JimT
New member
Everyone else is chiming in with their turkey stories, so I figured I'd throw my hat in.
This was my first year turkey hunting. I didn't have a good turkey gun or calls or any knowledge using calls. So what did I do? Mooch. I talked friends into taking me and loaning me their guns. I didn't get to go the first week or weekend because they were all hunting. The second week I got out several times in the evening. I quickly remembered how much I really really hate ticks. Saturday morning rolled around and buddy number 1 is confident he'll get me a bird. We had 3 gobblers talking to us, but they never came in. We saw 3 or 4 hens that day. Sunday, buddy #2 takes me out. We had 4-5 gobblers talking at a distance and they never came in, totally shut down at 8am. Took the week off and waited for Saturday. Sat. morning and I'm heading out with #1 again. We get about 300 yards from his house and it pours rain on us. We decide to stick it out. Result? No birds seen or heard, we're soaking wet and I almost fell in a rain swollen creek. Sunday morning, the last day of season, and I'm heading out with buddy #3. The wind was wild, roaring in the trees. We parked on a road and started walking, listening for them to gobble on the roost. We walked a ways and I started thinking that there was no way we'd hear a bird in this. The trees were whipping back and forth and we were walking by creeks with loud rushing water! Just as we top out on a hill...GOBBLEGOBBLEGOBBLE! We both froze and pointed in the same direction. Into the woods we go. We walked about 50 yards in and sat down. I was about 15 yards to his right. He called, the turkey would gobble. This went on for a while. A limb fell out of a pine tree and crashed to the ground and the bird shock gobbled! Then suddenly the bird gobbled from a new spot. Uhoh, he didn't come off the roost the way he should of. I'm signaled to move over by my buddy and sit on his left on the same tree. He calls again and at least two separate gobbles come back! He tells to me to get ready and be patient. The birds are close and coming in. I get the gun up in the ready position and wait, thinking that a bird is going to run me over any second. He calls, they gobble. We can tell from the sound of them that they are getting closer, but...they're circling us? Sure enough, the next time they gobble they have moved to my left. I make a small adjustment. They gobble again and they're even further left. This time I had to move my whole body to get turned towards them. As soon as I move a turkey jumps up and flies about 20 yards to my left!!! Rats!! Buddy yelps and turkeys gobble, we're ok! About 10 minutes has passed now and my arms are getting tired of holding the gun up. call, gobble, call, gobble. Finally I see a little bit of bird through the underbrush. Then another...and another. Three toms coming to us! But...they're still circling us? Yup, they continue working to my left, feeding and gobbling, never strutting. I can see bits of them here and there. I have to readjust again to get back on them. At this point it's been about 30 minutes of holding the gun up. My left hand is numb, both arms are shaking horribly. I was concerned that if I put my gun down I wouldn't be able to lift it again. Finally I see a head pop up above the vegetation. He's in range! The other two were to my right, not in the line of fire. I click the painfully loud safety off. My arms work and I manage to line up the tru-glos on his head. BOOOMMM. 3" 12 gauge roars. I see him flopping, buddy yells "get on him" (same buddy had a shot bird get up and run off earlier in season). I hop up and run over to him, he's flopping like mad with his spurs in the air. I finally get my foot on his head and pin him down. It didnt matter, one of the pellets had broken his neck.
He was a hefty bird, 22 pounds, 29 mm spurs, 10 3/4" beard. I'm planning to do a fan mount myself, including the spurs and beard.
Hope you enjoyed the story,
Jim
This was my first year turkey hunting. I didn't have a good turkey gun or calls or any knowledge using calls. So what did I do? Mooch. I talked friends into taking me and loaning me their guns. I didn't get to go the first week or weekend because they were all hunting. The second week I got out several times in the evening. I quickly remembered how much I really really hate ticks. Saturday morning rolled around and buddy number 1 is confident he'll get me a bird. We had 3 gobblers talking to us, but they never came in. We saw 3 or 4 hens that day. Sunday, buddy #2 takes me out. We had 4-5 gobblers talking at a distance and they never came in, totally shut down at 8am. Took the week off and waited for Saturday. Sat. morning and I'm heading out with #1 again. We get about 300 yards from his house and it pours rain on us. We decide to stick it out. Result? No birds seen or heard, we're soaking wet and I almost fell in a rain swollen creek. Sunday morning, the last day of season, and I'm heading out with buddy #3. The wind was wild, roaring in the trees. We parked on a road and started walking, listening for them to gobble on the roost. We walked a ways and I started thinking that there was no way we'd hear a bird in this. The trees were whipping back and forth and we were walking by creeks with loud rushing water! Just as we top out on a hill...GOBBLEGOBBLEGOBBLE! We both froze and pointed in the same direction. Into the woods we go. We walked about 50 yards in and sat down. I was about 15 yards to his right. He called, the turkey would gobble. This went on for a while. A limb fell out of a pine tree and crashed to the ground and the bird shock gobbled! Then suddenly the bird gobbled from a new spot. Uhoh, he didn't come off the roost the way he should of. I'm signaled to move over by my buddy and sit on his left on the same tree. He calls again and at least two separate gobbles come back! He tells to me to get ready and be patient. The birds are close and coming in. I get the gun up in the ready position and wait, thinking that a bird is going to run me over any second. He calls, they gobble. We can tell from the sound of them that they are getting closer, but...they're circling us? Sure enough, the next time they gobble they have moved to my left. I make a small adjustment. They gobble again and they're even further left. This time I had to move my whole body to get turned towards them. As soon as I move a turkey jumps up and flies about 20 yards to my left!!! Rats!! Buddy yelps and turkeys gobble, we're ok! About 10 minutes has passed now and my arms are getting tired of holding the gun up. call, gobble, call, gobble. Finally I see a little bit of bird through the underbrush. Then another...and another. Three toms coming to us! But...they're still circling us? Yup, they continue working to my left, feeding and gobbling, never strutting. I can see bits of them here and there. I have to readjust again to get back on them. At this point it's been about 30 minutes of holding the gun up. My left hand is numb, both arms are shaking horribly. I was concerned that if I put my gun down I wouldn't be able to lift it again. Finally I see a head pop up above the vegetation. He's in range! The other two were to my right, not in the line of fire. I click the painfully loud safety off. My arms work and I manage to line up the tru-glos on his head. BOOOMMM. 3" 12 gauge roars. I see him flopping, buddy yells "get on him" (same buddy had a shot bird get up and run off earlier in season). I hop up and run over to him, he's flopping like mad with his spurs in the air. I finally get my foot on his head and pin him down. It didnt matter, one of the pellets had broken his neck.
He was a hefty bird, 22 pounds, 29 mm spurs, 10 3/4" beard. I'm planning to do a fan mount myself, including the spurs and beard.
Hope you enjoyed the story,
Jim
