Well, I finally did it. I bagged my first Gobbler! I hunted the entire opening week (April 2nd was opening day) and every single Saturday and Sunday since then. Rain or shine I was out there running the river bottoms and trying to get a Gobbler. I had a few very close calls and a LOT of very boring days. This is my second year turkey hunting and my first year doing it on my own. I had a friend of mine call in a big Gobbler last year but I missed the shot. It was terrible. But, it all came together last Saturday morning. Here is how it went down:
I went to a new spot that was a bluff overlooking the river bottoms I had hunted before. This bird sounded off at 5:45 am and flew down shortly thereafter. He hung around the area gobbling his brains out, but he would not directly answer my calls. I clucked, cut, purred, yelped, and whistled, but nothing I did would get him to answer me. After almost an hour of hearing him gobbling around me I decided to try something new. Using a mouth call I yelped a couple of times and immediately followed that up with a gobble. He answered immediately! I knew it was on now, so I got ready for him to come in. On a side note, I don't sound very good gobbling with a mouth call. I sound a lot like a jake that is first starting to gobble. I think this actually HELPED me, as I think the Gobbler thought a jake was moving in on his turf. From then on out he would gobble at me after every yelp, cut, and cluck. I readied myself for the encounter. He fell quiet for a few minutes and then gobbled off to my right! I was confused so I yelped at him and....nothing. He then gobbled again about 5 minutes later but he was now behind me! This went on for almost another hour and a half. He was literally walking circles around me! I figured I was about to lose my shot at him, so when I heard him start his 3rd loop around me I decided to move. I picked up my decoy and worked my way down the access road about 50-60 yards and set up again. I had enough time to sit down and yelp once. He gobbled immediately and it nearly rattled my teeth. He was no more than 50 yards away and coming up the ridgeline towards me. I clicked the safety off and lined up my shot. I folded him like a cheap suite @ 30 yards. I coudln't contain myself after I saw him drop. All of the hard work learning to call, all the long hours spent sitting in the woods and not hearing anything paid off. All of the close calls I had that were so frustrating at the time each taught me something that I was able to use to make it possible to bag this Gobbler. I think he was a 3 year old bird. He had a 10" beard and 1" spurs, and he weighed in at 16lbs. Anyway, here he is:
