Well, I can finally mark this state off of my 49 state slam. Talk about one of my best hunts. I felt like I was 5 again when this one came in. It was cold and I couldn't even hold still. This is exactly why I love turkey hunting so much. After tagging out in Ohio I decided that I would take a couple of days to hunt the Hoosier National Forest in Indiana. I left yesterday around 2pm so I could get some scouting in and once I got there I started to feel like I was back in southeast Ohio with the rolling hills/mountain terrain. After hours of searching I found no signs of turkey, so I decided to call it quits and hit the motel. Got up this morning and went to a spot that looked good on Google Earth. At 5:45am I started my mile walk into the dreaded country. Around 6:15 I started hearing gobbling in the distance and then right in front of me down this big hollow I heard a nice bird gobble. So I got set up on a finger that runs down this ridge and waited for fly down. I got setup and could see this longbeard gobbling around 80 yards on the roost. He kept gobbling and strutting for 1.5 hours in the tree. Talk about patience...I was all tore up like a little boy again. He was surely teasing me from minute to minute. Finally around 8am he flew down and I gave him some soft yelps and a couple clucks and purrs and he made his way up the ridge towards my location. It took him probably 20 minutes before I got ground visual of him. He started up the ridge going away from me and I gave him a couple more soft yelps to my right to steer him back toward my setup. Sure enough he made his way down the draw, but not before he strutted and gobbled for 25 minutes at 70 yards. Talk about tore up...I was going nuts watching him spit and drum going in and out of full strut. Well, what I thought was 57 yards was actually 65 yards became my first mistake and last mistake in Indiana. I shot and missed this fine gobbler due to lack of judgment and short patience. I do have loads of patience, but on this particular morning it just wasn't there. Like I said before, I felt like a little kid again. So after a few choice words from within' I decided to continue on down the main ridge hoping for another chance on a Indiana longbeard. After going about 0.6 miles (GPS) down the trail I decided to sit down and run a couple of series of cuttin' and yelpin'. In the middle of my second series I heard a bird gobble down another hollow. Almost instantly, I moved down the finger and got set up in a good position. I called two more times to see if he had came any closer and within a couple of minutes he was right on top of me. This time my patience was back where it needed to be and as you can see I got him. He was a dandy 3 year old and I can say this was one of my best experiences to date. I get tore up every time I go out, but this time was way more intense. Next week, I'm heading to Pennsylvania in search of another wild turkey. Man I could end it right here if I had too. Check out the pics of this fine Indiana longbeard. Good luck to all and God bless.
David E.
First pic is from the firetower, which I used to scour the ground I was hunting. Obviously, it is open to the public.
Indiana Longbeard bites the dust!
