What. A. Weekend. As you might have seen, my Dad and I spent the weekend at Red Bluff Lodge in Allendale – hunting hunting hunting, and hoping for success with turkeys and hogs. And when I say hunting, I mean non-stop hunting. And, although it rained the whole weekend and we ultimately came away empty handed (which was a shock to us all, believe me), I have to say we had the most active turkey hunts I’ve ever experienced. Dad is in agreement – it was crazy.
We arrived late Friday afternoon with the intent to hog hunt that evening, but the rain was coming down too hard to warrant getting in the woods. What to do when you’re in the country and it rains? Porch sit and have a few chilly beers, that’s what! The lodge is full of cool mounts and great photos, so the time went by pretty darn fast.
Full mount of a 12-foot gator – Yikes!
Saturday morning, the rain had pretty much stopped, so we got on
our gear and headed to the woods. Hey – a little bad weather never stopped us!
We were hunting a really interesting spot – a little group of pines next to a huge clear cut. Across the clear cut stood thick woods with tall pines, and the turkeys’ roosting spot. Just as you could see, we set the decoy our, settled into our seats against a thick pine, hit the call once, and waited. Silence. Not one gobble. We knew there were turkeys in the area, so we weren’t discouraged. It was pretty windy and misting, and sometimes, those gobblers just don’t talk. About 7:15, a little hen came walking out of the clear cut about 30 yards away from us, bugging up the path where we’d placed our decoy. After a few minutes, she headed on up the path away from us. Not 15 minutes later, my dad spotted movement behind a pile of logs. Sure enough, out came 2 gobblers. They never made a sound. Unfortunately, they came into the path about 50 yards farther up than the hen had (and at least that far our of range), following in her trail. Sigh. No shot. They weren’t even the slightest bit interested in our decoy. But, that also means they had no idea 2 hunters were waiting just inside the pines, so they had no reason to be wary or alarmed. Head-to-toe camouflage, holding your breath, and barely even moving your eye balls = stealth mode. We waited until about 8:45 before we decided to search the nearby fields for some birds, but came up empty handed there as well.
After a delicious lunch, we headed back out to try again for a turkey, this time going to a different area. We walked and walked and scouted, setting up in a few different places for 30-45 minute stretches, but never heard or saw a bird. Finally, we decided to check out one more little food plot before calling it a day (the hog hunt was drawing closer). Edging into the clearing, I noticed that the clear cut next to it seemed to extend around a bend a little more, so I sneaked up to check it out as my dad edged up the field to set up the decoy. Sure enough, there were 5 turkeys hanging out around the bend – they spotted our movement and took off before we even realized what we’d seen. I didn’t get a good look, but Dad said it looked like at least 3 of those birds were hens. After that, we didn’t see any more turkeys. But hey – that’s a pretty active day of turkey hunting, wouldn’t you say?
Ahh, on to the hog hunt! As I mentioned, it was a dreary, rainy weekend. Although the rain would stop for long stretches, it remained misty, cloudy and cool. Trading in our 12 gauges for our .308s, it was time to head to the swamp and get in the stand. When I say “swamp,” I mean 1/4 mile from the Savannah River, paddle-faster-I-hear-banjos swamp. It was some hog-gy looking land, I will tell you that. I walked in with my rifle loaded, just in case. Those beasts can be pretty mean! As luck would have it, the rain started 15 minutes after we got situated. Sprinkling at first, then a real downpour. Thankfully, the stand had a little roof so we didn’t get soaked, but heavy rain doesn’t usually bode well for hunting. Nevertheless, we stuck it out. I was convinced that some big, muddy, snorting hog was going to show up, but he never did. A raccoon, a little hen turkey, and a small doe later, we climbed down just after dark. Naturally, as we waiting at the road (still deep in the swamp) to get picked up, rifles unloaded, we heard at least 2 hogs crashing through the brush maybe 30 yards for us, grunting and snorting. Poor Dad… It startled me so badly that when I turned around to make sure he heard it, I punched him right in the gut. Haha I guess he’s lucky I didn’t also try to jump on his shoulders to get out of the way…? If you’ve ever heard hogs like that when you can’t see them, you know the kind of terror that runs through you for a split second. Woof.
Empty handed again, it was dinner and bedtime before our last hunt of the weekend. Early Sunday morning, we prepped for another turkey hunt. The weather hadn’t gotten much better, and it was a little cooler, so we weren’t sure what to expect. Since we knew where at least some turkeys were, we headed back to the same clear cut from the previous morning, setting up a little farther up the path, and a little closer to it.
