Bull Creek Hunt 4-18-17

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I have been debating whether to hunt my little bull Creek hot spot. There are a couple dandy gobblers hanging around there along with 8-9 jakes and a pile of hens. I have been shooting some video and photographing them every chance I get and have gotten some terrific video and still pictures. The thing that has eluded me a little is some good strutting pictures. These birds roost off the edge of a pasture on the edge of a creek swamp and fly down in the pasture about the same place each morning. The problem is they group up and move off from the roost quickly therefore offering little opportunity for strutting pics.

Tuesday afternoon I slipped down to a vantage where I could see the corner of the pasture where the birds fly up from. The two long beards were there and the sub-bird was walking off the field to roost. The dominate gobbler stopped to strut just a little, then got a running start and beat his way up to a roost limb with the other turkeys.

I waited until it was dark enough that I could get close and through together a blind at the base of a cabbage palm and slipped out of there.

I knew going in that this would be as sure a bet as you can find in turkey hunting but the wild card would be the video camera! I had decided that if the footage was not what I wanted, I would hold off shooting one of the gobblers.

I slipped in under the cover of darkness and set up a Primos strutting gobbler decoy along with a hard shell hen. The dominate gobbler only gobbled two times and then the whole flock all flew down at one time. It was a neat thing to witness. The only problem was most of them over shot me and landed beyond me, over my left shoulder.

However, the decoys did their job and sucked the sub-bird and about five jakes to them. Had I not had the decoys there it would have been a completely different story.

The whole flock was strung tight and on edge with the new intruders. Before the little group jot to the decoys I heard the strutter, drum off my left shoulder at 7 steps! he was in half strut and moving fast to get to the decoys and take charge of the situation. The two mature gobblers had just got to the decoys when the dom-bird broke into a strut. I held fast wanting a little more action and hopefully a gobble or two. I would have already shot the strutter had I just been hunting. I decided to call at them to try to get him to gobble......THAT WAS A MISTAKE! The duo was a mere 23yds and already on edge, when I called they looked right at my hide and turned inside out.

Unfortunately, I had zoomed in and in the heat of the moment there was so much going on I could not get the zoom back off. My brain had already switched over to hunter and I was about to panic. As soon as I called I knew from their reaction that the whole deal was headed sideways. They started moving off so fast and quartering to me, so as soon as I would stop panning the camera to go to guns, the tom was out of the frame. I couldn't keep him in the camera and shoot at the same time.

The whole gang passed by at 12-15 yds off my left shoulder and I just let them go when I realized the footage I wanted was just not there. I would shoot him off camera. Had he been any place else he would have gotten a ride home with me in my chevy.

I will try them again in the morning and set up a little differently. I thing I will also set the hen at the base of the gobbler as though he is about to mount her! THAT SHOULD BE MORE THAN HE CAN STAND!

More to follow!

The pics on this post were clipped out of the video of this hunt. I will post a link to the video when I get it edited.

For anyone wanting to get into self filming their own hunts, let me tell you it is difficult to say the least. It is extremely difficult to try to focus on the hunt and the shot while your trying to operate the camera. There is a lot to learn about how to do this that a hunter/camera man team would not have to worry about.

The mistake I made on this hunt was not backing out on the zoom before I called at the toms. Had I done that the  outcome would have been different. Every hunt is a learning experience with the camera along. It's almost like starting over from zero on the learning curve.

Anyone that might be interested in a hunt at Bull Creek can visit my Guide site at http://www.guidedturkeyhunting.com/

Larry S.

The decoys I was using on this hunt was the "Primos B-Mobile" and the Flambeau hard shell hen that is the predecessor to either the "Shady Lady" or "Fair Lady". They are as good a decoy that is available. Here is a like to them for more information or if your looking for a new decoy., L.S.