I shot the boss this morning. It was a beautiful morning to be in the turkey woods. After the birds flew down off the roost I saw several hens enter the pasture and one mature gobbler at about 125 yards. I have hunted this spot for a number of years and typically the birds feed to the north and never come within shotgun range. Instead of trying to call the gobbler away from the hens I tried calling the hens. I used some intermitted clucks and purrs and the hens fed in my direction. When they got close to my Dave Smith hen decoy they walked up to it and started pecking it. I got interested in watching the hens and I looked up and the gobbler was right there in full-strut. The gobbler ran the hens off from the decoy and when he got close to the decoy I lined up on the base of his neck and shot. He was dead before he hit the ground. You will notice in the one picture the pellet holes on his head, beak, and neck. After I retrieved my decoy and gobbler I sat down and took off my mask and gloves and started putting up my calls and hit the box call one last time and got a gobble. I put my mask and gloves back on and started calling and kept getting a gobble and I finally saw the gobbler on the other side of a large Live Oak tree and he was working his was to me. I lost track of him and he stopped gobbling so I decided to call it quits and took off my mask and gloves and put away my calls and got half-way up and I spotted a turkey head looking over the tall grass, so I eased back down onto my seat and put my gloves and mask back on. I was in a hurry and my mask went on crooked but I could see out of my shooting eye. I did some soft clucks and he came right in. I let him walk and will save him for another day (I was not sure if I could take two gobblers on the same day in Florida and be legal). The last photo is the gobbler I let go. The calls that I used today were a couple of friction calls that I made. I was also using an Albert Paul call and a one-side call made by Tim Clayton. Tim�s call has a Persimmon paddle and a Cedar box. It is one of the best sounding calls for making a yelp, but is especially good at for cutting and making a cackle. Tim makes a fine call.
The specs on the Osceola is: weight: 22lbs. 13ozs., beard: 11 inches, spurs: both 1 3/8 inches.
This is the gobbler that I passed on today.
The specs on the Osceola is: weight: 22lbs. 13ozs., beard: 11 inches, spurs: both 1 3/8 inches.
This is the gobbler that I passed on today.
Good lookin calls also!!
