Well, it doesn't look like I'll get any verification on deer till next year. I hunted tonight and didn't see any deer but had a great hunt. I'm headed to PA to visit my mom in a rehab for a couple days and our muzzleloader season come in on Saturday, so this was my last archer season hunt.
While I didn't see any deer, I had a great time! I was driving in slowly on my E-bike and just as I came around the corner where I park the bike for this particular stand I ran into a family flock in the middle of the road. We saw each other at 20 yards and there was a perfect breakup. Some of the birds flew in front of my stand to the right of the road and some flew to the left of the road behind my stand into a ravine. My box blind was in the perfect regrouping position.
Now, let me say up front, I was not interested in shooting a hen or jake, so this was just for fun. After getting into my box blind, I waited about 20 minutes and did one series of yelps and shut up. There was no response. About 20 minutes after that, the woods lit up. The boss hen was down in the ravine behind the stand, so I started yelping at her. She did not like that and did not want her flock to come to me so she headed to me to challenge me.
The birds regrouped directly in front of my box blind just inside the woods across the small field. They were in range for my 10 gauge (although I wasn't hunting turkey and didn't have it). The boss hen was bearded! Some biologists seem to think that bearded hens are more reliable at raising poults successfully. I decided to stop calling and let things settle down. Once I shut up, it was only about 5 minutes for the boss hen to settle down. They worked their way back into the ravine to collect the rest of the flock.
I saw nothing else, but it was a fun evening!
