I did it this morning guys in NY....what a thrill! Story below...I copied from elsewhere....too much to re-write all over again,lol. Enjoy!
"The One" as I have nicknamed him..."The One" I've been chasing for a good week now and had missed....now has my tag on him!!!
Here's the story:
Went out last night, no shock gobble from him to my owl call so no idea where exactly he was roosted. When my alarm went off, I thought "I have 2 more weeks" and I have pinning ceremony tonight, so I went back to sleep. Got up at quarter to 8...saw it was sunny and nice out, decided I go out, told mom adios,lol. It was warmer so I could dress light.
I head over to the corn field and as I'm walking down the edge, see a turkey way down in the bottom of the field. I hide behind a pine tree branch and sit down...looks like a hen. I wait, give some calls then I hear a gobble! Ah ha! I thought maybe it was the jake. Well I wait then stand up and peek down and there he is, "The One" in a full strut....and the hen having a dust bath. Well I stand there trying to decide what to do and make my mind up to sneak around and get below him, thinking maybe they'll go in the woods there. I make it down to the one corner, can see him...I call, he gobbles, but won't budge. I decide to sneak way down through the woods, around and up over to the backside of him in the other corner. I get there and belly crawl my way towards a tree inside the woods from the field. I see movement and there's a hen out in front of me and there's him out in the field strutting. Well the hen was the bearded hen I've seen for 4-5 years now!! I thought about shooting her if I had a shot then changed my mind. I spooked her off on purpose but she appeared to be leaving to nest anyway. Well he's all alone and every time I yelp, he gobbles...this went on for 15-20 minutes then finally he stops and walks over towards this cut through to a grassy field. I move over the small ridge top incase he comes down this side....and I see him stoppd, looking. Not knowing if he'd seen me or not, he continues on but up the grassy field and away. Well I decide to cut back through the woods up to the corner I've been setting up in previously. I get there, put my hen decoy out, and wait 20 minutes before I call. I sit there thinking wouldn't it be great if he comes around the corner up there and down the field slope like that jake did...Well after the 3rd set of soft clucks, purrs, and a couple yelps, he gobbles and I look up, there he is standing at the corner of the hill in the field!
I started praying right then and there....he slowly walks down the field, then parallel across the hill and that's when he finally saw my decoy maybe...he did a strut, then stood looking, I gave a few yelps....finally he starts walking for sure towards me and I know he's going to come in. I'm still praying. He stops, his head out and at 30 yards (I paced it off afterwards) I squeeze the trigger, red dot on his neck and BOOM! He flops right on his back, that was it! Nailed him! Oh my gosh, the adrenaline rish was crazy, I shook so hard and was saying thank you Lord...tears started to well up,lol
I walked out to him, he was giving a few kicks but otherwise dead in his tracks! I walked back and put my camera on and took a quick video of me retrieveing him and bringing him back. I'll post it all for ya later but here's a couple pics for now. I shot him at 11:21am....the latest I've ever taken a gobbler....And what is special is I have pinning later tonight so thank you Lord for a great day!
Oh yes, 9" beard, 3/4" spurs, and 20lbs.
Who says you can't sleep in and tag a bird...!?
