Timed It right

I had an eye on this nice-looking eight-pointer around the area I can hunt. I had him on my cameras several times and even had a chance at him last season. These Bucks up here in Connecticut Are not consistent but they can be scheduled. This buck showed up the same time this year as last and I also have an even bigger buck that does the same thing just haven’t met up with them yet.

First November shows up and this big guy starts marking up his territory and hitting every one of my mock scrapes all at night though. The temperature starts getting cooler and I know it’s time to try after him. The first hunt a hunted A travel corridor, set up downwind from two scrapes that are about 100 feet apart.

The temperatures are in the 60s and I’m expecting late movement. It’s about 430 and I’m at the base of the tree about to put my first climbing stick on the tree when I see antlers walking right to me. Turns out to be a tall 2 1/2-year-old eight he gets downwind of me and bolts. Thought to myself “that’s a good start”.

Now it’s about an hour before sunset then I decide to rattle. Three minutes later here comes a mature doe looking for where the rattling came from and stands 25 yards from me looking for about a good 15 minutes. At this time I have about 15 minutes of legal shooting (sunset in CT) time and this doe is still hanging out. I see her looking behind her and here comes the same tall eight-pointer who starts chasing her around. He ends up chasing her off and the next thing you know here comes a fawn bleating to me And again stops in the same area. At this point, legal shooting time is over And I can’t do anything because I have a yearling next to me and the eight-pointer is back.

I’m watching these two and I hear something loud walking through the leave. this big-body buck stomps his way in at about 30 yards snort wheezes and then walks off. It’s dark now but the eight-pointers won’t leave and the big buck which turned out to be the eight comes back gets to about 20 yards. Steps up onto his hind legs and knocks down a tree and starts destroying it for the next 10 minutes. After that, he decides to walk underneath me and stop at 10 yards. By far one of the coolest experiences I’ve had in the woods seeing a giant doing his work up close and personal range.

Fast forward to election day the temperatures have dropped and it’s time to hunt in the mornings. I go to the same travel corridor and set up about 100 yards from where I hunted the other night. Gotta love mobile hunting!!

The Sun rises and I have a couple of does run my Way and I was wondering what was going on. Here comes a decent eight-pointer that probably scores around 115, it had a light fur coat and looked old. I watched him for a while and he ends up bedding at about 35 yards. He looked back where he came from and walked back into the boggy thicket. I see him getting all bristled up and then I see a big boy about twice the size of him doing the same thing.

At this point they are about 80 yards away from me and it looks like they were just waiting for does to walk by or the big boy was tending. I decided to grab my grunt calls and started Doing a tending bleed and then grunting. Both bucks look my way and start heading right toward me. They cut the distance quickly and the next thing you know The older smaller eight is right underneath me with the big eight in tow. The old looking buck gets startled when he gets downwind from me and both Bucks stop. The big one, of course, is behind me at my 7 o'clock behind a tree 30 yards quartering from me. Then behind me, a doe shows up out of nowhere and the old buck starts chasing her in front of me from my left to right while the big buck watches both of them. He stands there for a good five minutes and then starts moving to where the buck and doe are headed. I have two shooting lanes and then after that, a beach tree branch takes over. At this time he’s at about 25 yards with a slight quartering too I attempt to pull back my bow and all you hear is this boing sound! Buck bolts about 10 yards and stops at about 35 and starts making a scrape and I have no shots. I couldn’t believe it my stinking cable Popped off of my cable guard. Buck makes another scrape and just walks off.

I watch the two bucks push the doe around and then I see them going to the hillside and I assumed they bedded down for the afternoon.

I quietly get down and decide to make a plan for the evening hunt. My goal was to get to the right where the bucks were when I first saw them early in the afternoon. Found a tree got set up and ready and slowly snuck out.

With the wind in my face, I slowly sneak back into the woods at about 2:30. Get settled in the stand anticipating some action. It's about 3 and I see a doe slowly browsing my way and then beds down in a laurel type of bush. The next thing I see is a young 8-pointer on the same trail. I watch him in my video camera sniffing the trail the doe was using. The buck stops and stares down to where the doe is bedded and for some reason, he doesn't move and is just staring down the hill. In the corner of my eye, I see a rack!!

Here comes the big boy walking right to me. He stops right in front of the doe and starts looking for her. He scans the area and catches her move and he starts chasing her around and she takes off. He then starts walking right back to me. I get the camera set to the scrape where I assume he is going and get ready.

You can hear him walking through the crunchy leaves and he's doing exactly what I thought he was going to do. The buck walks to the scrape and starts to sniff the ground. I pull back settle the pin for a 22-yard shot and let the arrow fly. The buck tries to duck and the arrow hits high and he drops in his tracks. I grab another arrow and make another shot.

At that moment I was very disappointed with the shot placement and could not understand what happened. I was happy that There was no track job though just wish it didn't have to end that way.

