Just got back from my first turkey hunt. Also my first trip out of the state (or province, I believe) to hunt, so there were some new challenges to deal with, but all in all in all, it was an amazing trip. Here is the tale:
I am currently working 3 in 1 out, so I took my last week off and headed down the powder river region in SE Montana to scout. I used an app called backcountry navigator pro, which I paid for the public land package, so I could do some e-scouting from my room. I marked some places to check out, and sure enough I heard a bird gobbling one morning in one of those spots I marked as promising. Never saw him, but hearing an actual, live turkey was enough to make the trip a go.
Fast forward to 3 weeks later, I have my license (bought online) and my import permit (which the ATF scanned and emailed to me), and me and a friend hit the road. About 14 hours on the road later (stopped in Billings to pick up a decoy and buy food, which slowed us down a bit) and we rolled into our campsite, set up our tent and set our alarms.
The next day we hit the woods in the same spot I heard a gobble 3 weeks prior, and sure enough they started hammering at first light. 2 or 3 gobblers were really sounding off. I have seen a nice whitetail step out of the fog, and had geese lock there wings from across the field and hit the pocket perfectly, but this was one of the coolest hunting moments of my life. We got a nice hide in the crook of a fallen tree, put our decoy out, settled in and did a little calling to let them know where we were. It couldn't have gone any better, we got a beautiful show, as one tom came in strutting, gobbling, and drumming away from about 200 yards through the early morning cottonwoods. At about 25 yards I put the bead on him and knocked him over, but he hopped up, took a few steps away, and a second shot put him down for good. First bird I laid eyes on, and we had him on ice after 45 minutes!
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We headed to town, grabbed some ingredients for turkey schnitzel, and git my partner a tag (since we only had 1 gun, and didn't know if we would even see a bird, so we played it safe and just started with one tag) and had a real nice turkey supper.
The next day the weather turned nasty, and we set up where the other gobbler from the first morning was, but didn't hear a peep. We went run and gun until about noon, covering the other good-looking public land sections, but the woods were totally quiet. Back to camp for lunch and naps.
Day 3 was cold and real mean looking. We went out early just to listen for gobbles, but no luck. The wind picked up by 10, so that ended the day early. We ended up spending most of the day under cover waiting out the rain. We had to drive the next day, but decided we had to give it a shot, since the weather was supposed to turn nice.
On our way out to try and roost a bird in the evening, we saw a Tom in a little creek valley, and tried to circle around and call him in, but he disappeared on us completely.
The next morning was a rude awakening. The clouds had vanished overnight and the temp had dropped big time. Heavy frost, frozen boots, the whole deal. We did hear a gobble, but he was on private land, and we couldn't get quite close enough to really interest him. He was responding a bit, but he went the other way. We were disappointed, but consoled ourselves with the fact that we got one more bird than we were expecting. On our drive back to camp, we saw a whole flock of hens, with maybe a Jake in it. But, we needed to get on the road, so we watched them frolic with a young mulie for a bit, then headed off to take down camp.
By 7:30 we were on the road, when our trip was rudely interrupted by a tom running across the road. A second tom that was now mixed in with the same hens we saw earlier sealed the deal, and we had to stop and make a move. We saw one tom cross the road up a small draw on a pine and sage hill/mountain, so we hiked around the backside and came up over a hill and heard a nice strong gobble. We set up about 20 yards back from the lip of the draw and started calling. We got a great response, but our tom went the other way and started strutting away on the far ridge. He was soon joined by the other tom and the boss hen, who was absolutely spitting mad. I decided to start calling the hen, figuring if she came over she would drag the toms with her. I got to really hammer on the call and had a riot really cutting loose and jumping all over the hen. Soon enough, the toms and her started moving along the ridge towards us. My partner crawled up a bit closer to the edge behind a big bush, and I stayed back and kept calling. The birds were out of my site, but it wasn't too long before I heard the shot, and saw my partner jump up and look back, arms raised.
That tom had dropped down in the gulley, and came straight up in front of my friend's barrel, about 15 yards away.
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Really an amazing hunt, and 12 hours of very sweaty driving later, the birds were parted up and in the freezer.
Definitely a trip I would recommend to everyone, and the perfect way to put the long cold winter to bed.
Turkey Tale 2015
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