I'm an avid deer hunter with about 140 harvests under my belt since I hit the woods in 1986 at 12 years old.
Over the years I dabbled here and there with Turkey but never had the right alignment to make it happen.
In May of 2007 I tested a piece of property here in Lower Michigan that my father-in-law was deer hunting on.
On May 6th I headed out in the darkness in 3D camo, my decoys, a camo burlap sheet, and my Mossberg 835 with 3 1/2 inch 4 shot. Full Chokes. Reed call & Box call...
As the sun rose over the open hard woods I began lightly calling with the reed call....With my 835 rested on my knee I thought to myself "when will I ever get a turkey?" After an hour of sun up a hen made her way passed me like she was on a mission somewhere. Uneducated and inexperienced I thought to myself like I did over the years " I must be doing something wrong" At about 9 AM I stood up and cracked a diet coke and rested against the tree and thought about my hunt. I could here the cows mooo'ing in the background and the sound of roosters cawing in the coop. It was a gorgeous morning.
I decided to hit the box call one more time. Yelp, Yelp, Yelp, Yelp, Bludleldledledledl !!! YES!!A gobbler answered me about 400 yards away. I dropped down and covered up and began short calls...Again he gobbled at about200 yards....after about 5 minutes of easy calling I heard nothing...I pulled out the box call...bam! at about 100 yards he called again...I stopped for about a minute and just relaxed...again with easy calls from the box....Bloodledledledledl!!! OMG he wasright behindme at about 30 yards...I swear to god every hair on my body stood straight up.....I did not dare to turn around.! I stopped calling and what seemed like forever (3 minutes) I heard nothing. I could not handle the anticipation any longer. I slowely turned and looked behind me and there he was in FULL STRUT in a bed of ferns 8 yards behind me. He had his eye on my decoys out in front of me. My body shook...and I squinted my eyes and remained motionless...the sound of leaves crackling made its way off to my right...at 5 yards to my right he walked passed me in full strut...fump fump foooo!!! As we puffed up heading at the decoys he was so close I could see his eyes blinking! When he got out in front of me I placed the fiber optic 835 sights on his neck and pulled the trigger...booooom..gosh all mighty that 3 1/2 835 rocks your world! the Tom folded at about 7 yards and about 5 yards from my decoys...He was a 25 pound bird with 1 1/8th inch spurs and an 11 inch beard...I feel chills run down my left shoulder as I tell you this story...I will be back in May...Cherished Memories.....
Pull up a chair and listen to my Turkey Success Story
