New Jersey Fall Turkey Season was last week. I figured hunting would be easy. Boy, was I wrong!
On Wednesday, I hunted NJ public land off of Route 540 and saw nothing but squirrels. I then went to Mad Horse WMA and again saw nothing.
I went out on Thursday down past Quinton, NJ. Because of Delaware Memorial Bridge construction at 5:30 AM, my buddy and I were held up for 45 minutes. We got to the spot almost a dawn. As I was walking to the spot where I wanted to set up, I heard some gobbles. I moved toward them, and sat down. I then saw a bird fly down from its roost about 35 yards in front of me. I then heard a hen calling for about 15 minutes. I saw about 5 more birds fly down, but they were walking away from my location. Unfortunately, I had too much brush between me and them to shoot. I tried to move and find them, but they moved onto private property.
We then searched all day over at Bayside WMA area. We saw absolutely nothing, so I returned to my morning spot with hopes the birds would return there to roost. Immediately upon entering the woods, I heard a hen calling. I called back to her, and we ‘talked’ for about 15 minutes. There was a grove of saplings between me and her, so I didnt’ think she wanted to walk through them. I never saw her, but I heard her calls getting softer as she walked the other direction. I saw and heard nothing else.
I didn’t hunt turkeys Friday or Saturday, so with the New Jersey Fall Turkey Season over, I guess it’s back to deer hunting now!