I've been hunting 2 different places, because I don't want to pressure them.

Other than hens, I've seen a coyote (up close and personal; kinda neat), a coon, a young buck and several hen pheasants. EXCEPT for Friday evening...

Randy and I went out for a late afternoon/evening hunt in an area frequented by a couple of nice toms and a few hens. We set up along the field edge where I had heard one gobble. We set out 3 hen dekes and started clucking and purring (real seductive like) and waited. About 15-20 minutes later, he gobbled again, but sounded like he was in the same place just inside the timber along the creek. Clucked and purred again... nothing. Waited for about another hour and still nothing. Time was running out and we figured he had the real thing inside the timber.

I stayed put, while Randy got up to look at behind us in another part of the field and lone behold, there he was, strutting for a hen. He was about 75yds behind from where we set up. I was sitting on a large deadfall and didn't move. Randy just looked at me and gave me a "full fan" hand gesture and my heart sank. We tried calling to her, but she was interested and neither one of them could see our dekes from where they were. He also never gobbled.

So, I put the sneak on him. When I got to the other field edge, the hen was gone and he was making his way around the corner of the field and out of sight. DANG! I waited about 5 minutes, then cut across the field to the corner. I stopped at the corner and peaked around and saw nothing... I figured I had waited to long to run across, but I eased myself along the fence line and took about 10 steps... there he was in full strut just along the fence. I didn't see the hen at all. I tucked back in some bushes and just sat there in amazement. I peeked around the bushes and he wasn't there... oh man, I must have spooked him. I tucked back into the bushes again and looked down the fence into the pasture the field bordered. I didn't see anything, but I got on my belly and slipped under the barbwire to have a better look. I had just gotten upright (on my behind and got my gun up) and there he was again. He was still in fullstrut, but I didn't see any hen at all. About a minute later, a hen pheasant came trotting out in front of him. (I guess he was strutting for her). He stayed in strut forever (it seemed) but he was so far away. It was very windy (16mph from the southwest) and when he did come out of strut and start pecking around, every little sound would put him back into strut. He just wouldn't come any closer.... so I let him walk.

I estimated the range to be about 40+yds and I'm just not comfortable taking that shot.

I watched him for a half hour and he was so big and beautiful. (I've never been that close to a bird in fullstrut before).

I waited another 5-10 minutes to make sure he was gone, so that I didn't spook him, before going back to Randy.

It was 96 degrees the day we left and 53 degrees today when we came home. Yesterday morning it misted and was chilly, but it cleared off in the afternoon and climbed to 70.

First things first... when Randy went to get into the car to leave work Thursday (we were supposed to leave as soon as he got home...6:30pm) one of the tires was flat. He had to dig everything we had packed the night before out of the trunk to get the spare and jack out...(much bad language used!) He finally rolled in the drive at 7:00pm. We left here at 7:30pm.

Oh joy, I got to drive the entire way there... hoping the spare and other tires would make it there... No problems... We chatted about where we were going to hunt the next morning, etc... then Randy inquired to where the bedding was at... "few choice words" by me... I forgot them (I think Bambi is rubbing off on me :)) and we had nothing to sleep on/in and no pillows or towels for showering... UGH... We arrived at camp at 9:45pm and had the tent up and everything unloaded by 10pm.

We slept on Randy's bow case and used clothes for pillows... quite comfy... well, for about 3 hours until it cooled off and we had no blankets. Neither one of us could wait to get up to go hunting, so we wouldn't have to toss and turn any longer!

We were in a new area and had done just a little scouting earlier in the week, but covering 10,000 acres or so in such a short time was kinda hard.

5:00AM --We went to one area that looked promising and nothing happened, no gobbling, no nothing. Just a hornets nest and I found a turkey egg that had been robbed :(.

7:30AM --We headed back to camp to get something to eat and find a new area to hunt. Then, not 75yds from the campsite entrance, a BIG tom flew right in front of the car, just after we had slowed for a pair of Canada geese standing in the road. WOW!!!... Randy slammed on the brakes and told me to go after him. I jumped out of the car and got my gear and gun and ventured after him into unknown territory. I entered the woods and heard him gobble. Yippee! I stopped and tried to figure out which way he was going and he gobbled again. I get out my call and answer him and he's going around to my right, then I shut up and beat feet after him. He gobbled again, then another gobbler sounded off and another, then two more from across the road from where he came from... I was in heaven. I stopped again and called... they ALL answered, but I lost track of the first bird. So I went to the next closest one. I called, then he gobbled and so did the others. Then I could only hear the one that sounded off closest to me. I stood my ground, called one more time and he double gobbled... WOWSERS!!! I set up and waited for him to come, but he never did and never did gobble again... Then a couple hens sounded off and moved in. Dangit. I tried to keep up w/ them the best I could, but they ended up winning the battle on these birds. This went on for a couple hours and it was awesome... Birds that actually gobbled after fly down... cool!

Okay, it's getting long... hang in there... :)

9:30AM or so --We headed back to camp; sat and relaxed in front of the fire. After we dried off we went to Wal-Mart and got a couple sleeping bags, pillows and towels, then took a little nap and headed back out again...

Sometime between noon and 1pm --Randy headed back to where I was earlier and hoped they were still willing... I went to a different area across the road (where that BIG tom came from).

I went back as far as I could to get out of the wind. I found a nice to tree to set up against and was cleaning the area around it when I heard something to my left. It was a turkey running right by me, not even 10yds from me. I couldn't see what s.e.x. it was, because of the row of bushes between us. I sat down and clucked and purred and waited... A bird gobbled just up the hill along the timber, probably about 200yds away. Possibly that same bird. I answered him and waited again. I got up and moved closer, but never called. I scratched around in the leaves and sat up right there. He gobbled again, but was closer and coming around to my left now. I scratched some more and waited. THEN, I hear a couple guys not more than 20yds behind me talking and my heart sank... I thought for sure that bird was gone! I waited again and didn't hear the guys, then I clucked, purred and scratched to let him know I was still there. He gobbled again, but was closer... almost directly behind me. Cool... so I wait again... he never gobbled and it had been 15-20mins from the last one... uh OH... where'd he go... then I hear BANG, BANG!!! not more than 50-60yds behind and to my right. Those guys shot MY bird. Never heard another gobble, so I packed up and trucked out of there, hoping those 2 guys (that NEVER called once!) liked that bird... I almost waited for them to say a few choice words, as I was beyond bummed, but I swallowed my pride and left to find Randy. After all, this was PUBLIC land...

Around 3pm --Randy wasn't there, so I figured he was working a bird and he was. I met up w/ him back at camp around 4:30pm. He followed this tom and a hen, which he refused to leave, back and forth across the lake a half a dozen times (100yds each time) until the hen finally made him... at 20yds, Randy pulled back just as the hen took flight and the tom stood there dumbfounded while bobbing his head up and down... Randy could only aim for his head and it was hard to get the timing down to release... he released and the feathers skimmed the back of his head! It was a tough shot, but he tried. That tom left him a nice wing feather to remember him by.

We showered, ate dinner and headed back out around 7pm and never heard or saw anything.

We planned on hunting this morning, but the low was 45 and it was VERY windy and cloudy... We weren't prepared, clothing wise, to hunt in such weather. It would have been miserable and we had to leave by 9am for home anyway. It never reached 60 today.

It's nice to be home, but we had a great time and heard lots of birds.