Things were weird yesterday for me. I knew the wind was able to pick up the next 3-4 days so I elected to hunt yesterday. Super calm, brisk morning, I went to a place that can be hit or miss but has my more mature birds around with very few of those pesky jakes. The only gobbler that was sounding off at dawn was 600 yards west of my normal spot. He sounded alone so I let him be. I could hear gobbles to my east 3/4 mile but I know there are lots of jakes that way. So I stayed put hoping Ole Dragger was staying silent on purpose to trick me. About 45 mins after light I heard one bird fly down but never saw it. After 1.5 hrs of sporadic calling, I packed it in there. The West gobbler was still going off some. I tried easing that way but might have bumped him. Went into the area to the east, and immediately spotted a mature bird strutting all alone in a field. He picked up the slightest of movement by me and took off. I cut him off 1/2 mile later with the same results. He was switched on spooky!!
I moved to a totally different area. I saw several small groups of hens ALONE. I ran into 3-4 jakes with 3 hens, spotted one medium gobbler and jake with a small group of hens, and called in 6 jakes at another spot. The middle of the day resulted in seeing a few hens out by themselves again. I never found the mature gobblers and cut my losses mid-afternoon to get a few work items done. I probably won't hunt again until mid next week for the Lavaca Co season.
Normally I help a little, but got off my lease so have to wait till next weekend to go on a day ( weekend ) hunt then my place in AR in April. Not too sure how that will go. Plenty on my place but I have never hunted easterns before and may get schooled.
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