To say that the last day of hunting was exciting would be an understatement. As I left work today I debated going to the woods one last time to see if I could bag one more gobbler. I am glad that I decided to go because I had an eyefull and came home with a two-bearded bird.
I went to my usual spot and looked over the field with my field glasses and as I was panning the field I saw a good sized gobbler strutting about 175 yards in front of me. So I hit my call a couple of times and he didn' t respond and when I panned the field again I could see the reason for his ignoring me. He was courting two hens and was doing everything possible to get their attention. From studying the field and turkey movement other afternnoons, I know which direction he would be heading and so I went to the corner of the field to my right and moved in a right angle to where I thought the turkey would move. For the first 75 yards I crawled on my hands and knees through some tall grass trying to stay low and get closer to the turkey. As I came to the plateau I knew he wouldn' t be far so I got on my stomach and crawled another 100 yards at a right angle to the bird. After crawling for about 20 minutes I elected to get a better view and so I looked up and he was strutting at 60 yards. He was moving faster so I picked up the pace and moved another 20 yards and took another look. Amazingly enough he was now at about 45 yards and stopped to look in my direction. When I took a peek I thought it was all over as I was afraid of spooking him. I stayed low and waited to see what he would do. After a couple of minutes of strutting he decided to come over and see what was moving the tall grass. As I looked up he was in full strut coming at me and while on my stomach I aimed and when he stuck his neck out I fired and dropped him in his tracks. He was at 17 paces and would have gotten closer if I hadn' t shot.
After getting him to the car he weighed only 17 lbs but had two beards. One was 9 1/2" and the other was 6 5/8" . His spurs measured 1 1/8" and 1 3/16" . This is only the second bird I have shot and now I have a non-typical to add to my trophy room. Can' t tell you how exciting it was to have moved into that bird and shot him as he was coming to me. I will have pictures later.
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Remember, life is simple. Love God, your family and your country.
Last Day Success
