Grizzly Johnson
Well-Known Member
for the 2012 season.
Went out to AEDC WMA yesterday to locate/roost some birds for today. Spotted 2 strutters and a hen in a good looking area. Went back this morning and eased into the woods before daybreak. I went about 150 yards as I didn't exactly know where they were and didn't want to walk past them only to have to back-track.
Daylight came and not a single gobble.... at around 7 I decided to ease on farther and at two steps a bird flushed up from right behind me..... didn't even get a look at it.
Well I continued on another 100 yards and sat down in a fairly open area just to enjoy the morning.... Crows were flying all around and cawing.... still not a single gobble.
At around 8, I heard a gobble I guessed to be around 150 yards away... then 15 minutes later, 2 shots rang out in the direction that the gobble came from.....
So I just got up and started creeping through the woods in hopes of seeing or hearing something. After seeing quite a bit of turkey scratchings, I wondered if I was getting close to something.... then it happened, A GOBBLE AND HE WAS FAIRLY CLOSE!! I eased closer as it was pretty thick and with the green-up, I couldn't see 50 yards ahead if that.
It was around 9:00 when I first heard "him" and after 50 more yards, I was perched on top of a root wad from a blown down oak. The roots were sticking up and the dirt gave me a good seat. I gave out a few yelps and got no immediate answer.... I cutt and he hammered back!! I gave a few over the shoulder yelps and he gobbled again.... 75 yards away. He worked to and fro a little while but it was just too thick to see him to tell what he was doing.
Finally I caught a glimpse of something through the leaves.... then I see a head... and he is looking for the hen. I throw out some purrs and he answers back.... but he has a friend.... He starts working back to my right.... I have 2 more blown down trees 20 yards in front of me.... and I can't see clearly... Finally I see his beard and know he is legal. I purr some more in hopes of drawing him in closer... "THEY" hammer back, yes two birds were what I was working thinking he was going from my left to right and then back while I first worked him.
Well I couldn't see the other bird clear so I don't know how big he was, but the one I could see was going to my right and in a few more steps he would be back into thick brush and no shot. As it was I was threading the shot between 2 trees half way between him and I.... as I leaned over to clear a sapling, he saw movement and stretched his neck to see what it was.... it was now or never, so I let the Mauler eat (handload Hevi-13, 2-7/16oz #6).... at 48 of my paces he was rolled like hit by a truck... he lay flopping in the leaves.... my boot on his neck, and all got quiet.
Slow start, but well worth the trip to the woods..... day turned out better than it began.
18 lbs, 9.25" beard, 1-1/16 spurs:
Went out to AEDC WMA yesterday to locate/roost some birds for today. Spotted 2 strutters and a hen in a good looking area. Went back this morning and eased into the woods before daybreak. I went about 150 yards as I didn't exactly know where they were and didn't want to walk past them only to have to back-track.
Daylight came and not a single gobble.... at around 7 I decided to ease on farther and at two steps a bird flushed up from right behind me..... didn't even get a look at it.
Well I continued on another 100 yards and sat down in a fairly open area just to enjoy the morning.... Crows were flying all around and cawing.... still not a single gobble.
At around 8, I heard a gobble I guessed to be around 150 yards away... then 15 minutes later, 2 shots rang out in the direction that the gobble came from.....
So I just got up and started creeping through the woods in hopes of seeing or hearing something. After seeing quite a bit of turkey scratchings, I wondered if I was getting close to something.... then it happened, A GOBBLE AND HE WAS FAIRLY CLOSE!! I eased closer as it was pretty thick and with the green-up, I couldn't see 50 yards ahead if that.
It was around 9:00 when I first heard "him" and after 50 more yards, I was perched on top of a root wad from a blown down oak. The roots were sticking up and the dirt gave me a good seat. I gave out a few yelps and got no immediate answer.... I cutt and he hammered back!! I gave a few over the shoulder yelps and he gobbled again.... 75 yards away. He worked to and fro a little while but it was just too thick to see him to tell what he was doing.
Finally I caught a glimpse of something through the leaves.... then I see a head... and he is looking for the hen. I throw out some purrs and he answers back.... but he has a friend.... He starts working back to my right.... I have 2 more blown down trees 20 yards in front of me.... and I can't see clearly... Finally I see his beard and know he is legal. I purr some more in hopes of drawing him in closer... "THEY" hammer back, yes two birds were what I was working thinking he was going from my left to right and then back while I first worked him.
Well I couldn't see the other bird clear so I don't know how big he was, but the one I could see was going to my right and in a few more steps he would be back into thick brush and no shot. As it was I was threading the shot between 2 trees half way between him and I.... as I leaned over to clear a sapling, he saw movement and stretched his neck to see what it was.... it was now or never, so I let the Mauler eat (handload Hevi-13, 2-7/16oz #6).... at 48 of my paces he was rolled like hit by a truck... he lay flopping in the leaves.... my boot on his neck, and all got quiet.
Slow start, but well worth the trip to the woods..... day turned out better than it began.
18 lbs, 9.25" beard, 1-1/16 spurs:
