bigbore442001
50 Cal.
Today I arose at 355 AM to the tune of some country artist. I grabbed a bite and two cups of coffee to revive my senses. Donned my permethryn infused clothes and I was headed to my spot.
When I arrived it was somewhat light out. I heard three gobblers to the southeast of my truck. Unfortunately it is on the property of a gentleman farmer who will not allow anyone to hunt. Such is life.
I grabbed my TC Black Mountain magnum and headed up the hardwood covered hill. I set up my simple stick blind and inflated my blow up turkey decoy. Then I proceeded to sit.
I kept on hearing three distinct gobblers calling in unison on the gentleman's farm. They did this for some time then shut right up. I did make a couple of hen yelps but they did not respond in any way, shape or form. In fact it seemed they went further away to another gentleman's farm( again non huntable).
I sat in the cool morning air. When I arose in the early morn the thermometer registered 30 F. Good thing I did not plant anything in the garden yet.
After a while I heard another a gobble behind me due south. It was on another gentleman's farm land where again no hunting. I guess I am lucky in that I have this spot more or less to myself surrounded by "gentleman's farms". No competition but no birds seen that were shootable.
I sat and then heard another gobble off to the far northwest. I decided I needed to do something. I started to walk northward and across the dirt road. The lowland has a marshy but sandy bottomed brook running through it. I saw turkey tracks in the mud and soon heard two gobblers sound off. They were now two hundred yards or so to the northwest of my position. I know all of the rules mandate that one should not stalk or still hunt the big birds but I knew they weren't going to cross the marshy brook and stands of skunk cabbage coming into bloom.
I treaded very carefully and set up with my back against a big silver birch. I made some calls and purrs with my diaphragm call. No matter how much sweet talk I made it did not matter. The gobblers did not respond to anything except a shock gobble to passing crows.
It seemed that if some crows passed by and cawed the birds gobbled. I knew there were two gobblers ahead of me but again no matter how much I tried to sing " I got what you need" in turkey talk they ignored me.
I recall Bob Denning's advice about shooting a 22 in the air to get them to reveal their location. Well I figured I could shock gobble them but that did not work. I didn't use a 22 but I did use a crow call. Again the birds now disappeared
Soon it was approaching the noon time cut off to hunt spring turkey thus I packed it all in and went to visit my parents.
The other day I oiled up my TC because I noticed a bit of rust on it. This was a mistake in some ways. I told myself that I should fire the gun off and put in a fresh load.
After some quick shopping I went to the range and capped a musket cap on the gun. POP.
Sure enough a misfire. Ballistol is good but I should have dried out the chamber area of the barrel. I put on another fresh cap. POP. Again!!!
I unscrewed the cone and dribbled some H777 FFG from a speedloader. Another cap and it went off.
Lesson learned. When I arrived home I put on a kettle to get some boiling hot water. I took the barrel and cleaned it in the sink with some hot soapy water. Then I poured hot boiling water down the muzzle and let it air dry. Now I put on a very,very light coat of Gunzilla oil which dries to a film. Now the bore is bone dry and ready for a fresh load for turkey.
Since Sunday hunting is verboten I plan to do stuff around the home that needs to be taken care of. But come Monday morning the plan of attack is to sit in that spot where I heard the two gobblers and see what happens.
When I arrived it was somewhat light out. I heard three gobblers to the southeast of my truck. Unfortunately it is on the property of a gentleman farmer who will not allow anyone to hunt. Such is life.
I grabbed my TC Black Mountain magnum and headed up the hardwood covered hill. I set up my simple stick blind and inflated my blow up turkey decoy. Then I proceeded to sit.
I kept on hearing three distinct gobblers calling in unison on the gentleman's farm. They did this for some time then shut right up. I did make a couple of hen yelps but they did not respond in any way, shape or form. In fact it seemed they went further away to another gentleman's farm( again non huntable).
I sat in the cool morning air. When I arose in the early morn the thermometer registered 30 F. Good thing I did not plant anything in the garden yet.
After a while I heard another a gobble behind me due south. It was on another gentleman's farm land where again no hunting. I guess I am lucky in that I have this spot more or less to myself surrounded by "gentleman's farms". No competition but no birds seen that were shootable.
I sat and then heard another gobble off to the far northwest. I decided I needed to do something. I started to walk northward and across the dirt road. The lowland has a marshy but sandy bottomed brook running through it. I saw turkey tracks in the mud and soon heard two gobblers sound off. They were now two hundred yards or so to the northwest of my position. I know all of the rules mandate that one should not stalk or still hunt the big birds but I knew they weren't going to cross the marshy brook and stands of skunk cabbage coming into bloom.
I treaded very carefully and set up with my back against a big silver birch. I made some calls and purrs with my diaphragm call. No matter how much sweet talk I made it did not matter. The gobblers did not respond to anything except a shock gobble to passing crows.
It seemed that if some crows passed by and cawed the birds gobbled. I knew there were two gobblers ahead of me but again no matter how much I tried to sing " I got what you need" in turkey talk they ignored me.
I recall Bob Denning's advice about shooting a 22 in the air to get them to reveal their location. Well I figured I could shock gobble them but that did not work. I didn't use a 22 but I did use a crow call. Again the birds now disappeared
Soon it was approaching the noon time cut off to hunt spring turkey thus I packed it all in and went to visit my parents.
The other day I oiled up my TC because I noticed a bit of rust on it. This was a mistake in some ways. I told myself that I should fire the gun off and put in a fresh load.
After some quick shopping I went to the range and capped a musket cap on the gun. POP.
Sure enough a misfire. Ballistol is good but I should have dried out the chamber area of the barrel. I put on another fresh cap. POP. Again!!!
I unscrewed the cone and dribbled some H777 FFG from a speedloader. Another cap and it went off.
Lesson learned. When I arrived home I put on a kettle to get some boiling hot water. I took the barrel and cleaned it in the sink with some hot soapy water. Then I poured hot boiling water down the muzzle and let it air dry. Now I put on a very,very light coat of Gunzilla oil which dries to a film. Now the bore is bone dry and ready for a fresh load for turkey.
Since Sunday hunting is verboten I plan to do stuff around the home that needs to be taken care of. But come Monday morning the plan of attack is to sit in that spot where I heard the two gobblers and see what happens.
