As noted on previous posts, I bagged my first gobbler of the year this past Tuesday. On Wednesday, I called in a bird gobbling about 100 times only to have him hang up at some thick vegetation and even though I tried to circle him, a hen ended up taking him away. Well Thursday I didn't think things could get any better, but I would be proved wrong. I set up at the same tree that I bagged the gobbler on Monday and put out my single hen decoy about 10 yards to my left. Not hearing any gobbles from the roost, I began yelping softly just after flydown time and then about every 20 minutes to 1/2 hour after that. I also varied the call I was using each time between 4 of my calls as I had done on Tues. and Weds. which seemed to be successful. The morning was uneventful until 8:00 when I heard a hen answer my last series of calls. Each time I would yelp, she would yelp back, and it sounded like she was getting closer and closer. I hoped she was bringing a big boy with her. As I watched down over the ridge with my binoculars, I saw another hunter walking about 200 yards in front of me yelping away like a hen. I stopped answering him when I saw what was going on and when I did, he started moving toward me. When he got close enough to hear me, I called out to him to let him know I was there. He waved and turned around and headed back in the direction that he had come from. It was about 8:30 when he disappeared into the woods. I was undecided about moving to another spot or to stay where I was, but I decided to stay put. After letting the area calm down for about 1/2 hour, I did another series of calls, and when I put my call down, I heard a gobble answer me about 200 yards down over the ridge and slightly to my right. I waited a few minutes and yelped again to let him know exactly where I was, and I was immediately answered and it sounded closer. I had set up about 30 yards above the ridge line in hopes the gobbler would have to come within range before he found the hen, so I couldn't see him yet. I clucked on my mouth call about 5 times and again he gobbled a lot closer. I figured I would shut up and let him come look for the hen. I positioned my body toward where I had heard him gobble last, and I thought he would come over the ridge directly in front of me. He had been gobbling continuously as he came up the ridge, but all of a sudden he stopped. I figured this was it and he was looking for the hen. I kept looking for the white head to appear on the ridge line, but instead I heard him walking in the leaves just below the ridge. I could tell he was moving to my right rather than coming directly up over the ridge. I quickly moved my body and gun toward where I heard the leaves crackling, and out of the corner of my eye, I saw him come up over the ridge and stand on a trail about 20 yards farther to the right than whereI thought he would. He seemed to be looking in the direction of my decoy, but all I could see was his body, his head was behind a small tree. I adjusted my gun in his direction, but wasn't able to shift my body because I thought he might see that. He decided he was going to draw the hen over to him so he walked into the woods circling farther to my right and immediately started spitting and strutting. Each time he would spit, he would immediately got into a strut and then come back out of it and take a step or 2 forward. Each time he stopped, his head was behind a tree. My arms were beginning to ache because I wasn't supporting my gun with my knees which were still pointing more toward my front. I decided I couldn't allow him to circle around behind me and that the next time he came out of his dance I would let him have it. He was approximately 25 yards from me at this time. He strutted one more time, took two steps into an opening, his head went up, I fired and he immediately took off, and in about 2 seconds he was up over the trees and sailing down over the mountain! I sat there dumbfounded, not believing what I had just done. All I can say was in all the excitement, when the head went up, I think I forgot to aim?? You always hear about the big one that got away, but this guy had about a ten inch beard and was a beautiful specimen of a bird!! I thanked God for the great experience and for the fact that I didn't just wound this spectacular animal and that he cleanly got away. This only adds to the respect I have for the survival abilities of the wild turkey. But, please somebody tell me this has happened to them!!

Also, if someone can tell me how to submit a picture, I have a good picture of the bird I took on Tuesday I would like to post.

One last thing, I have learned a lot from this site in the last 3 years I have been trying to learn this great sport of turkey hunting. My thanks to all for your great suggestions and stories. From your experiences, us newer guys are able to catch on a bit quicker and boy is it paying off.

Thanks again!!

Box Call

host your pic at photobucket.com or hunt101.com , then you can go to image button on here and insert the properties, make sure you have , then the pics will be up.......[8D]