2009 IN-DEPTH OUTDOORS TURKEY CONTEST

had a little luck wed 4-15-09 am got to my blind about 545 was greeted by a little chilly morning 21 degrees didnt take long to be warmed by the sounds of a gobbling tom and he was fired up at one point he gobbled 9 times in a row about 610ish he hit the ground then silence i sat tight knowing he knew where i (the hen) was about 710 i got him fired again and this time he was coming he crested the ridge about 125 yards away with the sun beating on him and strutted then the triple gobble now im shaking and hes coming then about half way between us i see her she kinda fed close to me but stayed in the woods and he strutted and gobbled at me as id cluck and purr and scratch the leaves finally hes at 30 yards but in the brush i wait as he follows the hen thru the brush now im thinking hes gone and i wont even get a shot but then he cut out into the open at just under 45 yards farther then i like to shoot but it was now or never so i tried it and rolled him over this is the 1st tom ive taken off our new land that we can hunt so i was very excited he weighed in at 25 lbs 8 oz had a 10.25 inch beard and 1 inch spurs my heaviest bird to date and i knew that carrying him out

On the first morning of the first season in Wisconsin, my fiance’, Wendi, and I stood in the dark out in a field and waited for the thunder to start. When we heard our first gobble we unknowingly headed off to create a memory that will last a lifetime.

The toms we were keyed in on were hot so we snuck along the edge of the woods as close as we dared until we realized we were too close! The hills in this area are deceptive where sound is concerned. The birds sounded like they were on the next hill when in reality they were just over the hill and what we were hearing was their echo.

We backed off about 50 yards and got the decoys set up. We were in the southeast corner of a corn field and the toms were straight north. Wendi was set up on the eastern side of the field and just inside the woods and I was on the southern side of the field facing north and directly toward where the toms were roosted. The decoys (2 hens and a tom) were positioned between me and the toms and straight west of Wendi.

The weather was perfectly calm and the moon was still bright in the sky while we waited for the right time to start calling. I started with some soft clucks and purrs. I worked them into an absolute frenzy! They would gobble and then other toms would gobble in the distance and they would get other birds going until every bird in the valley got so worked up it almost sounded like a constant rumble in the valley below and on the hillsides surrounding it.

It wasn’t long until a hen to my right started sounding off. That’s when I started in on the yelping. Every time she would call I would cut her off! I decided she wasn’t going to call these birds away from us and ruin our hunt so I hammered on her louder and more aggressive with each sequence of yelps! After each set of yelps the toms would sound off so loud you could hear the gobbles reverberating off their chests! That’s when I knew it was going to get exciting.

Suddenly the gobbling stopped. They were on the ground! The question was did they pitch down on top of the hill to come pay us a visit or did they go down hill to the hen. I quit calling for a while and waited for the toms gobble. They sounded off after a short wait and “YES!” they were still on top!

I did just enough calling to keep them interested and each time they gobbled they were closer until I could hear them spitting. Suddenly I could see their tails coming just over a little hill on the other side of the decoys from me. Shortly after I saw the tails there was a loud “BANG” and one of the toms dropped and Wendi went running out in the field after him yelling, “WOO HOO!!!”. I got up on my feet and ran over to her and we did a big high five and lots of hugging. Shortly afterward we got a text message from my buddy Brian asking if that shot was ours. I sent one back saying, Yes, and he’s a dandy! Twenty minutes later he sent another text saying he was done, too! He even managed to get his on video!

All I can say is it was a morning we won’t soon forget…

I already posted this story partially in another thread, but here it is again with more detail and a different picture.

Well a couple weeks ago, me, My 12 year old brother, and my dad went to a youth turkey hunt in Cleo Springs, OK. The hunt was put on by H.U.N.T.E.R.S. 24/7 and Drop Tine Hunts. We flew into Oklahoma on a Friday morning. The season actually didn’t start until saturday, so Friday evening we met up with the guides and they decided to take us out to get some cool pictures and put the turkeys to roost. We left the cabin at about 5:45 and headed out. We arrived to the land we would be hunting at about 6:15 and right away saw a group of about 60 turkeys. My guide saw my dad’s nice camera and asked him if he wanted to go in for a nice snap shot. Of course my dad replied yes. My dad grabbed his camera and we all got out of the truck. We climbed over a fence and crawled on our stomach’s over a ridge until we saw the group heading to the tree line to roost. My dad handed me the camera and I got a nice shot. (The picture is below) We then headed for the trees and saw the turkeys roost. We got them to gobble a few times then we headed back to eat and hit the sack.

The next morning we woke up about 4 a.m. We met at the cabin and got with our guides to head out. My dad and little brother went with a man named Montie and I went with a guide named Blake. When we got to the woods, we walked until we reached the edge of a patch. “they’re right above us” he whispered to me. He put out his decoys and we waited. About 30 minutes later they started flying down on the other side of the patch, but the turkeys above us flew the other direction! It sounded like a tornado was going! My heart pounded 1,000 miles an hour as they flew down. The birds on the other side were about 200 yards away and Blake told me he saw about 60. He handed me the binoculars and I looked through them. I saw them! I had never seen a group of Turkeys that big in my life. They never got any closer and eventually we had to head in for lunch and afternoon festivities.

That afternoon I won a skeet shooting contest that won me a free duck hunt in Arkansas with H.U.N.T.E.R.S. 24/7. I can’t wait to go! But that evening was the worst hunt of the weekend. The wind was blowing a steady 50 MPH and it was 28 degrees. Even worse, we didn’t see a single Tom! I had a pretty easy shot at a Jake, but with Toms every where on the ranch, I let him walk. That night we got in and ate dinner. The owner of H.U.N.T.E.R.S. 24/7, Adam Brassfield, heard my story and was very upset with my guide. Apparently, My guide didn’t listen to him and took me where I wasn’t supposed to go. I was upset, but I was extremely happy to find out Adam would be my guide the next day. I couldn’t sleep that night I was too excited!

The next morning the weather was the same as the night before. It wasn’t fun to be in, so Adam decided we would drive around in the truck until we saw something interesting to check out. We tried several spots and at one spot we even saw a group of about 80 turkeys. We got out and started to stalk them. We could see them over a ridge so we got on our stomachs and started to crawl. When I was about 10 yards from getting over the ridge, a hen popped its head up and looked me straight in the eyes. At that moment about 100 turkeys flew over our heads and onto the property next to us. We had no clue there was another group of turkeys that close to us! Of course the noise and confusion scared the other group of turkeys and blew our chances with them, so we decided to go back to the truck. On the way back in, Adam slammed on his breaks and put the truck in reverse. He had spotted a group of Turkeys and we decided to go after them. We set up in an island of trees behind them and started hitting the calls. Hens were cutting everywhere, but we didn’t hear a single gobble. Just as we were about to pack up and head out, a jake walked out from behind a tree no more then 30 yards from me. I wanted to kill a long beard Rio, but with only seconds left on the hunt and having never killed a Rio Grande, I decided I would take it. I put my Mossberg 12 gauge on my shoulder and pulled the trigger. That Turkey had a major headache. It was the hunt of a lifetime and I would do it again for anything. It wa a great hunt for every one. 25 hunters 8 years to 16 years old were at the hunt, and of those 25, 19 of them killed a turkey! It was an amazing hunt and I can’t wait until next year when go on an adult hunt and try to get my first merriam’s turkey!

