Opening weekend adventures

Dani

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Steve and I were lucky enough to pull permits for one of our favored turkey haunts. We've hunted this place during the quota period and out of the quota period for about 9 years now. I'd like to say we're really figuring the place out but it's a place that can change dramatically depending on how much rain we have had. PLUS the turkeys here seem especially good at knowing where we think they ought to be and going somewhere else. They're aggravating and maddening and frustrating and I love em as much as I hate em. Since we've hunted this area for so many years, we've managed to glean a little bit on info about the turkeys in general here. #1....probably the most important....opening weekend is usually VERY quiet, gobble wise. The gobblers all seem to have their harems and have no need to talk. So I didn't go into this weekend expecting much.

Saturday dawned, not surprisingly, very quiet but quite beautiful. We headed into the swamp where we battled with various gobblers last year and listened.



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We wandered. We called. We listened. We did hear a hen a couple of times but no gobbles. We watched flocks of ibis and egrets feed their way through the swamp. Ibis and egrets are not the only creatures that call this place home either.



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We wandered some more. We visited a good late morning spot and sat for a while. We wandered some more. And the GPS and I had issues on the way back to the truck. FL is well marked between properties with fences and that place isn't really large enough to truly get lost, it is still frustrating for me when I am trying to get somewhere and it's not working out the way it's supposed to. Steve eventually took pity on me and got us back to the truck. It was certainly an opening morning adventure...a little exploring, a little turned around, a lotta pretty woods and as I expected, aggravatingly close mouthed turkeys.

The next day we decided that we would go try another place in the woods. We have heard gobblers there, we have had hens fly down into our laps there but we had not yet talked a gobbler into coming home with us. Seemed like as good a place as any to give a try. As the sun was coming up, we sat on the edge of a planted pine field and a hardwood hammock hoping that we could locate a gobbler that we could convince to come visit us.


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It was a lovely sunrise and as we sat there listening to the world wake up I thought I maybe heard a gobble. Waaaaaaaaayyyyy off in the distance, back towards the truck but deeper into the woods. But it was way off and I really don't always trust what I hear. It happened again though. And again. I still was not sure I was hearing a gobbler but I tell Steve anyway and show him the direction I heard it and since he trusts my hearing more than I do, off we went to see if I was imagining those gobbles. We stop every so often to listen but I don't hear anything. Still, we continue on until we're sitting against some pine trees on the edge of another pine field and hardwood hammock, closer to where I thought I heard the gobbler. One of the things that I can always count on during turkey season is a fresh crop of baby hoppers. For some reason seeing big groups of baby hoppers make me smile and reminds me that HEY IT"S FINALLY TURKEY SEASON!!!!!!! That morning was no different.



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I can be easily distracted with little things like baby hoppers when I am sitting against a tree, listening for something that I wasn't sure I hadn't imagined anyway. I called quietly. I called loudly. We sat some more. I called some more and we sat quietly some more. And then I heard it! FOR SURE! It was a single gobble. A long way off still, definitely on the ground but also DEFINITELY a gobbler. We sat some more and I called some more, hoping he would respond but he never did. I guess we spent another ten minutes there while we contemplated what to do. Do we go see if we can find the gobbler or do we go see if we can find one somewhere else? Steve is of the opinion that you never leave a bird you know is there unless you know you have scared him off. That sounded like very smart thinking to me so we set off again into somewhat uncharted territory for us. We know where the roads are in that area and we knew that if we left from where we were we would hit a road and not be lost but we hadn't ever been through that stretch of woods before. It was pretty thick but still fairly easy to walk.

Along the way we ran into a sounder of pigs that were doing some serious grubbing. There must have been some delicious grubs or something in the mud there because we scared them a couple of times and they would come back every time. We watched them for a little while and eventually they hit a point where they could smell us and they scampered off but it was still pretty fun watching them root around in the mud and rub themselves on the cypress knees. Off we continued until we came to a nice burned section of planted pines. We sat down to let the woods quiet down around us. With the pigs running through the woods and my gracelessness, there was lots of noise in the woods. As we sat there my heart went from normal to galloping ahead at a million miles an hour when a crow sounded off and a turkey gobbled at it! Three times! Steve heard it this time too so I KNEW I wasn't imagining things in my hopes to hear a turkey. The bad thing was he was across the burned pine field and the managers did an excellent job burning that stand of pines so there was hardly any cover, except on the far side.

