Florida Spring Gobbler Season Report - #7 -Fifth Week!

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Monday, Apr. 11, 2011-day #17

I took off for Monday and did not hunt today.

Tuesday, Apr. 12, 2011-day #18

Since I did not scout Monday I was forced to prospect this morning. I covered a number of roads without getting any response from a gobbler. I did call up a hen on the road near a spot we call the persimmon tree. It was a pretty slow morning.

Wednesday, Apr. 13, 2011-day #19

I started out on the North end of the creek road this morning and ended up going in to my stand at the west fence. When I got to within calling distance of the hammock I stopped and made an excited cut call. I was immediately answered by a hen cutting back at me. Since that was all I had to go on I thought I'd play it out and how there was a gobbler with them.

I needed to close the distance a little so I moved their direction. It was so think you couldn't see 10'. I never came into any place that was open enough to set up and call. Finally I was actually within gun range of them and there was just no place to call from. The hens were still aggressively calling to me but there was nothing I could do. I had just decided to go back when I heard one fly, then another. Amazingly, they flew almost vertically up into a big yellow pine. They had flown up for a vantage where they could look for me. One of the hens walked up and down the limb she was on calling and looking. She would hop up to another limb and do the same thing. It was a pretty interesting to see.

It was getting up in the morning so I decided to slip out of there and head for work. On the way out I cut some track sign in the road. It was a gobbler and a hen that had come from a big head where they had roosted and crossed the road headed to a pasture just up the hill. The gobbler strutted his way up a dim road and I believe this is the remaining bird from the duo I have been hunting.

This was an interesting discovery and I started making plans for an afternoon hunt.


Late that afternoon I got there in time to get set up between the pasture and the roost where the turkeys had roosted. The sign on the sandy knob indicated that a number of turkeys had been using this spot and there were plenty of big gobbler tracks. I was a little disappointed that I had not put 2 and 2 together and already figured this out.

Unfortunately, even though the plan was sound, the birds roosted elsewhere that night and I did not hear nor see any turkeys.

I decided to spend the night at camp and do some tracking with the head lights.

At the persimmon tree, I found where a gobbler had been in my wheel sign from that morning. His track entered the woods at the fork in the road but I found it again just down the road. I tracked down the road to a 4way intersection where he had gone left. I ended up following him a half a mile until he finally left the road at an old sink hole.

I did not know how late in the day he turkey had been there but I hoped he would be roosted on the hill not to far away.


Thursday, Apr. 14, 2011-day #20

I waited at the sink hole and did some calling but never heard a gobble. I did get a response from a hen roosted on the other side of the road but I pulled of and headed off to do some prospecting. That turned out uneventful as well and the turkey sign on the roads was weak.

Friday,  Apr. 15, 2011 - day #21

This turned out to be one of the best hunts in quite some time, a real classic! It's a pretty long story so I'll put it on it's own post to follow.

These turkeys were still finding low bush acorns!

The hen in this photo took advantage of an aggressive atv tire that had

broke up the clay in the road to get a dust bath! pretty smart!

Good luck,
Larry S.

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.



Florida Spring Gobbler Season Report - #5 -Third Weekend!

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Saturday, Apr 2,2011-day #11

I had no choice but to go back and hunt the power line bird again. I had scouted Friday afternoon and found his track so I knew he was still alive. The question was how badly did the shooting effect him? Would he roost in the same place and more importantly, would he gobble?

I made my way down to the river swamp well before gobble time and waited to see what cards I would be dealt. I expected him to roost deeper in the river swamp but still gobble. Gobble time came and went with no sign of any turkeys. Finally, after it was time for a bird to be on the ground I had a turkey answer my calling with some course yelping and eventually started clucking sharply at me, over and over. The turkey was on the other side of the power line in a stand of burnt cabbage trees and it would not come any closer. All of the sudden I heard a real short gobble, maybe a quarter of a real gobble. He ended up doing this a total of three times. The bird did utter one full gobble that morning but it was muffled and quiet.

After about 30 minutes the turkeys quite calling and it was over. The shot had definitely effected him and he was not the same turkey.