(this picture was taken at a place where they had already set up some decoys. One of the toms in the picture in the decoy, the rest are not.)

Bailey Turner

Mobile, Alabama

16 years old

A LOT of Turkeys are hitting the gorund right now.

Make sure you post your photo and short story RIGHT HERE to get entered into the contest and have your chance of winning some prizes along with a lil braggin rights.

After battling unfavarable turkey weather 2nd season and many hours, things finally happened saturday morning. Hopeing the weather would hold of for a couple hours to hunt the birds of the roost things looked good at 3:00am. Made it to the blind plenty early and got the decoys set. After a short time the wind started howling, not looking good. The birds finally sounded off around 5:45 but not close to my set up. Then the rain came, what else could go wrong. After making some hen talk for anyone listening got a bird to answer. Uncertain as to how much to call just held off alittle. Finally spotted the red head just over the corn field knob knowing he could see bob’s fan gave a few yelps and got him moving. The tom then spotted the hen and in he comes splitting the two. the bird took air and flogged Bob, once he landed that was enough. Settled the new Mossberg on the waddles and a miserable day became a hunt to remeber. The tom weighted 20.2 lbs with three beards 10″ 6.25″ and 4.25″ my first multi bearded turkey. One for the books

Beginners Luck= New Addiction
Living in an area with ten tag seasons and turkey sightings being the talk of the town, I need not say how limited our hopes were. However, we had a few birds on our trail cameras this winter n’ set out to try our luck.
Sat morning turned out to be a bust, nothing but rain and ditch parrots. I returned sat evening only to hear a few gobbles way down the river.
My brother came out with me this morning and we headed out to a small field in the middle of the section. We set the dekes up 30 yards out in the field where an old snowmobile trail leaves the river bottom and climbed into the double bull. We had pretty high hopes that the turkey I heard would be roosting somewhere on the wooded hill off to our right. This did not prove to be the case however, as we heard a gobble still way farther down the river bottom.
After about forty-five minuets we started joking a bit and taking the whole turkey hunting thing alot less serious. After about an hour and a half this turned to nothing but sarcasm and smart a** comments about how we thought we had a chance in the rain, knowing nothing about turkey hunting, and not knowing how to call, less yet with our wet call that sounded so bad the ditch parrots weren’t even responding to it anymore.
As we were accepting our defeat and planning on picking up, my bro said he was going to try the call one last time. I sarcastically said back that if he called in a turkey with that thing I would get a full body mount (cause no way this call was doing anything but causing a mass critter evacuation). He smarts off back saying fine, “I’m ganna make you eat your words,” and starts trying to dry off this slate call. He hits it and stops only to have a gobbler go off like 100 yards behind us. I grab my scatter gun off the ground and he hits the call again. This time the gobble is even closer n’ were like kids in a candy shop. He hits it again and nothing, and again for nothing. Every two or three minutes he tries the call, and we hear nothing for 15-20 minutes. This relinquishes the sarcasm and we begin smartin’ off about the whole situation again.
Just as the bro asks if I wanna head um or continue washing my clothes in the rain, I look over and see a big ol’ tom just bombing into the field off the old trail. The bird had come out from behind his head when I was looking at him and was B lining it for our dekes. I said to him “holy *&^% he’s right there,” and he responded by wheeling around and tossing the two side flaps up saying (plain as day) “Na-uh dude.” When he saw the bird, (who was doing the nazi march at our dekes,) he laid back in his chair n’ said, “Smash him.” I pulled the scatter gun up half way between the gobbler n’ the dekes and waited for his head to disappear behind my bead. As the blue n’ white slid behind the florescent green bead I (mind you, this 3 1/2 hevi shot through the pattern master put 98 pellets of 6 shot in a 14×14 box at 50 yds). This ol’ tom, however, met his match at 28 yards and piled up in a cloud of mud spray.
We were just so shocked, surprised, and excited that we both jumped up (knocking the blind completely over) and were just freakin’ out like two teenage girls at an n’sync concert. We cruised out to the bird just as a bolt of lightening struck through the sky. We ran back n’ got one picture off before we had to jump under the double bull due to a sudden down pour that had hail bouncing off our blind.
Despite the fact that I really had no interest in turkeys, other than adding another species to me belt, I must say that those few seconds of watching that bird come in had the same triggering response in my innate nature as every cupped up green head, every buck, and every flushing ditch parrot I’ve ever had.
This is, and will always be, a memory that I will never forget. Despite any pessimism or sarcasm I once had towards turkey hunting, I always knew it would only take one morning or one experience to hook an addiction. I do hope that all of you get the chance to hunt with someone close to you. It is an experience like no other. My brother and I have killed thousand of ducks and geese together, but it only takes one day doing something new to make a lifetime memory.
For those of you who are interested in the measurements; This tom ended up being 23 1/2lbs. sporting 1 3/8” spurs, and an 11 1/4” beard. Being a man of his word, I will be receiving my full body mount back in 6-8 months.

It’s been 2 years since I last pulled a permit, and this is my third tag I’ve been awarded. I’ve never shot good Tom turkey, and I wanted to get one…bad. I’ve had only one chance at a longbeard and I blew it, big time.

I tried to scout my hunt a couple days before, and I couldn’t make it off the driveway as there were turkeys roaming everywhere, mainly hens that I could identify. Not wanting them to see me, I decided not to scout further.

Saturday, April 25 was my day to finally hunt again in Otter Tail County, MN. My cousin, Steve, and I hit the field with much anxiety.

Before daybreak we heard Toms gobbling from the roost across a large field as we set our three decoys, which included 1 strutting Tom and a hen together, and a hen placed in the distance.

At sunrise and thereafter all was quiet….not even a mouse. We made some calls for the next 2 hours, without a response or a turkey sighting.

At 8:15am the sun is shining and we are getting warm and comfortable inside the blind. I’m getting a little nervous where these birds are. I let out a loud call on my Quaker Boy Boat Paddle and we get a response! After a few quiet calls the bird is coming around the bend, and it’s in sight within 40 yards. A nice Tom!

All of a sudden the bird stops and struts at the hen decoy about 25 yards from him, but he’s directly behind a large haybale and we can’t see him. For the next several minutes we get glimses of him strutting back and forth…back and forth. We let out a soft yelp and the Tom is strutting away!

