Mega Strut Sign!!!

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Saturday, I found the mother load of gobbler strut sign! The road was cut to pieces for 30-40' to the point that all the vehicle wheel sign was wiped out!

Incredible!!!

If you like hunting turkeys in the spring you will appreciate these pictures!

Have a look at this:

This is some of the most impressive strut sign I have seen in a long time!

Sucessful turkey hunting is all about scouting!

Good Luck,

Larry S.

Florida Spring Gobbler Season Report - #1 Opening Weekend

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If you are reading a blog about turkey hunting I probably don't need to tell you that the season just opened here in Florida on Saturday, March 19.

Man, it's been a tough start for me! I've just been dealt some tough hands.

For starters, I opted to hunt the pole bridge bird. Actually, there were three of them and I roosted them Thursday afternoon in a creek bottom where they had flown up from a road that crosses the strand. I was standing at a tee in the road deciphering a tangle of turkey track sign and strut sign when when one of them fired off a gobble. Holly cow! what a stroke of luck I thought. Little did I know the whipping I was about to receive over the next three days.

I slipped down the road and proceeded to fire them up. I even went back to the truck, grabbed my phone and called my buddy Capt Rick......"listen to this Ricky!"  I owled and one bird gobbled but it was late and I had worn them out it was over for the night.

I had located 6 or 7 gobblers that night including another strutter near a power line that had really cut the road up. This and the pole bridge bird would be my main focus and everything was falling into place like I planned it that way.

 

 

 

Friday afternoon, the day before the opener; I knocked off work early to load all my gear and atv. Next was stops for fuel and provisions for a weekend in turkey camp.

After unloading at camp it was off to put the pole bridge bird to bed. I tracked the road and moved down the road towards the expected roost after fly up. I owled, nothing, owled again, nothing. nada.

Desperate, I pulled out my "Double D" call and cackled, my secrete weapon.....nothing. They weren't there! I can't remember an open eve that I did not have a gobbler put to bed for the mornings hunt.

I have to admit I had an unease feeling about the prospects for the morning. Something just did not seem right about those birds not being there.

The next morning dawned perfect, clear, cool and low humidity. I was hoping the birds were there but just did not gobble. I set up on the side of the road and waited for gobble time.

Well before gobble time I heard a bird gobble to the NW.  almost out of hearing. Just them I realized I had left my bino's at the atv. I had just enough time to get there and back. When I got to the atv I decided to owl. A bird responded straight down the road to the south! I owled again and he gobbled again. Well, I guess I'll run back to my setup and grab all the gear I had left there. Little did I know the birds were nearly a half a mile down the road the other direction. When I finally got down there I realized there were two gobblers roosted together and one to the south. There was a hen or two clucking on the limp, roosted to the west out over a jungle in some sparse bays. A jake was involved also and would squawk out a yelp right behind the gobbles.

By the time I developed a plan the gobblers were on the ground. The bad thing was they either flew to or ran as fast as they could to get into a pasture adjoining the woods. The pasture is out of bounds for me so all I could do was watch while the two gobblers strutted around and bred a few hens.

That night I came back hoping to catch them roosting in the creek again. I set up along the road and waited. About fly up I heard a bird take wing and beat its way thru the tree tops but I could not course it. A minute later I heard another but this time I saw this one. they were about 100 yds down the road and right over the creek.

About this time I start hearing an atv approaching. It rolls right by and down the road towards the roosted birds and kills the engine when he gets to the creek. Damn the luck! I couldn't believe it. I got up and started walking out and here comes the atv with his two dogs in tow. He apologizes for messing me up and we parted ways but before he leaves he related that he saw several jakes and hens here in the road the afternoon before but the big gobbler was not with them. Now I know why they were not there.

Scouting on the atv by the full moons light!

Actually, after talking to my hunting buddy Steve, I think this was done intentionally.

Saturday, day #2; after all the commotion down at the bridge spot I decided to go to my fall back bird near the power line. I got there and hour before daylight to assure my spot. Scouting the day before revealed someone had walked down the road and had been in the area. Also, the gobbler had left his sign there also. No strut sign just jumbo gobbler tracks.

