quiksilver

A couple years back, I took a chance and opted to hunt the local "big woods" instead of my lowlands honey holes. After an entire day on the go, I hadn't even heard a gobble. I kept going deeper and deeper into the game lands (about 1.5 mi.), calling with no response.

So I sat up atop a huge boulder, which was very special to me - It was where my great grandfather used to stand while running his coon hounds. I finally heard one answer, and man was he far away.

I closed the distance and he was coming, and fast. The acoustics of the hollows made him sound farther away than he really was. So, I'm stuck in the open with nowhere to hide. So, I pulled out my jake decoy, and stuck it in the ground, and crawled to about 10 yards away.

So here he comes, with six hens, strutting and gobbling up a storm. I did a couple soft purrs and tucked the call inside my cheek. Man, those hens walked right past me, at less than 5 yards. I could hear them all purring and the gobbler's drum. I couldn't move a muscle, as I was laying in the middle of the open woods, so I had to wait for him to walk into the line of fire. He finally did, and I took him at 10 yards. He had about a 9" beard, 1" spurs, and about 18#.

Definitely not my biggest bird, but one of my favorite hunts, for sure.

I was hunting with another guy, who never even heard me shoot - he was pretty far out of radio-range, as well, so I couldn't even tell him I got one. I met him back at the parking area, and he thought I was lying about killing a bird, till he saw it.