So, we sit and watch him strut in a half circle around us in the distance. He’s out of gun range at about 60 yards. Then, I look to the right and a hen appears on the field edge and this Tom sees the hen. I thought to myself, this could be it! The Tom starts proceeding towards the loner hen, yet in the direction of the strutting Tom/hen decoys. I’m watching the hen, and in the corner of my eyes I see this Tom takes some aggressive steps towards our position and he stops.

Then, I hear some gobbles off to the left and there are three Toms in the field feeding about 200 yards away. This is great I think to myself as I’m looking to shoot this bird, not wanting to educate all the birds on this property at once. I don’t know if that’s true, but I think the worst!

The sun is shining directly in my eyes and I try to calculate the distance of this Tom thinking I better seriously consider a shot. I felt comfortable at 50 yards or less as my gun patterned/penetrated very well with my turkey choke.

The Tom is still in strut mode looking right at me and I guessed he was 40 yards at this point. He takes a couple steps, lifts his head just a little bit, the most he’s moved in awhile…

I fired.

I look up thinking I hit my mark, and the Tom is running away, fast. I yell out “Oh no” and I take a second shot. After the second shot, the bird is now airborne and flying directly across the field, off to the left in desperation to save it’s life! I sat in complete disbelief about what I had done while I watched the Tom on it’s long flight across the field.

Then, as we watch, the Tom is flying nice and low, but then directly upwards, and it falls and flutters a long distance to the ground!

I’m pumped, this bird must be dead. “Was it a heart shot?” I said to Steve as we shake hands and are really excited.

We look off to the left and we see those three Toms feeding in the field. They just watched their friend get shot, fly away and fall to the ground. These birds were not interested at this point and they left the field.

Steve and I take a long hike across the field to find my prize. Where I watched this bird fall I couldn’t help but notice it was very close to a pond, and I feared it may have landed in the water. We search for about five minutes and I’m getting nervous at this point. How could I not see a big black turkey in short grass? We look in the woods, field edges and I inspect closer to the pond.

“There he is!” I yelled to Steve. Steve ran up and as I am about to pick up the bird I see the bird’s head raise, and now I’m confused about what to do. Oh no! Do I ring a turkey’s neck and risk getting spurred? I’m not going to destroy this bird with a shot in this condition at this range….

I was not going to let the bird stay in this condition so I approached not knowing what I was going to do…

The Tom then immediately stood up and ran as I got really close!

I raised my Browning B-80, aimed for the head and fired a shot. The Tom was done. I connected.

While I cleaned the bird that morning I found a perfect pattern in the chest and neck where my BB’s entered, a little low than I wanted, but a good pattern for the longer shot than I like.

Tom was 20.4lbs, 9.25″ beard and 1″ spurs.

Great Entries Guys and Gals,

Keep ’em coming!

Nice bird CDN and great story! They are some tough ol birds aren’t they!

Hey Guys, well I posted this in a different forum as well. Here it is again with a little more detail and background to the hunt.

I had got some information in regards to the Santee Indian Reservation from a co-worker of mine. He had told me that his father in law has hunted the area several years with alot of success. The buddy of mine started asking a thousand questions about turkey hunting because he had never gone before. I had his excitement level prior to even leaving at the level of a 5 year old going into a candy store. Here is the story.

Just got back from a trip to the Santee Reservation in northeast Nebraska chasing some Merriams. Had a awesome trip. Three birds in three days with some buddies. The area itself consists of the Missiouri River valley and alot of bluffs. The birds no doubt see alot of pressure, which was evident by how difficult it was to draw the birds into calling. And the fact that when you saw birds they were running with groups of 5-10 hens didn’t help. If you were willing to put in some hiking work and patience, it defienetly pays off.

Monday morning started off with a buddy and myself going into the area blind not knowing anything. We set up in a heavily wooded area and heard some birds but couln’t get them to respond. We were checking several other areas and saw two toms out in a field strutting. We moved into position and set up a couple hundred yards out. The birds were with approximately 15 hens. The show we watched for about an hour was unbeleivabe!! With some aggressive dual calling we were able to eventually pull one our way and I was able to put him down!! I had really wanted my buddy to be the first to take the bird. While the bird was out in front of us, I was hand signaling for him to take the bird!! I found out later that he had become to nervous seeing the bird that close to get his gun up!! So as the bird continued past a tree in front of me and out of range for my friend, I decided to take the bird.

Tuesday we set up in the same spot we did Monday morning and heard alot of hot gobblers and we were finally able to get a bird respond and commit. The bird was taking his sweet time, as they do, and had covered about a mile, when all of a sudden a local farmer came cruising out on his four wheeler!! PERFECT TIMING!!

So we decided to head back to the area we saw the other gobbler Monday morning. We did some hiking and set up near the area we located the two birds yesterday. And as luck would have it he came out, but with several hens again. We were able to watch a incredible show of fanning and gobbling again for about a hour. The bird finally started drifting our way after his girls really didnt want anything to do with him. The gobbler got hung up at about 65 yards and just would not move. He sat and fanned for about ten minutes when I told my buddy that he needed to try getting closer. We had a fair amount of crp grass and he was able to belly crawl to get within 40 yards. He waited for the bird to strech his neck out and put him down.

We harvested two nice toms and another friend took a jake. The toms weighed in at 16 and 18 lbs w/ 9 and 10″ beards, 1″ spurs. Overall a awesome trip and it was made even better because I was able to help two of my buddies harvest their first birds. The best part of it all was both of them, after shooting their birds, said the same thing, it is definetly in my blood now!!!

I woke up at 4 a.m.to let out the dogs and it was pouring rain and really windy.It has’nt rained in weeks and this is what I’m greeted with on my first day of my MN 3rd season turkey hunt.Just my luck. I seriously thought about sleeping in.I never hunted the farm where I was going and the thought of this and the change of scenery gave me the boost that I needed to get going. I arrive at the farm(still raining),get my gun and stuff and head out across the field to a corner where the farmer told me he sees birds.I’m down on decoys lately and have had better luck without them,so I keep them in my vest. I get my Double Bull situated and staked up and get inside and get out of the rain.Something seems wrong… more luck..I forgot my chair!!!! Are you kidding me!! But I was a little content cause I was out of the rain.After about an hour of a little calling and standing in the blind and realizing it could be a long morning I decide to go find a stump or something to sit on from the recently logged woods. I unzip the blind and began to step out and I look out and see three hens staring at me and they depart quickly into the woods.Busted!! Now that things were stirred up I proceed to the woods and find a nice stump and bring it to the blind.It felt good to sit down and now I’m ready for another stretch.A little calling and about 20 minutes later a see 4 hens coming my way cutting the corner and walking by me at about 10 yds.Another 10 minutes go by and 2 more hens come by.They are all headed to the open field of oats that are just surfacing.Keeping my eyes peeled in all directions I look and I see a nice tom emerge from the corner where the hens all came from and he is coming kinda fast wanting to get to the rest of the hens. I scramble to darken my backside of the blind and try to slide the screen window mesh down.The side of my Double Bull Blind where the shot is to take place is the huge window for an archery shot and I’m gun hunting.I rather not shoot a gun hole in it if I can help it.I cant get the screen moved aside in time and I need to get a shot off NOW so I put the barrel on the screen and take a good aim and squeeze one off.The bird crumbles at about thirty yds and is going no where. The gun hole in the screen mesh was about 3×3 inches but well worth it! My luck had finally took a turn and I was pumped!!I hope this gives all who reads this a reason to never sleep in(cause I definitely thought about it) and get out there cause your not going to score at home. This bird was my biggest to date. 26lbs,10in beard,1-1/8in spurs.

