themanpcl
Well-Known Member
I was again blessed to kill a gobbler this past Saturday and finish out the season. I know you will find it hard to believe that it didn't all go down like I had it in my head, right? Got to the woods to set up where I anticipated the birds to be roosted (from previous hunts, did not roost Fri night). Not a peep. Listened for a few minutes and heard a gobble on the far end of the property. Coincidentally that is where I had chased a gobbler on Thursday afternoon but could not get him to come over from the other property. It's still dark so I move that way knowing that if he was where he was 2 days ago, this would be a picture perfect season ender. Note, both cams working this time..lol. So I ease into a wood block that jets out into the large open pasture. Bird was gobbling about 100 yds into the woods (200 yds from me), high on the ridge on adjacent property. Heard no hens at all. Got the cams set, gun ready and awaiting a flydown to the field and the picture perfect ending. Sure, it will go down like that..lol.. Well after about 15 mins of him gobbling, I decided to let him know where I was. I made a few light calls to which he responded so I felt good about my chances. Did I mention I heard no hens? About 5 mins later I hear flapping. Oh yeah, it's on. So I watch as hen #1 flys down...150 yds away..into the neighboring pasture...separated from this field by a rock wall. Minute or so later, hen #2, same thing. Then the gobbler sounds off and flys down the same as they did, to the other field. Well crap. They are 200+ yards away on the other property separated by a wall. I cannot see them at all. I stay set up and call to him and he responds every time but keeps getting farther away. I think he was telling me he'd like to come over, but the ladies...So, do I try to back out and go find another bird? Heard nothing else gobble but never know. Do I try to circle the property I'm on to see if I can get in front of them and pull them to a fence they can get under and over to this property? Nope, I choose option C. I move about 10 yds over in the wood lot, facing the top of the field in the direction the gobbler and hens were heading (as far as I knew) on the other property. My thought was, if he kept responding to my calls and the hens liked the calls, maybe they come over? So I eased over to the field edge, got the main cam set up on the tripod (I thought). I settled in and before I could even call, up popped a hen head 50 yds away. She was feeding and not paying attention to me, until.....Remember I said I set up the main cam? Well, part of set up is hitting record. I forgot. So, my right arm slowly eases over to the cam (like trying to put your arm around your date at the movie theater back in the day so she didn't notice)...lol.. to hit record. I was very good about putting cam on tripod where there were no obstructions in front. That means from where she is, she can see cam and me trying to hit record as I am open on that side. Hey, I was expecting to sit there for an hour and maybe have a gobbler come to investigate so I was not prepared. But I'm sly, so got r done. As I move the cam to face her, tripod leg which I failed to tighten when I set it up, drops like a drunk off a curb. Swell. Holding cam so whole thing doesn't topple over and scare her away, I slide my hand (I did remember to put on camo gloves) down tripod to try and secure the leg. Pretty sure I heard "Mission Impossible" theme while I fumbled...lol. After what seemed like hours (queue the Jepordy music) of her staring at me while I made a blooper reel of camera work, she finally began feeding again. Dodged that bullet. Well as luck would have it, behind her about 20 yds (60 yds from me) coming up a rise, I see a fan. Arm is still on cam trying to get it all set so now I had to turn the cam to face where I expect him to pop over the rise. He does come over the top all blowed up. Awesome! Now I just have to move my arm from the cam w/o moving it or knocking the tripod over, get hand on my gun, move the gun into position and be ready to shoot without either seeing me. Did I mention that I have cover directly in front of me but not to my right (where the hen was moving). So, have to make sure hen doesn't pick me off while working to get a sight on the gobbler. Gobbler moves parallel to me following the hen slowly, still 60 yds out. He is strutting and putting on a great show and on the cam this time. Woo Hoo! He begins to move forward a little and I estimate hes getting to about 50 yds. I put the sight on him and just let him do his thing. As long as he's not able to see me and the hen isn't spooked, let the show go on. He approaches the point where I run out of cover. I listen and can hear a fat lady singing (no offense to fat ladies..lol..) Click safety off, steady up, boom, flip, flop, he dead. The 835 Ulti Mag and Kent Ultimate Diamond 3 1/2 did the job. Stepped it off at 50 yds. Bird was 20#, 9 1/2" beard, 1 1/4" spurs. Nice bird and such a fun yet fast end to the season. Learned a lot over the last few months from Catman and The Hunting Public videos. Check them out if you haven't already.
