I QUIT!!!!!!!!!! I aint going back out turkey hunting the rest of this freakin season... Mainly becuase Im out of tags... Wacked a big Tom this morning.
We sat near a spot we expected Toms to be roosted. No gobbles at all. So rather than wait for birds to wander to me, I hopped in the truck and headed for the next farm. Went back about 1/2 way and gave a good horney hen expression. Nothing. Up the hill headed for the next call position. Got about 100 yards and heard a very faint gobble that sounded to be about 400 to 500 yards across a big bean field, and probably coming to the yelps I sounded at the bottom of the hill. At 1st I was not sure it was a gobble. But was confident enough to say lets get over to the edge of the field and set up. 3 steps later and a gobble souded at half the distance. We scrambled to the nearest tree as a gobble sounded at the field edge 40 yards away. I hit the call and the gobbles exploded and you could not shut that bird up. He was gobbling so fast I thought there was more than one for a while. The bird paced back and forth on the edge of the bean field but refused to cross over 10 more feet to where I could shoot him. He would of had to go through some tall grass, and he simply refused. I tried despertly to talk him into it for about 20 minutes, I even tried the silent treatment, and a few other little tricks. NO DEAL! Well, I certainly have not gotten to where I am at by making smart conservitive decisions, like wait till tomorrow and set up where he roosted, Sooo, I decided to crawl 15 yards with my gun camera while Dave stayed back and filmed me. I figured If I could get to a certain tree and slip to a sitting position he would only be 20 yards from me. I knew no matter how hard I tried, I was going to make noise, but my foolish pride forced me to make a move. I crawled to the tree very low actually dragging my belly (that scraped off a few of the ticks ) stopping every few yards to chirp like a turkey and make him think the freak in the grass was actually his future lover.
Once at the tree, I realized I had too much obstruction and would actually have to get even closer! At 5 more yards I could almost feel the Toms breath every time he gobbled. I knew he was closer than 15 yards and I had no cover between me and turkey breasts with gravey, except the grass I layed in. I gave him one more yelp to make him stupid and hear one more eruption of gobbles, as I pulled my knees under my chest. I quickly rose to my feet with my gun already shouldered and the gun cam on. There he was less than 15 yards away. I will never forget that look on his face that turned from lust to shock as he realized what was happening. I tried to hesitate to get as much gun cam footage as possible but it was likly only a second or two and as soon as he started to run... BLAMMMO. He rolled but got back up and took off again BLAMMO... He kept going but was looking a bit hurt. The chase was on, I sprinted behind the big tom till he collapsed and died about 40 yards from where I shot him... Got me another one.
CRAWLIN...
Dan's victory dance
We sat near a spot we expected Toms to be roosted. No gobbles at all. So rather than wait for birds to wander to me, I hopped in the truck and headed for the next farm. Went back about 1/2 way and gave a good horney hen expression. Nothing. Up the hill headed for the next call position. Got about 100 yards and heard a very faint gobble that sounded to be about 400 to 500 yards across a big bean field, and probably coming to the yelps I sounded at the bottom of the hill. At 1st I was not sure it was a gobble. But was confident enough to say lets get over to the edge of the field and set up. 3 steps later and a gobble souded at half the distance. We scrambled to the nearest tree as a gobble sounded at the field edge 40 yards away. I hit the call and the gobbles exploded and you could not shut that bird up. He was gobbling so fast I thought there was more than one for a while. The bird paced back and forth on the edge of the bean field but refused to cross over 10 more feet to where I could shoot him. He would of had to go through some tall grass, and he simply refused. I tried despertly to talk him into it for about 20 minutes, I even tried the silent treatment, and a few other little tricks. NO DEAL! Well, I certainly have not gotten to where I am at by making smart conservitive decisions, like wait till tomorrow and set up where he roosted, Sooo, I decided to crawl 15 yards with my gun camera while Dave stayed back and filmed me. I figured If I could get to a certain tree and slip to a sitting position he would only be 20 yards from me. I knew no matter how hard I tried, I was going to make noise, but my foolish pride forced me to make a move. I crawled to the tree very low actually dragging my belly (that scraped off a few of the ticks ) stopping every few yards to chirp like a turkey and make him think the freak in the grass was actually his future lover.
Once at the tree, I realized I had too much obstruction and would actually have to get even closer! At 5 more yards I could almost feel the Toms breath every time he gobbled. I knew he was closer than 15 yards and I had no cover between me and turkey breasts with gravey, except the grass I layed in. I gave him one more yelp to make him stupid and hear one more eruption of gobbles, as I pulled my knees under my chest. I quickly rose to my feet with my gun already shouldered and the gun cam on. There he was less than 15 yards away. I will never forget that look on his face that turned from lust to shock as he realized what was happening. I tried to hesitate to get as much gun cam footage as possible but it was likly only a second or two and as soon as he started to run... BLAMMMO. He rolled but got back up and took off again BLAMMO... He kept going but was looking a bit hurt. The chase was on, I sprinted behind the big tom till he collapsed and died about 40 yards from where I shot him... Got me another one.
CRAWLIN...
Dan's victory dance
