Had a heck of a long week last week trying to fool in my second tom. Unfortunately the week came and went with very little turkey activity but things started to look up last weekend with gobbling turkeys and close encounters. I decided to sacrifice sleep this morning and got up at 0300 after getting home from work at 0100 the same morning. Got out to a good spot on the hunting club property with a good friend and started our hunt in a very turkeyish area.
Well fly down came and gone with only a single hen yelping back at my calls. Because of the limited time I had due to work, we drove down the property a little ways down and pulled off to the side to see if I can get a response. As I get out of my car and give a couple of cuts, I immediately get gobbles from birds no further then 70 yards away. I quickly jump in the car drive past the area to hide the vehicle so we can set up quickly.
We get set up as the turkeys continue to gobble their heads off and now we're surrounded by gobbling birds in front of our blind. I use my trusty Southland game calls Rio special mouth call to give a few more cuts and yelps to get the birds excited. By this time there gobblers are triple gobbling and heading our way. As the turkeys get near our set up,, I switch to making soft clucks and purrs which just drove the two incoming long beards insane.
Just as we set up a game plan to shoot on a 1-2-3 count, the two toms skirt to my left and behind our blind. Now my hunting partner has no shot and I have a 60 yard shot between two big oak trees on a small red target. My buddy says to take the shot and my trusty 935 give a bark. Fortunately the Primos Jelly head choke and Winchester HV #4 did the trick and dropped the bird dead in its track. Now during this time my turkeys brother is still hanging out but behind a lot of thick brush. I get my friend positioned to take a shot after seeing the second bird work its way towards my dead bird. Unfortunately he catches our movement and high tails it to the county line.
After checking out my bird we notice he has a good solid 9in beard, a full fan but one semi sharp nub and no spur on the other leg which was a first for me on a mature bird. It was an awesome hunt but I felt extremely guilty that my friend couldn't get a shot. Now I'm working on making sure my buddy scores this season and my son has a second chance at a gobbler. Time to put some work in.
Well fly down came and gone with only a single hen yelping back at my calls. Because of the limited time I had due to work, we drove down the property a little ways down and pulled off to the side to see if I can get a response. As I get out of my car and give a couple of cuts, I immediately get gobbles from birds no further then 70 yards away. I quickly jump in the car drive past the area to hide the vehicle so we can set up quickly.
We get set up as the turkeys continue to gobble their heads off and now we're surrounded by gobbling birds in front of our blind. I use my trusty Southland game calls Rio special mouth call to give a few more cuts and yelps to get the birds excited. By this time there gobblers are triple gobbling and heading our way. As the turkeys get near our set up,, I switch to making soft clucks and purrs which just drove the two incoming long beards insane.
Just as we set up a game plan to shoot on a 1-2-3 count, the two toms skirt to my left and behind our blind. Now my hunting partner has no shot and I have a 60 yard shot between two big oak trees on a small red target. My buddy says to take the shot and my trusty 935 give a bark. Fortunately the Primos Jelly head choke and Winchester HV #4 did the trick and dropped the bird dead in its track. Now during this time my turkeys brother is still hanging out but behind a lot of thick brush. I get my friend positioned to take a shot after seeing the second bird work its way towards my dead bird. Unfortunately he catches our movement and high tails it to the county line.
After checking out my bird we notice he has a good solid 9in beard, a full fan but one semi sharp nub and no spur on the other leg which was a first for me on a mature bird. It was an awesome hunt but I felt extremely guilty that my friend couldn't get a shot. Now I'm working on making sure my buddy scores this season and my son has a second chance at a gobbler. Time to put some work in.
Congrats !
