I'm so blessed, I can't stand it ya'll. We had a couple of fellow handicapped hunters come hunt with us on Saturday. Actually they were "wounded warriors" that had just returned from.....well, over yonder
. Anyhow, the first soldier came in early on Friday so we decided to ride him around and get familiar with one another. This fellow had never killed a turkey and was extremely excited so we got right to it. I had been seeing a gobbler in a wheat field all week so we cruised over to the field and there he was in full strut. Well, we have two handicapped hunters and the bird was too far to try and get close to so we waited him out until he was out of site and had a volunteer set up a ground blind next to the truck on the edge of the field. We got him out of the truck and while sitting in his chair we just flipped the blind over him. After a bit of calling with my Primos Jackpot Glass Slate, the long beard got interested. It was the first time that this young man had even heard a turkey gobble. It wasn't long before the long beard made his way back into the field and within a couple hundred yards of us. Ya'll, my buddy was tore up bad. I thought that he was going to have a stroke right there in the blind
. Once the bird committed it was all over but the crying. Here he came, red head held high, peaking over the wheat trying to see his "girlfriend". Once the bird got within about 70 yards, he was ready to shoot but I told him to wait, be patient and enjoy the show. As if he were auditioning for a "strut your stuff video", the gobbler got about 20 yards away and let out gobble that thundered through the field. When I said "anytime you're ready" click....... KABOOM!!!! I thought that he was going to tear the blind apart trying to get out and see his prize. What a hunt!!!
On Friday afternoon, we had another hunter come in and we managed to roost a bird in the same field where I killed my big one. We got set up well before daybreak and heard him gobbling his head off not far from our position. It wasn't long before we heard him fly down into the wheat field. Just as expected he followed the mowed path around the field and wound up in our laps. It was his first harvest as well.
Both of our hunter's were successful in their hunts and we had a blast helping them. I am in no way a guide nor am I an experienced turkey hunter. As most of you know, my son and just started turkey hunting last year but we have an extremely healthy population of turkeys making harvesting a long beard a little easier that some places. Trust me, if a veteran turkey hunter came to hunt our place, he'd tag out pretty quick. Speaking of tagging out..... It was noon on the last day and I had 1 tag left so I put my gun in the truck as we started gathering blinds and stuff. It wasn't long before we rounded a curve in the dirt road and there stood a gobbler strutting. He was facing away from us and the wind was blowing pretty hard so I was able to step into the cut over next to the road and slipped up on this old boy.
We were so blessed to have harvested these three birds in only 2 days to wrap up a season that I will never forget. There is no way in the world that I could have done this without the help of the members of this forum and I really appreciate that. He had a 9 1/2" beard, 1" spurs and weighed 18 lbs.
