# Persistence Pays Off!



## manysteps (Sep 28, 2009)

[Long story... it's been 5 years in the making]

This season marks the FIFTH season I've hunted turkeys in Utah, and man, what a BLAST!

If I would have known hunting turkeys was this much fun, I would have been doing it MUCH sooner.

Regardless, I have a long story to tell, so I better get to it.

My dad "bearsbutt", and I started trying out this whole turkey hunting thing on a walk in access property thinking, "shouldn't be too hard... sure, there's some hiking involved but we can handle that"... boy were we wrong!

Turkey hunting really should come with a warning, some velcro to keep you attached to your seat, and HAND WARMERS!

I set out on this post to highlight some of the "best of the worst" from the last 5 seasons, but I'll leave it to you to peruse http://bearsbutt.com for those goodies... dad writes a hell of a story, and who am I to take away from that?

I will say this though...

I've been right, wrong, over-thought the situation, busted, kicked in the ass by pressure, had no birds in the zip code, etc over the last 5 seasons, but I NEVER GAVE UP.

Sure, I had a lot of help along the way, from many of you. (thanks Tex and BP especially)

I've learned more from the birds than I have from my hunter friends though (sorry Tex, you're good, but Henny Penny up there speaks the right language)

I've also learned a lot from my fellow hunters on the hill... they've shown me how stupid, and lazy we are (I thought I was stupid and lazy, but some of these guys [you?] are amazingly stupid and lazy when they're chasing a 20lb bird)

I've been close to birds more times than I can count... so close I could almost smell their breath as they PUTTED away.

At the end of last season, dad and I figured we knew the "trick" to the birds in this spot... we knew all we had to do was set up in our "spot" and we'd have 'em bagged in the first trip or two...

WRONG AGAIN!

Yet we persisted... I think we spent 5 mornings in those same two spots just "knowing" the birds would come to us... to no avail.

The later mornings and into the afternoon, we would spend hiking areas we knew turkeys lurked... just walking softly, stopping, calling, getting busted... you know how it goes...

On the eve of the 6th outing for the year, we got a little tired of watching the birds jump out of the trees below us, and STAY below us for the rest of the morning. (yes, we're slow learners)

So, on the 6th day out, we decided we'd set up right where they roost. (a risky proposition, but it helps when you're in position an hour before they wake up)

I knew I was setting up close to the roost that morning, but I didn't realize how close.

When the first gobbler sounded off, I **** near jumped out of my skin... He wasn't just close, he was in a tree not 15 yards away!

Another gobbler was just as close, but there were at least LEAVES between us... the first gobbler would have me dead to rights if I moved. So I sat still...

Pretty soon a hen jumped down out of the trees.... walked three steps, and when her eyes caught sight of me leaning against a tree NOT MOVING AT ALL... she started putting like no tomorrow, and off she went.

Another hen came through a little while later with no incident but still, the gobblers sat on their roosts.

If it was legal to shoot a tom in the roost, I could have EASILY filled my tag, but no, they just sat. and sat. and sat...

I don't know how long it was, but my butt was NUMB, my hand was NUMB (I've had the gun to my shoulder for who knows how long)... and still, I CAN'T MOVE!

Finally, the "leaved" tom decides he's had enough of sitting in the tree and jumps down.

I could see the movement when he lifted off, and I was confident it was a tom, and so I followed the movement with my eyes, and my body (to hell with the other tom, if I can bag this guy, who cares what he does, right?)

He hit the ground about 45 yards out, and I couldn't be sure it was a tom... I have the dawn light in my face, and I can't see a beard... [waiting for target acquisition...] It never happened... I couldn't be sure, and he disappeared up the draw, out of sight, never to be seen again.

The other tom dropped straight down, and went straight away... same with the others... man, what a rush!

We might have called it quits for that day, or not... doesn't matter, because I don't remember much else coming of that day.

We hiked the 1/2 mile or so back to the truck and headed home.

During the hour long drive home, we made plans to go the day after next, and I was really bothered by getting busted by that hen... I DIDN'T EVEN BLINK! (and damnit, I was wearing $500.00 worth of camo that I won last year... doesn't that count for SOMETHING?!)

So I thought, "what I need" is some kind of REALLY portable blind that I can set up in front of myself after I've hiked a ways... I KNOW I don't want one of those big ol' big jobbies, ****, dad has an ice tent, I don't need to haul that out on to the mountain.

What I was thinking was something you could probably make yourself... a few stakes, some camo "netting" material... and viola, you have a blind...

There are a few on the market, Sportsman's Warehouse even sells them, so off the wife and I go...

We get there, no such blind in the store, but what they do have is this: http://ads.midwayusa.com/product/15...ester-realtree-xtra-camo?cm_vc=ProductFinding

(HEY! Don't click on that, I'm telling a story... you can do that later)

So, I buy this blind... It's **** cool... It folds up small enough that I can pack it with all the other crap I can't seem to leave in the truck, yet it's freaking HUGE when it's unpacked... I say it's a turkey hunter's dream really.

It's true that I have a pretty cool net/carabiner setup on my pack that makes packing all this stuff easier... I'd post a link for that too, but I was a dummy and threw the card away after I bought it... still that blind is DANG awesome.

