Second week of the season - drove 10 hours south to the Elmvale area to turkey hunt. Arrived in the late afternoon and checked in with the private land owner whose property we have hunted before. She had hunters on it so we couldn’t hunt the following day. She gave us some information on where the turkeys seemed to be roosting and we headed off to do a bit of scouting on the adjacent Simcoe County Forest area.
Set my partner up in a spot where the roosting turkeys would not be far away and then we went looking for a spot for me. Found an old stock pond with 12 – 14 inch hardwoods growing out of it (this area is reforested depleted farmland) with lots of hardwood, and found a good sitting spot under a hemlock.
Arrived back the next AM, dark and early, and set up. Didn’t hear anything gobbling near me but started calling with a slate and a diaphragm call (not really proficient with them – just getting used to it – drove everyone in my office nuts the week before I left).
After an hour, saw three raccoons and a mallard drake dropped into the stock pond – all quiet. Then I caught some movement out of my left eye and there were two jakes running through the hardwoods towards my decoys and ran out right into my tom decoy. Boy they didn’t like that, wheeled 90 degrees and started off again. As soon as the first one came out from behind a maple tree, I shot and there was my first ever turkey (after three years of hunting them). Beard was 11 cm long and weighed about 15 – 16 lbs.
Just after I shot – a tom started gobbling about 100 yards away, so now I know why the jakes were so skittish.
Wasn’t going to meet my partner till ten, so I registered my bird over the cell phone, drove into Elmvale to Timmies for a large coffee, bought a disposable camerea (left mine at home) and a second licence. That afternoon, I called a hen in to his decoys, but no beard. She started calling after she left us and a tom responded, but it was almost 7:00 PM and we were done for the day.
I walked into a big tom later in the week while scouting, he was running and 50 – 60 yards away and I didn’t shoot. My partner had hens around him every day, and the last day a tom was gobbling and coming to him, but stopped about 200 yards away and went silent – never did see him.
We had a great time, saw birds every day but one and deer as well. The hens were really calling the first couple of days that was great, as we have never heard them before – so we could mimic them with our calls.
Looking forward to next year….
Set my partner up in a spot where the roosting turkeys would not be far away and then we went looking for a spot for me. Found an old stock pond with 12 – 14 inch hardwoods growing out of it (this area is reforested depleted farmland) with lots of hardwood, and found a good sitting spot under a hemlock.
Arrived back the next AM, dark and early, and set up. Didn’t hear anything gobbling near me but started calling with a slate and a diaphragm call (not really proficient with them – just getting used to it – drove everyone in my office nuts the week before I left).
After an hour, saw three raccoons and a mallard drake dropped into the stock pond – all quiet. Then I caught some movement out of my left eye and there were two jakes running through the hardwoods towards my decoys and ran out right into my tom decoy. Boy they didn’t like that, wheeled 90 degrees and started off again. As soon as the first one came out from behind a maple tree, I shot and there was my first ever turkey (after three years of hunting them). Beard was 11 cm long and weighed about 15 – 16 lbs.
Just after I shot – a tom started gobbling about 100 yards away, so now I know why the jakes were so skittish.
Wasn’t going to meet my partner till ten, so I registered my bird over the cell phone, drove into Elmvale to Timmies for a large coffee, bought a disposable camerea (left mine at home) and a second licence. That afternoon, I called a hen in to his decoys, but no beard. She started calling after she left us and a tom responded, but it was almost 7:00 PM and we were done for the day.
I walked into a big tom later in the week while scouting, he was running and 50 – 60 yards away and I didn’t shoot. My partner had hens around him every day, and the last day a tom was gobbling and coming to him, but stopped about 200 yards away and went silent – never did see him.
We had a great time, saw birds every day but one and deer as well. The hens were really calling the first couple of days that was great, as we have never heard them before – so we could mimic them with our calls.
Looking forward to next year….
. Many more will come. Keep at it and yo'll learn more and more. That first one is almost like a first piece of tail aint it
