My first big Tom
Last season I did my first ever turkey hunt over at the Double Barrel Ranch in Rockford, WA and got totally hooked. This season I had planned a trip with a friend to go back and also do some bird hunting but between Lira going into heat and a changed commitment with my friend I needed to figure out Plan B. I’d also pulled a muscle or tendon in my shoulder a week before so tried to change the dates but couldn’t so taped up my shoulder and hoped for the best. Since I’d already paid a deposit for two hunters at Double Barrel I decided to go on my own but instead of hunting the ranch we opted to hunt the Cheney area on some private ranches but I also got to find some public land in the area that holds turkeys as well as mule deer and elk.
A front was starting to move through on Friday as I headed over. In Seattle it was in the 40s and cloudy when I left, at Snoqualmie Pass it was 62, in Ellensburg it was 75 and in Cheney it was 88. I had hoped to fish on the way over but the Yakima was blown out entirely and even upper Crab Creek was fast and colored though I gave it my best shot for an hour. Since fishing wasn’t too great I headed into Hog Canyon to on BLM land to scout around and found some mule deer but no sign of turkey at all at least in the upper half of the canyon I was in. I had dinner with an old college friend who teaches at EWU and then got to bed early with the alarm set for 3:45.
I met Joe, The Birdman, at 4:30 and it was about 53 out with some showers in the area. We headed to the first ranch and arrived to hear gobbling coming from pretty much everywhere, seemed promising. We got to the blind, got set up and waited for daybreak listening to birds coming to life and turkeys in the trees. As we sat it started sprinkling a bit and the wind started picking up. A bit after daybreak all turkey sounds stopped. Joe made a few calls and we waited. Nothing responded at all. As we sat suddenly I saw a bird come out of the woods running, I mean running, towards us. Within a minute there was a whole flock of about 30 birds running towards us, all heads down and all really moving. They slowed down finally in front of us and we were able to make out some gobblers from all the hens. I had a shot but hurried it and missed entirely sending the flock back into the woods then flying away. Argh. I’m sure I just did not get my gun mounted properly and blew it but it shook my confidence, I rarely even miss flying birds with my 20-gauge.
We packed up and headed to the next blind. By this time it was down to 44 and raining. At the next blind we spooked a small flock of birds right out of the truck but they were heading away from the blind anyway. We slowly made our way to the blind and there were several turkeys including a nice Tom right there, they made us and took off. That spot was pretty screwed.
Headed to the third blind, again as we were walking in we had about four hens come off a wood pile close to the blind and head up the hill. We decided to give it a shot since they didn’t really spook away and take flight. We sat in the blind and made a few calls. A big hen came down and spent about 15 minutes eating in front of us before heading over to the woodpile to peck around and climb it. We sat there watching her and getting colder by the minute, it was 38 now with wind and rain and we hadn’t heard a turkey since before dawn. Suddenly two Jakes were coming at us and stopped right in front of the blind. I took my time to wait for them to get about 25 yards away, slowly and carefully mounted the gun then held until one poked his head up before I fired. Jake down and the other immediately ran off and took wing, no chance at a double like last season.
We packed up and I decided to try out my Kifaru Grab-It to carry the bird out. I’d hurt my right deltoid a week before the trip and was a bit worried about stressing it out again so wanted to be able to lash the bird to my pack. Worked like a charm! It was about 11:00 by now and we grabbed some food and gas then decided to hunt a bit more in hopes of filling the second tag. At the next two spots we saw one hen at each spot and nothing more. Finally at 2:30 we were cold and tired so decided to call it a day. I had an event to attend in the evening and we figured that tomorrow had to give us a better chance than hunting the rest of the day with the weather being so crazy.
That night I went to the Backcountry Hunters and Anglers Wild Game Feed just outside of Spokane and filled up on a combination of elk, deer, moose, salmon and duck. The food was great and I met some members from the Spokane area as well as saw another Seattle area member there. I left early though, I was exhausted and needed to get up again at 3:45.
Heading out at 4:30 it was clear and in the low 40s but no wind, much better than yesterday. We decided to go back to the blind where we spooked the nice Tom on Saturday morning so headed in and when we parked there was gobbling going in every direction, we were surrounded by turkeys. The full moon was so bright walking in was easy but we figured the birds roosting across from the blind had seen us and were probably impossible so our hope was to get the ones on the other ridge to come over. As we got in the blind Joe realized he’d left his pack way back at the truck but had one diaphragm call that he figured would get the job done.
As day break hit the gobbling stopped again and Joe made a few clucks. Within minutes a few birds were on the ground across the pond in front of us up on the hill. In no time there were seven birds milling about. I grabbed the binos and saw they were all hens. Then a Tom came in wandering to the right and more birds began coming out of the trees. Suddenly four hens flew over the pond to about 40 yards from the blind and began feeding and milling around making a few clucks. Joe clucked and purred with them and another flew over followed by either a Jake or a bearded hen. All the other birds were in a line marching alongside the pond. Things got crazy then, the line of birds including two big gobblers came right at us. Joe was calling mixing up different calls and told me to go for the left-most of two big Toms. The birds got within 20 yards, gobbling and strutting. Finally they stopped and I mounted and held until the left bird raised his head and I squeezed the trigger. Big Tom down!
This was my first fully mature Tom and it was a good bird, probably three years old. When I finally got home I measured 1″ spurs and a 9″ beard, much bigger than the Jakes I got last year or the one I’d gotten the first day. After photos we closed the blind, got the bird on my pack and headed out, another successful turkey trip. I think I learned enough on this trip to feel like I could do this on my own assuming I had the time to really scout out some birds, the main advantage of a guided trip. Now I’m ready for more of Hank’s Turkey Mole.