Awesome bird Pat congrats!!!

By the way next year you are going to be my guide.

I started this season more confident that I have ever been. I had access to a new property, and my scouting the week before the season had found birds in a specific field 5 of 6 times I was there. I had seen 24 birds including 8 toms in the field at one time. Needless to say, I was pumped to get things started.
However, it seemed that something had changed at the start of this week. I scouted the same area before and after work Mon and Tues without seeing a single bird. (I had been scouting by glassing from the road, so I know I didn’t spook them). I started off hunting before and after work on Wed without seeing a bird, and without hearing any that were close. This property is a small woodlot of about ten acres, and I only had access to about 1/2 the woods and the surrounding field, so I didn’t have a lot of room to chase the birds. I didn’t hunt Thurs morning, but scouted again on my way to work and didn’t see any birds. I figured they had migrated to one of the woodlots in the surrounding sections, so I decided to try another property. Thurs evening I set up on a route I know turkey to travel back to a nice roosting location. I only caught one glimpse of a hen through the woods, and didn’t hear anything. I had vacation on Friday, and hunted a hard 12 hour day. I heard plenty of gobbles on the roost, but nothing answered my calls and I again didn’t see a bird all day. I was getting extremely frustrated. Finally on Sat morn, I had gobblers close, but again they were not responding at all to calls – except for two jakes who wouldn’t seem to leave me alone.
After coming up empty in the morning, I decided to go back to the other property for the afternoon/evening. This time I set up as far back on the field as I could get, and put up a couple of hen decoys out in the corn stubble. Unfortunately there were no comfortable spots, so I made due with a small tree back in the fenceline. I called sparingly about every 1/2 hour and did not get any response. About the time my back and legs really started to ache from my seating position, I decided to call again. Nothing. However, after waiting a few minutes, I saw a bird step out into the field about 125 yds down the fenceline. I could see it was a big bird, but couldn’t tell what it was. Since it could see all the way to where I was sitting, I had to get my gun up before it got any closer. As soon as I shifted position disaster almost struck – leg cramp!!! I couldn’t believe it. I had a cramp in my calf and couldn’t move for fear of spooking the bird! Luckily after gritting it out for a couple of minutes, the cramp went away. Now I had the issue of my left arm. This bird was taking his sweet time heading to my decoys. Every little bit he would just stop and stare. My arm was starting to tire to the point of shaking and there was nothing I could do about it. As the tom kept closing the distance, I knew I would have to take the shot pretty quick, or risk moving and scaring him off. The next time he stopped and stared at my decoys, I let him have it, and down he went. He was a little farther out than I thought. He ended up being right at 47 yds, but the #5’s did the trick. He is my best tom to date, weighing 23#, with a 10.5 inch beard and 1″ spurs.
After hunting hard the first three days of the season and seeing nothing, I actually let myself question why I do this. This bird helped remind me of the rapid heartbeat, knot in your throat and shaking hands. I can’t wait to do it again!

What a morning. I got up plenty early but for some reason I ended up running late. I drove out to the field jumped out of the truck grabbed the gun and was on my way. On the walk in I started hearing them gobble from the trees. That is when I realized I didn’t have any strikers. They must fallen out of my vest somewhere. Back to the truck I went all I had was a box call, but it was better than nothing. I can’t use mouthe calls I gag and get a sore throat every time. Now I am running really late. I figured they were going to be flying down any time. I didn’t have time to get to where I wanted to go. I sat down on the tip of a little brushy finger. I wasn’t sitting there for 5 minutes and birds started flying into the field. 3 nice toms and about 15 hens. I figured it didn’t pay to call right away because of all the hens they already had in front of them. About an hour and a half went by, they would go to the back of the valley and come back to the front they did this three times and each time there was getting to be fewer hens. At around 7:50 all the hens were gone. I called several times when they were 150 yards out. They would sometimes gobble back, but they wouldn’t come any closer. At 8:15 one of them started getting closer. He was coming in behind me so I slowly rolled over on my stomach and waited. He got to about 50 yards and I was thinking about takeing the shot. Just then one of the other toms came in and ran him off. Now they are both behind me again and I am still on my stomach and they are to close to sit up. One headed to the back of the valley and the other was 40 yards spitting and drumming. As soon as his fan was faceing me I tried to sit up, he caught me. I was able to get a shot off and I rolled him but he got up and took off running I shot again and hit him but still didn’t kill him. He was running across the valley so I took off after him. It was an all out sprint for about a 100 yards. He started pulling away so I figured it was time to burn up the last shell.Yes three shells is all I carry it’s only supposed to take one. I stopped took the safety off and all of sudden he stopped. I smoked him. 20lbs 14oz 9 1/2″ beard and 1″ spurs

I know that this isnt them best picture, or the biggest bird, but this was the funnest hunt that i have ever been on. This was on a afternoon hunt, during the youth hunt weekend, with my dad, a friend of the family, and me. after giving up on three birds we were walking to cut a tom that we spotted an couple hundred yards away. we saw some hens that saw us first and the gobbler gobbled at them and stopped them.we set up the pretty boy and some hens and sat on the woods line out of sight of the tom. the wind blew pretty boy off his stake so our friend mike went up to fix him. while he was belly crawling up to the tom, he got 5 yards away from the decoy when 8 jakes came over the hill. he sat there face down for 10 miniutes while the jakes played around him. he even got his hand stepped on by one of the jakes. when they went away, mike fixed the decoy and came back. all three of us sat there and laughed about the situation, when the tom came running to the decoy and caught us all off guard. so i swang the gun up and shot him when he came out of strut at about 45 yards. Then we laughed our butts off because we thought no one would believe that he got stepped on by jakes, then we killed a tom 2 miniutes later. this is the 2nd year that we have hunted me a bird, and plan to keep the tradition alive.

When does this thing end?

End of Turkey Season! (around the 1st of June)

So make sure everyone gets their story and picture submitted right here for your chance to win.

