Turkey Contest Team#4 2013

[boscheefish]

out the door at 330 today, couldn't sleep so what better to do, hiked to a spot today I thought had birds, sat an hr , nothin, decided to work my way back to the truck, had to be in kelowna by 8 for work...... it's now 6:20 and I hear 2 gobblers just lit right up . im on a real steep slope up hill of them,so they sounded much closer then they were, turns out I was at least a couple roads above them. I ran down to try to gain on them cause they were moving away from me. there was a time where I was gaining on them, I just wanted to get close enough!, slammed up against a tree and started a little calling, they responded well, but still were headed elsewhere and I couldn't see them and the trees were getting thick and work was on my mind, so hoping they will be in the neighbourhood next time, I pulled out with great reluctance,
made it to work 15 mins late........ back at it asap

[grizzlybern]

well champman and i have tried our spots from last year but have not seen or heard nothing, so going to try over by creston for a couple of days

[boscheefish]

I lived a hunters worse nightmare this morning....
i let the team down and my self down....
extremely humbling experience.....

set up close to the roost again, no problem locating him, gobbling all on his won, when I saw him fly down, he pushed off so hard the huge branch below him broke and was very loud, I'm sure this spooked him cause he flew along way away ....
I spent the next 2 hrs trying to catch up with him, and finally did with great sweaty effort.
everything was working , calls, responds, he was excited but I was in the bush and he was in the open, he finally hung up and wouldn't come closer, now I've practiced this long shot enough with my 2oz loads.
and I know I was in range , I took the shot as he began to leave towards the big open country, fully expecting him to flop I quickly realized I forgot to select my top barrel which has full choke, and I shot bottom barrel which was cylinder .....!!!!! :'( and watched him gracefully fly away with ease.

so here's my question what r the chances, he will roost same area again and do his routine because its been 4 days in a row I've seen him there, or have I completely lost all chances with him in that location,

would love your feedback.

cheers

[Brez]

I think it depends if he's hit or not. I know of a lot that have flown away but sure that they've been hit. If he hasn't been injured, I think there is a good chance that he'll return.

[boscheefish]

yeah too far for cylinder I'm pretty sure he's not hit, I looked a long time in the direction I saw him go . I went at least a 1 km after him he was airborne for a long time tho watched him fly the whole distance of the field than turn down hill again...
I feel terrible,
im going to check on him tomorrow and see what I can hear,

[Brez]

Sounds like if you give him a day or two, he'll be back. Good luck.

[eastkoot]

May depend on how many hens he had. They are horny buggers. He may look for greener "safe" pastures but he will be back if hens were there.

[boscheefish]

well he's been this way daily so that's what I'm counting on

[Wingman]

Been there done that... solved the problem by buying an auto with the full choke it takes the mistake out of the game. As far as coming back he might but will most likely use his second roost a least that seem how the Toms act around here. They have two locations about 1 1/2 K apart. The tough part will be getting him to come to your calls now that he has been educated.

Grant

[boscheefish]

ok I'm very happy to say he's still alive and well, I snuck back into his roost at 430 this morn, I just wanted to see If he was still around, I sat until 6, I could hear another gobbler in the distance so I decided to make a run for him, as I gathered my stuff the Tom flew out of his roost , he was silent all morning and was in the exact same tree!!!
as I was running to the other gobbler, I ran into the one I just flushed from his roost and he was airborn again! didn't mean to spook him he just landed right where I was walking by, hes gonna be tough to get now.....
so on to his other bird, unfortunately when I was trying to be sneaky and set the decoy up I think he saw movement, he was faraway and I tried to coax him in, he hung around for 45 mins chatting with my calls but wouldn't commit, eventually he left ,
so the plan is try for this one tomorrow , I think I found his little private strutting spot, will set up and just wait to see if be comes on his own,
what a season , scout fri sat sun, hunt mon tues wed thurs morn and work a full day,
I'm wearin out haha, this is truly an amazing time of yr,