4-14-13 Sun

4-14-2013 Sun. 6:00 AM – 8:00 AM / 4:00 PM – 8:00 PM
Weather:
(0753) E9 light rain, 34 ˚ / (1653) E9, light rain, 37 ˚
Location:
La Crosse Experimental Forest / Hoeth Forest
Bagged:
Nothing, I saw approximately six birds
Partners:
none

Comments:

I was back to the experimental forest this morning with a plan that I thought I knew for sure where the birds would be coming from. I got to the spot where I had first set up yesterday, set up and was ready for the toms to start gobbling from the area where they were at yesterday morning. The plan seemed good, but it was lacking the cooperation of the turkeys. They were now on the other side of the road opposite of where I was set up and waiting.
I called a little bit from this location, but all the birds were on the other side of the road, so I moved over to the other side. About as soon as I got over there they stopped gobbling and it started to rain. I called it an early morning.
In the afternoon I went to a location where I had hunted one other time and I had shot a gobbler there in the evening. I thought I knew this area and the lay of the land fairly well, but by some miracle before I left my vehicle I marked its location on my phone. I got out to a large open field where I had taken a tom a couple of years ago, called a little bit, nothing happened so I then went into the exploring mode.
I was not really sure where I was heading or where I was, but I was hunting. I almost always have my GPS with me when I hunt any woods that are fairly big and remote, but I have not been able to find it, so I was going to rely on my IPhone. I followed a set of turkey tracks for a ways, startled a fisher which scampered up a tree and gave me a very close up look at its sheer size and beauty; that creature had to have been very close in size to my beagles.
Very soon after I saw the fisher I came across one of the ski trails that had a sign on it that said parking area 1.9 miles. I was rather surprised that I was that far from my vehicle, but at least I could follow the trail back to my vehicle. Shortly after that sign I came across lots of fresh turkey sign and about eight sets of tracks that I decided to follow. The tracks were very easy to follow in the fresh four inches of snow that we had gotten between mid-morning and early afternoon.
I followed the tracks for about fifteen minutes then came upon a group of turkeys searching for acorns under the fresh blanket of snow. I set up, watched and called, but it was futile. They did not want anything to do with me. It was now getting fairly close to dark, and I had no idea where I was at. Luckily I had marked my parking location on my IPhone, so I had something to go off of. Unfortunately I learned in a hurry an IPhone is no substitute for a GPS. I had one hell of a time getting back to the parking area. I got back, but it seemed liked I walked forever and I made it to the vehicle just at dark.

Observations:

Today was another one of those horrible weather days. I hunted in rain in the morning and snow in the afternoon, and I again donned the snow camouflage.