2020 Spring Turkey Opener

Well, this past weekend was my first PA Spring Gobbler Opener in a long time, and it was an interesting one. Rob, Robert, Cole and I woke up around 4:30 at camp Saturday and ate a quick breakfast before heading to the Government Road before daybreak.

We started down the road, and what we found was quite surprising. There was a truck (or multiple) at every single pull-off. I am talking more trucks than the first day of deer season…Like way more. Uncle Rob had multiple locations in mind to call and listen for gobbles, but all of them were taken.

Literally, the only available parking spot happened to be where we always do our deer hunting. “Well, at least we will be familiar with the area” I thought to myself as we got out of the truck. Our timing was nearly perfect ~ aside from all the guys that beat us there ~ as it was just getting light.

Rob let out a few calls, initially with no response. Then, there it was. A faint gobble off in the distance. And one more time. “Alright, let’s go” Rob said. And just like that the four of us took the plunge into the big woods. We were heading for the Second Finger where we thought we heard the gobbler.

Rob let out a few calls as we headed down to the meadow, but got no response back. Finally as we crossed the meadow, Robert, Cole and I walked ahead and Rob stayed back to call. The three of us were close to the creek crossing and could not hear well. Rob caught up to us and said he heard a gobble really close in the direction of the Second Finger. We crossed and headed up the First Finger carefully, calling in the direction he heard the gobbler.

We didn’t hear anything for a while, but decided to set up on the First Finger in hopes to get the bird to call once more. An hour or so passed before we caught some movement. A couple other hunters were walking down to where we heard the bird last…Time for a new plan.

After some discussion we decided to “run and gun” up the First Finger, stopping every 300 yards or so to call and listen. We made it above the Little Saddle before Rob’s call fetched an answer from the other side of the Coon Ridge. The gobbler let out a few more calls and we busted our way toward him.

Quickly, we worked through the Jeep Trail Valley over to the Coon Ridge. We had made it to the Coon Point when Rob’s call returned a quick gobble response that sounded close. He decided to sit back, sending the three of us to spread out ahead of him as he called. Ideally, we would have liked to get up on top of the ridge, but we feared we would bust the bird.

With the three of us set up – Robert to the left, I in the center, and Cole to the right – Rob started enticing the gobbler. Over an hour of calling left us feeling like the bird was right there. He seemed to be just on top of the ridge and out of sight. The bird was moving back and forth, and with each gobble left us feeling like he was coming in from a different direction.

We hadn’t heard a call for about 10-15 minutes when Rob walked up to us and decided to move up on top, thinking the bird had moved away. We crested the top of the hill, and Cole and Robert saw the gobbler fly away down into the bottom of the Coon Valley…we spooked him.

Rob explained that he had this happen to him many times before. “You have to get up on top,” he said, “They just won’t come down off the top.” Despite this, it is hard to bring yourself to keep pushing closer to the top when you think the bird is right there as you don’t want to spook him.

Despite not closing the deal, we had a great encounter. All in all, there isn’t much more you can ask for without walking out with a bird. We hunted until about noon with no other gobbles or encounters.

After doing some looking around on Facebook, Rob said that it seemed as though other guys had the same experience…Lots of guys but not a lot of birds. Regardless, I was happy that we got to get close to one, and I am sure we are all excited for our next chance to get after some birds.