Came Back From My 2009 Spring Hunt On Saturday

Another spring turkey hunt has gone by for me. Yet again I have come back empty handed. It really is a wonder that anyone ever pulls out a Merriam's from public land in New Mexico. The weather was pretty tough this year, but that worked out in my advantage one morning. Usually we get up at about 4:30 in the morning make coffee and head out. If the place is within a few miles that gets us in our set up about 15 minutes before the sky starts to light up from the twilight. Thursday night was really cold. A guy I talked to said the temperature was about 12 degrees. I was cold inside my sleeping bag. I talked to my dad at 4:30 and he wasn't going to get up so I didn't get up either. At 5:15am I heard a turkey gobbling in his tree about a quarter mile from our tent. It was enough to stir me out of the bag. My dad made up his mind already and stayed in his sleeping bag. I worked my way up to about 300 yds of where the turkey was gobbling, but didn't want to get in closer because the lay of the land may have tipped the bird off. I sat and listened to him gobble over and over from his roost. At one point a truck drove slowly up the logging road about halfway down into the canyon. I could tell by the way they were driving that they were listening for birds. They drove back to were the road ended and turned around and drove back. That took them about a 20 minutes to drive the road and neither me nor the turkey made a peep the whole time. The very second that I couldn't hear the engine from that truck in the distance, the turkey started gobbling again (haha). Unfortunately the turkey when he came out of his roost went directly away from my set up. I gave it an hour or so before heading back to get coffee. Just as I was about to head down the hill I heard a hen yelping. I wasn't sure if it was a real hen or my dad down the hill. I yelped back for fun thinking it may be my dad and a gobbler hammered back at me about 100 yds. to the east. I worked my way to a good set up and tried to close the distance between me and the gobbler. I was in a great position but could tell by the gobbles that the bird was hung up. After waiting impatiently for a short time I moved a little closer to where the bird was gobbling and spotted the problem. A cow was standing around munching grass nearby and while I don't think that turkeys are particularly scared of cows I don't think they like to get too close either. To make a long story short, I moved around several times trying to get the turkey to come in closer and ended up seeing the turkey run away into the woods as fast as it's little legs would carry it. Lesson learned: Repositioning is very risky. You better have a good reason for moving and a conservative plan should be in place to minimize the chance of being busted.

(I started this post right after turkey season. Went ahead and finished it up today for posting.

The Smell of the Pines

Last night as I headed out to my car I smelled pine in the air. It was really strange because I live in the Phoenix. I often smell the creosote after it has rained, which is very pleasant, but last night I could smell pine. It was the honey sweet pine smell of Ponderosa forest, either it came drifting down from Mt. Ord 50 miles away or it came to me through the ethereal to remind me of where I wish I was.

Trying Something New

Turkey season is coming up soon and I've been thinking about successful hunting techniques. It is so imperative to be in a good spot early in the morning while it is still dark. Last year, I had what I consider some success in my hunt. I wasn't able to get a bird, but I have the begginings of a new technique that I think long term will really help me be successful. This year I would like to find some more concentrated hot spots like the one where I killed my first turkey. Here is my plan on how I'm going to do it.
First a little background on what I have done in the past and how I think it has held me back a little bit. I have had little to no success "roosting" the birds. Most of the time in the places I've hunted the turkeys don't want to gobble much in the evening, so my morning hunt has always been a bit of a crap shoot and is chosen by turkey sightings while driving around or where I have found fresh sign. I would get settled into a spot well before sunrise and hope that I was in a good location. To some degree I've been lucky and gotten close to roosting turkeys using these methods, but often I've heard no gobbles in the morning or sometimes I'll hear a gobble but way off in the distance. In my mind no gobbles meant that there WAS a gobbler nearby and that he just wasn't gobbling. Also, if I heard one way off in the distance that meant to me that he could hear me and would eventually come to my call. I would be wary of getting up and moving, because I didn't want to disrupt the area that I was in and thereby cause these turkeys to leave.
Well I have found out in the last two or three years that the woods in New Mexico are a big place and an area is likely quiet because there isn't anything there. Second, that turkey that I hear a half a mile away has his own things to do and isn't likely to come running a half a mile to my call. Third, making plans and executing tactics based on what you DON'T see and hear is very tempting, but usually futile. Unless your reaction is to move on, turkeys that you can't see or hear are really hard to hunt. This seems like common sense, but when you have been working your butt off and you have little or no evidence of turkeys in the area, it is very easy come up with scenarios that apparently make your hard work worthwhile.
This year I plan to for sure move toward turkeys that I hear way off in the distance. Then the next morning start where I heard him last and hope he's still nearby. In this way I'll eventually home in on him and hopeful find a new hot spot in doing so.