Sunday hunt #12

Sunday's plan was basically the same as the previous day. I'd wait on the power line for gobble time and see if he'd gobble. Once again, gobble time came and went with no gobbling. A half an hour or so after fly down I eased down close to the river. It was really foggy. I made a loud, excited cut and I heard a bird gobble at it but he was across the river from me. I got him to answer me a couple more times and he was over it.

I prospected my way back up the power line without locating any turkeys and decided to call off the dogs.

I headed back for the camp from there to do a little scouting and see what the turkeys there were up to. It was a little slow but I did manage to find a few gobblers and one bit of strut sign. I saw one jake and two hens on the roads on up in the morning and it was time to head for home.

Good Huntin'
Larry S.

Interesting Turkey Sign from this Weekend!

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I had a bunch of misc. pictures of tracks, feathers, dropping, etc. from my scouting this weekend so I decided to just put them together with some description of what it is your looking at.

I collected most of this while scouting from the truck. I covered ground you could not have walked in a week! If your hunting in an area with sandy roads its  T H E    B E S T,  Q U I C K E S T, way to locate turkeys, bar none.

The picture at the left is a gobblers left wing, primary feather. Note the heavy quill. A hens quill will be half this diameter.

                                                           Bear & Turkey Tracks!

Turkey hen dropping. When their green their real recent!

                                                             Extra large Gobbler Track!

This is some good sign I found from the truck. Hen dusting, gobbler and hen tracks.

A pair of gobbler tracks in the wet sand near a mud hole in the road.

Hens tracks!

Hen tracks and scratch sign. Notice, the scratching is in a "V" that points

in the direction the turkey is traveling.

Large gobbler track!

Pair of Jakes with huge feet walking together. Compare them to the hen track

in front of my left foot. Really the only way to know whether a big track is a jake is to  actually

see them make it which, I did! I ran up on them around the next curve in the road.

Big gobbler track!

Hen scratching and traveling to the left. It's a little unusual to see

scratching in hard damp sand like this. I expect she was looking for gravel for

her craw.

Pair of running Jake tracks!

Jumbo Gobbler Track!

Bear and turkey tracks!

A very small hen track. It's much smaller than it appears in the photo.

Hen tracks and scratching in the edge of a mud puddle in the road.

Gobbler tracks.

Gobbler and hen tracks! Gobbler in middle moving left to right.

Tracking from the truck!

Gobbler and hen tracks in a sand road.

Strut sign! That is the 3-4 closely spaced lines that parallel another

set of 3-4 lines. Note the gobbler track in the middle, moving

from right to left. The gap between the parallel wing drag lines

can vary between 5" and 14" apart. typical is 10-12" 

More strut sign from a gobbler strutting for a nearby hen.

A lot of turkey sign is very subtle and you need to really be paying attention to pick up on it. Once you

get you mind trained for what your supposed to be looking for you can easily pick out a turkeys toe nail sign on a hard road that does not take a foot track.

The picture I included here are all of pretty obvious sign otherwise you wouldn't be able to see anything in the picture. Successful hunters pay attention to detail that most people overlook so keep this in mind when your out in the woods, even in the off season.

Good Huntin'

Larry S.

Rocky Boots Review - "15" Low Country Snake Boots" -Update #1

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Update #1

You can see the original review posting here: Rocky Boots Review-15" Low Country Snake Boot!

Well, it would normally be a little soon for an update as I have only worn the new, third pair of these boots for (4) days but the first failing has become evident this morning.

There was a heavy due and even a little frost this morning while I was walking in to where I thought I might be able to get on a gobbler. I also had to cross a small stretch of standing water in the road that was 2-4" deep or so. I stopped to take a photo standing in the shallow water.

When I got back to the office later and changed, I discovered the right boot had leaked just a little as I had a light stain and dampness on my sock just behind my little toe!

Just what I had hoped would not happen.

I really don't know what to think about Rocky. Their water proofing systems is just not working. This is the 4th of 5th Rocky boot that I have bought over the last 5 years that leaked. Every single one and these are not inexpensive boots. They all typically sell for $130. It's just unacceptable.

I am going to contact the company and see what they have to say about this issue. I don't see how I could ever risk my hard earned money on another rocky boot not to mention the let down in the field. I still have 3-4 weeks of turkey season to get through, including a trip to Illinois!

Larry S.

Florida Spring Gobbler Season Report - #4 Second Week & "The April Fools Bird!"