It is opening morning of the 2nd season in Wisconsin, 4/22/09, temperature in the mid 30’s, clear skies and a cool breeze. I arrived at my hunting spot at 5:30am, loaded up my decoys, gun, calls, and chair and headed out to go set up my blind. I set out my decoys, including my new Primos strutting gobbler with a real tail attached to it. As I was finishing setting up my blind, I heard a couple hens yelping and a couple faint gobbles. I got set up and started calling to the hens hoping they would come in and a gobbler would follow at some point. Well I had one hen fly down about 150 yards away and another came out about 125 yards away but both walked the other way. Then I had a tom answer me quite a distance away down in a deep draw. He proceeded to gobble back at me but continued to go up the other side of the draw to a different bluff than I was on about a ¼ mile away. Eventually he got quiet. Then a hen started yelping to me in the draw and was coming closer but decided to head up where the gobbler went to and then she got quiet too. I kept calling on and off and suddenly that hen starting coming off the other bluff and was working her way down through the draw back towards me yelping the whole way. Shortly thereafter, the gobbler started gobbling again and began working his way down the draw towards me too. The last gobble I heard, I figured he was about 70 yards down in the woods. All of a sudden, he stepped out of the woods 20 yards away to my right. Luckily I was fully hidden in my pop up blind so he had no clue I was there. He instantly saw the decoys and walked about 5 yards towards them fluffed himself up a bit and then proceeded on a fast walk right at the strutting gobbler decoy. When he was about 10 feet from my decoys, 17 yards away from me, I shot him. At 7:30am after a lot of calling my hunt ended. He weighed 20lbs and had a 9 ¼” beard. I used 3”, #5 Remington Nitro turkey loads, with an extra full turkey choke in my 12 Ga. Remington 870 Super Magnum turkey gun. They work way better than the high end loads and the shells eject better also and only cost a fraction of the price of the “fancy” shells.

In the picture you can see the actual decoy setup used.

Thanks to my brother Mike, he was able to step me thru the process of getting set-up here so I can post a few pictures.

This is a picture of my daughter Danielle. She has been hunting with me for the past 5 years. First 3 were a bust, but it wasn’t for a lack of trying. The good Lord has rewarded her the past 2 years with a couple of great birds.
This year we had high expectations as we were hunting new land with several birds. Long story short, miserable weather, high winds put a damper on the hunt and our spirits. We had the 2nd season, and finally at about 4:00 on Thursday afternoon, we heard our first gobble of the day. Luckily for me I had her with me because I was ready to start heading in the opposite direction of where the gobble came from. I made the decision that we would have to try and cut the distance once I heard him sound off again after a short series of calls. We made it about 50 yards when I told her we need to set up and call, I did not want to bump the bird. Made a few soft calls and waited. It didn’t take long, maybe 3 to 4 minutes and I could hear him drumming and spitting. Danielle was faced in the opposite direction, so I had her swing around for the shot. The tom came in without making a sound. He needed to come about another 10 yards before I was comfortable that she could make the shot. He was in full strut looking for the hen when I gave her the green light. Both our guns pointed at the tom, mine was only for back up if needed. She whispered to me…”do I shoot him in full strut?” I told her when she has a clear shot take him. Her breathing picked up as he closed within 40 yards. She let him have it, and there was no need for the follow up shot.

The bird weighed 22.5 pounds, 10 3/4 beard, and 1 3/16, 1 1/4 spurs.

My brother and I have hunted together for the past 30 plus years, we’ve had some awesome hunts. We are now at the point where we can share our passion with our kids.

My passion is getting the younger generation involved in the outdoors sports. My daughter Danielle has a boyfriend who hasn’t had the opportunities to enjoy hunting and fishing like we do. So last fall I told him he should apply for Turkey Tag and that I would take him this spring. He drew a tag for the 3rd season and we were off to a farm I hunted before. This year we were the first ones to hunt this farm so I was feeling pretty good about our chances. Set up the blind the night before and couldn’t wait for the alarm to go off the next morning.

The next day we found ourselves in the blind at about 4:45, anticipating that first gobble. Had light drizzle, no wind it was perfect, I love those conditions. At about 7:30 and no gobbling I started to get a little frustrated. I knew the birds were there but nothing is happening. Finally at around 8:00 we hear a gobble on the ridge behind us. Did some calling and he’s hot, answering every call and he’s closing the distance. Soon I can hear him pitch off the ridge and I am thinking this is going to be a done deal real quick. But instead of pitching into our set up he lands behind us and struts where we can not see him. No gobbling either. After about a half hour and no sign of him I decide we have to make a move. Carefully got out and decide to head to a new farm when we were greated by more gobbling. Made the decision to go after the one that seem to be the hottest. This bird of course was on top of the ridge and I forgot to tell Zac that I would hunt as hard as he wanted to. Little did he know that he was going to hunt as hard as I was going to push him. After climbing the ridge we got up to the top and pin pointed the bird. He answered every time I called but would not commit. He was on another ridge sounding off, but would not budge. The rain was coming down a little harder and we left our rain gear in the truck. We tried to stay dry looking for trees to stand under, but no luck, we were wet and a ways from the truck…so what do you do? You go after the hot bird. Told Zac we have to cut the distance again, so we proceed down the ridge, get to the bottom and call again. The bird would sound off, but would not come to us. So now we have to climb a second ridge. We would climb for a bit, call to make sure he was still there until we reached almost the top. Finally we were there in position when I could hear him drumming. We were close, less than 50 yards, but again he would not come and check us out. Sat there for about 30 minutes after we could not hear him drumming anymore and decided to make a move. Wet and frustrated we decide to make our way back to the truck to get dry and regroup. Only problem is that we have to go down and up another ridge to get to the truck. So we set off. Once on top of the third ridge which is now about 11:15, I decide what the heck, I’ll make a call. Zac’s butt is dragging by this point. I make the call, a bird sounds off in the field right next to us less than 50 yards, catches us by surprise and I told him we have to set up in a hurry. Get into position, call again and here they come. 3 to 4 Jakes. Got to within 30 yards and he took the biggest one. He must have got a boost of energy after the shot, because with the excitement and the celebration that followed afterwards, he had no problem carrying out his trophy.

Thanks Zac for a memorable hunt. He told me that was the longest and hardest walk he’s ever had to do to kill something. Told him he hasn’t hunted with me before.

I tried posting this earlier, but for some reason it never showed up. I am just learning the ropes here.