Big Gobbler track!

I was sitting there in the dark thinking about getting out of the truck to owl when I see a form walk down the side of the truck! Great! Apparent this guy had built a blind down the road and to make  a long story short I gave him the spot and headed back to the bridge.

It was gobble time when I got around there and I planned to try to strike a bird from the truck, stopping every couple hundred yards down the road. The second time I stopped a bird gobbled on the hill beside the truck and a hen started clucking in a bay off in the creek bottom.

I nosed the truck off the road, grabbed my gear and headed off towards the gobbling tom. I ended up in a real open section of high hill with a mix of sand pines, yellow pine and various oaks with little understory. I moved as close as I could and set up but the bird was already on the ground. H was responding pretty good but moving away. I had no choice but to try to move on him.

I moved a hundred and a quarter or so and set up again. I called and he gobbled but I not gained a foot. I made a little cut at him and he gobbled again. Just then a hen that was with him started cutting back at me and he gobbled again. I decided I had to try to gain some ground. He had hens and was getting no closer. I made my move......he never gobbled again. I expect I was seen. If your going to practice an aggressive hunting style you have to be prepared for this kind of thing. We'll meet again another day!

This is the first time I have not taken a gobbler on the opening weekend that I can remember. Unbelievable! I hope this is not the start of a trend.

More gobbler strut sign!

                                                   Hen dusting in a sandy road bed!

                                              More hen dusting in a clay spot in the road!

                                           Turkey feeding scratch sign in a dried up mud hole!

Gobbler tracks in the mud!

Best of hunt!
Larry S.

Rocky Boots Review - "15" Low Country Snake Boots"

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I don't know about you but I really don't like wearing rubber boots. I know they have come a long ways in their fit and finish but the good ones cost as much as a regular boot, they are generally heavy and once your feet are wet, that's it, they don't breathe and they don't dry easily.

Another thing I can't stand with the less expensive rubber boots  that fit loose at the calf is the fop, fop, fop noise they make when you walk. During spring gobbler I typically cover a lot of ground and that usually means blisters.

Here in Florida, its mandatory to have waterproof footware period. Really, I don't know how you could get around it anywhere. If you hunt in the morning while the dew is still on the ground, you just got your feet wet if your boots aren't waterproof. Wet feet I do not like!

Well, a few years back I came across a great deal on some waterproof snake boots on the Sportsman Guide from my favorite boot company, Rocky. They were "15" Low Counrty Snake Boots" with goretex water protection! A regular style, slip on boot, calf high and 100% waterproof. I'm there!

I don't have a big concern about snakes even though I run across a number of cotton mouth's while turkey hunting in mud swamps , cypress ponds, etc. so the snake proof part was just a bonus.

I ordered a pair. I think they were on sale for $62 and change and regularly about $129 bucks. I really liked them. They fit relatively good right out of the box. They have an adjustible calf and didn't make any noise.

Now the down side, there's always a down side! In short order they were leaking! That makes them almost useless to me. I returned them for and exchange. Hoping it was just that boot, I bought another pair in addition to the new exchanged pair. Well guess what? the second pair leaked also. I made it thru hunting season but they leaked the following season. I used them as I was hunting a lot of high ground that year and I had some alternate waterproof boots to ware when I needed them.

This year I discovered some turekys using a dried up pond. Kind of a wet parie thing and the first time I hunted it i got my feet soaked just from walking in the wet peat of the pond bottom. I have just broke out the third pair and made the first hunt there with them and they are dry so far.

All of the exterior stitching has held up well with no damage to them at what so ever.

Beyond the leak issue, the only other fault I found was the foot insert top lining came unglued and came off on boots. Other than that they have performed well and I can't help but like them.

Here are some photo's of the second pair and the third pair before they went to the field.

The boot is still available here and there. I'll keep you posted how the third pair is holding up.

I think its time for me to give Rocky's customer service a call and let them know their water proof system is a problem. I sure they must be aware as (4) new rocky's I have bought that I can think of that have all leaked. Two bear claws and two low country's.

Everything on the interior has held up well!

