I’d identified a place last year, made a note of it and marked the spot where I saw a turkey run across the road on one of my scouting trips before opening day. I’d never heard a turkey gobble in this place, never had seen one there and never had spotted a vehicle parked in this location. But I watched a turkey cross the road there, and I was very amazed. Previously I’d never seen any reason to hunt there.
However, I knew the turkey I saw wasn’t a mirage. The next morning was the opening day of the season. When I parked on the side of the road, the turkeys in that region were already gobbling no more than 100 yards from my truck. I only took one turkey out of that spot because in Maryland you only can take two turkeys in the spring, if you don’t take a turkey in the fall.
On the morning of 2016 that I took my gobbler, I called in six gobblers, harvested one and left five. I called in one turkey for another hunter with me, and he bagged his gobbler. Now the good news about that spot was that I knew no other hunter had seen my truck, since I hadn’t heard anyone’s vehicle coming down the road. I wasn’t concerned about leaving those other gobblers to hunt this year (2017). I went into that area a week ago, in February, 2017, looking for sheds and spooked a flock of turkeys, with four jakes and two longbeards in it. I feel confident I can go to that location on opening morning, 2017, take a tom and get out of there before anyone spots my truck.
Day 2: Picking a Place for an Opening Morning Public Land Hunt
Tomorrow: Hunting the 1,000 Yard Toms
