Laguna Mountain—Turkey Hunting
Notice
I was contacted by a reader who stated that there is no firearms allowed at Mount Laguna and it is strictly restricted to archery. Thank you Colby!
MVP
Steve—He’s teaching me basically everything about hunting, so he’s gotta be the MVP. I’m not sure how good of a hunter I’d be without his guidance and I’m grateful that he wants to teach me.
Hike Review:
We walked around three different places around Laguna Mountain in search of turkeys.
The first place looked the best on the satellite maps, but the water levels were much higher than what we had expected (due to the extra rain we got this year), and we realized that this meant that we’d have to perform a water crossing of 10 yards or so with up to 1” of water. While this doesn’t sound bad in itself, we would need to do this at mid 30 degree weather, which neither of us wanted to do, especially without waterproof shoes or socks. We spotted turkey tracks here though, which told us that there were turkey about.
The second place we went to was along a hiking trail and it seemed like a bust until the very end. We ended up circling back a different way than we had come, and about 50 yards from the road, we spotted turkey scat. At first, we thought the scat was maybe a day or so old, but on a second look, Steve thought the scat was pretty fresh due to its moisture content. We ended up walking back to our car, but when we were discussing the day’s events at the end of the hunt, we both agreed that we should have circled out from the scat spot to see if we could find the turkey that the scat belonged to.
The last place we hiked was a total bust as we saw no evidence of turkey. However, the landscape was prime turkey territory, so our best guess is that they were just hiding really well and/or the male that would respond to the turkey call just wasn’t there.
In all, we hiked a little less than 3 miles.
What I Learned
Turkeys are extremely perceptive animals and thus is difficult to hunt. Although we ended up seeing signs of them (scat and foot prints), we didn’t end up seeing an actual turkey while we were hiking.
Turkey scat looks similar to goose scat, except that instead of a straight line, it curves like a J.
On the “recon” hike we did the night before, we found turkey footprints, but we weren’t able to call it in due to it being night time.
Turkey hunting has similarities and differences to rabbit hunting. Similarities are that the act of hunting is one of being present while hiking with a loaded shotgun (where you’re fully concentrating on the sounds and sights around you); much like rabbits, one must make minimal noise and stop frequently while walking, the shotgun must be ready to be used at anytime; and the tactics of using the terrain to your advantage is very similar. Differences are that the shot size used is different (2 vs 6); before exposing oneself (when in bush cover or not-yet over a hill) it’s good to make a turkey call to see if the male turkey will expose himself; turkeys will make noise, so listening is oh-so-important; and the hunting terrain is much more wooded.
Almost every time we used the turkey call, another bird (we think it was a wood pecker) would mimic the call that we had made. It was funny, but then again, maybe that warned away other actual turkeys?
There were other hikers on the trail on the first place we went and we’re sure that their conversations or loud steps scared away turkeys. The second trail we went to didn’t have other hikers, but then again, we didn’t see signs of turkeys.
When buying an upland game bird validation “stamp” for the California hunting license, they’ll print you a second waterproof paper receipt in the same style as the hunting license. Back when I first got an upland game bird validation, they used to give you a stamp to put on your hunting license, but I guess they changed that sometime.
Friends
Steve and I went hunting together and it made the entire experience a fantastic one. As much as the hunt was fun, our conversations were even better when we weren’t hunting (while hunting, we didn’t talk very much to keep the noise down).
What Happened?
It’s spring turkey season in California, so Steve and I went hunting for two of them in the Laguna Mountain area after striking out in a few lottery places. Leading up to this weekend, I talked to Steve, watched youtube videos on hunting, and read a few articles to get up-to-speed on hunting turkeys.
When we started, I had a bunch of questions for Steve and he was great in being patient with me and showering me with everything he knew about turkeys. Because we arrived too late to find a roost, we ended up trying to find them through hiking and calling them every few hundred feet or so. It actually was more fun this way, as if we had found a roost, we’d been sitting still and calling them in. Instead, we were hiking around, which worked for me just fine.
Although we came back empty handed, I had a great time. Whenever I go hunting, my favorite part is hiking with a gun, so everything else is just gravy. But more seriously, I learned a whole lot and just like with rabbits, hunting is amazing in how honed in and focused you have to be. Everything else just falls away as you try your best to walk as silently as possible with all your senses on full alert. All the random thoughts just wash away—all I can sense and know is the present. And by being purely present, I cannot sense anything but the ecstasy, which is living.