Anyhow, here is a picture of my bird I shot during the WI 2nd season. After my daughter Danielle filled her tag on Thursday, Mike and I were off to different locations to try and fill our tags. The land I went to, we have hunted the past 10 years. The plan today was to do some running and gunning this morning as the forecast predicted 80 degree temps for the day. Plan was to bag my bird and hit the Mississippi for walleyes. Set up on an old logging road and waited for the gobbling to start. Was greated by several gobbles throughout the valley. As soon as the birds hit the ground the majority of them decided to go up and over the ridge, opposite of where I was positioned. I did have one tom in the field below me and would answer me until a hen joined him and took him over the same ridge as all the other toms went. At this time i decide I should climb to the top and do my running and gunning from up there figuring it would be easier to slip down the ridge if I had to. That morning 6 separate shots rang out on this ridge where all the toms traveled to. Each time I would hear a gun shot, I would immediately hear gobbling. Not sure if any birds fell that morning, but I felt that with the pressure on top of the ridge I would have better luck moving back down and setting up near the field in the bottom of the valley. So I slowly worked my way back down trying not to bump birds as I went. Before I get to the field I slowly scan the field to make sure there isn’t any birds before I run out and set up a decoy. As I am just about to enter the field I notice 3 black objects about 400 yards away. I freeze right there, then all of a sudden, one of the three fans out. Perfect! And they are headed my way. I slowly get to my knees, take off my gear and have to belly crawl so they don’t see me. I need to make it to a log about 20 yards away so I can use it for cover when they make their way to me. After making it to the log, I carefully get into position, but no birds…I am thinking they busted me. I sat up, gave a call and one sounds off, they are only about 100 yards and closing, they are just over a little hill in the field where I could not see them. As they approach, they are fighting, gobbling and strutting all the way to me when I realize all three are jakes. I had already told Mike and Dannir that if a jake presented itself during the season I was taking it so I could have a fan for B-mobile. I took out the range finder and picked out a spot that was 53 yards and figured if they get there I would take one. Everything was coming together, the 3 got in my zone, made a soft call to stop them and let the Mossberg loaded with Winchester 3 1/2 inch number 5 shot do its job. The jake hit the ground and I had a new tail fan for B-mobile along with more turkey meat for the grill.

Another exciting, memorable hunt. This Saturday I will be hitting the woods to see if I can fill my 4th season tag as my wife joins me for that hunt. Next week, Mike and I are off to Minnesota to try and fill our archery tags, and the following week we close the season in Wisconsin. We love this sport and this time of year. For us, it’s never been about the kill, but spending time in God’s creation, and sharing it with the people you care about the most.

the hunt started with my daughter katie my wife and me up on a ridge near some roosted birds it was kates first hunt the birds were gobbling early we set up and a tom came in silent and behind us it spit and drummed for 8 min but wouldnt walk out to the dek the next set up went the same way in silent and behind us we went home to get kates sisters off the bus went back out with the dubble bull 3 deks, wife, kates two sisters and set up good thing the wind was blowing to cover up all the comotion in the blind after some loud calling 2 hours later 3 jakes came waltzen in we each took a bird while the wife ran the camera everyone was very pumped up and proud the way our hunt turned out,lessen learned take the kids use a blind!!

Was able to get out on Saturday, May 9th for a few hours. My wife was suppose to join me, but decided with rain and wind in the forecast, she would take a rain check. Hit the road at 2:45 am, and headed to a couple of new farms we just received permission to hunt. I set up on field where we knew the birds used quite a bit. Sure enough, had two strutters fly down about 250 yards from me, but would not come in. Watched them for about a 1/2 hour before they disappeared with a hen over a hill. I decided I would make a move to see if I could close the distance. Packed up my gear and took off after them. When i reached the area where I thought they would be, I decided I would sneak to the field edge to see if I could locate them. As I reached the field, no birds could be seen. As I am about to enter the field I notice them down where I originally had set up. Now I am frustrated with myself, as I usually am quite patient and can sit pretty much the whole day if I have to.
After the birds moved back in the woods, I decide to climb the ridge and see what the top of the ridge looked like. My plan was to become more familiar with the lay of the new land so I would be better prepared when I take a friend of mine along for the last season. So I climbed to the top, found a nice green field and recently planted corn field. Set up there and stayed there for about 2 hours before I decide it was time to move again. I moved back into the woods about 300 to 400 yards off the field. Sat there for an hour and a half with no luck. Heard one gobble this morning and that was right when the toms flew into the field right off the roost, so it was hard trying to locate birds this morning. Again, I packed up and moved again, when I realize I am not on the land I am suppose to be hunting and back tracked to the green field. When I get there I notice two large birds feeding in the field 400 yards from me. Made the decision to try and cut the distance in half. Got in the woods and hustled as quick as I could to the corner of the field. Popped up, place a decoy in the field, and started calling. To my amazement, the both answered my first calling sequence. So I decide to wait to see what happens. About 20 minutes later, here they come. Put the glasses on them, but could not see a beard on either one. Figured they both were beardless jakes. There was a small hill in the field and I lost sight of the birds for a few minutes when I decide I better try and stand up to see if I could see them. As I start to get up, there they are about 20 yards from my decoy and looking right at me. I was not going to shoot them, but did not want to spook them just in case there was a tom in the area. As we have our stand off for about 4 minutes, I am in an awkward position and start getting a cramp in my leg, so I have to do something when I notice that one of the birds has about a ten inch beard!!! I could not believe it, how did I not notice this before? Figuring there is no way I will be able to pull this off, I slowly start to raise my gun. At any time they are going bust me and start running. After about 30 seconds or so, I can not believe that I have the gun shouldered, and have the bead on the bird with the beard…both are still looking right at me on high alert. Take a deep breath, make sure I am on target and let fly. The tom I was aiming at dropped in it’s tracks, and the other tom runs off as I enter the field and I notice as he is running off he has a nice beard too. He then comes back and starts jumping and pecking the dead bird. I can not believe what I am witnessing. This was the strangest, luckiest hunts I have been on. There is no way I should have tagged one of these birds. The bird ended up with a 10 inch beard, 7/8 inch spurs, and weigh 23 pounds.

Will have to see if the luck continues as we head to Minnesota.

Well, I had always smirked at the turkey hunters for some reason or another… and I think all of that has been blocked out of my mind after the last two days.

This year I decided to apply for a turkey for the first time, along with two bro-in-laws and my father-in-law. Two of us had never applied before, and wouldn’t you know it, we were the only two to draw.

Bro-in-law Joe drew season C, and I drew F. We would each be accompanied by bro-in-law Trevor, who has quite a few years of turkey hunting under his belt.

Joe was successful on his 2nd day with a 19lb, 10.5″, 5/8″ bird that kind of surprised him in the field. It was a very nice bird that cooked up perfect in the smoker.

After seeing this, the anticipation grew for me. A few early morning scouting missions leading up to my season, made my condifence level rise. The birds were very responsive to our calls on Saturday morning, and one almost walked up to the truck. We figured we had the perfect place to hunt the following morning.

An early rise on Sunday brought us to the field and after setting up in the blind, we were greeted only by a distant gobble that never materialized.

