Florida Spring Gobbler Season Report - #6 -Fourth Weekend!

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 Friday, Apr. 9, 2011-day #14

I locked the doors at the office about 5 and headed for the huntin' club. I made my usual stops for provisions....drinks, ice, food and about a hundred dollars worth of fuel for the truck and generator. Man, this fuel thing is getting out of hand.

I got to the club with about 30 minutes to scout before dark. As usual I planned to track the roads well after dark and did not end up getting back to camp until after 9pm. I did however, find some interesting sign that looked real promising. It was the pair of pasture gobblers I have been hunting from the start of the season. I cut their tracks near the south end of the creek road just after fly up and followed them down to a sandy curve where a dim woods road extends off to the south and dead ends into a bay head. From the amount of tracks in the road I figured the turkeys had sent some time there milling around, waiting for roost time. There were tracks from two gobblers and several hens.

I was standing there studying the tracks, trying to unravel what had went on when I heard a turkey flush off the limb headed west to the creek strand. I had figured they were roosted there pretty close and it looked like I was right. I could not raise a gobble out of anything with my owling but I was confident they were within hearing. Most likely they had flown up from the road out into the sparse bays and pines between the creek and the road. However, having flushed one off the limb I was not surprised about the tight lips.

Later that night as I was tracking the South Low road I came across a pretty interesting sight. It took me a minute to realize what I was actually looking at. It was a gobbler with a deformed foot. One of his feet is Normal sized and the other looks more like a big fat crow track. It's less than 2" long with almost no "V" to the side toes. Pretty wild looking! The deformed track is the weird looking track between the two normal tracks below, near the center of the picture.

My plan was to beat it back there in the morning before light and pick out a spot I could set up on the road and call from. If the birds gobbled, I'd go to them if possible.

Saturday, Apr 10, 2011-day #15

In the moon light the next morning I picked out a big sand pine at the curve on the main road that gave me just enough room to shoot and put me between them and the pasture. I was standing there waiting for a gobble when an owl sounded off in the creek. His call was immediately challenged by a thundering gobble! "There he is!" He was where I thought he'd be but just a little down the dead end extension road. I owl'd and it was met with a double gobble! Two birds!

This duo of strutters has been uncallable and with hens every time I was able to locate them. Given my past experience with these two finicky toms I wanted to be as close to them as I could possibly get. I wasn't taking any chances, It was time to kill a bird and quit fooling around. I even decided to ditch the video camera. I regret that decision as this was a text book hunt and perfect example of how to employ the "whammy tactic";......sneak in to where you think he's going to fly down and wait quietly without calling, for him to flutter down within gun range. It's a little tricky to do and takes some time and experience to develop this technique but I have killed a pile of birds like this, many that you could not kill with conventional techniques. There are three critical points to get a successful out come with this method. First, you have to have scouted and located him on the roost. Second, you have to be able to get back to that spot in the hard dark if at all possible. This depends a little on where he's roosted. Third, and usually the hardest, you have to know exactly where he's gona fly down to in the morning. This one takes some experience but the longer you hunt the better you'll get at it.

The above picture is a view from the gobblers position to where I was sitting which was

on the right near the center of the picture in front of the dark green bush.

This is a picture from my position to where I shot the Gobbler.

I slipped down the dead end road to survey the situation and make a plan as quickly as possible. The south most bird was doing the majority of the gobbling so I concentrated on him. The two toms were actually roosted in big pines about 100 yds apart and about 125 yds off the road pretty near the creek. The woods between the road and the creek are sparsely treed with a mix of pine and bay. The ground cover is ty-ty's, gallberry, young bays and is extremely thick. No way a turkey could land in this stuff. I figured they would have to fly back to the road but it was quite a stretch.

The gobbling tom was roosted behind a low flat and it was a perfect flight zone to get back to the road. I took a chance and duck walked behind the low bushes to get to the other side and make sure there was not something I needed to know about over there. "No, that's the spot, he's gona land right here in this road!" I crawled back and set up about 15 yds up the road from the low flat. It turned out that the other gobbler was straight in from me towards the creek, off my right shoulder

The bad part and I don't like to hunt like this, is I had to set up against the bushes with no back rest in a small pocket, right on the edge of the road. I set up so I could see down the road just to the end of gun range, no blind.

Since I was so far from the birds I decided to do just a little calling about fly down. I waited quietly and enjoyed the sounds of everything calling and waking up for the new day. After a bit a hen started tree yelping over by the south bird. Shortly after that another started yelping near the other gobbler. The anxiousness over my setup just doubled! I thought, if one of those hens flies down first, the jig is up! She'll pick me out for certain and go off down the road puttin, game over.

