Out of the Woods

By Mike Osterhout

Turkey 2000

One thing I’ve found that helps in patterning deer or turkey from season to season is keeping a journal. Weather shifts, terrain, feed, all play a vital part in finding game. This is an abbreviated day-to-day of my spring 2000 turkey season.

May 1, 00—Up at 4:00 a.m., wide awake. Breakfast at Ray and Bernie Key’s in Cooperstown. Hunting “Round Top” with Dad, Ted, Ken and Ray. Ray and I set up on three gobbling birds. Ray calls. Toms shut up and hens continue cackling. Weather clear. No wind. Two hens scratch by me. Then tom in full strut materializes. Seems to float through the woods. At 50 yards he stops, drops strut and sticks his neck up. Fire. Dead bird. 6:00 a.m. 20 pounds eight-inch beard. Rain at night.

May 2, 00—Hunt Resnick farm. Raining. Forty-eight degrees. Spot four toms in cornfield down by river. Windy. Sky clears by noon. No gobbles.

May 3, 00—Hunt behind school house. One gobble behind church. Never see him. Three in strut in corn field, following hen. Fall asleep against a tree. Home by noon. Exhausted. Jack church and work on foundation. Back hurts.

May 4, 00—Hunt at brother’s. Clear. Warming up. Boost gobbles close by. Call in two birds but no shot. Mid morning I call sporadically by old stone foundation in the woods. Half asleep when I hear clucking right over my head. Can’t move. When he moves I shift and resume calling. Gobble far off. Then closer. Bird is coming in. Then directly behind me and very close another gobble. This is the horse gobble of a mature tom. I can’t move. Both birds answer each other. The first tom shows himself at 35 yards. Shoot. Dead bird. 21 pounds nine-inch beard.

May 5, 00—No hunt. Heat wave begins. Seventy-five degrees.

May 6, 00—Guide nephew Wade and father. Calm, 65 degrees at dawn. Good roost gobbles and birds in strut but no shots. HOT!

May 7, 00—Guide Art behind school house. One gobbles on horse farm. No luck getting him in. Use decoys and slate calls. Art uses mouth call. See only hens. Check Neversink Gorge late in day, no sign.

May 8, 00—Guide Mel. Roost gobbles and hens. Hens spook and fly. This really fires up the gobbler. Mosquitoes are horrendous. Still hot. Tom comes in. Mel shoots and misses. Get a couple more gobbling later behind school house but no luck getting another shot. Work on church.

May 9, 00—Work in city. No hunt.

May 10, 00—Heavy thunderstorms all night. Out late. No gobble until 6:30 down by river. Spot coyote as I head towards the sound. Double and triple gobbles but heads in the opposite direction. Forget my gloves. Black flies and mosquitoes are bad. Try to spot birds the rest of the morning but no luck. At 5:00 p.m. I spot five toms in strut by river. Client coming tomorrow.

May 11, 00—Client never shows. Rain all day. Disappointed.

May 12, 00—No hunt. Thunderstorms all day. See shrink.

May 13, 00—Guide Rich. Hunt spot where I saw the five toms on the 10th. Two jakes appear but don’t respond to calls. After two hours we decide to leave. On the way out we spot two more jakes, I get these birds in. Rich shoots too fast--misses. We move and get another one going. Bird comes in but client doesn’t shoot. He says he didn’t see a beard. No problem. Better safe than sorry. We get two more going but can’t get another shot. Rich is disappointed, but grateful for a good hunt.

May 14, 00—Guide Mel again. A black coyote runs into a flock of geese in the cornfield. No gobbles. Weather clear with a light wind. Cooler.

May 15-18, 00—Work in city.

May 19, 00—Guided Aaron. No gobbles. No birds. Skunked. See shrink. Start taking anti-depressants.

May 20, 00—Rain. Hunt with Dad. Hear gobbling first thing, then nothing for the rest of morning.

May 21, 00—Hunt again with Dad. More rain. Dad sees two coyotes. No birds.

May 22, 00—Go out by myself to scout for clients, Coyote behind John and Mario’s. Rain and wind.

May 23, 00—Guide Paul at brother’s. No break in weather. Birds are becoming more scarce. We don’t see or hear a thing. Feel bad taking Paul’s money; pills seem to help me through it.

May 24-27, 00—Rain continues. No clients.

May 28, 00—Guide Mel. Weather finally breaks and birds open up. Roost gobbles up and down ridge. Set up along cornfield. Hen appears out of tall grass answering my calls. I let her call and the toms fire up. Six toms all in strut appear in cut corn and head for us. The only problem is the sun is now directly in Mel’s eyes. It takes a good hour to get the birds in. When one finally spooks, Mel shoots and misses. Tough break. See bear tracks in mud.

May 29 and 30, 00—Hear birds but still can’t get a shot for Wade.

May 31, 00—Sleep in. End of season. Can’t wait until October.