It’s hard to believe it’s already the month of May! Summer will be here before we know it!
I may have mentioned before that I haven’t tagged that many turkeys. That being the case, I only have so many successful turkey hunting stories to tell. A friend of mine suggested that stories about missed turkey hunting opportunities might be just as entertaining. I have walked back to the truck empty handed many more times than I have with a turkey slung over my shoulder.
This story starts out very similar to the successful hunt I wrote about last month. This time, I parked at the handicapped gate in Buck Lick Run and followed the old road back to a low place on the ridge. This is another one of my favorite places to begin a turkey hunt. It’s a 20–30-minute walk in the dark to the easiest place I have found to climb Buck Lick Ridge. From that location you can hear a turkey gobble all around Buck Lick and Slate Lick Hollows. Most people don’t walk back that far so you usually have the woods to yourself, especially on weekdays.
And as I have mentioned before, you can cover a lot of ground in a hurry on the old road and horse trail on the top of Buck Lick Ridge. If you know where to find it, there is an old road that drops down into Slate Lick that you can use in the event you hear a gobbler over on Gauley Ridge or in Slate Lick Hollow. It’s a lot easier and quicker to make a fast walk down the old grown-up road than it is to bust through the laurel and stumble down the steep, rough north side of the Buck Lick Ridge. Even if it is a little farther to walk.
On this particular hunt I don’t remember for sure if I heard any gobblers at daylight. Details of individual hunts have blurred together over the years. Regardless, I typically spend 30 minutes or so listening before I move to a different location. With any luck a gobbler will dictate where I go.
I was slowly working my way along the top of the ridge when I met two hunters coming from the other direction. We spoke for a moment and moved on. I was a little discouraged. It was approaching mid-morning by then and what were the chances of hearing a gobbler if they had just hunted the area ahead. Not having much choice, I continued walking down the ridge toward the clearcut near where I had parked the truck.
Arriving at the clearcut, I stopped to regroup. What the heck… I’ll give a call. To my surprise, I heard a gobble below me in a small wooded hollow! I was at a pretty good location already, so I moved to the base of a nearby tree and gave another call. The next gobble was much closer. Time to get the old double barrel up and ready to fire. Movement! The gobbler came up the opposite ridge with his feathers glistening in the morning sun. I confidently waited for a clear shot, centered the front bead of the peep-sight on his head and pulled the rear full choke trigger. This was too easy.
It was too easy!! After the boom of the 12 gauge the turkey took off running up the ridge. I was stunned! The gobbler should have been flopping on the ground with me in hot pursuit! I didn’t even fire a second shot.
I learned two lessons that day. 1) Make sure your turkey is within good shotgun range. 2) Don’t get discouraged if there are a lot of people in the woods. You never know what might happen!
Enjoy the day!
R.D. Cullers
Graduate of Bergton Elementary (Class of ’65)
