TN Larry
Well-Known Member
The good Lord has blessed my son and I this year after being sidelined early last year. We've definitely had our ups and downs and the reason why I have a love, hate relationship for turkeys.
This morning started off with plans for him to be the shooter. We got on two birds on the roost that gobbled a bunch. They were across a little drain from each other and gobbling back and forth at each other. I thought we had a good setup, but they never made another sound after fly down. I told him, "I hate stupid turkeys."
We struck another bird about 8, and he was hot. We made a big circle to get a good setup. As we were getting in position and trying to make sure we were in the right spot, he gobbled about 75 yards away over a rise. Thanks goodness for the quick green up the past few days. Long story short, we fooled with him for at least an hour. He would come to about 60 yards and gobble at everything but stood his ground. He may have got within range once but too thick to shoot. He finally had worked his way around the point away from us, and we decided to move toward him closer to the rise. To my surprise, he had worked back up the point, busted us, and was gone. I told him, "I hate stupid turkeys." In hind sight, we should have backed up and circled above him, but armchair quarterbacking is always easy.
We changed locations and struck another bird around 11:30. He was hot, and we had to hoof it to get on him. He would gobble every single time that I would call but couldn't get him to commit. I switched calls, changed locations, went silent for a long time, but he stayed just out of range and sight. After about an hour of this and a long silent spell on both parts, I decided that one more call, and we were done. I called and nothing. As I was putting my calls up, he gobbled again. I'm pretty sure that I thought to myself, "I hate stupid turkeys." I decided then that I was hot, tired, hungry, and going all in. I called again with no response and decided to make a super aggressive move towards him calling hoping that we would get on his level and make him commit. We popped up over a rise and about to call it quits when I saw a fan about 75 yards away. My son was behind me while also being shorter and couldn't see him. He never gobbled but put on a show spitting, drumming, spinning, and looking. He never would come closer than about 60 yards. I then seen two tail fans and hoped that they were coming. They weren't as they started to go up the point in front of us. That's when I decided to see if I could get about 25 more yards closer and see what happened. I decided to do it instead of him as I was taller and could see farther. I made it, and there ended up being four of them but not sure if they were all longbeards. I thought they had worked on up the point in front of me as I seen two walking up the point about 75 yards in front of me. I called trying to get them to come take a peek and come closer. I then caught movement about 45-50 yards to my left, and it was one of the strutters. He ran his head up to take a peek which was a mistake as the 20 gauge let loose on him. It was right at 1:00 then and a hunt full of ups and downs. I just couldn't believe that 4 birds together didn't nearly run us over gobbling the way they did mid day, but that's just turkeys being turkeys. They may have had hens, but if so, they were silent and never showed themselves.
It's a little bittersweet to be tagged out with a few weeks in the season, but I'm definitely not complaining. My son was a little down that he didn't get a shot, but we can hopefully fill his last tag before church in the morning. I got a new call in the mail this afternoon that may be bad news for one in the morning.
Sorry for the long read but like giving the details and also like everyone else giving the details and part of the hunt.....hint, hint.....That really helped me last year and 3 years ago while being injured and sidelined after a couple weeks of the season.
870 20 gauge Compact
Hand Rolled TSS #9
20 lbs
10" beard
1 1/8" spurs
This morning started off with plans for him to be the shooter. We got on two birds on the roost that gobbled a bunch. They were across a little drain from each other and gobbling back and forth at each other. I thought we had a good setup, but they never made another sound after fly down. I told him, "I hate stupid turkeys."
We struck another bird about 8, and he was hot. We made a big circle to get a good setup. As we were getting in position and trying to make sure we were in the right spot, he gobbled about 75 yards away over a rise. Thanks goodness for the quick green up the past few days. Long story short, we fooled with him for at least an hour. He would come to about 60 yards and gobble at everything but stood his ground. He may have got within range once but too thick to shoot. He finally had worked his way around the point away from us, and we decided to move toward him closer to the rise. To my surprise, he had worked back up the point, busted us, and was gone. I told him, "I hate stupid turkeys." In hind sight, we should have backed up and circled above him, but armchair quarterbacking is always easy.
We changed locations and struck another bird around 11:30. He was hot, and we had to hoof it to get on him. He would gobble every single time that I would call but couldn't get him to commit. I switched calls, changed locations, went silent for a long time, but he stayed just out of range and sight. After about an hour of this and a long silent spell on both parts, I decided that one more call, and we were done. I called and nothing. As I was putting my calls up, he gobbled again. I'm pretty sure that I thought to myself, "I hate stupid turkeys." I decided then that I was hot, tired, hungry, and going all in. I called again with no response and decided to make a super aggressive move towards him calling hoping that we would get on his level and make him commit. We popped up over a rise and about to call it quits when I saw a fan about 75 yards away. My son was behind me while also being shorter and couldn't see him. He never gobbled but put on a show spitting, drumming, spinning, and looking. He never would come closer than about 60 yards. I then seen two tail fans and hoped that they were coming. They weren't as they started to go up the point in front of us. That's when I decided to see if I could get about 25 more yards closer and see what happened. I decided to do it instead of him as I was taller and could see farther. I made it, and there ended up being four of them but not sure if they were all longbeards. I thought they had worked on up the point in front of me as I seen two walking up the point about 75 yards in front of me. I called trying to get them to come take a peek and come closer. I then caught movement about 45-50 yards to my left, and it was one of the strutters. He ran his head up to take a peek which was a mistake as the 20 gauge let loose on him. It was right at 1:00 then and a hunt full of ups and downs. I just couldn't believe that 4 birds together didn't nearly run us over gobbling the way they did mid day, but that's just turkeys being turkeys. They may have had hens, but if so, they were silent and never showed themselves.
It's a little bittersweet to be tagged out with a few weeks in the season, but I'm definitely not complaining. My son was a little down that he didn't get a shot, but we can hopefully fill his last tag before church in the morning. I got a new call in the mail this afternoon that may be bad news for one in the morning.
Sorry for the long read but like giving the details and also like everyone else giving the details and part of the hunt.....hint, hint.....That really helped me last year and 3 years ago while being injured and sidelined after a couple weeks of the season.
870 20 gauge Compact
Hand Rolled TSS #9
20 lbs
10" beard
1 1/8" spurs
