First turkeys!
Since taking back up hunting a few years ago I’ve been trying to expand my skills and the critters I’ll go hunting for and turkeys were at the top of my list. I had planned on going on a guided turkey hunt last spring but after getting Lira a few days before the season opened realized it just wasn’t in the cards so I put it off until this season. I decided to use the trip as a lesson in turkey hunting but wanted to be pretty prepared so bought some calls and learned how to use them, read as much as I could on turkey hunting and got out and patterned my shotgun at the range with turkey loads.
On our walk, lodge in the background
We made the 4.5 hour drive across the state on Sunday afternoon arriving to the Double Barrel Ranch lodge in the mid-afternoon to sunshine. After unpacking we took a walk up Harvard Road and headed up towards Mica Peak on it. About 1/2 mile from the lodge we saw our first turkey, a hen that crossed the road and ducked into some cover which drove Lira pretty much crazy. We managed to get in about 4 miles and 1100′ of elevation before by the time we returned to the lodge for dinner, a good break after sitting in the car for hours on end.
After a restless night’s sleep, even Lira was up growling and barking at what we found out was probably a bear, I got out of bed at 3:45 to eat some breakfast and get ready for my 4:30 pickup. We drove just a short distance up to the end of a spur road where we got out and began hiking in about 15-20 minutes. Joe had me load up since he’d been encountering a bear in the dark along the trail, I wasn’t going to argue. We hiked up the trail/skid road to the top of a ridge and could already hear turkeys gobbling and hens cackling below us in the trees. In a few minutes we were set up in the blind and the waiting game began.
Turkeys were active from the start, constantly making noise but still up in the trees. Joe advised that you needed patience and to not start calling until turkeys were on the ground so we waited for the sound of turkeys leaving the roost. And as we waited it got colder. It was around 32 when we took off but temps were dropping and finally we could see our breath in the blind. It took about 45 minutes for the turkeys to fly down and during that time we saw deer come out into the meadow below, heard gobbles from every direction and heard one hen just going at it down the hill. Once we saw a half dozen turkeys in the meadow below Joe pulled out his slate and basically made two calls then put it away saying “That’s all we need.”
For the next hour we sat and got colder as the turkeys seemed to stay below us, we could see them wandering around down there but they just were not coming up the hill. Every so often Joe would make another set of calls and we’d wait some more. A few sounded like they were getting closer as the sun began to spread across the meadow below us. As the sun hit the top of the ridge we were on I finally saw what looked like the small Alien run across the field in front of us about 70-80 yards out, it was a gobbler running through the field with just his neck and head showing. A few minutes later a gobbler came up from the side of us about 10 yards away then got behind a tree before I had a shot. He scooted away behind cover and by the time he came out again he was out of range.
For about 45 minutes it kept up like this. We had a hen come in from the other side and get about 20 yards away before wandering off again. We had a big Tom come straight at us from directly in front but never got closer than about 60 yards. We had a pair of jakes come in from the right again up the hill, they skyline themselves on the ridge and then wandered away before we had them close enough. Another came in very close and then began an alarm “putt, putt” sound so Joe thought maybe the gig was up and they’d found us out. We sat and listened trying to figure out if birds were getting closer or not and switched up the seating as we heard more birds to our left than from down the hill. All the while I got colder and was starting to wonder if I’d be able to stop shivering enough to take a shot should one actually appear.
Soon after we saw three birds coming our way. The hen was back followed by the two jakes. Once the hen passed I took the lead jake and he went down flapping. The second jake stood over watching the hit one flap around so I took the next shot and down he went too. After 2.5 hours of waiting in anticipation the hunt was over in about 45 seconds. The best thing I could compare it to was bluewater fly fishing where you wait and wait and then all hell breaks loose as a fish finally comes in to the spread. I had my first turkeys and I could tell I had gotten hooked on turkey hunting instantly. Like deer hunting, just being out there in the early morning hours watching the animals come to life is a reward in and of itself.
We picked up the birds and tagged them once my hands warmed up enough to operate a zip-tie. After a few photos – in the sun – we grabbed the birds and headed back down the trail. We got back to the lodge around 7:45 and Catherine had just gotten up and thought we’d given up. She was surprised to see I’d already filled my tags and we were done with the hunt part of the trip. Lira got to sniff up a bunch of turkey and then we set to cleaning them before eating breakfast for real and heading back out to hike.
We decided to hike up the real road towards the top of Mica Peak which turned out to be a very nice and steep walk. It was perfect for Lira, should could be off-leash and explore and we ended up doing a 5.2 mile hike up to 4300′. The summit kept looking close but later we found we were only about 60% of the way there and had another 1000′ of climbing to do to reach the top. We actually got back to the car just in time, it had started to rain and above us was snowing as we found out the next morning when the peak was covered with fresh snow. The views out over the valley and into Idaho were pretty amazing even from only 4300′, next time we will go for the summit.
On the way down Lira caught scent of a pheasant near the edge of one of the Double Barrel fields and went in for it. I had to zap her to get here back, she was hot for birds. We saw another rooster on the drive home at the low end of their fields and when we got to the lodge there was a rooster out right by the driveway. I stopped the car and got Lira out. The rooster flattened itself into the grass and Lira caught scent and went for it. She got on point just as the bird got up and started walking, she started after it and it flushed. She was crazy by this time and wanted to go find that bird again, I was glad she got to at least got on one pheasant while we were there even if I didn’t get to shoot it.
The next morning we walked up to the end of the road where we took off for hunting in hopes of hearing a few more turkeys but none were gobbling close to the road. We packed up and started the long drive home. To break it up and get out we stopped by Frenchman’s Coulee for a brief hike until Lira just gave it up and laid down in the shade, it was much warmer there than it was out of Spokane.
The lodge was really nice. More than enough space for the three of us so we pretty much stayed on the lower level. It was a bit overly full of dead animals with deer, elk, moose, turkeys, bears, ducks, birds and a few African exotic mounts on pretty much every wall. The other facilities were really well maintained, the bird cleaning room was like a surgical theatre it was so nice and clean. The fields on either side for pheasant hunting had really good cover and obviously hold birds all the time given the number of pheasants we saw and more I heard. I’d definitely be up for going back during pheasant season with a group. I also think I know enough to go try for turkeys on my own now and may end up trying to go once more before the season is over at the end of the month.