Saturday was the opening day of turkey season in North Carolina so Friday I headed up to the camp in Caswell County. The weather on Friday was not good with a strong line of thunderstorms cutting across the entire state. We spent the evening sitting around swapping stories and lies as the rain pounded down on the old house.
In the morning I headed for my favorite spot to turkey hunt on the property. It was just about shooting
light when I slipped out of the thick pines and into the hardwoods knoll. I sat down with my back
braced
against an oak tree to listen to the woods waking up. It was almost 30 minutes before I heard the first
gobble and that turkey was way off. About 10 minutes latter I heard another gobbler and he
sounded like he was pretty deep into the Game Lands. That would be the last gobble I would hear on Saturday which is pretty surprising considering how it has been the past few years.
None of us got a bird opening morning although one of the guys passed up a jake. Judging by the signs and the scouting we’ve done it would appear the combination of 3 years of poor hatches and the drastic increase in predators, mainly coyotes, the flock is not as big as it once was. The afternoon/ evening hunt we hunted green fields hoping to catch one strutting in the clover. That was a bust as well so the opening day ended without me seeing a turkey which is an unusual start for the season.
Hopefully next weekend will be better and I’ll get a chance to work a bird at least.
