sdeland

For now. I may go down to some state land this weekend for a couple days. I headed down to my friends in Brunswick after work on Fri. When I got to Toledo I filled up the tank and bought the licenses needed. Just leaving Toledo it started to rain and it downpoured all the way there. After arriving in Brunswick it let up for about 15 mins(allowing us to pack) and after heading out it became a monsoon. Luckily it stopped raining about an hour south and was perfectly dry. They were calling for rain on Sat. which was disappointing but we'd give it a shot. The rain held off until about 8am but with it being overcast the birds were mute. We left around 9am knowing that tomorrow would be better. It stopped raining midday until the time we drove out to glass fields. At this time the rain moved back in and we called it a day. Going out to the same spots on Sun. I heard one gobbler gobble four times but couldn't pull him off of the private property he had been roosting on. The coyotes were out and about right before dawn and absolutely scared the crap out of me. They were so loud it was deafening. One ran right behind me in the woods while another ran the ridge out in the field. This also could of kept the birds tight lipped. Carl and Cody were sitting on other spots farther away and didn't hear anything. After calling it a day to go check some more spots(only hunt to 12pm in Ohio) we met a couple guys in the parking lot. One guy was hunting the opposite field and only heard one gobbler. He then told us that the dnr had trapped 130 toms and 60 hens two winters ago from these two fields. This explained why Carl hadn't seen many birds in the last two years. These were his honey holes! We checked some more spots but nothing was responding. Mon. called for 38 degrees and crystal clear skies. We headed out to a spot he hadn't been to before. We were told by a friend that he sees the same tom out in this field everyday around 10am. So we got in there real early not knowing exactly where he was roosting. Come first light we got 3 different toms to gobble. One north, east and south of us. The one south of us came fairly close. He gobbled about 100 yards off to out south but a hen came between us and took him away. We never got to see him but Carl had seen the hen pop out from the woods into the field. We walked some more that day lightly calling in different areas but to no avail. Def. a diff. type of hunting in southern Ohio. Lots of state land with big rolling hills. I did get to find some killer stand locations for early season bowhunting this year. I have been told there are some giants in these hills. I can only imagine seeing what kind of habitat they have to hide in. It def. was a fun filled weekend and I am thankful for the hospitality. Carl did get to kill a nice bird down here the opening week and he also killed a nice Michigan bird that was caught on video. He posted it in the "Any turkey's on film?" thread. His name is mrgobbler43.

Stan