Our next trip out, I set the new blind up in the same location where I was so close to the birds&#8230; they roosted a bit higher on the hill this time, and never came near my location&#8230;

When dad finally made his way down to me (he'd parked higher on the hill than me), I said, "how was your morning?", "I was ON the X!" he said.

He'd picked a tree to lean against, and added some breastwork in front of him for extra concealment&#8230; When the birds flew down, they landed right in his lap! Unfortunately for him, the two toms landed behind him, and he wasn't concealed enough to be able to turn around. The biggest top even proceeded to beat the tar out of a jake not 10 feet behind dad's back.

The birds walked away and dad figured he could use the terrain to get above them, but he got busted in his attempt.

So back to the truck we went.

At this point, I'm more stoked about hunting these birds than I've ever been&#8230; we've managed to be right among them two hunts in a row, and I want more of that action!

So the very next day I went out by myself and set my blind right where dad had been the day before. Dad didn't want to go&#8230; two days in a row of getting up at 3 AM to be able to be in our blinds at 5 is just too much for him.

The birds were roosted where expected, and I knew the blind would give me the advantage I'd need if the toms landed too deep like they had for dad.

The first one to fly down was a hen, and she landed right in my lap! (Perfect!)

She yelped and clucked to the other birds, and I just knew the rest of the flock would be on top of me any second.

The other birds must not have liked her because they flew down North East of my location, and fed away in the same direction&#8230; right off the WIA property.

Fast forward 24 hours, I'm right back in the same spot, and the birds are again roosted where I expect them to be&#8230; and well, they fly down to the same North East location as the day before.

This time they feed to the west, and that's "kinda" in my direction&#8230; I just need them to come clear across the bottom of the draw to get to where I am.

North West of my location I hear a hen yelping, so I grabbed my weasel brand slate call, and yelp back&#8230; and two gobblers answer me straight North of my location.

A little while later (maybe 5 minutes), the hen is yelping again, and I answer again&#8230; the gobblers don't reply though.

I can see the gobblers from where I am, and they're continuing on a straight line course to the West, and the terrain won't allow me to get in front of them, so all I can do is sit there and watch them slowly make their way.

5 minutes go by, and I hear the hen again, but this time I can hear her purring as well as yelping&#8230; "She" is 400 yards away&#8230; you can't hear a purr from that far, so now I know I have a fellow hunter, not a hen up in those trees.

He continues calling every five minutes, and the toms continue heading right to the trees where he's set up. I stayed 45 minutes longer than I would have normally just in case they busted the other hunter and decided to escape to my direction, but they never did.

24 more hours go by, and I'm once again in the same exact spot&#8230; I just know that they'll eventually come to where I'm set up&#8230; this time, there wasn't a turkey noise of any kind on the whole mountain. (well, until the other hunter showed up at 6:05 and yelped every 5 minutes&#8230; I left my call in my pack)

I had planned to be right back there 24 hours later, but my body revolted after being woken at 3 AM for four days in a row, so I slept right through the alarm. (And my wife's persistent efforts at trying to get me to wake up)

I took memorial weekend off to go camping with the family, and after quite the party weekend I knew Tuesday morning wasn't going to be a turkey day either.

Dad texted me Tuesday afternoon to let me know the rig was gassed, and he'd be here to pick me up at 3:50 sharp Wednesday morning. (yesterday)

I set the blind in the exact same spot, and dad set up North East of my location in case the birds took that route.

When the turkeys started waking up, we were SURROUNDED by birds. And they were CHATTERING!

I've heard plenty of yelps and gobbles in the early morning light, but nothing quite like the commotion of yesterday morning. I heard dang near EVERY sound turkeys make, and they were all over the place!

After about 20 minutes of their wake up commotion, I hear a fly down cackle followed quickly by the beat of those big ol' wings, and a hen drops into my lap. (oh boy!)

And then the trees exploded with beating wings, and there are turkeys launching everywhere.

Two more birds glide down into the open area where I have my decoy, and I see BEARDS!

Two toms 25 yards from my blind&#8230; I raise the gun to my shoulder, put the bead at the base of the neck of one of them and blasted him!

YEEE HAAW!

I took my time cleaning up my spot hoping the birds had escaped to dad's location and maybe we'd get a double, but even though dad had two birds close enough that he could hear them scratching and pecking, they never came into view for him, and they fed North and off the property.

So here's the picture of me and my first wild turkey. I'm a hopeless turkey hunting addict for sure now.


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## dmaestas (Jun 29, 2013)

Awesome story!


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## outdoorser (Jan 14, 2013)

SWEET!!!!! What part of state? Oh and what the heck is that gun you got on your lap? the barrel looks HUGE!


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## manysteps (Sep 28, 2009)

North end of the state... It's a 20 gauge Winchester 101 over/under. I just have it wrapped with some camo wrap stuff.


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## scartinez (Apr 22, 2008)

Great story and congrats on the bird.


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## swbuckmaster (Sep 14, 2007)

Pretty area and nice bird


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## Huntoholic (Sep 17, 2008)

Job Well done.

Been following your adventures of turkey's and trapping over on your Dad's site.

Thanks for bringing us along.....


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## Bears Butt (Sep 12, 2007)

Great story there Weasel!


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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

Great story, nice turkey!!


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## hawglips (Aug 23, 2013)

Congratulations on your first!


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## BPturkeys (Sep 13, 2007)

Nice! and congrats! You know, that story is all about turkey hunting. It's why it's so fun.


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