Story of the Hunt - Fall 2003

My friend Dick and I had never hunted turkeys in the fall but thought we would give it a try. We gathered as much reading material that we could find on fall hunting and began scouting in September. We could not find any fall crop of acorns or beechnuts in the areas we scouted in Essex and Clinton Counties. We checked out areas that flocks were reportedly seen and found turkey sign. In one area it appeared to be only a couple birds so we figured they were toms and finally found what appeared to be the roost trees in that area and two days before the season opened (October 1,) I roosted 3 birds. Reviewing our scouting trips and fall hunting info we decided the roost tree area should be the place to start.

At 0615 on opening day we met at our agreed area and headed to our set up area. Temperature was in the 40’s and was suppose to be overcast with possible showers. Dick put out a hen decoy and we snuggled up to the trunk of a pine tree. Sitting there in the early light we didn’t hear any turkey talk (gobbling) and after a bit I did the wing beating, fly down routine then a couple of clucks every now and then on the box call. After half hour or so I
heard a bird to our right coming towards us clucking. I talked back and the bird kept coming. It was in an area of small pines (2 - 4 feet high). When I figured the bird was close to coming into view I readied my gun and used the squawk box mounted on my gun. The bird shut up and left. We waited and kept clucking now and then but nothing so we checked the in the area we heard the bird we did find a set of tracks going away. We figured we missed
our chance there and left.

We drove a couple of roads where turkeys have been hanging out hoping we might see a flock of hens and poults but no luck. Went to an area that had been logged off and were going to walk the skid roads where we had seen a little sign (dusting spots, tracks). Walked about half mile and right in front of us was a turkey feeding in the road and he never saw us (nice tom). Squatting down it was hard to see the bird as it was in tall grass. His head kept popping up checking out the area but didn’t stay up long and he would go back to feeding, hard to get a head shot, but did manage to get it timed so when he looked up the silence broke with a bang and down the bird dropped.

To our surprise another bird was there and ran down the road maybe 25 yards then turned and ran back to the downed bird. Bang again and that tom went down beside the other.

Two nice toms, one 16 pounds, 3/4 inch spurs and a 7 1/2 inch beard and one 13 1/2 pound, 1/2 inch spurs with a 6 1/4 inch beard.