Just as we had done before, we hit the call just before daylight. We were answered with a gobble, coming from just inside the thick woods across the clear cut. Hey, that’s a better start! Suddenly, another gobble from farther right answered the first. After about 10 minutes, there were at least 4 different birds gobbling at us and at one another.
“Hey! Hey man! You awake?” “Yea man, are you?” “Yea! You hungry? Let’s get some breakfast.” “Hey guys, I’m up too!” “Good deal man, I’ll meet y’all down there. Let’s look for some ladies, too!”
At least, that’s what was going through my head as we listened to them… I know, I know. Certifiable, huh? But, back to the hunt! With so much noise activity, we waited patiently, knowing we would at least see birds. Sure enough, a hen came up into the path, followed shortly thereafter by 2 small-ish gobblers. She started towards our decoy, but turned around before she got to close. Hen’s don’t like to compete for gobblers’ attention, so she made a 180 and headed straight back to the boys instead of leading them towards the decoy (and into shooting range). One gobbler looked interested for about 10 seconds, but ultimately followed the lady and his friend away from us, never coming closer than about 60 yards. That’s getting on out there, and although I wanted to kill a turkey so so badly, I wasn’t trying to take marginal shots and possibly wound (and never find) one.
Disappointed but not discouraged, we continued to sit. The rain started to pick up, but wasn’t terrible, so we hunted on. Gobblers were still gobbling, and we knew we were in a good spot. At about 7:45 or 8, I spotted a big, dark silhouette behind a low tree branch. And when I say big, I mean it was a really nice gobbler with a long floppy beard. I am estimating it was 9″-10″ long from what my dad and I could see. He stood perfectly still for 2-3 minutes before moving. As he edged closer, I saw he had a friend with him – a friend of equal size and beard length. You want to talk about tensing up? In the split second that they passed behind a tree trunk, I got my gun up to a shooting position and froze. You never know if you’ll get another chance to move before you can take a shot, so timing can be key. Since it was cool out, you could see my breath as well, so short, light breaths were all I could do for the next 15 minutes. Yep, those 2 guys walked around and checked out our decoy for almost 15 minutes. One was super interested, constantly fanning out and strutting, but his friend wasn’t so sure. It was as if every time the one got excited and went into a full strut, his friend was saying “No no, wait a a minute, man. Wait a minute. I’m not sure if I’m feelin’ this. Settle down.” And he would. The second bird never puffed up or fanned, and always had his head up watching. He also apparently convinced his pal to stay right at about 80 yards away from us the entire time. His wariness kept me as still as I could possibly be – gun 2/3 of the way up to my shoulder, every muscle locked in place, taking short, shallow breaths, and trying to not even move my eyeballs if I could help it. My dad was slightly behind me from the point of view of the birds, so when they started to turn away, he was able to hit the call a few times to re-interest them. Each time, they would stop and look back. The wary guy stayed put, while his friend would try to fan out again. Alas, they slowly headed away from us. Once they were out of site and earshot, Dad and I both let out our breath and slumped backwards. I can’t decide if that 15 minutes was the longest of my life, or flew by because I was concentrating so hard, but it was a tense wait. And every minute was worth what we saw.
Now, I don’t know if the decoy helped us or hurt us in this case, and we have both replayed the morning 100 times in our heads trying to figure out if we could have done anything different. What made those gobblers talk Sunday morning, when we didn’t hear the first sound on Saturday? If we hadn’t had the decoy, would that first hen have drawn the 2 gobblers closer to us instead of away? Would the two big birds have come closer, or not come to check it out at all? I personally think the decoy was a deterrent for the two big guys, but I know there are instances where they come straight to a decoy without a moment’s hesitation. The bottom line is, you just never know. They have a brain the size of a walnut, but you just can’t always out-think them. That was one hell of a hunt to have not gotten a shot, though. My dad said that in all his years of turkey hunting, he has never seen that much interest and activity that didn’t result in a shot. Although I am, of course, disappointed that we came away empty handed, that is a hunt I won’t soon forget! Over all, I think we saw 13 turkeys, at least 6 of which were gobblers. It’s hunts like that that keep your interest peaked and your trigger finger itchy. Between this weekend and our
last turkey hunt, it has been one heck of a season so far. It has definitely been the most active one I have had so far. It’s not over yet, though!
I hope every has had an active and successful season so far as well… 8 more days! Happy hunting!
