When I was young

[WORM82]

A few days ago I went for an afternoon hunt since the mornings sucked opening weekend as far as gobbling or seeing birds. I let out a few yelps once I got to the top of the ridge and didn't hear anything so I started picking mushrooms for a buddy that was wanting some. After picking around 40 or 50 shrooms I called again by cutting aggressively and got cut off by multiple gobbles maybe 100 yards away so I hurried and sit down in a thicket and found I only had 1 shooting lane about 10 yards wide and 70 yards out. I let 10 mins pass and softly yelped and got cut off again by the gobblers followed by a pissed off hen and they were closer. The white bearded hen was in this flock and was the first one I caught movement from at 40 yards, 8 or 10 hens and 4 longbeards passed thru my shooting lane at 35 yards, 2 stutters and 2 subordinate gobblers but they wouldn't seperate enough for me to feel comfortable taking the shot and they eventually went over the ridge. When I was younger I would have prob shot and killed a couple but I still count it as a success to have them that close and hear them drumming.

 

[Setterman]

Oh I remember those days as well and like you would've let the big gun eat and sort it out. You'll be rewarded for the ethical decision and sounds like a great hunt

 

[Mike Belt]

Since my first turkey hunt I've avoided shooting if there wasn't enough separation between birds. Granted taking 2 birds with 1 shot seemed something neat to do, it was always illegal in Tn and I just always thought it was unethical. I've had several instances where I never got to squeeze the trigger because of it but it still seemed like a win to have been that close and had my bird dead to rights.