Lenny drove down from Denmark, Maine on Sunday evening so he and I could hunt together this morning in an area we have been exploring for a couple of years.
This morning we set up on a stone wall bordering a big field where we had spotted turkeys before, We thought we knew where to set up but it turns out the turkeys proved us wrong. Four or five toms began gobbling on roost from the ridge above the field. So Lenny and I grabbed our stuff and took a circuitous route to the top of the ridge... puff... puff...
We were amazed by the amount of turkey scratchings, buck rubs, beds, mast trees of all kinds.... it was a hunter's paradise.
We decided to spread out about 60-70 yards apart and sit. We put out our decoys and began calling seductively.............. crickets...
We texted that we would sit until 9 and after another 40 minutes of sitting, I stood up at 8:58......... And a Tom gobbled about 100 yards away. I put my seat pad back down, put my gillie head mask back on and sat back down. We were talking to at least three toms and a half-dozen hens and they were staying back in the low blueberry bushes just out of sight for at least a half-hour. They wouldn't come any closer than about 60-70 yards. Lenny was staring at two of the toms for more than ten minutes while I kept talking to them. I never saw any of them... But we learned a great new spot and we'll definitely be back next year.
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"I'm a Setter man.
Not because I think they're better than the other breeds,
but because I'm a romantic - stuck on tradition - and to me, a Setter just "belongs" in the grouse picture."
George King, "That's Ruff", 2010 - a timeless classic.
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