I go grab my son and we check out the deer together. By far the biggest bodies buck I have ever taken. The body looked like it came from Canada. All around a great deer and we both admired him for a while. He was my first buck in my new home state and was well worth waiting for.


Buck dressed out at 208 pounds

Grossed 130 and change.




Another Great Hunt!!

Well, this morning started out cloudy and damp. Didn't hear a single gobble as daylight brightened. By 6:30 I had not heard a single turkey noise. I decided to stay until 7:00, then pick up and try another spot.

At 6:55 a train was coming by about a mile away and blew its whistle. Immediately a tom gobbled out in the field beyond where I could see. I yelped with my mouth call and got an instant answer. In a couple of minutes, I could see two white heads heading my way on the other side of the fence row.

The birds took their time checking out the strutter decoy I had out. Eventually, they came through the fence row and confronted the decoy. I watched for a couple of minutes while they circled the decoy. I took the larger of the two birds, even though he had only a 2-inch stub for a beard.

He was a 22.4 lb. bird with 1 3/16 spurs, and a 2-inch stub of a beard that had beard rot. He was the second "limb hanger" in three days.

-David Zielke-

Let it green up

The beginning of the season up north looks like winter in the Woods making it a challenge to chase birds with it wide open. I had some history with a bird and cannot make it happen because the woods Word to wide open to make moves on him.

Finally, the wood started green up and decided to make my move. I’ve already hunted two days are in a row and with late game softball and the kids I started getting run down. Thought I set the alarm but woke up at 5 AM… When I was supposed to be up at three… I didn’t panic just because the place was close by and I had everything ready to go. Got dressed poured some coffee and headed out. For some reason, I wasn’t anxious because I knew I still had a chance. The only thing I was hoping that there was nobody at the parking lot where i wanted to go.

I arrive at the park lot on a Saturday to my surprise there was nobody there. Get my UltimateCamo on and start figuring out where I want to go. The next thing you know I hear a faint gobble pinpoint it. The bird is actually the bird I am after but he’s on the side of the mountain that’s private. Mark him on my onX and did my 2 mile walk around the public piece to where the bird was gobbling. 

I get there about an hour later and of course he shut up, but I knew he was there somewhere close. Get out my wing bone call and throw out a couple cuts and he gobbles unfortunately he was all the way down in the valley on the private side at about 800 feet, I’m at 1300 feet. I messed with him for about a half an hour with him constantly responding to me just wouldn’t move. 

It’s about eight right now and I have a Jake and I hen that start getting into the conversations. The hen starts responding to me and the Tom starts heading her way. I thought I needed to make a move and get onto her level which was about 1000 feet and the far corner of the public piece was about the same.

I get to a nice little flat and see some scratching there and take a seat. Grab my bag of Lucky charms and start munching. It’s about 15 minutes later and I decide to bring two girls into the equation and a drunk Jake. I got the two girls to start bickering and fighting. The Tom Gobbles Right where I started… Lucky for me it was a easy Sneak to cut the distance in half. This time the Tom is gobbling and the hen that he picked up was with him and they were both looking for my group of birds.

At this time, they are at about 1300 feet and I get to about 1250 on a nice bench rate below them. The Tom is under 100 yards and I can hear him spitting and drumming. I make one call with my mouth call and he Gobbles with the hen responding right behind him. I shut up hoping that he heads my way. At this time, I’m facing uphill and the only way I’m going to be able to shoot him is if the tom pops his head over the side of the bench that he’s on. His spitting and drumming is getting more intense and the hen is also getting closer. At this time, he’s under 30 yards and I cannot see him but I know that he’s at my 11 o’clock with my barrel pointing at 12 up the hill. The next thing you know at the corner of My eyes I see a head extend up at about 1 o’clock. He extends over the hill and realizes nothings there and slowly goes back. I slide my gun, over take my time and put my bead on his head and pull the trigger.

Smacked him in the head at about 15 yards!

The Tom turned out to be a true monarch Weighing over 23 pounds 1.25” worn down spurs. This guy probably ran a roost here for several years. Thanks to a hen, he went for a #turkeytoteride with me. 

Fooled me once

Fool me once

This past Thursday I the green light to go chase some turkeys. I started of the morning going after a bird I had some history with. It started off like I was in a perfect scenario and knew I had a chance. The bird was gobbling good on the roost and then all of the sudden he just shut up…  He ended up flying all the way down to the neighboring field and never said a peep the rest of the time I was there. My only guess is that there were other hunters trying cross the hollar and the turkey busted them being that it was still wide open.