The tread shows a little wear but i think this is season 3 for them.

keep your powder and your feet dry.

Larry S.

See the first follow up posting here: Rocky boots review-15" low country snake update #1

Spring Gobbler Scouting - 2011

March 12, 2011

Saturday I made it out for my first day of scouting for the 2011 spring gobbler season that opens next weekend.

I have been seeing some birds here and there and have seen several strutters. Turkeys have been gobbling and strutting here for about a month now. On the way to the hunting club this morning I saw a tom blown up, way out in middle of a pasture with 5 or 6 hens.

As soon as I rolled onto the property this morning I drove up on 2 does crossing a powerline. That was probably about 8:30 am. I made a note to self to check this spot out. Every other time I come by here there are deer crossing this spot.

Well, back to the turkeys. I cut some turkey sign in the road right away. Unfortunately, there was no strut sign, just a gaggle of tracks. Since were huntin gobblers, strut sign is of utmost importance. When you find it you've found the mother load. From there it's not to hard to figure out where he's roosting most of the time.

I headed over to a spot along the border of the club to check a spot that always holds a bird. I was not disappointed. In Short order I picked up some hen tracks in the sugar sand road and I followed them until they led me to some gobbler strut sign in the road. You could read the sign like a book....A big gobbler track traveling alone from the north and brakes into a strut when he came up on some hens loafing in the shady road. His strut sign was tight with a lot of back and fourth and circles. He had obviously spent a lot of time there displaying for the hens. From past experience I have a good idea where this bird will be roosting.

I cut a small bear track traveling the road here. It's always neat to come across a bear track.

When I'm scouting like this I'm looking to locate as many gobblers as possible before the season opens so I pressed on to locate another bird.

A long stretch of road that passes thru some low flat woods and has a lot of water holes in the road revealed another big track but no strut sign with it. He could be a jake but there was a pile of hen sign around the water holes so sooner or later a strutter will be there. Hard to tell where the roost might be here.

Another bigger bear had been in the road here. He had an impressive track on him.

Just for the heck of it I decided to check out another popular spot even though I know I couldn't squeeze in there edgewise on opening weekend. Sure enough, there had been a gobbler strutting all over the road. It was some serious strut sign with a high concentration of turkey sign in general. Just before I got there I cut a man track in the road with a kid in tow. Apparently, they hunted that morning on the new youth hunt that opened this morning. There is always people sign here and it's not worth trying to hunt it, you'll just get messed up.  The hot sign was sure interesting to see though.

                                                       Great strut sign in the pic above!

I tracked the low road  and found another strutter but there were some man tracks all over it. I had a nice wildcat cross the road in front of me at a high rate of speed coming off the black jack hill but he looked a little rough. I checked a road thru a pine plantation where I filmed my buddy Steve miss a bearded hen after dueling with a hot gobbler for half a morning that I felt slipped in from behind us and saw us. All of the sudden for no apparent reason he just quit gobbling. Steve did kill a coyote the following weekend that came running in to his turkey call. That could have been what killed the deal also. Any way, last year the strut sign was stand up but this year I could barely find a track.

From there I tracked the camp road and was a little disappointed with the sign there, weak!

I did find another gobbler track on an old food plot. No strut sign but a couple hens are using there.

I tracked my way to the creek road and cut another gobbler and a few hens on the north end. The road was really weak for sigh however and I was counting on a bird being there. No strut sign at all, just a few hen tracks. Something will show sooner or later here though. There is always a bird here. I hunted one here last year for 6 days straight before I finally killed him. I'll post some video of that when I can get to it.

I checked one last spot that I killed a bird at a few years back. It's a little dead end road along a creek bottom but there was no visible turkey sign to be seen. It's a pretty hit or miss spot, heavy on the miss.

I only actually saw one live turkey and from the track it was a hen.

I did manage to find 6 or 8 different birds in a couple hours of scouting and opening day looks pretty promising. I'll  home in on them a little closer a day or two before the opener.

                                                         More Heavy strut sign!

                                                        I almost ran this one over!

Turkeys and coyote tracks!

Good luck,
Larry Stephens