Florida Spring Gobbler Season Report - #2 First Week

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Monday day #3.

I ended up camping Sunday night to hunt monday morning. I figured I could get on the pasture bird so that was the plan for the hunt. I waited at the 4way on the hill at the sink hole block for gobble time. gobble time cam eand went, nothing! Finally, a full 20 min. after he should have gobbled I heard him and was able to course the direction. That would be the only gobble I heard from him that morning. I moved that way a 100 plus yds and set up and did some calling but he would not respond.

Wanting something a little hotter I decided to leave and try to prospect another turkey to fool with. I stopped at the corner of the pasture and got a bird to gobble to the south down the fence line a couple times. I went that way and it all fell apart. I flushed a bird in the open woods. Don't know what it was but never heard the tom again. I headed to work from there.
Tuesday day #4,

I scouted Monday night and found some good strut sign left by my backup bird at the powerline. The next morning the only bird I heard gobbled across, deep in the block to the west. I have never been in that block so I decided to strike out and go to him.  Later, Steve told me "If I had been there I would have advised against trying to cross that block!" Now you tell me! It was miserable thick pine flatwoods and cypress ponds and I thought I would never get there. It turned out that the gobbler was roosted all the way across the next road in a duck pond!. I set up on him  from the road as he was only 75 yds off it and i figured he must have flown up from there and I had a good chance he would pitch back down to it. Wrong again! He gobbled a couple times after I  got set up then shutup and I never heard or saw him again. I have no idea how he got out of there. I did hear a bird on the ground about a half hour later but he never materilised and I did not know which direction the gobble came from. I suspected SSW but that was just my best guess. I moved that way but it was getting late and I headed for work.

Wednesday day #5

I scouted tues. pm in the dark and found some hot strut sign on the creek road. I cold camped that night and the next morning I went to that spot.  The bird gobbled one time on roost early. I parked the truck and tried to go to him but he did not gobble again. I had to set up off a tee in the road not knowing how far he was. After a half hour or so, I finally heard him gobble on the ground. He was at the absolute maximum end of my hearing range and I was not 100% sure it was him. I heard him quite a few times before I decided to go north and see if I could get on him. After about a hundred and a quarter he gobbled at a real crow and I had him marked. I moved ahead some more and called at him and he answered.  Just ahead was a place open enough to maybe film but I was really pushing the envelope. I moved the 30yds to that spot with my finger crossed and gritted teeth. I got set up quick and waited for a minute to call.

I never heard him again! Busted! That was my only real opportunity at a killable bird so far this season I my high pressure style cost me that one.

I did not scout this afternoon as I knew I was not going to hunt in the morning.


Thursday day #6, no hunting, windy I did scout pm for friday


Friday day #7, I decided to give the bird a try back on the creek road by the little burn. I heard a gobble way north pretty much out of hearing and to far to try to go to. Only heard it once or twice and was not 100% sure on the direction. I cranked the atv and took off prospecting.

I ended up over at the duck pond and as I got to the S.E. corner Something made me stop. I can't get it out of my head how the bird I hunted here on Tuesday here. I wanted to see what was out there in that old pond. I found an old trail to get thru the thick edge that rings the perimeter of the open pond. when I broke thru I could hardly believe my eyes and I knew instantly why the bird did not fly into the road that morning.....the pond was dry and looked like a new rye grass field with islands of high grass and tusocks dotted here and there....a turkey paradise!!! I'd guess 12-15 acres in size. As a matter of fact the next thing I saw was a long beard walking out fron behind a tusock to my left. He picked me out standing there and went back. As soon as he was out of sight I scrambled back to grab my gear and the hunt was on!

I slipped from tusock to tusock until I was as close as I was getting. There ended up being (2) jakes, the long beard and (4) hens there. They fed back and fourth against one side of the pond and only the jakes ever came into range. The jakes were the only birds to answer me except for about (3) gobbles I was able to drag out of the old gobbler. He strutted and chased jakes and put on a show for a full hour and then the flock lined out and headed S.W. to get up on the hill and out of the sun. It was fustrating not being able to pull them over to me but it was a great show and I was amazed that I was able to make about 5 moves on them without getting caught!