We expected the evening hunt to be more difficult as I’ve heard the Tom’s are more difficult to call in after moving around all day. We hunted the same field as the morning, and learned a lesson very quickly. We weren’t quite sure if the birds were around after the uneventful morning, so we let out a few hen calls before getting ready to head into the field. Sure enough, we heard a gobble from the woods we were heading to. We quickly gathered our gear and headed across the field. About 1/2 across, the same turkey gobble, just from a much shorter distance. We scrambled to get set-up on the edge of the woods and began calling again. Sure enough, we didn’t hear that turkey again. I suspect we spooked him as we were getting settled in.

Sunday was my only full day hunt, so my confidence was waining. Why do we have to work on days we can hunt? I guess that’s one downside of a Sun-Thur season.

Monday evening brought us to the same field and we pulled up in the truck only to see two Tom’s about 200yrds out walking away from us and to the north. We were already running short on time, but after giving them 15-20 minutes to go over the ridge, we went about 1/2 way to the planned set-up spot. Here, we let out a hen call and was greeted by a gobble from the direction the two Tom’s had went.

Quickly, we set up with me in the spot we expected the turkey’s to enter the field. Trevor was setup about 150 yrds away with two decoys in the middle of us. We basically formed a line from where the turkeys were coming from through me, through the decoys and to the caller.

Trevor let out a few calls and sure enough I peeked behind the tree and saw the two Tom’s coming up over the hill. They were on a bee-line for me and the decoys. I turned slightly and used the tree for a gun rest, and waited. It wasn’t 5 minutes and the first came into sight, about 15 yrds away. The 2nd Tom quickly followed, and it didn’t take long for me to decided which one to take. I put the sight on the target and pulled the trigger. He tipped over immediately and the other Tom spun around wondering what was happening. I let out a loud cheer and he ran off in a hurry.

Man, what a great time. All in all, it took about 20 minutes from the time we left the truck to the time we were on our way back. I’m glad I was lucky enough to draw a tag and bag a bird on my first attempt. It’s understandable that it is not quite as easy for everyone that tries this sport.

I have no doubt changed my opinion on Turkey hunting, and hopefully ther won’t be another year that I don’t apply for a turkey tag.

Here he is… 19#, 10″ beard, 1″ spurs

With finals done and no more school it was time for turkey hunting. Started off my year with a wisconsin late season hunt out near Rice Lake. Got into the blind the morning of May 13th at 5am and was greeted by a whole lot of rain and wind. We got the blind and the dekes out and settled in for a long day. The morning was a bit disappointing with very little gobbling and only a few spotted birds. At around 8am we did have three big toms come in just out of range, and I mean big toms. Unfotrunately they hung up at 80 yards and decided to go the other way into the tilled field. We watched them move across the field and decided to make a stalk. So we got out of the blind, dipped down the ridge and it was a foot race to get around this field and in front of the gobblers. Well they beat us and lost them in the woods. So we turned around and went back to the blind. I made a last minute decision to move the blind to where those toms came out and once again got settled in. Well it wasn’t long this time and this bird came out about 90 yards away. At first he didn’t want anything to do with my calls and the dekes, but after some sweet talking he started gobbling and struttin his way right in. After what seemed like an hour he finally strutted in to 28 yards the whole time gobbling after every cluck. Then as soon as he broke strut and put his head out I let him have it. He went down, feathers went flying, and in all the excitement the blind went right over my head. I was pumped the first morning of my WI season and I had one down. He was a younger bird with a 9 inch beard, 1/2 spurs and 21 pounds, but he was beautiful with a big full fan. That was definately a hunt that will help me get up at 4am alarms and one that will always be remembered.

This hunt really started back this winter when my buddy Nathan asked if i wanted to turkey hunt this spring I told him i would so we went and put in for a tag and few weeks later we found out we got drawin we where both really excited. Well the 5th came rolling around and i didnt think i was going to be able to go dew to not being able to miss any more school so opening day came and my buddy shot a beautiful turkey and after him telling me he was home by seven i figured well i could try it and hopefully get back to school by eight. Nathan called me up the night before and we got a game plan together that we would hunt some land that we had scouted a few weeks befor and there was alot of birds on it. Four oclock came alram went off got the hunting stuff together and meet nathan out at the land we got out of the truck really quietly and hit the call and right away we had one call back at us not 75 yards away so we quick got the decoy and my gun and set up in a clearing, well when we got set down and hit the call NOTHING called again nothing we;; that went on for 15 min so we got up and headed to a diffrent spot about 300 yards away and the hole time we where hitting the calls and we finaly got a few to talk back to us so we set up in the brush and put the decoy out in front of us in a little clearing hit the call every 5 or 10 min just to keep him intrested and man it worked and not only him but about 5 other toms in the little area we whre hunting. After what seemed like for ever but really was only about twenty min later nathan hit my arm and nodded and i looked and holy turkey he was flying down on to the hen decoy he landed not five feet from it. I didnt even have time to get my gun up so the first thing i did was try to calm down but was kinda hard when i had this big tom twenty yards in front of me struting, while he was standing there spit druming i was slowly pulling my gun up i got it about half way up and he saw us. O MAN NOW WHAT well i did the only thing i could do i quickly pulled up put the beed on his head and pulled the triger. Just like that I just shot my first turkey and man what a rush im hooked on turkey hunting. O ya and i was home by 6 30 and to school on time would also like to thank Nathan for taking me out there and gettin us both some really nice toms mine was 22 pounds 10in beard and 1 1/8 spurs nathan’s was the same excepted his was 23 pounds.

