The quest for 80.
Honest to god, I'd sell my soul to kill a natural bird that scored in the 80's. No cheating. 1 beard. 2 spurs. No extra credit.
Once April comes, I'll be in full turkey mode. It's kinda sick - I start leaving for work early and riding the local back roads scouting birds - locating, cold calling, watching, listening, then banging on doors on the way home.The next step is to start glassing them in the evenings with the varmint gun, trying to find that one-in-a-million prehistoricheavyweight tom with true 1.5"+ dagger hooks and a paintbrush rope.
I'd love to leave my name in the record books with a natural 80 pointer.I've taken 2 naturals that scored around 75 or better. Either one, had I had them professionally scored, would've made Page 1 of the NWTF PA records page - but they won't make 80, so what's the point?
Something about those big birds - just like isolating a big buck - it's like you're hunting a different animal.The birds around here are really cautious to begin with, but even with their skittish demeanor in mind, you always know right away when you're into one of the big boys. These birds(if you're lucky enough toget intoone) is borderline unkillable, and those arethe chessmatches that I live for. Those 5+ year old birds are the rarest of the rare in my neck of the woods. They do exist, however.
To be honest, I think I had my80 pointer a couple years ago. I glassed an absolute monster bird in a cut hayfield one spring evening. Isnaked my way into a pasture field200 yards out and zoomed in at 32x. I got one clean look at it when he lifted it out of the grass- a MONSTER hook. The biggest I'd ever seen, by far. So it began. I finally killed this bird after what had to be the most ridiculous hunt I've ever been involved in. He made a mistake and got sloppy with his sight lines - let me swing around on him to reposition - I got in his head- and it was game over.The first thing I saw when I walked up was a left spur that hookedlike a boomerang- pushing 1-3/4" - it was ready to break off (already cracked). Unbelievable. Other spur was broken offclean at 1/2" on the right. The beard was rotted off at 5" and his weight was already down from breeding. So, my "80 pointer" wound up netting out about 50. [>:] I know, the score doesn't dilute the accomplishment...but...
It's just so damn hard to age a turkey in the field. Short of slithering into position and glassing hislegs - it's a guessing game. I can almost always distinguish a 3-year old from a 2, just based on their mannerisms. But in the rare event that you're into a 5+, all bets are off. They might sound raspy - like a jake, their self-preservation instincts are unreal, and they're just so much different. And you only get one tag, so once you pull the trigger - you'd better be sure it's the bird you want. You can look a buck's rack and say "120." But you just can't look at a turkey in the field and say "70+." There's always an element of the unknown.
To me - the holy grail of turkey hunting isn't the grand slam - it's the 80. Anyone with a bank account can shoot 4 turkeys. But can you kill the unkillable?
So? Who here has a natural 80 hanging on their wall?