I added a little more calling and decided to do a fly down. You can't do this when your close but I had enough distance I felt I could get away with it. As a matter of fact this is the furthest away I can remember setting up on a bird for this type hunt. I did not have my wing so I used my hat for the fly down....fop, fop, fop, fop, fop, fop, fop, fop with a little rustling bushes and leaves for a landing. The bird beside me immediately gobbled at it! "Man, I'm liking this!" I did a little soft yelping and purr/clucks to sound like a hen milling around and the illusion was set. All I could do now was wait for him to make a move. Any more calling could make him suspicious and blow the setup.

Well, as luck would have it, the South gobbler behind the low flat was the first to come off the limb. Instinctively I clicked the safety off in anticipation of what was about to happen. As soon as I heard the first bird fly the other one came off also and I caught a glimpse of him flying for the sandy corner behind me. Just then the first gobbler came sailing into view over the flat and I could see he was going to land in the road! Just as he neared the road he banked hard north towards me and touched down just 15yards from me, his big wings beating full reverse. It was quit a site

By the time the gobbler got stopped he was standing a mere 12 yds!! He had just flown almost 150yds and landed right in my lap. I love it when a plan comes together!

I didn't waste any time, when he got stopped I sent a load of 1 7/8 oz. #6 shot down range. The gobbler hit the dirt and the hunt was over. It was barely 7:15.

The second gobbler was still in flight when I shot but he got gone, quick, fast and in a hurry! All turkey activities ceased at the report of the shot and I never saw any of the other birds.

When Steve got to camp the first thing he said was "was that you that shot so early?", "coulda been, I replied.", "you kill?" "He's piled up in the back of the tuck!"

The wary tom was not an old turkey but he had been a challenge none the less. He weighed in about 17 lbs., had a 9 3/8" beard and his spurs were 3/4" and 7/8". A two year old to be sure. His wings showed plenty of wear from strutting and were nice and black with little barring just as you would expect to see in an Osceola.

It was a long time in coming but I finally got one on the ground! I have never struggled so hard to kill a turkey before. Actually, If you can believe this....I have not heard a single tom gobble on the limb in the evening the hole season! All strut sign on the roads ended by the third weekend. I think Steve said he had only hunted 3 mornings that he actually heard a bird gobble and had not been able to roost any either.

At this point I think I have only had about 3 hunts that I did not actually hear a gobble. The difference is the time I put in scouting! It kept me on top of the turkeys. This was really key as the turkeys in this place really move around a lot. You'll find a place all tracked up and their gone the next day. You have to hunt it immediately or your wasting your time.

Later that morning I was driving down the South low road and I drove up on the crippled gobbler with two buddies in the same spot I had seen his track the night before. Their running stride was as long as my shotgun! 

Sunday, Apr. 10, 2011

I did not find anything to get excited about Sat. afternoon so I decided I would just start at the north end of the creek road and prospect my way south and see what I could find.

I caught one hen on the road at fly down and two more in the pasture but did not see any toms or hear any gobbling.

Later up in the morning I ended up over on the power line and was looking at some turkey tracks around a sandy water hole when I spotted a turkey egg that had just been laid! pretty incredible. I have never actually seen one intact that had not been eaten by a varmint. Have a look at this thing!
That pretty much wrapped up the weekend.

Here's some more pictures from this hunt.

Hen track in my wheel sign.

Hen dust hole!

Turkey feeding/scratching sign!

Large hen dust hole!

Turkey scratching sign looking for leftover low bush acorns! I can never remember

seeing acorns still on the ground this time of year that are still good!

Best of hunts,
Larry S.



Bow Season Report, Florida 2010-2

Bow Report 2010: Florida 10-2
Sept. 21, 2010   ( PM hunt)  #4

Wind: east 5+/-
temp.: l 68, h.86
moon: 2 days before full
major feed: 9:25 pm
pressure: 30.09
hunidity: avg. 69%
rain: 0

I decided I need to hunt my pond stand Wednesday afternoon. I got there a little late but i needed to juice up the corn and get a trail cam setup. All the corn was completely gone. There wasn't even one cornal to be found. not surprising but left me wondering how long the stand had been out of corn and if i would see anything.

Well, the answer came soon enough....nothing! the moon is near full and was at about the 10:00 position, pretty hign in the sky. The temp./humidity were not to bad and there were only a couple of pesky mosquitoes.




