Ben's semi-live 2025 hunt thread

[TheBenHoyle]

I had the official first outing of my season 2025-2026 on Saturday. I was a little bummed that I didn't get a chance to close out my prior season with a coyote hunt but February was just too busy.

But I have a game camera that needed a new antenna and a new piece of public I wanted to scout for an Early May turkey hunt, so I drove out to my dad's house and picked him up.

We spent most of Saturday driving out to the public hunting area where I have my camera. I hadn't received any pics since I moved it in late January and I was pretty sure I had broken the antenna. So Dad and I hiked in and found the camera and replaced the camera. I also had to replace the batteries. It was a beautiful day and the hike was nice. I checked the pics I had missed and there was some deer activity but no turkeys. Although I think the turkeys show up in April when the hens get broody. It is smack dab in the middle of good nesting habitat.

After that, we drove to another public hunting area that I had never been to. It was supposed to be a 30 minute drive, but we missed a turn and had to back track and then we saw about 20 swans feeding in a field and stopped to put our binoculars on them. In the process we missed another turn and ended up driving about 5 miles down the road and had to back track a bit. I think it took us more like an hour to make the drive.

We pulled in to the first parking area and immediately saw a bald eagle riding the thermals above us. While we were watching that one, we realized there were about 5 of them up in the air.

We hiked in about 400-500 yards in to the hardwoods, skirting an ag field to the north. It was nice and open under the canopy and there was a highpoint to the south that we were thinking about heading up to see the overview, when all of a sudden we heard a turkey. We stopped still and just stared as a hen appeared from the direction of the highpoint. She walked right up to about 5 feet from us and just kinda milled about. We took a bunch of pictures and really enjoyed the encounter.




I felt like we had seen enough of this part of the property and so we backed out and went around to another parking area to check out what looked like a clearing on ONX.

I probably should have paid attention to the topo lines, because that clearing was a bald at the top of a bluff that required us to gain about 120 feet in elevation. I don't think there's much chance I would want to hunt on top of the bluff, but it was a nice view.

All in all it was a great day with my dad and raised my hopes for a good hunt in a new place.

 

[TheBenHoyle]

Sunday night here. I just have to make it through work tomorrow and then I will be on my way out to my parents' house to sleep so I can get up before the dawn Tuesday to try to get a turkey. I have to come home Tuesday night for a band concert for my youngest and then I can hunt Wednesday if I don't get it done on Tuesday. It is a lot of driving back and forth but I feel good about my chances. I'll be hunting the same woods where I got a turkey 2 years ago and have taken 3 deer out of. Here's hoping that I get lucky and the turkeys are in the neighborhood and not across the creek on property I can't hunt.

 

[TheBenHoyle]

Well I had two nice days of spring woods hunting, but ultimately no turkeys.

Tuesday was super windy and I thought maybe I heard turkeys, but I also thought maybe I was just trying to make distorted goose sounds into turkey sounds. Like I said it was super windy and I couldn't be sure of any sounds really.

I saw two raccoons walking along near me and then later I saw two raccoons harassing a third raccoon in the top of a tree.

I saw about 6 deer wandering through the woods. and I saw a hen in a hay field about 300 yards northwest of me. Quickly lost sight of it and then about 45 minutes it or a different hen popped out of the treelike on my right as if it had come straight towards me from where I had seen it before. Sadly, it saw me before I saw it and it slid back into the woods.

Wednesday was very calm and I could hear everything in the woods for about a 1/2 mile all around. I could hear the chickens in the farm yard and the dogs out barking. I heard geese and I heard sand hill cranes. I did not hear any turkeys.

I saw at least 6 deer, but possibly a dozen or more. It was hard to tell if they were the same deer recirculating or if they were new to the scene.

At one point I saw a raccoon walking up a game trail towards me I got to see him stop, get nervous, back track two steps and then waddle run back the way he came. He was a fat boy.

In general, I had a nice time but it is disappointing that there was so little turkey action. I have hunted this area often over the past 7 years and I know that this general neighborhood has upwards of 50 turkeys, but something must have pushed them to the north or south. Hard to say, but it didn't work in my favor this time.

Next opportunity will be the weekend after Easter on some public land that I have hunted before. Hopefully I can make that trip work out with some fresh turkey meat.