Toms active as season ends

By Nate Skinner

For Lone Star outdoor newS

Turkey hunters chasing gobblers in the North Zone have been hard at it for nearly two weeks since South Zone hunters had to call it quits. As their spring season quickly comes to a halt, many have observed varying behaviors from the birds.

Cody Johnston dedicated some time in the field on a ranch that he leases in Schleicher County, near Eldorado. He was rewarded by a close encounter with a mature longbeard, which resulted in him harvesting his first spring tom.

“The gobblers were pretty vocal during my two-day trip,” he said. “They gobbled a lot throughout the day, but most were not will- ing to close the distance after responding to a call.”

Johnston was hunting with a friend, and said they had to put in several miles on foot before finding a tom in an aggressive mood.

“After making an early afternoon sit in an area that was holding quite a few birds, we decided to make a move in the direction of a gobbler sounding off in the distance,” he said. “We were able to sneak in fairly close to where we thought he was. After we sat down and waited a few minutes, both me and my buddy made one call each. The gobbler answered immediately, and a few moments later I could see him charging in in a hurry.”

The hunters didn’t have any decoys out, but the gobbler did not seem to care.

Please turn to page 6 bo bite turned out to be a 41.5inch, 31.5-pound striped bass that began an on-the-water rodeo before it was finally landed.

“I was chunking a swimbait around structure along the bank, and we had already caught a few largemouths that evening, before we moved into some deeper, open water,” said Polly. “As we drifted over the deeper basin before us, I

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