A Frosty Morning PA Spring Gobbler

**Erik Nilsson** · #1 05-28-2009, 04:04 PM

A Frosty Morning PA Spring Gobbler

Date: 5/18/2009

Location: Western PA

Sunrise: 5:59 a.m.

Weather: Clear with a frost

Temperature: 29* rising to 60*

Wind: Light NNW Wind

Equipment Used: Avery® Fleece Caller’s Gloves, Avery® Double Slate Pot Call Holder, Zink Calls® Shane Hendershots Signature Series Diaphragm Call and Zink Calls® Custom Power Hen Crystal Pot Call.

Hunters: Shaun Smith and Avery® Pro-Staffer Erik Nilsson

Journal Notes:

With PA Spring Gobbler season in full swing, I have had plenty of opportunities to kill a bird, most of the birds I have called in were Jakes. A few of the long beards I had been chasing were either shot or have gone silent no where to be found. I hunted with my friend Shaun a couple of days before on some birds; he had found working a small cornfield just off a pasture. We had a good set up, but we weren’t able to get them. They had gone around us and we made a move, but closed in too tight and bumped them out. On the way home we spotted two long beads and a hen running together and we decided that we would try for a double the next day we could hunt.

Scouting these birds out, they were coming to the cornfield about 9 am each day and again in the evening hours. As long as something didn’t change, we felt confident that we would have a good opportunity at them. Meeting Shaun early, we headed out, it was very clear this morning and we wanted to sneak in without the birds being alerted. Working along the edge of the wood lot, we were able to get into our spot. Quietly, we began setting up our blind and placing out our decoy. It was a cold morning and a frost was in the forecast.
As we sat in the blind listening to the songbirds wake up, we could see the frost starting to form and we welcomed the warmth of the sun as it began to rise.

Shortly before LST, we heard one of the gobblers sound off and the hen answering back at him, they continued to talk back and forth to each other, until I could hear them fly down. They were not far away, but enough to allow us to get set up and ready for action. We answered softly with a few clucks and soft yelps, but chose not to over do it because she was the only hen and we felt she might want to lure the gobblers away, so we chose to play “nobodies home” with them and wait them out.

In the wait, we had a nice buck come in and check us out along with two other deer, which stood in the middle of the field grazing. We also saw was a pair of rabbits chasing each other around in circles. That drew the attention of a crow, who decided to take a chance at catching one of the rabbits. This crow would walk into the brush and chase a rabbit out and then make an airborne attack on it. This went on for several minutes, until the crow finally gave up.

We continued to sit in the blind and looking at the watch it was about 9 a.m. I said to Shaun, “Its game time and they should be here”. The morning grew older and now we began to wonder if the birds decided to go somewhere else, just then we heard a soft yelp of a hen. I answered back and out came a thunderous gobble. They were right on top of us! Peering out the right side, I could see the hen and what appeared to be a Jake making their way to our decoy, but no gobbler. He let out one more earth shaking gobble and we were into it now.

The hen and Jake made their way to the decoy and she was not a happy about the decoy. We had set it up about 25 yards from us and we could hear the hen purring aggressively and the Jake went into strut. She was trying to intimidate the decoy. She circled it and even bumped it and Shaun and I both thought “Oh no they are going to make us”. The gobbler had made his way into the field and stood far right of us watching attentively at what was going on. I could see another bird starting to make its way into the field as well. Thinking it was the other gobbler, I wanted to wait for it to come into the field, so we could put together our plan and try for the double.

Soon the hen and Jake stopped and stood there, as I noticed the gobbler starting to walk away. I whispered to Shaun that he’s leaving and he said if you can get him go for it. From where I was sitting and being right handed, I had to shoulder the gun left handed and try to make the shot. As I looked down the barrel, I put the bead on the bird as best as I could and fired away. The gobbler rolled right over and got back up and started to run up a hill in the field. I was able to switch over to my correct shoulder and got off one more shot, hitting this bird again. We jumped out of the blind and took off after him. The gobbler stopped at the edge of the woods and we could see he wasn’t going anywhere.

We spent four and a half hours sitting in the blind waiting for these birds to show up. It wasn’t pretty or text book, but patience was the game we played and we did get the job done on at least one bird.

Stats for my bird
18 lbs 3 oz
9" beard
Lt & Rt spurs 1"

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