Just finished up another enjoyable spring turkey season here in Athens Co. Not a record harvest but had our shooting percentage been a little better it would have been close. We did manage to fill an ultra flex 39 gallon trash bag full of gobbler wings for my bowyer buddies.
I went out this evening to a place where 4 gobblers had been roosting all spring...we killed 2 of the 4 earlier in the season so we decided to leave the survivors for seed unless reinforcements were sent in and they were not. I've never been a fan of roost hunting but I was curious to see how hard, or easy it might be to pull off with predictable birds like these. At about 8:00 pm I heard foot steps in the valley below me so I let out a few soft clucks and both gobblers answered just over the bank...I followed with a "fly up" cackle while beating my hat on my leg...and the foot race was on. When the first bird crested the ridge, he immediately picked me off and both birds flushed and flew off over the horizon...I thought a fitting end the season.
I've never been a big proponent of afternoon hunting either but I must admit that thanks to a challenging work schedule this spring, I took full advantage of the extra hours this season.
The only negative from this part of the state would be a very low number of jakes that were seen or heard this spring. We did see a fair number of hens with poults this past week and the weather for the next 10 days looks decent which may help some next year.