We gathered our stuff though since we figured he was far enough away we could sneak up and close the distance by half or so. I wanted to run up there in my excitement but somehow I controlled myself. We walked from one burned pine to another, watching the field for movement and moving on to the next tree. About half way up the length of the field was a pine that had fallen after the burn so we had a great place to sit....nestled up between the boughs of the pine tree and next to some palmettos. We sat down, got our palmettos all situated and got ready. As we were getting all ready, I thought to myself how cool it would be if this worked because this is essentially the exact same situation I had when I killed my first public land gobbler. When Steve was all ready and in position (this was his bird) I started calling quietly. Since I got no response I hit the call hard and loud. Not long just a few yelps. THAT got an immediate response. I could FEEL him gobble. I waited a couple of minutes and didn't see anything so called quietly again. Again, no response. I tried it hard and loud and lordy did that gobbler like him a noisy hen. And not only did he gobble at us, he was closer!!! After a few minutes more, I hit that call again and he cut me off with some gobbling to let his new lady know he was on his way. I let the call drop from my hands as soon as I saw his big white head coming from behind some burnt baby oaks and fallen pine trees. Shortly after that, Steve saw him and we watched as that gobbler strutted his stuff into us. He strutted, drummed, slicked down and walked a few steps towards us and started all over again. He was on a mission to find his new girl friend. I love it when turkeys cooperate. And I sure love watching a turkey strut through a fresh burned pine stand. Steve made a nice shot at 9 AM and we had our first turkey of the season!!!!!!!! On opening weekend!!!!!!! On a weekend that I really wasn't expecting much!!!!!!!!! All because Steve trusted my hearing when I doubted. His turkey was a stud of a turkey too.



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We sat there basking in the glory of Steve's turkey and riding the turkey high, remembering other turkeys that also worked so beautifully. I guess that one of the locals was curious about all the ruckus that was being made and came to investigate.


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Eventually we decided we ought to get a move on and we headed back to the truck in super high spirits. Turkey season is such a magical time of year.......

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Dani,
Thanks for sharing. Nice write up and pictures. What made the tracks in the mud? and In the last photo with Steve and his bird, is his bird draped over the stump of a blowdown? Is that "white" dirt? some sort of clay?

How many days do you have to hunt yet? Still a good chance for you to fill a tag, hope so?
 
Thanks guys.

Pete, I did indeed get a nice tip.....a sip of mighty fine tequila to celebrate.

Dave, those tracks are alligator tracks. And yup Steve's bird is draped over the stump of a blowdown. That "white" dirt is sugar sand. The ridge we were hunting was once an ancient sand dune and that is essentially pristine sand from what was once a beach. And it goes to show why growing things in FL can be so challenging: there is A LOT of sand in FL and not just at todays current beaches.

Between the two of us, we have all 9 days of the quota period. After that the management area will be open for everyone for 2 more weeks. The FL season will continue for another 3 weeks after that so we'll have to go find another place to hunt if we don't tag out. So there is definitely still time to talk another one or two or three into giving up.
 
Dani
Thanks for the info. I suspected they might be alligator tracks but didn't want to assume. Next time you go to work you can joke with your co-workers about the guy from Iowa who thinks Florida has "white dirt".[w00t] (thought about sand right after I typed clay)
 
Wow, how cool is that! Great reading as I am dreaming of some of the same ( as it snows out, with the wood stove cranking!)
 
Dani,
Love to see the spring time photos. We are just starting to warm a little up here and have some taps in the trees for maple syrup. Spring is a while off. Congrats on the bird I love it when they come in and strut!
 
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