Well I saw a lot of birds, but I couldn't get a gobbler to strut my way.
I went with my brother-in-law to a cabin he and his friend have been going to since he was 12. They have some land in the foothills of WV. We hiked in and set up around 5:15 am. There is absolutely nothing like sitting on the side of a hill listening to God's creation wake up and praying that a gobbler would be stupid enough to strut by. Talk about relaxing! We started hearing the birds around 5:50 am. A crow set them off. About 6 gobblers started doing their thing about 50 yards in front of me. They were roosting in a group of pines right on top of me. I watched them fly down from their roost around 6am, just out of reach. They disappeared into the thick pines and headed on down through the valley. I had two huge hens "shake their tail feathers" about 20 yards in front of me by the decoy. What a rush!
The view was incredible. The experience even better. I think I just became a full-on turkey hunter.
Here are a few shots of my view from where I was set up.
That's northern Panhandle of WV, I live on the Eastern Panhandle. My brother in law lives along the Ohio river but further south-west in Ravenswood, WV.
Posted by: J.C. Jennings | May 01, 2008 at 01:18 PM
First pic is the spitting image of Mike Modano.
Posted by: John Bartlett | April 29, 2008 at 11:09 AM
Where specifically in WV? Not that I want your turkey spot, but I live in the state.
J.C.- we were near Hunter, WV on the Pa side. Do you know where that is? We also went fishing on the Ohio River near Wierton.- pace
Posted by: J.C. Jennings | April 29, 2008 at 09:19 AM
Aren't they a hoot to watch? When we lived in Montana, we had a huge flock that lived on the land around us. They would come by and graze around the house.
They loved to chase and dive bomb our golden when he would sneak up on them. Man, those thing can fly. It's scary!
Unfortunately, we didn't have the fortitude to try to take one down.
Posted by: kelli | April 29, 2008 at 01:52 AM