“It was the best of times.”

First day Pennsylvania 2007 spring turkey season is history.  No turkeys “down,” but spirits are soaring.  I decided to give my roost location to a visiting buddy and I hunted the other side of the road.  My report is easy.  Heard none, saw none, got a great nap at 9:30 [sleeping in the woods is the best.]   Now for my buddy Regis and his morning!  Weather wise it was breezy, cloudy, but dry.  I walked him into the woods to a predetermined spot that we had discussed.  Based on Friday morning’s scouting, I told him to stop after reaching the flat bench near the foot of the mountain – one gobbler was 75-yards further across the bench - one gobbler was above the bench near the foot of the mountain, and one down in the valley.  The hens were roosting along the edge of the bench.  After walking him to within 25-yards of the bench at 5 a.m., I left and went across the road to hunt and take my nap!    He told me that at 5:45 a.m. a hen started her morning song – after 15-minutes of loud, steady yelping, the first gobbler on the bench got the memo and gobbled.  Regis waited for several minutes of hen and gobbler discussion before calling.  He immediately got a gobble answer 10-yards away and straight up.  He had sat under a bonus gobbler!  Looking up, he said it had a 4” beard. It flew down nearly close enough to touch, looked around and then went to the hen.  The other bench gobbler did the same.  He got a good look at it too but there was no visible beard.   So he had two jakes [immature gobblers] romancing a hen when suddenly the “up the mountain” gobbler came running down across the bench in half-strut [fanned out display] and he pushed the two jakes down into the valley.  It was just after fly down and seeing a beard on the third gobbler was impossible given the dim light and speed of the attack, although he said it was a dandy size with a snow white head.   All this action took place on the bench within 30-yards or less of his location and he had used only 45-minutes of the season!  Talk about your good mornings!   He called up a forth gobbler mid-morning.  It was a big bodied jake with a crew cut beard.   Finally he heard a fifth gobbler at 10, but only one or two gobbles.  It was probably traveling through with several hens.   Not a bad start to the season and we only saw one other hunter who looked like he was hunting small game.  He was dressed in an orange vest, orange hat and blue jeans.  That guy was taking his gun for a walk.   Hope your season was safe and successful.  We had a good morning and expect to have many more!   I took some time to better explain my hunting experience to some blog readers who may not understand the terms we hunters regularly use like jakes, roost, yelp, beards etc.  You can find so much information on the Web.  The sounds and photos are either direct links or images that are offered free for use.  Your spouse or other family members may find the blog interesting too.   My wife did and she said the turkey sounds don’t sound anything like my calling.  Everyone is a critic!   Here is the blog address with the photos and the links. http://storytrax.com/node/705