Tom Foolery

Started by Paul Hoskins, April 28, 2009, 06:17:37 PM

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Paul Hoskins

As I was huffing and puffing my out of shape butt up the back ridge of the farm toward the top and the fenceline, I stopped for a breather after I had only gone 150 yards or so. Now this hillside is no ordinary hillside. The slope is probably 35 or 40 degrees. To me it's at least 60 degrees. Maybe more. At least it got steeper as I walked. .........While I was catching my breath, I looked up at the fenceline to the corner of the field about 300 yards away and there was this big black blob swaggering along like a Roman gladiator. In front of him was three of his 'wimmin folks' to take the heat if things got hairy. This was the theater that was entertaining me at the moment. I dropped the one man blind with the attached folding chair and laid the shotgun on it and shed my backpack to get the binoculars and camera out. I left them at home.
 
Picking my gear up and getting sorted out again didn't seem to bother the entertainers in the least. Only trouble was, they were headed for the same place I wanted to go. Now this complicated matters considerably. I was having to walk uphill and they were more or less walking fairly level ground along the fence. I decided to make a detour around a little ridge out of their sight and cut them off. I made it to an old A frame metal sheep shed close to the fence line and got behind it and dropped my gear and loaded the shotgun. I fumbled around in the backpack and found a call and a blow up hen decoy. (They're the best.) A minute or two later they hove into view about 75 yards away still headed my direction. Now I could almost taste turkey gravy. For some fool reason, I tossed the decoy out that I had blowed up where they could surely see it and started making sweet hen turkey noises. The noises I made would surely break his heart and bring him running. It was my best sweet calls. I even got cavities in my dentures from it. They all stopped and looked my way wondering what was going on. The girls began to get suspicious or jealous but he puffed up big as a Volkswagen and spread his tail. The girls turned and started back the way they came. He looked my way once more and turned toward the hens. I suspect they saw me or smelled me. Now let me tell you something about turkeys. They have eyes situated so they can see 360 degrees at least. Maybe more. Some of this area they can see two or three times. Unknown to wildlife biologist, they have a third eye in the back that lets them see backwards when their tail is in the way. If you don't believe that, try sneaking up on one when he's got his back turned and tail spread. It just don't work. I know. I tried it before. .........Now don't tell me they can't smell either. I've had them come within 150 yards of me and I'm positive they couldn't see me and I made no noise or movement but suddenly they would raise their heads and sniff the air and turn the other way. That's with a cross wind just under a catagory 1 hurricane.
 
After they got out of sight, I gathered my junk up and followed a short distance and set the blind up in a corner dogleg in the fence line. This was a brushy area out of the open field and I ciphered that I would be ready when they came back in the evening. Two inmature hens showed up and checked out the decoys with a suspicious eye. The older ones hadn't showed up at dark when I left. .......I gathered up my decoys and tossed them in the blind and went home empty handed but I saw turkeys. I left the blind there so I would have it ready the next morning. Next morning I got there before 8 am and saw three jakes by the small pond below Ron's 'barn.' I took a few pictures of them from the lane going to the ponds. After that I drove around the big pond and parked the truck at the foot of the 'mountain' and had a cup of black coffee and a blob of cholesterol on a bun I bought at McDonalds on the way down. While I was sitting in the truck with the door open eating junk, I looked back toward the driveway across the big pond and three does were coming to the pond to drink. I took a few pictures of them and finished my sandwich. .............Getting to the blind wasn't any easier that day either. I stopped three times getting there to rest and let my heart settle down some. I set my decoys out and settled in. It must have been 9 am by then. I got my call out and squawked a few times and thought I heard a gobbler answer. I listened a few minutes and discovered what I heard was the German shepard dog across the road from the feed store in Corinth, seven miles away. It's amazing how sound travels across the tops of these high ridges. The rooster I heard crowing was three miles from the farm.
 
