Back In The Day

As the 2020 Spring Turkey season comes to a close, I look back thankful that I was able to spend the last hunts of the season up at camp over Memorial Day.

Myself, Rob and Robert as well as all of our family (and extended family) headed to camp for the long weekend. Both Rob and I took off work on Friday, so we headed up early Thursday evening with plans to head into the woods Friday morning.

When the 4:30 AM alarm went off, I realized it was just as painful as the early morning a few weeks earlier. However, those 4:30 AM alarms are still a lot easier to answer than those of my early morning workouts.

Regardless, I met Rob and Robert downstairs for a bagel and donut breakfast with coffee before we headed for the wilderness. On our way there, we came around a bend in the road. Rob’s headlights scanned the field but nothing was in it. “Back in the day, we would never make this turn without seeing deer in that field” he said.

Seconds later, about 50 yards down the road, a deer ran across in front of us. That was ironic. Then a few hundred yards later, another passed us. We all had a chuckle as the timing was impeccable.

We got to the parking spot just before daybreak. Our tentative plan was to head back to the Coon ridge where we had left the gobbler we got close to a few weeks prior. While driving there, Robert suggested maybe we listen a bit at the truck first, in case something was in closer range. Everyone agreed.

We got out of the truck and slowly closed the doors. After a few minutes, the songbirds started to play. There is nothing like being out in the woods as everything starts to wake up.

Birds were chirping, wood peckers were clicking against trees, and the breeze was blowing as the weather for the day was going to be spotty. Then, there it was.

GOBBBBLLLEEE

We all looked at each other and pointed in (somewhat) the same direction where we thought we heard the bird. Another minute later…

GOBBBLLLEEEEE

We had the direction of the bird pinned, but it was on the other side of the road as our original plan. After a littler deliberation, we decided to head after it as after all, we weren’t guaranteed the bird from a few weeks ago was in the same spot.

We headed down the trail and through the woods to the meadow. Somewhere along the line, Robert stumbled and twisted his ankle (I’m sure he’ll thank me for sharing that later). Nonetheless, he didn’t make one complaint about it for the duration of the day – so kudos to him.

We came into the wide open meadow that looked like ideal turkey habitat. Robert and I both noticed a fence about 50 yards away. Both wondering what it was, Rob explained “Back in the day, they used to put up these fences to keep the deer out of an area.”

I found that interesting as it didn’t look to me like it would keep much of anything out anymore, and then Robert pointed out the big sway in the fence where it looked like something had landed on it). Not keeping deer out anymore! Rob did say that they were very effective when they were used as “Back in the day, we would see up to 100 deer in one day” albeit not many, if any, had horns.

We set up a decoy in the meadow and all spread out along the edge. We had heard another gobble from a different direction, and this was a middle ground we could call from in hopes to bring a bird into the open terrain.

Or at least that’s what we told ourselves.

Turns out, this was apparently not an ideal turkey spot for the day. It was however, an ideal napping spot. I dozed in and out as the sun came overhead, and probably would have slept more if Rob’s hen calls didn’t startle me from time to time.

After some calls and naps we woke ourselves up – again – and heard a bird off in the distance. We closed the distance a bit before Rob called again. He got an immediate response. We crossed the meadow and the creek, where on the other side, Rob found a nice 3 point shed. Hey, at least that was one win for the day.

We moved up into the woods and spread out. Rob called hoping to lure the turkey in. After about a half an hour of not hearing much, I was surprised we didn’t try to move up more. Then I realized I hadn’t heard Rob call in a while either. “I bet he’s sleeping” I thought to myself.

Finally, after about an hour of sitting there. I heard Rob moving behind me. We all walked over to him.

“That was the BEST napping tree I have ever had!” Rob said. “I may have to mark that with my OnX (GPS map)”. He explained that a good napping tree has two roots that come around your sides so you just fit right in between them. We all laughed.

We decided to head for the truck as the morning came to a close. On our way out, we stopped to call at a few other spots, including where I shot my first (and only) spring turkey.

Rob asked if I recognized any of the terrain. While I could still picture the bird coming out from behind the tree as I pulled the trigger in my head, I had no recollection of the parking spot. He said something along the lines of “Yea, I don’t even think this parking spot was here…yanno back in the day.”

That was a lot of “back in the day’s” for one day, but it was still cool to hear about the way things used to be. Over recent years, I have spent many days in the woods with Uncle Rob, and I try to pay close attention when he shares a story from past hunting experiences.

The stories we pass on from generation from generation shape all those listening. I have always loved hearing our family’s hunting stories and I think that is why I have taken up so much interest in sharing them. I hope to one day share my own stories from “back in the day” and hope that there are eager ears like mine listening.