I decided to go prospecting and went to a new piece of public (for me) only drive by a tom right on the side of the road with a hen right next to the public piece. Drove up about 150 yards and parked took my time and started looking for a spot to work this bird. I messed with him for about an hour and he didn’t budge. The bird ended up spooking thank to a guy that parked fifty yards closer whaling on a box call and mouth call. The guy ended walking by me, and I gave him my two cents. He was apologetic just couldn’t understand how he did not see my vehicle… The morning was done, and I went home and worked.

With another green light to hunt I went tom the same place with the intentions to have another encounter with the tom that was living on the edge. Went to a high spot to listen only to hear a bird gobble all the way on the other side of the hollar. I had a decision to make go after a bird that is deep on public or try after a bird that had a pretty private field to hang out all morning.

Well, I went to go see if grass was greener on the other side. After crossing 3 creeks, two finger ridges, two thick mountain laurel thickets, and finish walking straight up the last 500 yards. Only to get to where I had the bird marked and not hear a peep…  I sat there for 30 minutes and didn’t hear a think... I decided to go mess with the other bird and headed back only this time I tracked my way back an easier route.

I got back to my vehicle and struck the bird on my first owl hoot. He was on a food plot on the neighboring property. I messed with him for an hour, and he knew where he was safe and didn’t budge. I decided to go prospecting and found out where the bird went that I heard in the am. I drove around to the other side and walked in about 2 miles looking for any turkey sign. I found potential spots and things started to look more turkey the closer I got to where I had pinned the bird on the roost. I get to a high point and throw out a couple cuts with my slate call only to have a chicken on the neighboring property respond and then another and then I heard what I was looking for. It was a gobble!! And he was under 200 yards!!

He was less then 200 yards from where I had him marked from him gobbling on the roost. He couldn’t hear me because he was on the other side of the mountain slope. I sneak down to a big, wooded bottom and set up on the backside of little finger ridge. A called with my slate again and he ate it up called with my wing bone and he ate it up. It sounded like more than 1 tom, and they were right on the border on private. Messed with them for about 10 minutes and they didn’t budge with them slowly drifting away from me.

I knew I had to make a move and the boundary lines were working for my side. I circled around to get Infront of them and ended up getting in their bubble under 60 yards, about 40 yards on private. This time I call and scratch in the leave and they eat it up again and finally I see bits and pieces of them. I have my back to the boundaries line facing my gun barrel at 2 if my back is 6. To my left is a steep bluff and I knew my only chance is to call them back to my right. At this point I’m 20 yards off the line and the birds are in shooting range but are on private. I do some light purrs and some leave scratching and here they come. I envisioned me getting a double with my single shot for a second until reality kicked in…

My back is to the tree facing public with my gun pointed at 2 with the birds to my right on the other side of the tree at my six.. they wouldn’t budge.. they were less then 20 yards spitting and drumming looking for the hen that they can’t see. I slowly look to my left and see the boundary mark and knew that they were on public and got into F-it mode. Its either I make a move or they were headed back to the private piece. I move my gun to my left and got away with it. I slowly spin around and I hear a put. Whip the gun around the tree and pull the trigger and the middle of three birds white heads that’s at 8 yards. He drops and I scramble to get another shell only to notice that the other two birds had 6-inch beards… yep… I got fooled… These guys sounded better then some of the toms I’ve shot. Either or, it was a fun hunt and don’t regret pulling the trigger. I have two aggressive toms to mess with next year.

 

 

A Monarch in "the Turkey woods"

It was a beautiful morning out in the "turkey woods" today. There was a lot of bird activity early, but not where I was sitting. At about 10:00 I watched two big birds walk away across a small swampy area about 500 yards away. They ended up on a narrow grass strip between the swamp and some large spruce trees. After they were out of sight I picked up and went over to the swamp edge. I found a big tree about 30 yards into a woods that borders the swamp and a trail that followed a fence line.

Shortly after I set up the two toms started gobbling quite often. They were working their strut zone along the narrow grass strip. They were totally out of sight because of some thick willow brush. A hen came by me at about 15 yards and it sounded like the gobbling was getting closer. At one point I caught sight of one of the toms sneaking through the willow brush. He disappeared behind a small rise, but never showed up again.

The gobbling stopped for a while and when I heard it again they had moved off several hundred yards. About 20 minutes passed and I heard two gobbles coming closer. It then went quiet again. 20 minutes more passed and I caught movement to my right. Those toms had come across the swamp without me seeing them. I wasn't sure if they would pass close enough for a shot. When the bird got behind a larger tree between us I quickly scooted over to the tree cutting the distance by 10 yards. I got up as I heard an alert put and got my red dot on his head when he stopped. He went down on the shot and his twin brother scampered across the grassy swamp.

This tom had some of the biggest spurs I have ever taken. 1 1/2 and 1 3/8 inches. He was 22 lbs. and had a 10 1/4-inch beard. The property owner said this is one of the birds they have been trying to get for the past 4 years. I feel very blessed to have taken such a beautiful trophy bird.

-David Zielke-

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