bama_caine_break
New member
Yesterday was the last day of alabama's turkey season and i spent the whole thing in the woods. the morning started rough.. i got boogered by a huge old boss gobbler and i spent the better part of the morning stalking him and calling him in 3 different clear cuts, prolly walked 5 miles chasin this one bird. i got him to within 70 yards twice and he knew somethin was up and would disappear again. then at about 10 am i was on the clear cut where i had spotted him first, and i heard him gobble. he was in the bottom he roosts in, minus his hen and comin my way!
Now when he gobbled the first time, he was in a a bottom that was on the opposite side of 5 acres of clear cut. its a clean cut aint no brush piles or anything(not on that side anyways) but still, 5 acres is a good bit of land to cross. well anyways, i yelped, he hammered. i knew he would come in cause he had left his hen i was sure i was gonna get him. but i only had 20 minutes to do so.. cause i had to be at school soon. just wehn it was gettin interesting. so i call, he hammers and he's movin my way fast. i thought he would come across the clear cut, see my decoys and get shot. nope i failed to remember my own rules about huntin old birds(and this was one old man!) well ten minutes after the first call set i called again, not wanting to over call. he gobbles again... but the gobble came from the bottom.. that was behind me!
this bird traveled the bottom all the way around the cut, and got behind me in 10 minutes.. if you could see where he was, and where he got to.. you would be as shocked as I. i know turkeys can move but man.. this joker was movin like he had a teleport (hence the name they gave eastern birds.. ridge runners) . i knew it was the same bird from the tone of the gobble.. and seein him again. after i heard the hammerin behind me he was at about 70 or so yards, but in some thick thick stuff. so i belly crawl 10 feet to the next pine tree and set up facin the bottom. as soon as i pulled my gun up, i lightly scratched the ground and gave a soft cluck and he drilled at 60 yards. he did a complete circle around me, traversing probably a quarter mile or more of some steep nasty thick terrain all in ten minutes. he was now out in the other clear cut strutting his full stuff and lemme tell boys he was magnificent.. by my figurin his beard is 12 inches.. maybe more with some show nuff hooks. he would have been my inch a half bird.. the next high point in the game.. but not today i aint smart enough to get him yet.
I gave him my best performace and he gobbled and double and even triple gobbled.. but would not take one step closer. at 60, i prolly could have hit him and knocked him down enough for me to get to him but a bird like that just aint worth it. so i stoped callin and a minute or 2 later he lost interest and disappeared. then i had to leave and go to class /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/angry-smiley-055.gif
That after noon i got back out to the woods around 3, but i made a BIG mistake /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smiliesmack.gif. i had been waitin for a chance to hunt the farm i run all season but my boss has either had clients of his trailer company out huntin or paid hunt clients.. so i never could go(to bad for them they never killed a single bird and turned down my offer to guide and call... serves em right ) one guy had the nerve when i offered to guide him to say.. your just a kid im not followin you around the woods.. people! but anyways my boss called me and said his guy got sick and couldnt make it and told me to wax one. so i made an about face and headed out there only to find turmoil. my boss's boss(one of the largest land owners in the south) has a nephew that owns the farm right beside us. my uncle runs the huntin lease out there and has some of the best turkey huntin in south alabama.. so i knew for sure there would be birds on my place to. except clay(the nephew) has about 600 head of cattle.. and the dern things broke the fence i just put up.. and have filed into my place. they ate and trampled to death all the food plots on one end i planted and have turned 3 roads into a swamp... i just hate cows.
so now i gotta go to the other end.. which there are many turkeys but the other end is a sendero lookin thing with a pine scrub thicket in the middle surrounded by an oak swamp. sure to be birds. i was right about that. i pulled up to the second gate, slammed my door and 3 different birds fired at me. the day is saved! i get back to the sedero as i call and, walk maybe 500 yards to the next gate that goes into the middle of the swamp.. bad idea. i make it oh 5 steps past the gate and i kid you not.. the depths of hell opened up and millions of sparrow sized mosquitos spilled out! i tried my best to get away i even walked 2 miles back to the other side of the place.. no doin. once again i left my therma cell at home and i just hate mosquitos and no birds were worth it.. so i left. called in 2 jakes in the process though, but they are safe to grow another year.