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Monday March 28, 2011

The weather forecast was not looking good, overcast, breezy and a good chance of rain.

I got up at 5 AM and stepped outside to see what it looked, miserable! but....I thought, with the rain, turkeys are going to want to be in the open, either on a graded road pasture or.....an dried up duck pond! It was a long shot but I loaded up and headed for the duck pond I have been hunting.

I was actually a little late getting there and I had to set up with daylight breaking on me. I set up a couple hen decoys in front a a small grass island with one lone, young cypress growing on the edge. It had some low limbs I could  crawl up under and use the trunk for a back rest. I pulled some moss over the limbs and settled in for the wait.                                                                                                   

                                                                                                               Big Gobbler track!

Of course with the overcast, I heard no gobbling but I felt good about the chances of a long beard being close.

After about a half hour I looked over to see two hens easing out from behind a grass island. I got to see one more hen before I called the hunt and that was it. No gobblers.

Tuesday: called for bad weather

Wednesday: called for bad weather

Thursday: I have a 4 day permit for Ocala, Lake Delancy that started today but when I woke up this morning it was flashing lightening, thundering and had been raining all night. I decided to bide my time an waite and see what the weather would do. We had been under tornado watches over night and there was more severe weather forcasted for the day. By 2 PM though it was starting to clear. Since it had rained most of the day I did not figure much sign could be seen so I decided not to try to scout the spot I planned to hunt. I have killed a turkey here just about every year for as long as I have been hunting Delancy. I'll just go there cold in the morning and see what develops.

                                          A pair of big footed birds walking together, Jakes!
Not more than 45 minutes old, you can still see their toe texture, I bumped into the birds just down the road.

Friday day #10, "The April fools Bird!"

Man, I just can get out from under this black cloud that is following me around! From the title you can probably guess the ending of this hunt but here's what went down.

It's over an hours drive for me to get to this little honey hole I like to hunt in the Ocala national forest.

I was a little nervous about what I would find when I got there as I have not been there in a year. I am always worried someone is going to be sitting there when I arrive.

Well, once again I lucked out and had the spot all to myself. The forest service had just recently burned the area and had blocked the road to I had to hump all my gear in an extra 1/4 mile or so. Since it was going to be so far I decided to leave the decoys. That turned out to be a mistake that could have made a decidedly different out come to the hunt.

I waited down at the swamp and the second time I owled a bird responded right beside me! I mean 50-60 yds! I probably looked like the cat who just ate the canary. I have been here before and It has always gone bad for the gobbler. I just knew I had this one in the bag.

As as the day creatures started to wake up and call, the gobbler really got going. He was gobbling at anything that made a sound. I put a palmetto fan blind together on the opposite side of the road and set back for the show.

When the gobbling started to tail off I knew he was getting ready to fly down. I had no more whispered that to the camera; he's getting ready to fly down, when I heard him take wing and saw him come sailing into the road. The only problem was the canopy was such that it caused him to fly diagonally away from me and land some 50 yds distant. He was out of view of the camera so I decided to be patient and wait on him.

He went into full strut as soon as his toes hit the dirt and only got out of shotgun range one time over the next hour. Strutting and drumming non stop and I only got two glimpses of him.

From his gobbling I could tell he was getting close to the edge of the hammock. About then I heard a couple hen flutter down back in the hammock. You know what he did! He headed that way strutting and gobbling.

I called up a hen that got to about 10yds. and then faded back into the hammock.

The tom gobbled off in the back in the hammock and I thought he was leaving me but I made the right call there and stayed put. In a few minutes he was coming back and I thought once again I was just about to kill him. He hung up just on the edge of the right of way and moved back and fourth drumming the hole time.

I had seen him pass through a small hole behind a fallen cabbage log when he came up there but he did not stop for a shot and I thought he was coming to the road anyway. Well, after a short time I saw him step back into the opening but all I could see was his white head and the top of his fan. I swung the gun over the camera and fired!

It was a swing and a miss! I still can't believe I blew such a sweet setup. That was one lucky bird is all that I can say.

I would add this; after I watched the footage I saw some stuff that I missed due to the camera and having to worry with that thing. I don't think it really had much to due with the failure but it can and will. There was a hen that I called up in the thick bushes that I did not know was there until I watched the video and I had the camera pointed in the wrong shooting hole when I pulled the trigger. With over and hour of footage I never saw the gobbler for more then about 3 seconds and he was basically in gun range the hole time! Amazing.

