4th Time Out and still ZERO!

[WVHunter129]

Well now here it is one week left for WV Spring Gobbler season and still haven't come up with a bird other than the one I photo'd 2 weeks before season started.

My son and I went to my boss' farm this past Saturday and didn't see or hear a bird one. The weather was perfect and we were in the woods at 6 AM. Now the evening and night before we had some severe thunderstorms come through. Don't know if that would have any affect on the birds, but Saturday was a beautiful day. Now I know there were some turkeys in the general area because a buddy of mine had seen them that week when he was there turkey hunting, but they were to far to shoot. They were answering his calls and also going to where my boss feeds his cattle.

On Thursday my son found some turkey tracks on the property we started hunting turkeys on when season opened. He said that there was a set of large turkey tracks and a lot of little tracks as well. So I am wondering it the eggs have started hatching and if the gobblers have given up.

My son and I have one more Saturday to hunt and the season is over. I am all out of ideas on what to do to get a gobbler to answer. I wondering if we should just walk the woods and hope and pray we stumble on one. This has been our worst season ever. Since season opened I haven't been able to get a tom to gobble at all.

I guess we will try one more time and then wrap it up until October when squirrel and deer season comes in. Then I bet we see all kinds of turkeys.

Oh, we did see some ground squirrels, one grey squirrel and a doe and two little ones. That made the day more enjoyable.

[freedomrules3]

have you tried a gobbler call at all? this can get them pissed and make em come in. I have had more toms come in this year to a gobbler call or a jake call on my box than i have just calling. you can shake a jake gobble out of a box call. kinda hard to explain but i'll try. grab the box call underneath it at the top of the call. the handle you use to call will be opposite of your hand. shake it back and forth sort of like shaking dice. the rubber band has to be about in the middle and needs adjusted after every 1 or 2 gobbles. give it a try next time and see if it at least wont bring a jake by. of coarse when using any gobble call you must be certain no other hunters are around, be on your toes for safety's sake.

[freedomrules3]

i would try and cover as much ground as possible too . good luck

[jplittlebuck]

a good friend of mine was at his usually place in the mongnahella in Randolf Co. again this year, he has been hitting this location for about 20 years now, for the opening week, he said they had a slow go at start,
but things picked up, some years they do very well, others it's a tough go, weather dictates alot of what goes on for him, but what ever the gobbling is like, he would rather hunt spring gobblers in your state above all others, theres just somthing about mountain gobblers that put them in a class by themselves,
i dont know how much time you have, and not knowing what your area is like from a pressure stand point, here are a few tips i would do,
first i would concentrate alot of effort at two times of the morning, first one is off the roost, second between 10 am and noon,
first, roosting a gobbler, find a location were you can drive relitivly high on a mountain, at 8pm, walk very slowly along the tops of the saddles, and try to listen to a distant gobble, or flyups, you may want to try and jerk a gobble out of one with your hoot, if you happen to get a good fix on one, try to pinpoint the location for morning, if he gobbles on his own, and you got a line on him, just leave, if you hoot a gobble out of him, do the same,
morning approach, come in from above while it's still dark, Dont call, use the cover of dsrkness to your advantage, try to get to within 150 to 200 yards, depending on how much the trees are leafed out, dont get to close, you have to much time invested, and as high as you are, chances are slim you will have other hunters, get a nice ambush, use plenty of cover, and wait for him to gobble on his own, then just a short series of treee yelps, then it's up to you,
you will have to make adjustments as to the senerio your working on,
second method is walking and calling the tops of those mountain ridges, walk 100 yards, and give 3 hard cutts on a box call, then listen, do this over a large distance, cover alot of ground, high and low,
but keep trying the 3 hard cutt method, forget about a long yelping series, alot of times one can gobble off in the distance, and gobble right through your call, and you might not hear him, so keep them short and loud, force the action, if the gobbler has commited to your call, pick a nice setup, with no obsticals, and take your time, then slow down the calling pace, if he's commited, he's comming, dont over call, if you happen to have a standstill, get up and move to one side or another, give him a diferant sound, or if it's starts getting to long and drawn out, try that gobble shaker, make sure it's a jake call, i use this ONLY when all else fails, and long beards and big spurs dont lie,
good luck pal, i hope you knock one down, the feeling is out of this world, i hope you get to experiance it!!!

[WVHunter129]

Thanks for the advice JP! Appreciate it very much.