With work being as busy as it"s been, the 1st chance I had to get out and Spring Gobbler hunt was a week into the season. My buddy had called in 6 birds for friends and has been busy patterning gobblers all week. I meet him over at his farm and we jump in his truck and head over to another farm we"re hunting about 10 min away. We"ve got a 25 min. walk to get back to where we"re going so we start off at a pretty good pace. ½ way there it"s faintly getting light so we pick up the pace a little more. One thing I hate being late for is turkey hunting. We cross a few fields & a few ridges and start a long hike through a pasture. As we reach the top it"s 0600 and it"s now getting light out. We hear several gobbles off in the direction we"re heading and look at each other. Both of us are thinking the same thing, we"d rather have been here 15 min. prior.
As we cross the next coop (horse jump) we"re getting close and can hear several birds, one of which is hot to trot. We decide to approach from the top so we hit the trail which is quieter and start sneaking in. As we get close to a long narrow field, we spot a gorgeous red fox and stop. While we"re watching him, we hear a couple turkeys fly down from the roost. My buddy suggests that it may be a better tactic to approach from the bottom so we backtrack and head downhill. As we come to the draw below, it turns out to be open hardwoods w/ dry leaves & sticks everywhere. I mention to him that the birds are 3-400 yds. out & there"s no way we"re getting much closer w/o them hearing us and possibly seeing us.
So" again we turn around and head back up top. We quickly cross the long narrow field and are entering their roosting area. The only thing that saved us at this point is that the birds have flown down and are on the ground on the downhill side of the ridge. Had they still been on the roost, they would have seen us. We continue down the trail for another 75 yds. and hear not 2 but 3 Toms & a hen down over the crest of the ridge talking back & forth. One Tom is on fire and we decide this is the spot. I sneak 15 yds. closer to the birds trying not to step on leaves/twigs & make too much noise and my buddy creeps quietly behind me 25 yds. so he can call while I shoot. I set up the hen decoy 10 yds. to my left and find a nice Pine to sit up against.
As soon as we"re both set up my buddy starts off w/ a double purr & a few soft yelps and immediately we hear GOOOBBBLLLEEE GOOOBBBLLLEEE GOOOBBBLLLEEE!!! This bird lets us know he heard us. He continues w/ a bunch of double & triple gobbles and I know he"s coming in fast by the intensity of his gobbles getting louder and louder. My buddy is 25 yds. behind me and is turning his head and cupping his diaphragm call so it sounds like he"s even further away. After a few more yelps & clucks, my buddy lays off the calling. I can now hear the gobbler flapping his wings and scratching the leaves while he"s coming to us. The ridge is 70 yds. ahead of me and from the sound of him dragging his wingtips in the leaves while strutting, I know he"s gotta be close. Suddenly he pops out in front of me at 50 yds.! Apparently he came directly in towards me but there were a few Red Cedars & Yellow Poplars in between the 2 of us and I couldn"t see him as he crested the ridge. Well I can see him now, his long beard hanging down, his head bright sky blue & white, he"s gobbling like crazy, strutting all over, iridescent feathers shining in the sun (which is starting to get in my eyes), walking back & forth, & kicking up leaves like there"s no tomorrow.
He"s getting closer now and has come w/in 45 yds. and is headed to my left which isn"t good as it"s real open woods and my decoy is just to my left. My buddy behind me is working him good, he"s calling softly and very little when he does. I"m worried he"ll spot me when suddenly, he goes to strut and immediately deflates and stretches his head & neck out right at me. I think to myself, it"s now or never but I can"t do it. I"m shooting a Remington 870 Express Super Magnum w/ an HS Strut Undertaker turkey choke w/ 3 ½" Winchester Supreme Turkey loads in # 5, but am not comfortable w/ my pattern past 40 yds. What a bummer!!! I"m sick to my stomach, but quietly think, I"d rather the gig be up and him spot me, than try a 45 yd. shot and miss, or worse wound him and not recover him.
When he turns back to the right and goes into full strut & throws out another gobble, I"m shocked, maybe he didn"t see me after all! He"s strutting and gobbling and throwing leaves while he continues to the right. He"s now just on the other side of those Cedars & Poplar trees and I had previously noted the distance as 40 yds. He"s heading diagonally to the right and towards me and if he keeps going and comes out on the other side of the clump of trees, he"ll be in range at 35 yds.!!! As luck would have it, he stops directly behind the trees and goes quite. Again I think the gig is up, when I see his head pop out the right side, then his body follows and he comes out and lets out a whopper of a gobble. As soon as he finished gobbling he looks at his girlfriend to see what she"s doing and BOOOMMM!
I don"t feel the kick of the 3 ½" turkey load but the sound roars over the hills. He"s flopping on the ground so I run up & try to keep him from breaking any feathers but it"s hard when you have a huge gobbler flopping all over and you"re trying not to get sliced by his spurs. He turns out to be my largest turkey to date, he weighs in at 23.5 lbs., was sporting a beard slightly over 10", and 1" spurs. His wingtips are worn down from dragging the ground when he strutted and his spurs are not long anymore nor are they super sharp. Not sure if he was an old gobbler that was past his prime or what, but he seemed like the dominant bird in the area. When we started calling the other 2 Toms gobbled less and he gobbled more and more. Maybe he was just all hot & bothered this a.m. I don"t care
He hadn"t been on the ground for more than 25 min. and we had already nailed him! That"s 2 days in a row he"s called in & tag teamed a gobbler before 0645. This bird also had a fan feather that was ½ white & brown striped like a wing feather, something I haven"t seen before.
My buddy comes up and we high five and he"s almost yelling when he says "You nailed him, you killed a huge bird!" I just looked at him, smiled & said "Yeah right, I pulled the trigger, but you killed that bird!" The way he worked him by doubling up w/ a diaphragm and slate simultaneously and the tone was impressive. What was even more impressive is that I later find out he never saw the bird until after I shot and he walked up to me. He had based his calling off of what he heard the gobbler doing. 0640 and a big gobbler is down in VA, what a great day!!! Now it"s time to go run some dogs
Big gobbler down in VA - PICS!!!