I found a gator still living in the dry pond in a cave he had excavated. I was able to track his sign from one cave to another and took a few pictures for everyone to see. I doubt to many people get to see a gator cave, slide, etc.

I expect to have some good turkey hunts on this dry pond! Here's some pictures, What a turkey magnet!

Friday afternoon I tried to roost here on the pond and actually got there in time to hunt but I did not here a gobble.

Gobbler's turd!

It's not over by a long shot!

Good Luck,
Larry S.

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Of Gobblers, River Cooters and Alligators!

A recent cool spring morning found me laying for a long bearded Gobbler in a river swamp on the banks of the St. Johns River.

I had found the Toms strut sign two days earlier on a sand spoil pile and I knew he'd be roosting in the swamp within ear shot of his strut zone.

Unfortunately, the morning dawned partly overcast and just a bit breezy, not good conditions for gobbling and this morning would be true to form. Actually, the gobbler only gobbled one time that I ever heard and it was from the ground. He never gobbled on the limb despite my owling along with several excited cutts and cackles at fly down.

Once I heard him gobble I knew it was only a matter of time before he would be strutting in front of me on the little sand hill. I stopped calling at him and changed to the soft purrs and clucks of a contented feeding hen. I had my video camera rolling when he stepped out of the cabbage palm hammock. He immediately saw my hen decoy and broke into a half strut. He cautiously made his way towards the decoy as a wary old gobbler will do.

Against my better judgement, I could not  resist a few soft purs and clucks to try to pull one more gobble out of him for the camera. About 15 yds or so from the decoy the old gobbler realized something was not right with the motionless hen and turned around to come to my calling. Things were pretty touch and go there for a minute as he approached to within 10 yds, head stretched high looking for the source of the calling. Anytime you let a bird get that close you run a real risk of him escaping.  Absolutely no movement goes unseen. A tight choked turkey guns patter at such close range is very small and a turkeys head is always moving. Its a very difficult target to hit, especially if he spooks to flee. A body shot is about all you can hope for if your in a tight spot. IF the woods are open you might be able to let him get out to 20 where you have a better pattern before shooting but he'll be hauling the mail!

I got lucky with the shot and just caught him with part of the load and put him down. He was beautiful tom and make for another great hunt, all on video

Well, I told you that story so I could tell you this one.

Turtles like to crawl up from the river to lay their eggs on the sandy spoil pile and as usual there were numerous nests that had been dug into and eaten by various varmits. Probably, mostly by Coons.

I was doing some tracking in the sand to see if I could tell if all the strut sign was from one gobbler or if maybe there was another bird in the area. As I neared the weeds down towards the water I noticed a large turtle shell. It caught my attention and I slipped over to investigate. The shell was upside down and i immediately saw a golf ball size spot in the center of the shell that had been broken and crushed in. This however was not the cause of his demise. It was from a previous gator attack and had healed up. When I picked the shell up I immediately noticed two broken off alligator teeth in the top of the shell. Incredible!

Studying the shell it was obvious the turtle had survived many encounters with large alligators. There were lines of dots where rows of teeth had pocked the hard shell. Along the radius ed areas of the shell there were gouged lined where the gator's teeth slid down the shell.

The broken off gator teeth were absolutely amazing. I decided to keep the shell, clean it up and spray it with some clear polyurethane. It really shinned up great and is an interesting conversation piece.

The River Cooter is a basking turtle are often sold as pets. Anytime you are on the river in the middle part of the day you are liable to see them perched on logs sunning. The females are larger than the males and can live to more than 40 years of age.

They mate during May and June and seek out an open sandy location 50-100' from the water to bury their clutch of 10-25 eggs. With a lot of luck, 90-100 days later they will hatch.  While the species is highly herbivorous, river cooters will eat anything, plant or animal, dead or alive.

Judging by all the scars from the alligators this turtle must have been around for quite some time and survived countless attacks. I think I'll call him Lucky!

Keep your eyes open, you never know what interesting things you'll stumble across in the woods!

Best of hunts,
Larry S.