Acouple of weeks ago, my good friend Steve Buoy and I journeyed out towesternOklahomaand enjoyed a spring turkey hunt.
We each bagged a gobbler.
It was good to see that the turkey population appears to be coming back in the areas we hunted and in those nearby as well.
The Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation changed the rules in recent years where a hunter is only allowed to harvest one gobbler during the spring season. When I started hunting with Steve in western Oklahoma, the limit on gobblers for the spring season was three.
Also, during the fall season back then we could harvest either a gobbler or hen in those counties we hunt. Only one bird was allowed during the fall season as it still is, but you could take a turkey of either sex in them. Now it’s only a gobbler.
Dates of the spring season have changed as well over the last couple of years. It now opens on April 16 and runs until this Thursday, May 16, statewide. It used to open April 6 and go through May 6.
I do think that change is better. We saw a bunch of gobblers last week and had a good turkey hunt. We also spotted quite a few hens and we think they’d probably started nesting.
When Steve and I hunt, we drive the roads and walk and drive some of the pastures, to spot the gobblers and get an idea where they might be.
On our hunt last week, we spotted some hens early one afternoon in an area where Steve had seen them when he had driven out there for a reason other than hunting.
So we decided that we’d go there the next morning and set up and see if Steve could call a gobbler or two in. What a beautiful morning it was to be in the woods. The skies were clear, there was a slight breeze out of the north, temperatures in the low 60s.
We could hear the gobblers from far away right after we got up that morning.
So once ready, we drove down a ways, and still had quite a distance to walk where we wanted to set up. Steve sat up in some trees one one side of the draw and I got up against a high dirt bank to hide while he called.
It wasn’t long before a hen came wandering up in the middle of the draw, apparently curious about Steve’s call. We were in an area where had seen a hen the previous afternoon, so we were hoping a gobbler or two might come in as well.
The gobbling we had heard earlier was getting much closer. While the hen never saw us, she seemed to perk up as the gobbling neared her location. In watching her, I could tell a gobbler must be nearby.
Then, all of a sudden, not one, not two but four gobblers appeared, nearing the hen and they were within the range of our guns.
I barreled down on the gobbler closest to me waiting for Steve to fire his gun, but in a few seconds I pulled my trigger and shot that gobbler. As soon as I fired, Steve shot and he hit a gobbler as well as we watched the other gobblers and hen fly off.
We walked to Steve’s truck so we get it and ride back down to the area where shot the gobblers and load them. Now, it was time to go eat some breakfast.
My gobbler’s beard was 9 inches, Steve’s was in the same range.
We had a really successful hunt.