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Numbers 5, 6, 7 (and should have been 8,9,10,and 11)

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megalomaniac

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Birds were absolutely suicidal the past 4 days. Even henned up gobblers were giving out courtesy gobbles left and right. OFC, when those hens left to lay for the day, the gobblers were on the prowl. 2 misses by my son and 2 misses due to my own stupidity saved me from an entire day of grinding up meat for the freezer. Killed my personal longest beard ever... 12 1\8 in. Some funny stories from this trip, will post details when I'm at a keyboard. That's probably all for me in TN... at least everyone I took got at least 1 bird.
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The misses are probably funnier stories than the successes :)

My first miss (or poor hit, actually)... was set up with 2 friends with birds hammering all around. Called in a single hen and then 2 grey foxes tried to ambush her, but she escaped. We were expecting to see the any one of the the 5 different birds pop into range at any time, as they were absolutely hammering. Suddenly, somebody empties their gun on what sounded like my property 400 yds away. I told my friends to stay put and I would try to catch the poacher. I ran the first 250 yards, then tucked into cover to try to spot someone dragging a bird off my property. All I found were 3 hens that looked terrified. I sat down waiting and listening, then 2 birds hammered off 100 yards away in one of my foodplots in another field. I slipped to the fenceline, called, then the two marched right up to 25 yards. Right as I was about to shoot, the angus bull in my field decided to come over and try to lift me off the ground. I pushed his head back with the butt of my shotgun while slowly backing up the barbed wire fence looking for a place to slide under. The turkeys were watching the whole thing unfold, but they must have been focused on the bull and not me, as we were basically 1 blob. I picked my crossing spot, slammed the bull hard on the head with my stock, then immediately dropped to the ground and slid under the fence. Left a few strips of my ghillie suit on the fence, caught my wits and calmed my nerves on the ground, then clucked twice. The birds hammered back. I peeked up through the brush (was 10 yards of brush to the field) and both were still there. I raised my gun, waited till they separated, then pulled the trigger. My bird hopped up, then started walking around alarmed. My shot was through a few sprigs of cedar, but not near enough to prevent a clean kill that close. I moved away from the cedar, then realized the birds had moved back into the foodplot and were actually 55 yards when I had shot, not the 25 yards they were at before I ducked the fence to escape the bull. Oh well, was still a fun hunt.

My second miss was last Saturday around 10 am. My son had already missed one that morning (and I didn't carry a gun to make the followup shot :( ), and my friend killed the second bird, so I was hunting alone for the first time this year. I LOVE taking friends and family, but because of that, it's VERY rare I get to hunt for myself. I had covered a mile and a half before I encountered a bird that responded to my calls. He was through fairly thick timber, about 150 yards away. I dropped down, got set up in some buckbrush and played the game. He came to about 100 yards in the woods, then worked away all the way back to 300 yards. I assumed he must have had hens, but he gobbled back to EVERY call I sent his way. I tried everything, he refused to come. Gave him the silent treatment, he refused to come look. Finally I did a 3 note low jake yelp, and he decided to commit. Next gobble was 200 yards, then 100 yards, then 75 yards. I shut up, got the gun on my shoulder and waited. After a couple more minutes I could hear the spitting and drumming, but still could not see him (there was a dropoff about 25 yards away, and I assumed he was just below it). My heart was pounding for another couple minutes until he popped out from behind a 2.5ft diameter tree 6 yards away. I was perfectly still, yet he absolutely pegged me despite my cover. Mexican standoff for 60 seconds or so, then I thought to myself, "lets see who is faster"... Finger was already on the safety, so I clicked it off. He did not appreciate the gesture or sound and started slipping back and to the left. When he went behind a 6" tree, I set my cheek and swung my gun which simultaneously caused him to bolt. I fired when he was about 10 yards away and my red dot was 4 inches behind his neck- clean miss. I could have shot again at 25 yards (and probably killed him), but just let him leave, figuring he bested me. I think that's the first time I've ever been picked off like that while in excellent cover and perfectly still.
 
Ethan's miss #1... the evening before, we heard 2 gobblers pop off right before flying up to roost while we were grilling hamburgers. With the plan set for Saturday morning and another friend joining us, we headed out in the pitch black dark to cross the open fields and make it to the sparse woods where the birds were roosted. I didn't carry a gun, as there were only 2 birds, and neither Ethan, nor my friend had gotten a bird yet this year. We made the 1/2 mile hike and got the dekes set up in plenty of time, but the 3/4 bright moon had me nervous they may have seen us from the roost. We waited 25 minutes in the dark until the first bird popped off... about 100 yards away. A few sparse tree yelps and clucks and they were on fire. I hadn't heard any hens at this point, and figured it was going to be a slam dunk. Both birds pitched down to the ground just barely after legal shooting time, and came marching to us. The plan was for my friend to shoot the bird on the left, then Ethan to take the one on the right. Unfortunately, at 50 yards, one of the birds sprinted toward the dekes leaving the other in the dust. I told Ethan to go ahead and take the first bird, then we'd call the other in a bit later. The gobbler picked off Ethan as he raised his gun, threw on the brakes, and was about to bolt. I told Ethan, 'shoot, shoot, SHOOT!' (the bird was 17 or 18 yds away), but he said he didn't have a clear shot. He had 1 twig of buckbrush between him and the bird, otherwise wide open. I again told him to shoot now! He pulled the trigger, shot low and the bird scurried off as the other bird gobbled. My friend wasn't able to get on the other bird in time for the followup. I asked him what went wrong, and he said 'you rushed me', this bush was in the way! We called and called to the other bird, but he backed off to 75 yards and refused to budge. After a while, he wandered off and we figured we were done. Ethan got bored, wanted to walk back to the house and ride the gator. I pulled the decoys 15 minutes after Ethan left and packed up. The second bird free gobbled 100 yds away just as my friend and I were leaving. What the heck we thought, sat back down, then called... crazy bird came right back in and my friend shot him :)
 

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