This years season was a bit off from the get go and seemed to continue all the way through the season. By off I mean, spring was beyond late in arriving and then when it did finally get here we skipped spring and went right to summer. I was late getting up here as well, my original plan was to be here in the middle of April and I ended up getting here around April 28th so that didn't leave much time for working on the lodge before TRKYHTR and CatDaddy got here on May 4th. But I got a few projects done including laying the flooring in the room they were staying in.
TRKYHTR (Joe Slaton) and CatDaddy (Tom McLemore) came up for 3 days and one of which was significantly more "interesting" than the other two... CatDaddy has to tell the story about that in that good ole boy southern twang of his... OMG, I haven't laughed so hard about anything lately as I did about his adventure up here. But while both of them heard birds as well as saw birds, the woods were still really open and the foliage hadn't even begun to fill in the woods while they were here, so finding places to hide from the birds was a bit challenging. That hindered their hunt, and neither took a bird up here, but I'm hoping they had enough fun up here to give it another go round next year. GBLRSRST (Ron Meeks) came over with Ginger Lou (his turkey dog) for dinner and to talk turkey one evening and we all just had a grand time... Ginger Lou proved what a turkey dog she really is when she went after my strutting turkey mount in the living room... LOL
Shortly after they left Summer hit with a vengeance, we went from no leaves at all to being in full foliage and mowing the yard inside of about 4 days, I don't think I ever remember seeing such a transformation happen so quickly.
Floppin Tom (Walter Dembeck) came up with his son Caleb on April 19th and his friend Dave Estep on April 20th and there again, they saw birds frequently, but they just weren't cooperating. They were being quiet in the evening so roosting them wasn't happening, and then in the AM they would gobble a couple of times and then shut up and then nothing the rest of the morning. The boys certainly did their best and there was definitely no lack of effort on anyone's part that's for sure. Dave finally got a bird the morning they were leaving after a couple of frustrating days of chasing toms.
Hooked Spur (Steve Mulinex) and Snapper1982 (Ron Schriner) arrived on May 25th and the first few days their hunts seemed to follow what everybody else had been having happen during the season... Including Yancy's and all of the locals that hunt up here. The birds were being seen and were being heard on the roost but then nothing after that... Then Thursday came along and the tide turned... it was like a light switch had been flipped on and all of a sudden there were toms and hens EVERYWHERE doing what they should have been doing all along... and Hooked Spur and Snapper1982 made the most of it. They both took birds on Thursday and Snapper went out and got another one on Friday before they had to pack up and head out. Saturday was the last day of the season and we had to have seen 30 birds out strutting around and doing their thing... it was an amazing transformation.
The best we can figure with the goofed up season, was that the birds were just as goofed up too... By the time they got into the swing of things the season was done...
If absolutely nothing else we all had a ball up here and I'm content to know that I'm not the only one who gained a few extra pounds while being up here this spring... LOL. Yancy and I now have a bunch of new friends that I sincerely hope will all come back up and hunt again next year.
THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart for helping to make this years contest and season a success! I'm already looking forward to next year!
I'll update with pics when I get back to FL... heading home tomorrow!
Tonia and Yancy
