First let me say that I post this at the risk of sounding boastful. I truly hope you guys don't take it that way. I observed something yesterday I've never seen before in 28 years of turkey hunting and I used it to my advantage to take another Turkey. I wanted to share the story because it may be helpful to someone.
Iconnected agian yesterday on a dominant bird, second day of the Tennessee statewide season. Combined with the bird on Saturday and the on my son took on the youth hunt that's 3 for 3 to kick off 2008. Unbelievable. The stars and planets must be ideally aligned, theKarma is perfect. I can't explain it. Yes I can - your odds go up when you hunt where turkeys are plentiful. Our flock in Tennessee has never been better. What a great time to be a turkey hunter!
This was a unique turkey I took yesterday - the only way to kill him was to neek up on him. I messed with this ol' boy, and his best friend from daylight until 11:30 when he died. He had probably 20 hens with him. Gobbled strong off the roost but it didn't take him long to get "hooked-up" with the girls. He would gobble at anything including thunder but he wasn't coming to me. I needed to figure out another way to kill him.
What I about to tell you is the honest truth but I don't blame you if don't believe me. I've never heard of anything like this in my 28 years of turkey hunting.
When henned up I will nearly always leave a bird to his harem and go look for another one. Yesterday I didn't because it was raining off and on and it is much easier to sneek up on a bird that won't come because the rain muffles your sound. So I stayed in touch with this group of turkeys feeding and moving in small fields. At about 11:00 while using the building below a cellphone tower for cover I noticed that the gobbler wasn't moving anymore. I could see his beard clearly through my binos from about 250 yards but his head was down. It was raining moderately hard and after about 5-6 minutes this bird was still motionless. He had his had over to the left side of his body and
I became convinced that he was asleep. That's right, asleep. How else do you explain a standing, motionless turkey with no visible head. The best part is that where he was standing offered a shot from another slice of woods if I could get there before he woke up. The sneak was on.
I crawled down from behind the cellphone tower to the woods behind me and went back about 600 yards. There were probably 20 or so hens and another gobbler in the field with this turkey and I couldn't afford them seeing me and sounding the alarm. I finally got into the piece of woods this turkey was standing near and slowly snuck up to the edge and found him.
He was standing exactly in the same spot as before (it took me 12-15 minutes to get to him) and his head was still down to his side, though I couldn't see if it was under his wing or on top. In any event the turkey was still asleep and hadn't moved an inch in the intervening time it took me to get there.
Anyway, I snuck up to the edge, gut my gun up and pointed, and went "putt-putt-putt". He snapped his head up instantly but the Nitro 4X5X7 provded a rather morbid wake-up call.
19 lbs, 11 inch beard, 1.1/8 sharp curved spurs. I think he is a three year-old bird.
Take a look at the picture of his feet which look deformed, no toenails. has anyone ever seent this? I thought it might be frostbite but someone else thought it was a fungal problem.
This is the 4th or 5th turkey I've snuck up on in the rain. I want to emphasize that there are many ways of killing a turkey. I enjoy watching them gobble and strut their way to me as much as anybody, but turkeys don't always do that and sometimes you need to be resourceful and take advantage of the situation at hand.Rain, especially asteady or hard rain, muffles yournoise and if you can usethe lay of the land to your advantage you will be suprised how close you can get to a turkey.
Good luck to everyone
Mouthcaller
I am Really on a roll now - I need to go to Vegas