I have to say, despite the disappointment of the miss, it was one exciting hunt! To have a bird that close for so long with him drumming and gobbling like that.....it's pure excitement. It was still an outstanding hunt.

I will try to roost him tonight but I expect he is going to be as wild as a run over dog. He won't leave but whether he can be called in is a different story.

I have two days to make it happen. We'll see.

Best of hunts,

Larry S.

Florida Spring Gobbler Season Report - #3 Second Weekend

. Saturday, day #8:

I just had to go back to the dried up duck pond. I figured with all the hens and everything a turkey could want there a gobbler's got to be there. Well, he was there but he was roosted all the way in the N.E. corner and deep outside the pond as best I could tell. There was another bird gobbling a little left of him and much further away. I expect he was across the road in the next block. The problem here is there is only the road and the pond to be able to actually hunt and call a bird. The woods are bad thick except to the West and S.W., where its a high hill and somewhat open. However, how the turkeys come and go from the pond is a mystery! It's so thick on the edge that you would not believe a turkey could get out of there except to fly.

Anyway, the roosted gobbler that morning responded to me from the limb a little but only gobble one time from the ground. He was a lot closer and to my left but outside of the pond in some thick pine and bay flat woods. I hunted until 10:00am and only saw a couple of hens.

That afternoon Steve and I drug some black jack wood up to the camp for a cook fire and hauled water for our shower house. Steve named it the "Neapolitan Bath House"! as it had red, white and chocolate metal panels on the side kind of like Neapolitan ice cream. Sounds swanky too. We heat our water in a wash tub on a gas burner and run a 12v bilge pump off our truck battery to pump the water to a shower head inside. Man, does that thing feel good after a 90+ degree day during bow season.

Steve had hauled the water barrel to a blow well down in the swamp to get water and I went around the other way to scout the low road. I found the mother load of strut sign where an old road tees and goes down to an overgrown clear cut. I mean the road was cut to pieces from gobblers dragging their wings strutting. I took some pictures and headed for the well. Just as I crossed the creek I ran up on two hens in the road. They took off running and were headed right for Steve. When I rounded the corner they were flying right past him parked in the road. I don't know who was more surprised him or the turkeys!

                                                   The mother load of strut sign!

That evening I got to the pond early enough to set up some decoys for an afternoon hunt. I not really an afternoon turkey hunter as they won't gobble much but I guess I'm desperate at this point. I was (3) hens and that was it.

I left just enough time to run to the strut zone i had found and owl but got no response. However, it was breezy and not a good evening for roosting. I did flush a hen roosted in some short pines along the road where it comes into the clear cut.


Sunday moring, day #9:
I took the atv and headed back to the strut zone thinking the gobbler had to be there and just did not gobble. Well, I was right. I had walked all under him on the roost that night and he never flushed. That morning however was a different story. I moved down the road to the edge of the clear cut and waited for gobble time. A bird started gobbling in the creek in the distance. Then another and another and another. Four in all but there was no way to get to them, I tried! I decided just to set up there where the road met the clear cut and just as I was about to set down a bid bird flushed about 40 yds from me on the other side of the road! Damn the luck!

I ended up leading about 8:00am as I believe the gobbling birds were jakes. They were not gobbling at anything I could here and would not respond to anything I did, owl, crow, cut, cackle, nothing and only gobbled 3-4 times each. I headed back to the duck pond. Again, I saw some hens but no gobblers. I did hear a bird gobbling up by some houses and went that way but he was off the club and would not really respond to me gobbling maybe every 20 minutes or so, real cold.

That pretty much ended the 2 nd weekend of hunting. A lot of bad weather and rain is forcasted for the rest of the week so I expect I will not be hunting to much this week.

I discovered some bear tracks in a small sink hole pond that was just about dried up. Not a huge bear but made some nice tracks. Here's a few pic's.

                                                                    Bear tracks!

                                                                     Gator tracks!

                                                                 Gator tracks!

                                              A gator cave under the bank and sunning spot!

                                                                       Gator slide!

                                               Turkey paradise in a dried up duck pond!

                                                                     Hen dusting sign!
Good Luck,
Larry S.