Sept. 23, 2010 ( PM hunt) #5


Wind: east 4+/-
temp.: l 75,  h.82
moon: full
major feed: 10:40 pm
pressure: 30.15
hunidity: avg. 83%
Rain: off and on during day

Hunted the pond stand again this afternoon.

The moon was just above the tree line and it had showered thru the day including a late afternoon shower that ended about 6pm. I thought this would have them moving but I did not see any deer or any other animal or bird activity.

Most of the corn still seemed to be there. That was a little strange as I have seen the deer there eat a 50lb. sack in 2 nights.

I climbed down just before dark so i could pull the trail cam card and get out before something showed up and trapped me in the stand.

When I got home and looked at the card I almost could not believe my eyes....every deer on the card was a buck, not one doe! (3) bucks in two days.
They were all spikes but two were pretty decent.

The only problem is Jessica and Tammie have claimed both the big spikes and somehow they are off limits for me. How did that happen? I'm gona have to start playing my cards a little closer! Maybe there will be a yearling show up that they will let me shoot.

Here's some pic's from the camera trap. They are all taken with infrared but i reset it for standard flash. It really don't seem to bother them and I have plenty of pic's of deer spooking from the infrared setting. I would not have guessed that.

Larry S.   

Bow Season Report, Florida 2010-1

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Bow Report 2010: Florida

Sept. 18,19, 2010

Archery season opened this Saturday. Built arrows until 9:00 pm Friday night, got everything loaded in the truck and got in bed about 11:30pm. I drove over to hunt at the cabbage creek club Saturday morning. Hunted the kill zone stand. Nice morning, birds were active and singing and feeding well into the morning. About 9:30 I heard something pushing thru the bushes over my left shoulder. The ty-tys' are real tall there and all I could see was a top shaking. Turned out to be a 6-7" spike buck headed back to lay up for the day. He came right into the wheel house, 5 yds., picked up some corn and kept moving, off into the thick he went. I let him go thinking he was not a shooter but later that day I found out the club had changed the rule this year to 5" spikes min. from 3 pts min.

Well, I went back to the same stand that afternoon and had a nubbin buck come in. I shot a little footage of him and finally had to run him off to get down. About half way down the tree I heard a deer blow behind me that was headed my way. This stand is a buck magnet! It’s a lay-up stand and I see very few doe deer here. This spot is good for at least a buck or two every year. I’ll try to get around to some writing on what makes this particular spot so special in another post.

When I got back to camp Saturday afternoon, my ole buddy Steve had shot a real nice, tight horned 7pt at Keslemyers fence and already had him at the camp hanging by his hock. He made a great shoot and the deer fell right there and expired. It was a little strange though, the deer must have reacted to the shot and rolled over a little as the arrow had caught him mid height in the rib cage but ended up stuck thru the bottom of the spine so he got a lung and the spine. No tracking required and no follow up shot required. The deer had some decent fat on him also. Steve was sure proud of him.

We finished with the deer cleaning chore at about 10:15 pm and got ready to hit the rack. I decided I'd call my wife Tammie real quick and check in. When I looked at the phone there was a pile of missed calls from home. Huston we have a problem! I’ve been here before so when Tammie answered I immediately asked what’s wrong..... "Jessica's horse came down with colic and the vet had to put her down, I need you home in the morning as soon as your done hunting". If a dead horse in the front yard is not bad enough all the girls were a wreck! I guess this trumps hunting. I promised I’d get home early to take care of things and went to bed.

Problem 2; The tractor’s radiator is blown (and I have a dead horse to deal with)

I decided I had to go back to the “kill zone stand” come daylight. I’d hunt until 9:00 and head home to fix the tractor and bury the horse. Problem #3: I failed to factor in a poorly placed shot into the plan.

Steve and I loaded all our gear on the 4wheelers and headed out in the dark. It was actually a pretty chilly ride for bow season. The coolness gave me the feeling of a promising hunt. I climbed up to my perch and quickly got settled in. It was 6:30am and 30 minutes before decent light. I don’t usually get there quite that early so I need to thank Steve for that. As I was getting everything ready I heard a deer moving around in the old cut over bay, off to the South West. I could just make the sound out and it was to early for the birds to start so I was pretty confident it was a deer. About 6:45 I caught a little movement coming down a chop trail. I put the binoculars on him and immediately knew he was a racked buck! I really like these glasses. They are Nikon’s Monarch in 10x36. Excellent little glasses, very sharp and ideal in size. I have hunted with them for probably 4 years without issue and almost can’t stand to hunt without them.

