I'm back
I'm glad I don't set my expectations very high in life or else I'd get real disapointed all the time ;D
I hunted 7000 acres up near Iowa (Deer Ridge in Lewis County) and there was only about 10 other cars on the place. So I pretty much had the place to myself...sort of...
The weather turned out to be pretty good.
Tuesday morning the sun was out and wind was calm until the afternoon. Fishing in 30 mile an hour wind was not fun but I managed to catch about 10 crappie on jigs fishing verticle from the handicap dock.
It started raining at 2:00 am wed morning. It was drizzling a bit at daylight and the rain was over by about 8am.
No birds. On public land, gobblers tend to answer you but either stay where they are or walk the opposite direction. These birds didn't even answer me. All they would do is gobble at eachother so they could meet up. The hens came right in though.
Tuesday I parked and was about ready to get going when someone came flying down the road, parked right by me, got out, grabbed his stuff in all about 30 seconds, and took off down the dirt trail on a RUN.
I thought - man what an idiot
So I got to where I wanted to be before light when I hear a whistle --- that jackass took off like a bat out of hell without even talking to me and we wanted the same spot. I later learned that another hunter came in from another direction and wanted to hunt that same spot at first light.
3 people on 7000 acres and we all wanted to hunt the same spot
So I backed out and walked about 1/4 mile away and listened. There was a couple birds nearby so I went after them. It was getting light fast and there was no place to set up because the woods were so thick. My only option was a tree in the center of this little field. Now I knew better than to try that but it was the only option. And they never gobbled again - they saw me
So I hear some more off in the distance and I went after them. I bet they took me for a mile walk and I never could get in front of them. But I figured out a new spot for wed morning.
Wed it was drizzling out and I went to a new spot where I suspected birds were roosted. I gave a couple hoots and heard nothing (which with the weather that's expected). So I thought I'd just slip down into the woods where 5 ridges all came together and just sit there for a couple hours. I got about 20 yards into the woods, looked up, and saw a bird up in the trees about 50 yards away. I got the binoculars out and thought it was probably a gobbler. It was in range, but I didn't want to take an offhand shot. I needed to get about 5 more yards to a tree and I was going to shoot it off the roost since it's head was all stretched out looking at me. But it didn't let me walk that far - about 1 step from the tree he flew off.
And that was pretty much the morning right there - I did sit down and had a few hens walk up playing around the decoys though.
I have a blind but didn't bring it. Turns out I found a great spot along that field where it could of been placed and I would of probably ended up killing a bird instead of spooking him.
Oh well, I have sunday to hunt still
For us anyway. I always plan on a lot more calamity from one of your trips.... ;D ;D ;D
