Heart pounding hunt yesterday
#1
Heart pounding hunt yesterday
Went up to my land yesterday afternoon after work to get a quick hunt in. I went to a spot where a couple of hens have been hanging out. Didn't see anything last weekend but figured this would be a logical place to start out. I couldn't set up on the tree I wanted to because the afternoon sun was right in my face. I got set up and started a series of yelps on my slate call. After calling off and on for about 10 minutes I decided to use a mouth call. On my second series a gobbler cut loose less than 75 yards from behind me and to my left. Right where the hens have been hanging out. I knew I was in trouble. I was set up in a group of small pines well hidden but could not see at all to my left. I didn't dare call now because I knew he was right behind me somewhere. I'm sitting there not moving a muscle when I here him coming up directly behind me. I swear he was less than 15 feet behind me. My heart was pounding at this point. He was standing right behind me for about 5 minutes before he moved a little to my right. I turned my head ever so slightly to my right to see if I could catch movement. He was breathing down my neck. I thought about stories where turkeys attack people and I thought man, this guy is going to attack me. Finally he moved some more to my right. I couldn't stand it anymore and slowly turned my head. There were two gobblers. When I turned they saw me move but didn't totally spook. They weren't sure what I was. I had to make a move. When the larger of the two went behind a large pine I quickly made my move. They saw me and took off running but the smaller of the two took off a little too late. He gave me a good shot trotting away at about 20 to 25 yards. I put him down. I couldn't get a shot at the larger one but this one will do just fine. He weighed 17 pounds, beard was 7 inches, and his spurs were 3/4 of an inch. He's not huge but I'm proud of him.