Met my Huntmaster Joe Alleyne at the Sutherland gate at 4am. After getting the boat groups out Joe gave me a few pointers and off i went stumbling into the dark looking for a setup spot. I know the birds roost by the parking lot/picnic area so I setup at the top of the field after the gate so as not to spook the birds and give me the widest possible viewing point and decoy exposure. Multiple birds gobbling at graylight, no direct response to the few soft tree yelps I sent out. The birds flew down and promptly went in the opposite direction of me following the draw behind the picnic area to private land on the hill. Dead silence for the next couple of hours, I tried a few soft yelps but no response. Doubt set in and I started planning a relocation but around 9am I heard a hen yelping from down the road toward the next draw so I decided to answer back with a woodhaven box call. I thought maybe I could draw the hen toward me with some agressive calls so I proceeded to interrupt her with loud yelps and a series of sharp cuts. A gobble thundered from the hill above. The hen yelped and nothing, I followed with some loud yelps and got an instant gobble response. The hen yelped again and I followed and a gobble came but sounded slightly farther away. In an effort to sound like more than 1 hen and possibly pull the gobbler back to me I grabbed my slate call and sent out a series of yelps and cutts. Silence...I started some soft purring on the slate and then scratched the leaves around me like a feeding hen as a last ditch effort before I went silent and motionless. Hey, I pick up a lot of this stuff off of You Tube so I was pulling out all stops......A minute or 3 later and I see movement out of the corner of my eye and then a Tom comes strutting in, my heart races. The Tom starts moving fast and rushes into the decoys and proceeds to go full on UFC on the Jake decoy, jumping on it, pecking it, mighty pissed off.... Meanwhile my gun is still across my lap as it all happened in seconds and I cant move because the jake decoy spun around and the Tom is now pummeling it while facing me head on. Suddenly a group of hens rush in and create a melee, seemingly cheering the Tom on. I know its now or never and even with the Tom facing me I figure its so enraged and destracted I just might pull this off. Slowly I raise my gun like the seconds ticking on a clock, shoulder, cheek weld, barrel plane, bead, aim at the base of the neck and BOOM... 2oz of 5,6,7,Magnum Blend Hevishot stones the bird in its tracks. I almost trample the hens while rushing in to make sure the Tom doesnt get a second wind, but after a few flops its game over. 18.8 pounds, 9 inch beard, 7/8 spur. I have not seen a better You Tube video of what just went down right in front of me, wish I had a Go-Pro, it was awesome! My 1st Turkey !Thanks to all the NWTF crew and Forum members who gave me guidance and encouragement, especially ilovesprig, MAG1 and my huntmaster Joe, you guys are the best. Now I just need to change my user name to something cool like Tommy Knocker...Lol
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