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For The Eastern
Fred Lutger's
Search For The 3rd Eastern
Day 7 - Friday May 21:
Fred and Eden went to a new area this morning with the same results as
yesterday. These late season hunts are tough.
Day 6 - Thursday May
20: Fred and Eden set up for the strutting Toms. They neither heard
nor saw any Toms.
Day 5 - Wednesday May
19: Fred's alarm went off at 3:30 this morning. He was ready when Eden
Taylor arrived to take him hunting at 4:00. It was pouring rain and they
set up the Double Bull blind and set out decoys. At 9:00 the rain slowed
and Eden called. There was no response and he suggested they check a field
where he had seen some Toms strutting.
On the way they saw 2 Toms
in an apple orchard. Eden stopped at the owners and received permission
to hunt them. They set up in the woods next to the orchard and set up again.
Eden called once and they
gobbled back. But they were now in a deep "holler" and didn't respond.
They left and went to the
strutter field. Another hunter was already there.
Next they drove to several
other locations and called, looking for a response, but it didn't happen.
At 12:00 they stopped hunting and made plans for tomorrows hunt.
Day 2, 3 & 4:
On Sunday Terry Speakman went with Fred. Terry called. He talked to a gobbler
after fly down and videoed 3 hens that went to the gobbler. The gobbler
hung out with the hens instead of Fred. On Monday & Tuesday Fred spent
hours in the blind but saw or heard no gobblers.
Day #2: The Hillside
Gobbler -- A nice day for a Grand Slam
Doug had a plan for today
and we worked it to the letter. According to Doug's scouting the Hillside
Gobbler normally arrived at the hillside field around 10:00. We went to
the top of the hill and set up in the dark, then we entered the waiting
mode for 4 hours.
At 10:05 Doug said he heard
a hen. He called and a hen came uphill to us.
Gobble!
Our Hillside longbeard announced
his arrival. To The
Hunt...
Day #2: The Hillside
Gobbler -- A nice day for a Grand Slam
  
Doug had a plan for today
and we worked it to the letter. According to Doug's scouting the gobbler
normally arrived at the hillside field around 10:00. We went to the top
of the hill and set up in the dark, then we entered the waiting mode.
At 10:05 Doug said he heard
a hen. He called and a hen came uphill to us.
Gobble!
Our Hillside longbeard announced
his arrival. To The
Hunt...
Day #1 Continued:
The Hillside Gobbler
  
Doug Crabtree and I drove
to several spots and called with no response. Doug had scouted a bird he
called the Hillside gobbler and we drove to its area. The gobbler was high
up on the hill, the time was 8:19, the bird was 2 hours early today.
We parked at the property
owner's, cut through the woods, and set up against the fence on the edge
of the woods -- on an adjoining hill. We were 400 yards from the gobbler
and a hen.
Doug called. He gobbled
back instantly.
Without hesitation the gobbler
walked to the bottom
of his hill and walked through a narrow strip of trees separating the
hills. We lost sight of him in the tall grass on our hill.
Doug clucked a couple of
times and did a fighting gobbler purr with his diaphragm call. The Tom's
head appeared -- periscope like -- in the grass below us.
He kept coming and took
shape in the grass. He stopped 30 some yards from us and surveyed the
area.
Doug did a quiet ki ki and
the longbeard gobbled
and started toward the fence.
Obligingly, he stopped 20
yards from us. I drew and put the bright green top pin of my Timberline
bowsight on the longbeards chest and held it rock steady.
My arrow went 3 feet to
the left of the bird and he walked back downhill.
Doug wanted to check my
bow and drew it. To our dismay we saw my arrow pop out of the cradle on
the rest.
We waited half and hour
and snuck back to the truck. Later I adjusted the rest.
Actually, the miss was so
wide that we felt sure that the gobbler did not know what happened. We
made plans to dance with him again tomorrow.
Gobble On!
Day #1 (Saturday, May
15): Fred Lutger Gets Into Gobblers
Doug Crabtree drew Fred
Lutger a map of the Pine Field and dropped him off near it. Going in Fred
walked under a tree that birds were roosted in -- they spooked. That caused
a nearby Tom to gobble.
Fred backed off and skirted
around the bird and got on a ridge above the roosted gobbler. He set up
his Double Bull blind and put out 2 hen decoys. Fred made a few light tree
calls and waited.
He heard the gobbler fly
down and started up the ridge, gobbling all the way.
For the next 2 hours the
Tom strutted on the ridge. At 8:30 the longbeard responded to Fred's calls
and got within 25 yards from Fred's blind. Fred needed 5 more yards for
a shot.
The sound of workman's voices
carried into the area (from behind Fred) and the bird buggared into the
trees. But it stayed in the area and gobbled half an hour after the workman
left.
Fred moved the blind towards
him, set up and yelped twice.
Gobble!
The longbeard was down the
ridge. The gobbles got further away.
Fred started downhill to
set up on it again. But he heard a closer gobble up the ridge.
Immediately Fred went uphill.
When Fred reached the top of the ridge -- it was 40 yards away and Fred
did not have time to set the blind up.
Fred hid in the brush and
the Tom moved through, spitting and drumming. Fred saw it through the trees,
but no shot was possible. Shortly after it was 12:00 and hunting time was
over.
Doug Crabtree
Bags his Eastern -- And the FIRST Grand Slam in 2004
 
Ohio on Opening Day 2004
(Monday, April 26)
Doug Crabtree was several
minutes late getting to his hunting area at the same "Reclaim" that we
both got Eastern's on opening day last year
(that hunt was Doug's grand slam
bird for 2003}. He set up 200 yards shy of our previous location.
After daylight some gobblers
and hens flew down in the pines and went directly to the "Reclaim". A large
dominate longbeard strutted on a bench a little above where we had been
a year ago. Doug called but the longbeard didn't come within bow range.
2nd Day: Way before
daylight Doug set his Double Bull blind on the bench where the longbeard
had strutted.
Gobbles!!! In the nearby
pines. 15 times.
Birds flew down. Doug called.
He heard a mature gobbler going the other way, down hill to a creek.
Quiet, for 10 minutes.
Gobble!!! The voice of a
big bird.
Doug called.
He answered and 3 minutes
later he gobbled 00 closer. Two minutes more and Doug saw the longbeard
in the pines 80 yards away.
Doug called with hen yelps
and clucks. The blew up and strutted to the edge of the field. Doug took
the
longbeards picture.
When the Tom saw the decoys
he broke down and walked to the them.
Doug shot the longbeard
at 8 steps, hitting it at the base of the neck. The bird dropped -- never
flopped. Doug checked it in, it weighed 17 pounds, had a 9 1/2" beard and
1" spurs.
Doug Crabtree put the 4th
bird on the ground and is the first of the 4x4 Grand Slammers to get his
Grand Slam. Cool.
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