I Jake yelp again. 

At this point, he's about 100 yards below me and he's cutting the distance. He's gobbling none stop and I'm just giving him the silent treatment. Then I see him move to my left so I give him some light calls directing my call towards the right and waited it out. He gobbles again and I throw him a Jake yelp and he cut me off. He's ticked and from where he is he cannot see me. For the next 5 minutes, I give home the silent treatment know he is going to have to check me out sooner than later. 

Then I hear what I wanted to hear, loud footsteps in the dry leaves. They are getting closer and closer. I face my barrel where I thought he was going to pop up and made sure that I didn't have any stones in my way from the cobblestone fence that I'm using as a blind. The walking is getting to get louder and then out of know where a chipmunk runs right by me and of course, my eyes follow it. As I'm looking at the chipmunk I see a turkey head stretch out looking at me directionless than 15 yards from me. My barrel is at 12 and he's at my 11. He was close enough that I whip my barrel in his direction and put the red dot on his head. He takes off but he has to check me out one more time and I pull the trigger. Made a good shot and he ends up flopping down the hill and gets stuck in a snag and feather ends flying everywhere. It messy ending but, bird down!!

This one felt pretty good, this bird started over 700 yards away from me and I ended up shooting him at under 15 yards. Heck of an accomplishment. 

Video come soon

IMG_7756.JPG

Exciting off the roost hunt in Connecticut!!

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.


image2 (2).jpeg

On the board!!

Started the season in my new hometown with a bang!!

I've been stuck at playing catch-up with work and missed a week of Turkey hunting. Hey, business before pleasure they say. I haven't even stepped foot on any of the local state lands just virtual scouting and reading into previous years of turkey hunting information. 

Well, yesterday I had a midday window and went for a little walk with my gun and turkey calls. The area I was hunting was very similar to what I've been hunting in WV/MD just more rocks in the landscape. I wasn't finding much sign or habitat that turkeys like. Until I hit a creek bottom 2 miles in. Finally, something Turkey!!! 

It was windy, so I was blind calling anytime I could get a break in the wind. About three blind calls in on the area that looked promising, I heard what sounded like the tone of a gobble. Stopped for a minute and waited for the wind to stop and called again and yep!! I got cut off by a gobble. He was 150-200 yards away and I was caught in the wide open. He had a real low gobble and I didn’t want to mess this one up. I looked around to see where I could set but, Unfortunately being that it was midday, there was no shade and no cover in the area where I was at… About 50 yards in front of me there was a small bluff and that was the only thing around to work with, so I used it for cover. Sat down gave a couple of cuts And the bird cut me off again but this time it sounded even closer. I was Broadcasting my calls to the creek bottom but my gut knew that he was going to go high looking for me. I waited for about five minutes with no response so I started calling again and he cut me off but it sounded like he went high on me. So I decided to go where I heard him last gobble and hope that he'd come back. 

He ended up calling right above where I called first about 150 yards up so I started getting aggressive with the Calling and he couldn’t take it. I ran up a bluff About 50 yards and I just realized how out of shape I was and was gasping for breath, at this time I was hoping that he wouldn't show up quickly because I didn’t want to get caught moving while I was panting for breath. He gobbled again and I cut him off and he double gobbled and he started cutting the distance.  I called one more time and shut up. Finally my breathing was settled down and I was ready to see his bobbing head looking for me. About a minute later I caught movement and he was already in shooting distance.  He was moving from my right to left until he stopped about 30 yards in front of me and I put the bead where the feathers and skin meet and pull the trigger. On the angle that I was at he disappeared and I was hoping that I dropped him in his tracks.  Ran up the hill and there he laid big bird down!

The bird ended up weighing over 22 pounds and had a 10 inch bird with worn-down inch spurs and the longest snood that I've seen. 

Just 2 hours and 30 minutes into my first hunt and I shot a bird!! Looking forward to figuring out some more state land spots.  The walk back was no fun though...



image0.jpeg
image2.jpeg
image3.jpeg

UltimateCamo's Latest test photos

We made some time today to go take a few test photos from the field. This stuff just blends so well!

ULTIMATECAMO-logo.png