Is It Just February???

I went bowhunting one last time yesterday morning and set up in a groundblind. I was going to an area that has a lot of turkeys I hunt in the spring, so as an afterthought, I put a couple decoys and a slate call in my bag. I canoed in and got set up on a little field that the deer had been hitting pretty hard. By 8:00, I had seen 6 deer, but none in bowrange. Well about 8:05 I heard some hens out in the woods off the edge of the field. I had set out a couple of decoys when I set up the blind just in case, knowing that they probably wouldn't spook any deer that came in. I dug out my slate call and yelped a few times and the hens answered. I could have sworn I heard a gobble of to my left but thought I must be hearing things. It was February 27th and 28 degrees when I left the truck and put the canoe in the swamp, so I had to be hearing things. I made another series of yelps and a hen answered and this time there was no mistaking the gobble from the left of my blind, as it was answered by another gobbler to the right of my setup. The 2nd gobbler on my right was hammering, completely fired up and closer than the 1st bird. Now I forgot all about deer hunting b/c I was set up between 2 gobbling birds thinking I'm going to get a shot at something. The bird on my right sounds like he cuts the distance to about 75 yards and is still hammering. The one on the left gobbles about the same spot as the first time, but then a jake cuts in and gobbles a little closer than him. I'm thinking done deal, gonna get a shot at something before long... About 8:30 was the last time I heard either bird on the left, but the one on the right was gobbling his head off at every call I made, every hen that would call, and every crow that would fly by. I bet he had gobbled 200 times by 9:30 but was still stuck about 75 yards out from what I could hear. Well he quit gobbling about 9:30 and I waited another hour thinking he could be sneaking in, but he didn't show. At 10:30 I decided to circle around and see what he was hung up on. There was a small creek that crossed about 50 yards behind the field that was up and flooded out a little, so that could have stopped him I guess. The water was about knee deep in most places, but I circled up a couple hundred yards and got across and figured I'd move up toward where I heard him last and set up and try to call him back in. Well, long story short, I topped a little ridge and there he was about 25 yards out with 2 other birds. If it was April and I had a shotgun in my hand that would have been the end of the story, but with a ground blind on my back and bow in hand (arrow not nocked and in quiver), there was no way I could get a shot. It was thick enough I don't think I could have threaded an arrow through there any way... Talk about getting me fired up and ready for April, just don't see how they won't be gobbled out by then though...:smack: I would have like to have stayed and hunted that afternoon or go back, but I had too much to do yesterday afternoon and work the last couple of days of the season, so I have to toss and turn until April 12 I guess!:smack: Anyway, just thought I'd share my story, b/c it was exciting. That one bird gobbled more than any I worked last year and it's still February!:smack: Until April...
Bryan