Turkey season has been very strange this year and we really haven't had a weekend yet where the birds just came running to a call as they have in years past, but the hunters still managed to do a little damage this weekend.

I arrived at the ranch a little later than I had hoped and quickly grabbed my gear and headed to the woods. I was primarily hunting turkey and needed to get my Double Bull blind set up near a roost before the turkeys moved into the area.

Normally, I am obsessed about scent control when hunting. But being short of time, I took a short cut and didn’t take the time to spray my clothes and boots with my Scent Killer from Wildlife Research Center. I was hunting turkeys and didn’t expect scent control to be a big issue. Big mistake! I should have known better, since hogs often hang out in that area of the ranch I was hunting.

I hadn’t been in the blind long when I heard hogs heading right down the trail where I was set up. I got into position and readied for the shot. My heart sank when the hogs locked up just a hundred yards from the blind. They had caught my wind and the dominant sow in the group let out a loud grunt and they were gone as quickly as they came! Lesson learned. It wouldn’t happen again!

The next morning I showered using Wildlife Research Center Scent Killer bar and sprayed my clothes and boots with a generous helping of Scent Killer spray. When I got to the blind, I sprayed the blind with Wildlife Research Center Earth Masking Scent since the area had been recently rooted heavily by hogs and I heard birds all around and had several answering, but they were still henned up and wouldn't come in.

The Wildlife Research Center products worked like a charm though. Shortly after daylight, I had a group of hogs move in on the same trail as the evening before, but this time they didn’t have a clue I was anywhere around. I put a great shot on a nice sized hog and found him in short order after great blood trail.

After taking care of the hog I headed back to camp for a little breakfast and to take care of some chores.

The weather was pretty warm this weekend after several days of unseasonably cool temperatures and one of our hunters killed a rattlesnake on Friday afternoon, so I knew to keep a sharp eye for these unpleasant critters. 

Back at the camp I was going about the business of tending to my chores when I stepped off the front porch and one of our hunters yelled, “John – rattlesnake!”  He was lying right at the foot of the steps and I had only missed stepping on him by a few inches! A well placed 2X4 stud dispatched him in short order!

Later that day, another hunter killed 2 more rattlesnakes in the driveway of the camp and yet another had a pretty large one actually come inside his Double Bull blind with him! Sure glad that didn’t happen to me. I already have a door in my blind and I don’t need another, but I feel sure I would have made a brand new one with a pocketknife if it had been me in that situation.

While keeping a sharp eye on the ground for snakes, Geoff Horst did manage to dedicate enough attention to his hunting to bag this nice gobbler the next morning.

There are still a couple of weekends left in spring turkey season, so break out the calls again, take care of the scent control, and by all means – keep an eye on the ground.

John Shelley

Pro Staff

Bowhunting North America, LLC

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