Your quickest hunt!
02-28-2003, 08:59 PM
#21
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: West Virginia
Posts: 7
RE: Your quickest hunt!
More often than not I have to work my tail off for a turkey, but every once in awhile the turkey God' s smile on me and it' s almost too easy...
My good hunting buddy John and I had located a roosting area of several longbeards. It was in a creek bottom just over the hill and off of an overgrown hay field. We had to cross the hay field to get in position for the hunt. We wanted to be above the birds and between them and the field we knew they liked to go as soon as they hit the ground. We had to cross the hayfield to get in position. So we couldn' t be seen we left long before daylight and crossed the field in total darkness. Thankfully it was a dark night. We didn' t use a flashlight and basically felt our way to the big tree we wanted to set against. Even before it was light a tom gobbled. We sat quietly. As dark began to fade to graylight I made a couple soft tree yelps. Two toms answered immediately! I waited a few minutes and called softly again. They responded with double and triple gobbles. I guessed the birds to be maybe 75 yards straight in front of us. I did not call again. I could make out the roll in the hill in front of us that broke to the creek bottom. That was maybe 50 yards from the base of our tree. We heard wings flap and got our guns up. I yelped maybe three times and followed it with a single cluck. Both toms responded and at that instant we saw them coming in full strut over that little break in the hill. In less than a minute they were well in gun range and when I heard John whisper shoot we both pulled triggers! We were eating breakfast at the local resturant a little after 7am! Below is a picture of John with our early double
My good hunting buddy John and I had located a roosting area of several longbeards. It was in a creek bottom just over the hill and off of an overgrown hay field. We had to cross the hay field to get in position for the hunt. We wanted to be above the birds and between them and the field we knew they liked to go as soon as they hit the ground. We had to cross the hayfield to get in position. So we couldn' t be seen we left long before daylight and crossed the field in total darkness. Thankfully it was a dark night. We didn' t use a flashlight and basically felt our way to the big tree we wanted to set against. Even before it was light a tom gobbled. We sat quietly. As dark began to fade to graylight I made a couple soft tree yelps. Two toms answered immediately! I waited a few minutes and called softly again. They responded with double and triple gobbles. I guessed the birds to be maybe 75 yards straight in front of us. I did not call again. I could make out the roll in the hill in front of us that broke to the creek bottom. That was maybe 50 yards from the base of our tree. We heard wings flap and got our guns up. I yelped maybe three times and followed it with a single cluck. Both toms responded and at that instant we saw them coming in full strut over that little break in the hill. In less than a minute they were well in gun range and when I heard John whisper shoot we both pulled triggers! We were eating breakfast at the local resturant a little after 7am! Below is a picture of John with our early double
03-01-2003, 03:58 PM
#23
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Deep in the heart of Dixie USA
Posts: 2,038
RE: Your quickest hunt!
Not counting the morning flydown, I snuck into a hollow and sat down against a tree to " cold call" . I hit the box once and a pair of 2-year-olds came a runnin' from just around a small thicket of honeysuckle. I grabbed the gun and snapped off a shot just before the horny little rascal crawled up into my lap. Killed him at 20 yards. The whole thing from the first (and only) strike on the box-- 30, maybe 45 seconds. It' ll never happen like that again.
Sometimes its better to be lucky than good.
Sometimes its better to be lucky than good.
03-04-2003, 11:52 AM
#25
Fork Horn
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: SW Virginia
Posts: 353
RE: Your quickest hunt!
I knew that a gobbler and some hens were roosting in a particular thicket, but I did not know exactly where. I picked a spot at a comfortable tree and started to call with my box. At the second cluck, a gobbler cut me off. he was CLOSE, but behind me. I eased the call down, and was reaching for my gun, when he flew down and landed five yards in front of me and began to strut. Fortunately, he went behind a tree and I got my gun up and shot him when he came out the other side. Distance 12 yards. Elapsed time seemed like an hour, but was probably closer to two minutes.