Ive learned a few things this spring about turkey hunting and the most profound one is that turkey hunting with a bow is one of the hardest tasks to fulfill
Well opening day on Friday for the MN archery season, this proved to be true. I had set up initially at the bottom of a draw in between a hay field to the north and to the south, a big strip of pine trees on a hill where i believed the turkeys roosted. Since friday was such a windy day and i couldn’t hear any gobbles, i moved my blind up to the edge of the hay field where i could see almost a half mile to the west at about 7:15 am. Well at 8:30, i see two longbeards making their way in my direction from about 400 yards away So to make this short, I had called them up as they circled and came up the draw where i had initially set up It took them about 30 minutes to close the distance to within 40 yards where the strutter that i had my eye on stayed back in the open wooded area and put on a show for the hen decoy. He would not come any closer so i had to open the back window to get a shot. I ranged him at 39 yards and drew when he was in strut. With the wind blowing in my face at about 30 mph I shot and i thought i hit a touch back, but in the end, i took off one of his wing feathers and that was that
Sunday morning i was hunting a different property and with no gobbles close and two gun shots within 300 yards where the birds were gobbling, i packed up and headed to the same property where i had missed the gobbler the day before at 7:15. This time, i had my blind set up at a finger into a soon to be alfalfa field where i had seen those two strutters friday morning. Well within 15 minutes, i had a Tom gobbling with in 200 yards behind me. I clucked, purred, and yelped off and on before i saw a silent gobbler making his way up through a pine tree cluster with a hen at full strut behind me I was closing the distance very slowly and i had a tree ranged at 45 yards in case he came within that distance. Well as the hen got closer to that 45 yard mark, i saw that she had about a 3-4 inch beard
Now i really wanted to take a crack at her, but the sight of the sun glowing the tips of the Tom’s fan while he was in strut changed my mind He ended up getting to that tree that was 45 yards away and my self-efficacy at shooting that distance was very low since i missed that bird at 40. Im going to throw this out there that i believe this is the same bird i missed on Friday because there was absolutely nothing wrong with his fan and his beard was very identical. Anyway, i passed on the shot in hopes that he would get closer, but he ended up moving farther away and gobble every time i would call
Well to my surprise, as i was texting my buddy as what to do, i catch a glimps of a bird 10 yards from my blind to my left that i didn’t see coming I slowly turn and see 3 jakes making their way to my hen decoy. So i slowly turn around to take a shot at either one and realize that i can get away with more movement than i initially thought!! These birds aren’t that bright I drew on the jake with the biggest beard and stopped him at 20 yards and smoked him with a Stricknine
He tried to run, but with one leg busted up he didn’t go far and nose dived into the ground after he tried to fly The jakes ran over to attack him as i was jumping for joy in the blind 10 minutes later, i notice a gobbler coming over a hill about 90 yards away as the Tom i first had my eye on gobbled multiple times back at the hen he was with. Once i get out of the blind, i walk over to my bird and there is a hen and 3 other gobblers within 30 yards of my jake
However im not disappointed because who knows if i would have got a shot at one of them. Overall, incredible season with 3 out of the 4 people including myself that i am close with have taken birds with their bows since Friday
Ill be headed back to this spot in the morning with my brother in hopes of bagging a bird!!! Good luck to all who are still going at it

The Jake weighed 17 pounds and had a 4 1/4 inch beard

Only a short time left to get entered in the IDO Turkey Contest. Make sure you enter for chances to win some prizes.

good luck to the judges there are some really great pics this year and wayyy more entries

To my wife and all of the rest out there who it applies to!

Zone 4, 4th period report.

Due to having no way to get the kids off to school, the first 3 days of the season we were unable to hunt. Saturday morning we were only able to hunt 8:00, as my wife and kids were doing a 2 mile walk in the park to benefit Epilepsy, and I was doing a 5K race to benefit the Lutheran Social Serivces, both of which started at 10:00

I hadn’t had the chance to do any scouting since first season, and we were hunting public land, like always. I decided to head to an area that seems to hold birds more and more, as the season progresses. It is a good hike frmom the road, and the birds seem to get pushed in there, by those who hunt the road edges.

We had 3 birds gobbling off the roost, so we started to go towards the nearest, about 3/8 mile away. We had only covered about 200 yards, when a 4th gobbled, about 250 yards away. Change of plans! We headed back up the hill and towards him. One really nice thing, later in the season, the cover. I like to get close. Next time he gobbled he was about 75 yards. We instantly stopped, and I took a chance and set up the blind. My wife is very proficient with a bow, but the gun is not as familiar to her, so I thought the blind would allow her a little movement, etc. Within 5 minutes of getting the blind up, the Tom was gobbling, spitting, drumming, all only 15 yards away. I whispered multiple times to shoot, but she whispered back she was to shaky, and she couldn’t see him real well. There were a few black berry briars between us. He finally got a little nervous, and headed off. We headed towards where the other birds had been gobbling, just to get a look at the area for future reference. Then we were off to the races. End of day 1 for our two morning turkey hunt.

We headed back this morning to the same area, hoping that the Tom would again be in that general area. With it being mothers day, we would hunt until 10:00 at latest. Blind was set up before daylight, and then we waited, and waited, and waited. Finally about 20 minutes later than normal the first gobbles rang out. 2 down in the swamp again. Then “our” Tom from the day before, about 300 yards away. This was to far for these big woods birds, so I elected to move, and cut the distance in half, he was still in the tree, although it was broad daylight. We got to where I wanted to go, and stopped, after standing about 10 seconds, a bird busted out of the trees from right overhead. Couldn’t tell if it was a Tom or hen. There was no vocal noise, it just up and flew out. Only being about 100-150 yards from the Tom, I figured that would be trouble. We waited about 15 minutes and he never gobbled again. 2 birds down in the swamp were still gobbling. Then we heard him fly down. Being that he hadn’t gobbled in over 20 minutes, I knew if he came it would be silently. We waited and watched close for 20 minutes, nothing. The birds in the swamp were now getting farther away, and only one was gobbling. With circumstances the way they were, it was time to take a chance. I knew the close tom, could be working us silently, but we had to go after the vocal one. We close up the blind, threw the seats beside it, and took off. Runnin’ and Gunnin’, my kind of hunting. We beat feet about 250 yards, and tried to get a gobble, nothing. We went about 200 more yards, and got an answer, about 350 yards away. I decided to set there and play it our for a few minutes, as it was fairly open hardwoods. After about 5 minutes, I knew he was not moving towards us, so up and closer we went. When we were within about 250 yards he gobbled again. We had a ridge between us, so we went towards him, at a run. He was no over the ridge, about 125 yards from us. My wife sat in front of a huge Elm, I put the dekes behind her about 10 yards, and offset about 5 yards. I went behind the dekes about 15 yards. So the calls would be coming from about 25 yards behind the Benelli SBE. At the first call he lit up. Then he gobbled about twice a minute for the next 6-8 minutes. I could also hear him spit and drumming, no visual yet. He was just moving back and forth paralleling the ridge, strutting, just out of sight. He was hot, but holding his ground. It was time to play dirty . Out come the gobble shaker, and I gave it the wimpiest, baby sounding gobble I could muster, almost laughing to myself. Boy, did that light a fire. He was now gobbling, and moving towards the front of us at a slight angle. In about another 20 seconds, I could see a big light bulb coming through the woods. He was spitting, drumming, in strut doing his pretty little posture walk. He could see the hen and Jake decoys, and was about 40 yards from the gun. Inside of 60 yards he did everything but gobble. He spit, he drum, he full fanned, he fanned and walked in 1/2 circles. Now he is at 30 yards just putting on a show! Big rope beard hanging down, this time of year, there isn’t a better show on earth! Still fanning he closed the distance, now inside of 20 yards. BOOM, he hit the ground, and not a bit of movement. Winchester Supreme High Velocity #6’s, out of a Undertaker choked Benelli Super Black Eagle. Lights out at 15 yards. All this as the rain was coming down. What trip.

Stats are 21# 6 oz, 10.5″ beard, and 1 1/8″ spurs. What a great hunt.