catman529
Well-Known Member
Icing on the cake... finished off a good year killing 3 birds on Yanahli WMA with a nice gobbler on private land in Marshall Co. Big thanks to TurkeyBurd for meeting up with me at a prime hunting spot. Even 2 weeks after tagging out...
Well we met and drove to the farm at dawn. Had two birds gobbling and one was close to the barn and gobbling pretty good, the other was across a field not gobbling too much. Burd said he knew where that tom across the field went to strut every day. So we set up watching the field and I saw 2 birds come across... first was half way across and I couldn't tell if it was a tom or not. Then a hen came by closer. Ended up seeing 4 hens in the adjacent field but no tom.
Burd had to leave for work by around 7am but left me to continue hunting as I didn't need to leave till early afternoon. He showed me the place a bit so I got a feel sort of for the area. So I set off hiking through fields and woods, cross a creek, what not. Bumped hens multiple times. Wasn't being as stealthy as I should. After walking around a bit I came back towards the woods near the barn where I had heard a hot gobbler earlier. Got him to gobble. He was in the woods across a creek, I was in a field. Set up in a tree line in the middle of the field. He gobbled good and sounded close... went along the creek to where there was a good spot to cross. Never saw him due to tall grass but heard him. Sounded like he crossed the creek to my left, went out into the field, and then started heading back to the creek. 10-15 min went by and I heard him gobble back across the creek but further away towards a corn field.
Figured I wasn't going to call him back so I snuck around... crossed the creek to my right, went thru the woods, bumping 2 hens in the process, then snuck into the corn field. No birds along the edge of the field paralleling the creek. I made some aggressive cutts on the tube call but got no response. The field has a rise in it where you can't see birds in the middle of the field from the edge. so I started walking slowly up the rise. Corn was only 6" tall. I was out in the field and all of a sudden there was a bird. I froze, the bird wasn't looking, so I slowly got down. Laid down in a prone position with the gun ready. Bird popped its head up a couple times... looked like a red head. This had to be the one that was hammering at me earlier. He was a bit too far to shoot but was heading slightly to my right and towards me.
He got closer and I saw more of his head as he came in. I wouldn't dare make a call because I was just lying in the middle of the field, and he was already coming my way. Just as he got into comfortable shooting range I glimpsed a beard... didn't look like a jake... gave his head some lead. Jumped up and several other birds, looked like hens and jakes, scattered. They had been just over the rise out of sight the whole time. They were probably why the gobbler left my field and went back up into the cornfield.
Well that wraps up my season and now it's time to GO FISHIN! Great way to end a good 2nd year turkey hunting.
22 pounds, 3 oz.
10 3/4" beard
1 1/4" spurs
Marshall County
None of this boy goes to waste...
Well we met and drove to the farm at dawn. Had two birds gobbling and one was close to the barn and gobbling pretty good, the other was across a field not gobbling too much. Burd said he knew where that tom across the field went to strut every day. So we set up watching the field and I saw 2 birds come across... first was half way across and I couldn't tell if it was a tom or not. Then a hen came by closer. Ended up seeing 4 hens in the adjacent field but no tom.
Burd had to leave for work by around 7am but left me to continue hunting as I didn't need to leave till early afternoon. He showed me the place a bit so I got a feel sort of for the area. So I set off hiking through fields and woods, cross a creek, what not. Bumped hens multiple times. Wasn't being as stealthy as I should. After walking around a bit I came back towards the woods near the barn where I had heard a hot gobbler earlier. Got him to gobble. He was in the woods across a creek, I was in a field. Set up in a tree line in the middle of the field. He gobbled good and sounded close... went along the creek to where there was a good spot to cross. Never saw him due to tall grass but heard him. Sounded like he crossed the creek to my left, went out into the field, and then started heading back to the creek. 10-15 min went by and I heard him gobble back across the creek but further away towards a corn field.
Figured I wasn't going to call him back so I snuck around... crossed the creek to my right, went thru the woods, bumping 2 hens in the process, then snuck into the corn field. No birds along the edge of the field paralleling the creek. I made some aggressive cutts on the tube call but got no response. The field has a rise in it where you can't see birds in the middle of the field from the edge. so I started walking slowly up the rise. Corn was only 6" tall. I was out in the field and all of a sudden there was a bird. I froze, the bird wasn't looking, so I slowly got down. Laid down in a prone position with the gun ready. Bird popped its head up a couple times... looked like a red head. This had to be the one that was hammering at me earlier. He was a bit too far to shoot but was heading slightly to my right and towards me.
He got closer and I saw more of his head as he came in. I wouldn't dare make a call because I was just lying in the middle of the field, and he was already coming my way. Just as he got into comfortable shooting range I glimpsed a beard... didn't look like a jake... gave his head some lead. Jumped up and several other birds, looked like hens and jakes, scattered. They had been just over the rise out of sight the whole time. They were probably why the gobbler left my field and went back up into the cornfield.
Well that wraps up my season and now it's time to GO FISHIN! Great way to end a good 2nd year turkey hunting.
22 pounds, 3 oz.
10 3/4" beard
1 1/4" spurs
Marshall County
None of this boy goes to waste...
