Late-Season Gobbler Tactics
Ole Slick
Editor’s
Note: When you hunt turkeys during the late season,
you’ll have to hunt the toughest gobblers on the
property. But hopefully, you’ll have a history
of those turkeys. You should
know what they’ve done in the past, and what you
can expect them to do in the future. You have to decide
on a method you haven’t used in the past to take
those turkeys. You’ll have to abandon what’s
considered turkey wisdom and use off-the-wall tactics
to hunt these tough toms. Let’s look at some tough
toms I’ve hunted, the people I’ve hunted
with, and how we’ve finally taken our birds.
On another day and another hunt, Joe Smith once again
proved his wisdom when we took on Ole Slick, a turkey
that would gobble good from the roost. However, when
he flew down, he wouldn’t say a word. Each morning,
he’d fly to a different green field. Every morning
we hunted him, we’d set up on the edge of the
green field he’d flown to the previous morning.
But instead of flying to our green field, he’d
fly to a different green field. On the fourth morning
as we ate breakfast before daylight, Smith said, "I
had a vision. The Good Lord told me where that turkey
was going to fly to this morning from the roost. So,
we’re going to that green field and take a stand
out in the middle of it in a small clump of trees. In
my vision, I saw you taking that gobbler, and the Good
Lord gave me a song to sing to you after we get Ole
Slick." I knew from Smith’s serious tone
of voice that he wouldn’t tell a tale that involved
the Creator unless he truly had had a vision.
But
this whole idea of knowing where we could find the gobbler
on this fourth morning of the hunt seemed strange. When
we parked the truck where we normally parked it and
started walking, I asked Smith which field we would
hunt that morning.
"We’re going to hunt the green field right
above the truck," Smith instructed. I couldn’t
believe my ears. I asked, "Joe, why are we going
to hunt this field? That turkey hasn’t flown to
this field any morning we’ve hunted him."
"That’s right," Smith said, "That’s
why we’re going to hunt this field. Every morning
we’ve hunted this gobbler, he’s flown to
a different field. This is the only field in his area
that he hasn’t flown to from the roost. So, he
has to fly to this field this morning." Somehow,
this made sense to Smith, but as a skeptic, I said,
"You mean we’re going to hunt a field that
we’ve never hunted before, the gobbler has never
flown to from the roost before, and we’ve never
seen or heard this turkey in before? Is that right?"
"That’s right," Smith answered. "This
field is where my vision told me we should hunt."
Tomorrow: More with Ole Slick
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