35a Gould's Hunt

[Tunachaser]

First of all, I wanted to start by saying that my hunting life basically defines the words "Coues Deer Fanatic." They are my favorite animal in the world to hunt and I am completely addicted to them. I can post some pictures of my best bucks on the Coues Deer forum if anyones interested. I have always loved this blog but never really had enough time to bring much input to the table. But a few weeks ago, I was between a rock and a hard place, and the awesome people on this forum helped me tremendously, and I am so thankful.

 

Last fall, I was talking to my good buddy Mike McDonald about turkeys and how I think that Gould's are the greatest even tho I had never even seen one. I told him that I had 11 bonus points for Gould's and that I am pretty close to getting a tag. He didn't say much but then in November, he called me and told me that his son Chad had drawn a second season 35a tag. Again, I had come up without a tag but I was beyond excited to be able to finally go! With Mike and Chad having never been on a spring turkey hunt (I believe), it was going to be my job to try and get a bird called in. I figured that I was dialed in as my good buddy is the Wildlife Manager of the unit! Well things went bad when I lost his work number, and he wouldn't call me back on his personal cell. As the days closed in to the hunt, I began to panic realizing that all my good info wasn't going to get to me as all my leads were coming up with a voice mail machine. It was then that I decided to hit up the good guys on this forum and I wasn't disappointed. Within minutes, I was getting Pm's about spots, and before we knew it, we were ready to head south with areas to roost birds.

 

We left Flagstaff the afternoon before the hunt and made it to the unit just in time to hear a Jake gobble just before bed time on some private property. Being from the endless public land of Northern Arizona, it was frustrating to have to fight turkeys in country that is so covered in private. The next morning, we got a bird to gobble and took off. Unfortunately, we had company. I guess everyone had also been told to come to this canyon. The gobbler didn't like either of us however and flew out the other way. A few birds gobbled that morning but not like they should. It was getting hot! We spent the rest of the day exploring the country and making game plans. Mike was having a ton of pain in his knees so he did a lot of driving while Chad and I made some big hikes. While on a hike, Mike drove past a big ole long beard strutting!!! Figures. Well they didn't talk much that night and we only were able to roost one bird in a super crappy spot.

 

We gave that bird our best but it didn't happen. We did some more hikes and exploring that day, and Chad sat a tank for half the day as it was so unbelievably hot. That night, Saturday, we roosted a hot bird and laughed our heads off as he would gobble to anything, but his favorite was an elk bugle. The next morning was our last chance as Mikes truck got seriously screwed up (yep, I'm totally not a mechanic because I don't have a clue what happened. lol)

 

Everything seemed to be working well as we got set-up well before light below the birds tree (about 250 yds. Way too far but I messed up. A false hill in front of us confused me and by the time he gobbled, it was too late to move.) I woke him up with some tree yelps and he went ape. I've never heard a bird gobble so much in my life!!! He flew down 15 minutes before what I would consider normal fly-down and kept on gobbling. It was then that I realized we were below the wrong hill. His gobbles were muffled and I knew he wouldn't come down the steep false hill. I grabbed my decoys and we ran up the cliff-like hillside. I popped up and made one of the biggest mistakes of my turkey hunting career. With my shooter behind me and unable to see anything that I could see, I made a soft call to see where he was. The bird gobbled at 35 yds in the thick brush. I a second, he was on us and we were pinned down. With my shooter unable to see anything, the raging hot bird walked into 6 yds, got bored and walked off. I was absolutely heartbroken and so so so mad at myself. Chad was very gracious but I still felt like a looser. We made our way back to the truck, and packed up camp. I was pretty sure that Chads once in a lifetime hunt was over.

 

But it wasnt!! This story is second hand but I'm pretty sure its accurate. Chad and Mike were able to make it back down this past weekend, and with even hotter temperatures, Chad sat a metal cattle drinker with a giant metal catchment fed by a windmill and on Saturday the 17th, a longbeard and his Jake buddy came for a drink. The jake walked right into 10 yds but the longbeard went around the back of the big catchment and jumped up onto the rim (15 feet in the air!!!) swaying back and forth trying to get a drink. Finally it got tired and flew down to the smaller catchment and jumped up on it. At 10 yards, Chad hammered him, but afraid that his trophy would get away (hes never hunted turkeys before and therefore has never seen the turkey death flop), he shot it a second time with a super full choke right in the body. After this shot, it flew straight up (idk how) and landed right in the big giant catchment!!! That is why the bird looks so haggered and ugly but its actually a great bird with a 9 inch beard and 3/4 inch spurrs. I am absolutley stoked for him and so thankful for the help that several of you CW guys gave us, making this hunt possible. I wish I was there to get better pictures but this is all they got. Hope you enjoyed the story.

[CouesWhitetail]

Congratulations on the bird! Too bad it landed in the water, but I am sure the taxidermist can fluff him back up and make the mount look great. Looks like a heck of a roost you found based on all those droppings!

[standman]

Congrats on your goulds! Gotta love the strut marks in the dirt.

 

Brian

[tjhunt2]

Glad to see Chad finally getting his bird. Kudos to you for going and helping. If it can go wrong it usually does. That's what makes hunting so great. Ya just never know what's around the next hill or tree. Good write up and thanks for sharing Chad's success with us. Congratulations Chad!!!

 

TJ