Had a great three-day hunt in Tioga County, NY. Love that Sunday hunting. Friday, I had a nice tom just out of range who got hung up. Saturday I had two red heads come into the set-up 10 mintues after fly down. I waited until they were both behind trees before bringing the gun up, only to have an unseen third spot me and take off, along with his two buddies. Sunday, I had a tom gobble to my tree yelps and purrs and then watched him fly down. I heard him coming and then nothing. A few minutes later, three hunters came strolling down the logging road. Remembering that " patience kills turkeys" , I found a nice natural blind near there, set the hen deke on a sunny mound in a logging road that ran downhill, and settled in. I called about every 20-30 mintues, soft to medium, mostly clucks and purrs with an occasional yelp and cutt sequence. I heard a couple of other guys calling.. too loud and too often, I thought. About 10, I saw a fan about 80 yards downhill in a clearing. A hen with him worked her way up the logging road towards my deke, followed by the tom about 40 yards behind her. She got even with me about 20 yards away and I tried to keep one eye on her and the other on the tom. He strutted up the road, taking his time. I knew I was on borrowed time, either with the hen or with other hunters. It was a long way, but I had 3" Hevi-Shot 5' s in the 870 12 and decided not to press my luck. When he came out from behind a stump and stuck his head up, I squeezed off the shot. I use a scope and saw him flop. I was up, with the gun on him, but he never moved. I went down there to find him piled up against another stump with at least 9 pellets in the head and neck, a broken wing and a broken thigh. I took some pics (I' ll post as soon as I get them developed) and then measured the shot -- 45 paces back to the stand. Nice two-year old bird: 17 lbs., 6.5" beard, 3/4 inch spurs. When I skinned him, I found several pellets that had passed through the body and were just under the skin on the opposite side. I' m impressed with the Hevi-Shot performance.
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Quote:
A deer is far from being such an easy animal to see as the novice is apt to suppose.
Theodore Roosevelt - Hunting Trips of a Ranchman, 1885
Great story, for shot to pass through the body of a tom is very impressive. I can' t say that I have ever seen it happen. That hevi-shot is potent stuff!
I used hevi-shot for the first time two weekends ago and was amazed at its power. I shot the first bird at about 25 yards and he went down immediately. The following day I got a double at 31 yards; both birds fell dead on impact. They were coming towards me in a staggered single file line and the second bird actually had more damage than the first! I am definately sold on hevi-shot; I have fired two rounds of it and have taken three turkeys!
New York " Tail"