So back to the clear cut i went, where i should have gone in the first place /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smiliesmack.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smiliesmack.gif. now at this point i had walked about 6 miles.. my snake boots had worn several holes (and i do mean holes) in my feet and i was chaffed so bad i thought i had sandpaper in my britches. all that coupled with the cows destroying my articulate food plots and for the second time in a week being nearly drained of my blood by swamp suckers.. i wasnt very happy. but the site i saw on the clear cut that evening just made it all seem insignificant. i pulled up to the gate, hit a few vocal hoot owl notes and a bird thundered, not 200 yards from me. then, another... and i knew the sound of that old mans voice. it came from the very spot he was at when i first saw him that morning. so i let the close bird go and set off to make the treck across the 300 acre cut to get into position. i yelped once.. just to locate him and i heard a gobble.. but it was coming from my direct left.. i thought surely that bird could have crossed 100 acres that fast but i remembered the mornings hunt. being only half way to where he should have been i was torn.. but i decided to investigate. in the very middle of this cut there is a big hill with a flat plateu on it that you can see the entire cut from.. and the gobble came from the other side of that hill. so i snuck up to the top. i got to the middle of the plateu... 60 yards from any cover just out in the middle of nothin.. wide open space. i yelped, and i heard the ole man hammer... 1500 yards away! i just frooze i knew i had mad a fatal mistake. i was in the open, in the line of sight of a 6 year old turkey... might as well wave a flag and blow an air horn.
i slowly raised my binoculars cranked em to 15X and just watched that old boss man strut his stuff from 1500 yards away. i would cluck and he would gobble.. yelp double gobble. struttin the whole time! i stood there still as a rock for ten minutes and watched this.. just in awe of the whole thing. there were several times when he faced away, i could have dropped flat and belly crwaled to him.. but spending the last 45 minutes of my season crawlin through brairs snakes and fire ants just to wait for a shot that would prolly never come didnt sound good so i just enjoyed the moment for what it was... amazing. he came out of strut and started to walk off and i thought.. just to see what would happen ill do my best rendition of a jake gobble.. i did and like an old boss would, he stoped, turned towards me and in slow motion as if he was daring the young deliquient to come get some, puffed up in full strut and triple gobbled at me. he just turned around and walked back into his bottom with his two hens and didnt make another sound.
That is honestly one of the more awesome things i have ever seen in my young life.. just watchin that old bird made my hellish season huntin in bama this year all worth it. kinda reminded me of the george straight song i saw God today.. i just sat up there and thought.. how could anyone not believe in the Lord.. his finger prints are all over this world we live in and im glad i could live another day to see them.. life truely is wonderful. my quest for a 12 inch beard had been foiled once again by a bird far smarter than I, but i didnt even care. just seeing that bird in all his majesty is better than any mount on the wall. when i got to the gate, i turned and gave one last hoot to put em to bed, and sure enough the ole boss hollered back one more time.
He made another season as he has many years before and hopefully he will survive the drought of summer and the winter storms until next spring.. i will be on my a game and i will get him. but until then the thoughts and memories i have of that last day on the clear cut will be the stuff of dreams. in that old tom's strut.. i saw God today.
hope yall enjoy, Good huntin and God bless
Matt
Now when he gobbled the first time, he was in a a bottom that was on the opposite side of 5 acres of clear cut. its a clean cut aint no brush piles or anything(not on that side anyways) but still, 5 acres is a good bit of land to cross. well anyways, i yelped, he hammered. i knew he would come in cause he had left his hen i was sure i was gonna get him. but i only had 20 minutes to do so.. cause i had to be at school soon. just wehn it was gettin interesting. so i call, he hammers and he's movin my way fast. i thought he would come across the clear cut, see my decoys and get shot. nope i failed to remember my own rules about huntin old birds(and this was one old man!) well ten minutes after the first call set i called again, not wanting to over call. he gobbles again... but the gobble came from the bottom.. that was behind me!
this bird traveled the bottom all the way around the cut, and got behind me in 10 minutes.. if you could see where he was, and where he got to.. you would be as shocked as I. i know turkeys can move but man.. this joker was movin like he had a teleport (hence the name they gave eastern birds.. ridge runners) . i knew it was the same bird from the tone of the gobble.. and seein him again. after i heard the hammerin behind me he was at about 70 or so yards, but in some thick thick stuff. so i belly crawl 10 feet to the next pine tree and set up facin the bottom. as soon as i pulled my gun up, i lightly scratched the ground and gave a soft cluck and he drilled at 60 yards. he did a complete circle around me, traversing probably a quarter mile or more of some steep nasty thick terrain all in ten minutes. he was now out in the other clear cut strutting his full stuff and lemme tell boys he was magnificent.. by my figurin his beard is 12 inches.. maybe more with some show nuff hooks. he would have been my inch a half bird.. the next high point in the game.. but not today i aint smart enough to get him yet.