Anyway, I was already standing and waiting on him when he showed. At 15 yds he stepped behind a short pine I had strategically left in the little clearing and I instinctively drew on him but he hung up behind the tree and I had to back down. Finally, he eased out. When he got sideways I eased the bow up and put a pin on him. Looked good, pin was lit and I could see the deer. I pulled the string and tried to line him up thru the peep. In the dim light I thought I was on the crease behind the shoulder but apparently I was mistaken. My brain was screaming shoot, shoot! I loosed the shaft and heard the arrow impact the deer. The buck lunged forward headed right at me and crashed off into the thick over my left shoulder. He plowed thru everything in his way for 45 yds and stopped. All of the sudden the thought came to me that the arrow impact had an odd sound that I had never heard before and I knew I did not like it. Except for that little issue everything was going exactly according to plan. Little did I know and this is truly what happened, I admit it…..apparently I shot the wrong end of the deer! It sounds pretty stupid as I’m writing it but that’s the truth of the matter, plain and simple. At this point I was not yet aware of this!

After about 10 minutes I decided I just had to find my arrow. Here’s where I become aware of problem #3. As soon as my eye spotted my fletching in the bushes I knew I had shot him back in the paunch. A bow hunters worst nightmare. My god I couldn’t believe it! How is that even possible I thought? How could I have blown a 14 yd shot so badly? I slipped over to where he went into the thick….nothing. You would never know a deer had ever passed there. I’ve been here before and it usually does not end good.

I pulled my boot out of my butt and climbed back into the tree to access the situation and make a plan.

Knowing this deer was going to require some time I decided the best thing to do was to leave him and go home and take care of the horse in the yard and return later with my tracking machine Lacy, my bluetick hound. I had to fight the urge to track this deer but with no blood and gut on the arrow that was just not an option. If you jump a deer in this situation and he is still strong, he will rocket out of there and chances of recovery are all but lost. If he gets to lay there a bit and his blood clots, when he's jumped and leaves there running there will be no visible sign to follow.

About 25 minutes after the shot I was still sitting quietly in the stand when I heard some noise in the bushes from where the crashing deer had stopped. I couldn’t be sure exactly what it was but I felt it was him lying down. I gathered my gear and slipped out of there as quietly as possible

Steve was in the next block about a third of a mile from me but I knew as soon as he heard my 4 wheeler crank that early, he'd know what was going on. I left him a short note at the camp, loaded up and headed for home.

I had a job with the tractor. The solder joints on the upper tank and failed and I had a heck of a time trying to get them soldered back together. Once I got it back in the tractor and got everything back in place the starter wouldn’t work. Finally, I got it going, loaded it on the flat bed and headed to the farm to get the loader bucket and finally got the horse buried.

I loaded Lacy in the truck and away we went, cautiously optimistic.

I had hyped Lacy up on the drive over so she was ready to find daddy’s deer when we got there. I put her on a long lead, packed the necessary equipment and down the trail we went. We had to cross the deer track on the way to the stand and you would have thought Lacy hit a brick wall! She immediately turned and started in the bushes where the deer had gone and I had to pull her off as I always want her to start at the head of the trail. I let her smell the arrow shaft and showed her where he was standing. It was obvious she could smell him and she started right in on the track. Down my walk trail and then a 90 to the left into the thick ty-tys’, palmettos and gallberry. In short order I was crawling on hands and knees. After a short distance there he was! Right where it sounded like he stopped. It was not a long track but it was an old one and Lacy never missed a step. Man was I proud of her. Honestly, I would have probably easily recovered him but it was another successful track and one of her oldest non-training tracks.

The deer was in a cool shady place and I believe we were able to salvage most of the meat. I took a few quick pictures and got him loaded and back to the truck. To get him on ice as soon as possible I skinned him on the ground right there and the deed was done.

I’ll post a little more on this technique later as this is something every hunter should know. Many times I have used this method along with a rubber back pack to pack a deer out and it’s the slickest thing you have ever seen. I was done and the deer was in the cooler in 15 minutes!

It was one of the best opening weekends and I couldn’t remember when Steve and I both harvested racked bucks in one weekend, pretty awesome!

If I could give anyone some advice after reflecting on this hunt, I’d say don’t rush a shot unless you really have to. Some times to be successful you have to make things happen but in this case the deer was feeding and in reality, I probably had time to wait on it to get a little lighter. The deer was fatally shot but surely not the death blow I was striving to deliver.

Funny how things work out.

Best of hunts,

Larry S.

Here's the glasses I use if you want to find out a little about them.
As I get a chance I'll put a gear list together of all the items and gadgets I use and recommend.