I have been pretty busy since the end of turkey season, trying to get calls done and catching up on the honey-do list. Fortunately Jill (my honey) is quite self sufficient, so at least that list hasn't been overwhelming,lol. I was hunting pretty much for the first week, and every day for the last 2 1/2 weeks of the season, and had an awesome time in the woods with some great memories. I had deer and turkeys within ten feet of me at times, and one morning even a coyote came in about two feet away. We had unwittingly set up under a tree a hen was roosting in, and apparantly the coyote was looking for her nest, I presume she had roosted in close proximity to it. I am not sure which is most startling, to have a coyote jump and bolt directly behind you, or to have a hen explode out of the tree over your head, guess I'd concede the coyote,lol.
One morning Ray and I were sitting near a freshly plowed field, and Ray yelped on the trumpet just to see if anything might answer. Four geese came in and landed directly in front of us. I said, "Ray, put a little less goose in it.." He laughed and called again and another flock came in. Then a deer walked in and caught our scent, started to get nervous and began to exit the field. Ray clucked on the trumpet, and the deer turned right around and came back looking for the turkey. It was quite comical. We never did get a turkey to come in that morning, but I told Ray, had we been Mountain Men, we surely would have been eating well that morning.
Another morning, we walked into a section of woods and did some soft calling on the trumpet, and got a hen all fired up. We went back and forth and she was really cutting and yelping,we gave it right back to her, and all the racket got a gobbler going. For the next three hours it was unbelievable, the gobbler came in to within 45 yrds but was on the wrong side of a thick hedge row, he must have gobbled 40 times or more. As hush mouthed as they had been, it was a memorable mornings hunt even though we never did get to see him.
Anyways, here are a few calls I've completed lately, some got photographed and some went straight to the woods.
Thanks for looking, Dave
This first picture is a set of Kingwood trumpets, Caraboa mouthpieces. The trumpet in the foreground is smaller than her sister
This one is Cocobolo with Caraboa mouthpiece