I gave him my best performace and he gobbled and double and even triple gobbled.. but would not take one step closer. at 60, i prolly could have hit him and knocked him down enough for me to get to him but a bird like that just aint worth it. so i stoped callin and a minute or 2 later he lost interest and disappeared. then i had to leave and go to class /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/angry-smiley-055.gif
That after noon i got back out to the woods around 3, but i made a BIG mistake /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smiliesmack.gif. i had been waitin for a chance to hunt the farm i run all season but my boss has either had clients of his trailer company out huntin or paid hunt clients.. so i never could go(to bad for them they never killed a single bird and turned down my offer to guide and call... serves em right ) one guy had the nerve when i offered to guide him to say.. your just a kid im not followin you around the woods.. people! but anyways my boss called me and said his guy got sick and couldnt make it and told me to wax one. so i made an about face and headed out there only to find turmoil. my boss's boss(one of the largest land owners in the south) has a nephew that owns the farm right beside us. my uncle runs the huntin lease out there and has some of the best turkey huntin in south alabama.. so i knew for sure there would be birds on my place to. except clay(the nephew) has about 600 head of cattle.. and the dern things broke the fence i just put up.. and have filed into my place. they ate and trampled to death all the food plots on one end i planted and have turned 3 roads into a swamp... i just hate cows.
so now i gotta go to the other end.. which there are many turkeys but the other end is a sendero lookin thing with a pine scrub thicket in the middle surrounded by an oak swamp. sure to be birds. i was right about that. i pulled up to the second gate, slammed my door and 3 different birds fired at me. the day is saved! i get back to the sedero as i call and, walk maybe 500 yards to the next gate that goes into the middle of the swamp.. bad idea. i make it oh 5 steps past the gate and i kid you not.. the depths of hell opened up and millions of sparrow sized mosquitos spilled out! i tried my best to get away i even walked 2 miles back to the other side of the place.. no doin. once again i left my therma cell at home and i just hate mosquitos and no birds were worth it.. so i left. called in 2 jakes in the process though, but they are safe to grow another year.
So back to the clear cut i went, where i should have gone in the first place /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smiliesmack.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smiliesmack.gif. now at this point i had walked about 6 miles.. my snake boots had worn several holes (and i do mean holes) in my feet and i was chaffed so bad i thought i had sandpaper in my britches. all that coupled with the cows destroying my articulate food plots and for the second time in a week being nearly drained of my blood by swamp suckers.. i wasnt very happy. but the site i saw on the clear cut that evening just made it all seem insignificant. i pulled up to the gate, hit a few vocal hoot owl notes and a bird thundered, not 200 yards from me. then, another... and i knew the sound of that old mans voice. it came from the very spot he was at when i first saw him that morning. so i let the close bird go and set off to make the treck across the 300 acre cut to get into position. i yelped once.. just to locate him and i heard a gobble.. but it was coming from my direct left.. i thought surely that bird could have crossed 100 acres that fast but i remembered the mornings hunt. being only half way to where he should have been i was torn.. but i decided to investigate. in the very middle of this cut there is a big hill with a flat plateu on it that you can see the entire cut from.. and the gobble came from the other side of that hill. so i snuck up to the top. i got to the middle of the plateu... 60 yards from any cover just out in the middle of nothin.. wide open space. i yelped, and i heard the ole man hammer... 1500 yards away! i just frooze i knew i had mad a fatal mistake. i was in the open, in the line of sight of a 6 year old turkey... might as well wave a flag and blow an air horn.
i slowly raised my binoculars cranked em to 15X and just watched that old boss man strut his stuff from 1500 yards away. i would cluck and he would gobble.. yelp double gobble. struttin the whole time! i stood there still as a rock for ten minutes and watched this.. just in awe of the whole thing. there were several times when he faced away, i could have dropped flat and belly crwaled to him.. but spending the last 45 minutes of my season crawlin through brairs snakes and fire ants just to wait for a shot that would prolly never come didnt sound good so i just enjoyed the moment for what it was... amazing. he came out of strut and started to walk off and i thought.. just to see what would happen ill do my best rendition of a jake gobble.. i did and like an old boss would, he stoped, turned towards me and in slow motion as if he was daring the young deliquient to come get some, puffed up in full strut and triple gobbled at me. he just turned around and walked back into his bottom with his two hens and didnt make another sound.
That is honestly one of the more awesome things i have ever seen in my young life.. just watchin that old bird made my hellish season huntin in bama this year all worth it. kinda reminded me of the george straight song i saw God today.. i just sat up there and thought.. how could anyone not believe in the Lord.. his finger prints are all over this world we live in and im glad i could live another day to see them.. life truely is wonderful. my quest for a 12 inch beard had been foiled once again by a bird far smarter than I, but i didnt even care. just seeing that bird in all his majesty is better than any mount on the wall. when i got to the gate, i turned and gave one last hoot to put em to bed, and sure enough the ole boss hollered back one more time.
He made another season as he has many years before and hopefully he will survive the drought of summer and the winter storms until next spring.. i will be on my a game and i will get him. but until then the thoughts and memories i have of that last day on the clear cut will be the stuff of dreams. in that old tom's strut.. i saw God today.
hope yall enjoy, Good huntin and God bless
Matt
