I had been chasing this gobbler all last week -with no luck at all. Every time I would call to him he would answer but go in the opposite direction. I figured he was call shy (since I wasn' t the only hunter after this bird). Saturday AM, I got to my spot quite late since I had to work late Friday night. He was gobbling but a long distance away. I hiked over to where I thought I could set up without spooking him. I set up along a stone wall with a single decoy at 20 paces from my position in a nice green meadow bordering the woods. I tried a few calls on my glass call and got a distant answer--this bird did not sound like he was desparate for company either. I thought that if I called softly and sparingly it might bring him in. I dozed off several times since I had gotten home quite late the night before. One time I opened my eyes and looked around -caught some movement and spotted a coyote (within killing range) looking my decoy over...it lost interest and wandered off. I made a few more calls and dozed off again (thinking about how peaceful it was to take a nap in this spot--certainly more quiet than the street that I live on). The last time I woke up I scanned the field edges and caught sight of a black object near an old gate. I glassed it and soon spotted red, white and blue! The tom stepped out into the field and I softly yelped to get his attention. He stood straight up and spotted my decoy. He started walking towards it -then started running, slowed to a walk, gobbled (I could barely hear his gobble). Shortly after he gobbled- two more turkeys squirted out of the area where he emerged --running straight for my decoy. When they got closer Icould see that they were jakes. The big tom immediately started chasing one of the jakes in figure of eight pattern trying spur him with each jump. I couldn' t have been more WIDE AWAKE at this point. After he got the two jakes out of his way, he went back to strutting and spitting and drumming towards my decoy. When he got to my decoy, there was no doubt in my mind that he was in killing range...I waited for him to give me a nice profile of his head...lowered the bead to the middle of his neck and squeezed the trigger. He went down immediately...the two jakes just about jumped out of their skins and starting putting ...walking back and forth ..heads held real high. They had no idea where the shot came from. I could tell my gobbler was dead, so I just watched the jakes until they walked off.
When I got over to the gobbler, I was amazed and the size of his neck and head. His neck seemed as thick as my wrist and his head was the size of a softball. I rolled him over to check his spurs---the longest and sharpest I have EVER taken. 1 1/2" with nice hooks and razor sharp. His beard was 9 1/2" long!
I got him weighed at an Agway in town ---23 lbs.!
I brought him to a taxidermist that evening. He " breasted him out " for me and knocked off $50 from his fee when I asked if I could paint the head myself. (I have one gobbler in a walking position that I painted myself back in ' 91.)
Guys and girls, I am so grateful that I had such a fantastic spring!
Thanks for listening and if you haven' t tagged out yet....here' s hoping that you all get a real nice one!
Thanks for listening!
Sleepy hunter bags NICE bird!
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