After I sat there an hour or so admiring the view, I heard a slight noise by the blind. I reached around and pulled the half unzipped flap of the side window down like peeking through the quarter moon on the outhouse door and there was an immature hen piddling around in the weeds and brush by the blind. I got a picture of her but it's very difficult to see her in the brush. Iffin you look at the center of the picture I'll post, you can figure out her head and neck if you're a hunter. Later this dumb hen came out on the other side of me behind a woven wire fence and spent twenty minutes trying to get through the wire. She stuck her head through the same hole fifteen times. Not overly bright. ..........I got tired of sitting there watching jaybirds and such and packed it all in. I didn't get a turkey but I sure had fun trying. The show isn't over till the fat lady sings and season is open till May 10th here. ..........Good luck to all you turkey hunters out there. Just don't try sneaking up on a gobbler from behind. I'll attach a few pictures I took of the view mostly after I brought my camera. .......Paul H

Paul Hoskins

A couple more pictures I had to work over to get them smaller.

bowhunter 51

Great write-up, Paul..........Most entertaining!.........Ya'll got some pretty
country up that way...surprizingly open ground to be pulling turkey as
compared to what I deal with here....It's been so windy (15 to 30 mph
gusts) and rainy, I've had little opportunity to turkey hunt, much....fish
either........Really enjoyed it...wished I'd been there...........................BH51....
**********God Bless America**********
>>>>-----------Live to Hunt--------------->>
>>>>-----There is no off season--------->>

Daryl (deceased)

Good story telling, Paul.  Wish I could have been there.
 
Like BH said, it's sure pretty country.  A lot greener than around here.
 
Daryl
A government that abrogates any of the Bill of Rights, with or without majoritarian approval, forever acts illegitimately, becomes tyrannical, and loses the moral right to govern-Jeffrey Snyder
 

RIP Linden33

rockinbbar

Great write-up!

I've not had time this year to get a tom. :(

Barry
Remind yourself often to SEE not just "look".

buckshot roberts

:biggthumpup: Paul good post and pics...how do you like the blind-chair set up...outhouse blind is getting old....it's got holes in it from were chimpmunks were trying scurry up it...........not had much luck so far myself....Ron
We got too complicated......It\'s all way over rated....I like the old and out dated way of life........I miss back when..

gitano

Great pics and story Paul!
 
Is it legal to shoot turkeys with a rifle in Kentucky? ;)
 
Paul
Be nicer than necessary.

davidlt89

Heck of a story, just goes to show sometime there can be quite a story even when we don't shoot anything!
QuoteI set my decoys out and settled in. It must have been 9 am by then.
Wow, I am usually set up by 4:30am, by 9 most of turkeys have headed back into the woods and are nesting, fields are usually bare. It is funny how hunting can vary from state to state. Your terrain looks a lot like ours up here in Maine (nice and green).
Keep at it Paul! I am headed downstate sunday to Gray, ME with a couple clowns from my church who have never turkey hunted before. going to be real interesting. God Bless.[/B]
Romans 12:2
     
2 Don't copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God's will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.

Alboy

#8
Good reading, I agree with the third eye and being able to smell. they know all about geometry and ballistics too.
Alboy
BLACKPOWDER WATERFOWLER
KATY TEXAS PRAIRIE
 
THIS TOO SHALL PASS

buckshot roberts

It's illegal  for turkey hunters to use or carry a handgun or rifle in kentucky........Ron
We got too complicated......It\'s all way over rated....I like the old and out dated way of life........I miss back when..

Paul Hoskins

Thanks guy's. I haven't been able to get out turkey hunting much. It's been so rainy even the turkeys are miserable. The wind was blowing hard the two days I was out. It's probably just as well I didn't have a shot. The way the wind was blowing, it would probably blowed the pattern off fifteen feet at 20 yards.  This particular farm my buddy in Maine and I lease for deer hunting is mostly open fields. There is 16 acres of woods on it. All the adjoining farms are overgrown or woods. We hunt the edges and do a bangup job of killing deer. The turkeys and deer almost always travel on our side of the fences where it's open. It's a pretty neat setup because we can hide along the edges in weeds and brush and varmints don't have  a clue till it's too late. We get lots of shots out to 300 yards too. Most of my shots are under 200 yards. We have been holding our kills down to half a dozen or so deer a week. One year we had 16 deer to dress out. That was a bummer. Too much work and not enough play.  
 
This fall I'm looking foreward to hunting turkey with the crossbow my girlfriend bought for me. I have figured out a system to **** it with a cable and pulleys. I can't **** it as is because of shoulder problems. It has a red dot sight on it. Should be fun.   ...........Paul H

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