The season's last bird

Last ditch effort to salvage a turkey season. Not the best way to do this, but it can work. Maybe...

Two gobblers crossed the road ahead of the car as my neighbor and I headed for town and a dental appointment. Both birds had long beards, and were traveling together.

I've thought of them the last few hours. They were heading for a distant woodlot, and it's likely they will roost in those woods tonight. Would it be possible to call one in on the last day of the spring turkey season?

It would be a last-ditch effort. My computer has been messed up for three days, and we think the system got zapped by lightning. Who knows what caused the problem, but until today, turkey hunting has been the farthest thing from my mind.

I'm thinking of making an early-morning foray to the woodlot tomorrow. I can get close by sticking near a combination fence line-hedge row, and maybe I can pinpoint their roosting location. If so, there is a chance this late in the season that one or the other will come to the call.

It will be a quick in-and-out hunt. Approach closely, work into position under cover of darkness. sit still and whisper a love-sick hen call at dawn. I'll give them a chance to gobble if they choose to, but if they don't make a sound, I'll see if I can stir a gobble or two out of them. If that doesn't work, I'll be ready for one to come sneaking in to the call.
It's highly likely they won't be there. I should be out right now trying to roost the birds, but computer problems have messed up my schedule. I've just seen too many situations where the birds can travel a mile or two in the last hour or two before dark.

These Toms have been around here all season, and some hens have already had their little feather-ball babies, so perhaps a gobbler or two will come to visit a sexy-sounding hen. And again, maybe they won't move my way at all.
It will be me, light-weight camo clothing, camo hat, face mask, brown gloves and my Remington Model 870 3-inch magnum 12 gauge shotgun stoked with No. 5 copper-plated shot.

If things go as planned, and the gobblers walk out to me and my neighbor (haven't figured out yet whether to take a hen decoy or not), he aims to be ready. This is my last-chance day to call in a bird for him, and I want it to be as good as it can be.

There is no room for errors, and if this hunt works, it will be a first for me. I've never shot a gobbler on the last day of the season, but then again, I've never had to worry about this problem.

Hunting this late in the season has never been necessary. If my buddy is to shoot a bird, I almost always have done it on the first or second day of my hunting season. This year, my golden opportunity was wrecked by two people walking down the road.

I'm not mad at them because they have as much right to be there as I had being where I was at, but I had a gobbler in front of me and another behind me, and both were heading for the hen. It can be the best spot to be in, and it was obvious I hadn't factored in the walkers.

So that took care of my best opportunity. Whatever happens tomorrow morning will be the result of a last-ditch effort.
The gobblers may respond or they may be a mile or two away. I don't know, and I don't care, but I know one thing:
Unless lightning is flashing, and a storm is passing overhead, come dawn tomorrow, I'll be back-up to a big tree, and whining, cutting, purring and yelping for all I'm worth ... if that's what it takes to call in a gobbler.

Because the season ends very soon, and there will be no more chances until next year, so I'll do the best job possible. It will either be good enough to lure a gobbler within 40 yards or it won't. Hopefully, my neighbor's  hunting season will end with a bang.

If not, I've had a good season trying to work birds afflicted with a bad case of the shut-mouth. I like to pretend it's all about skill, but come morning, my buddy will be hoping for a bit of luck.

Posted via email from Dave Richey Outdoors