Crazy public land hunt this morning.

Got up early this morning and decided to head out to finish my week off work with a public land hunt. Knowing the area pretty well I had a certain area where I wanted to start off the morning but plans quickly changed when I heard a gobbler sounding off in a different direction while I was walking in. I ended up getting setup decently close and started calling but he wasn't falling for it. I could tell he was moving away so I picked up and started following. I chased this bird for over half a mile. I finally caught up with him on this hill top oak flat. He was gobbling his head off so started moving in to get setup when I heard something to my left. I look over an there sits another hunter about 40 yards away already set on the flat. I hadn't heard him make a peep until I was almost right on top of him. I gave him a thumbs up and then quietly worked my way back out of the flat. About five minutes later, I heard a shot. A little disappointed but happy I didn't booger up the other guys hunt, I walked a little further then took a break to wait and get a chance to check out that bird. After a bit the fella comes down the trail but with no bird in hand. As we talk, he tells me he just flat out missed the shot. He ended up calling it a day and I figured I'd head back up to the hill top as it was a good listening point.. Once back at the top, I sat down..ate a snack and rested while listening for any birds. After about 40 minutes of hearing nothing, I hit the call with a short series of yelps. Almost immediately he gobbled and he was CLOSE...so close it actually startled me. He was also behind me. A quick shuffle to the other side of the tree....a few more soft yelps...and I barley had time to put the call down and get on the gun before he topped the hill at 20 yards, making a beeline in my direction. At 15 yards he stopped and stretched that neck out, looking for that hen but all he found was a load of #5 shot. Shot him just a little before 09:00. He's not a record book turkey but a solid public land bird sporting 1 inch spurs and right at a 10 inch beard. After being away from turkey hunting for several years, this is my second bird of the season and I'm just stoked how this season is turning out.

CHRIS WILSON said:

Got up early this morning and decided to head out to finish my week off work with a public land hunt. Knowing the area pretty well I had a certain area where I wanted to start off the morning but plans quickly changed when I heard a gobbler sounding off in a different direction while I was walking in. I ended up getting setup decently close and started calling but he wasn't falling for it. I could tell he was moving away so I picked up and started following. I chased this bird for over half a mile. I finally caught up with him on this hill top oak flat. He was gobbling his head off so started moving in to get setup when I heard something to my left. I look over an there sits another hunter about 40 yards away already set on the flat. I hadn't heard him make a peep until I was almost right on top of him. I gave him a thumbs up and then quietly worked my way back out of the flat. About five minutes later, I heard a shot. A little disappointed but happy I didn't booger up the other guys hunt, I walked a bit further then took a break to wait and get a chance to check out that bird. After a bit the fella comes down the trail but with no bird in hand. As we talk a bit, he tells me he just flat out missed the shot. He ended up calling it a day and I figured I'd head back up to the hill top as it was a good listening point.. Once back at the top, I sat down..ate a snack and rested while listening for any birds. After about 40 minutes of hearing nothing, I hit the call with a short series of yelps. Almost immediately he gobbled and he was CLOSE...so close it actually startled me. He was also behind me. A quick shuffle to the other side tree....a few more soft yelps...and I barley had time to put the call down and get the shotgun up before he topped the hill at 20 yards, making a beeline in my direction. At 15 yards he stopped and stretched that neck out, looking for that hen but all he found was a load of #5 shot to the head. He's not a record book turkey but a solid public land bird sporting 1 inch spurs and right at a 10 inch beard. After being away from turkey hunting for several years, this is my second bird of the season and I'm just stoked how this season is turning out.

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Way to hang in there! I am not as patient as I could be....

Way to go!
Thanks for sharing the story, thats what it's all about.

Very nice gobbler,congrats!

That is way cool how that happened! Congratulations

Great story, and good on you for backing out when you saw the other guy

Nice bird and great persistence.

Nice bird, Congratulations!

Cool!

Good deal! Congratulations!

Excellent! Great morn!

Awesome!

Awesome. You think it was same bird?

Way to stay after it! Nice bird! Congratulations!

redblood said:

Awesome. You think it was same bird?

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Hard to know for sure. I shot him about an hour after the first guy missed and about 250 yards away from where he was setup. If it was a different bird, he'd been quiet all morning. I didn't hear multiple birds in that area earlier. If it was the same bird, being shot at didn't make him call shy. He came in like he was on a mission.

Congratulations. Great story.

Gotta love it when sticking it out pays off. Congrats!!!

Nice. Congrats.

Great story with multiple lessons. Good bird, congratulations!

Nice work and I enjoyed your story.