rutnstrut
PMA Member
Well I havent chased'em with a gun for a few years and was kinda missing it, so I decided to get a fourth season combo tag and run and gunnem again. So I headed out on a monday morning before work with a buddy to see if we could make it happen. We both pulled into a spot that neither of us had set foot on since deer season right at 4:30 got ready and started across the field in the general direction of where we thought theyd be. About half way across a few birds started gobbling but aways off and not where we had expected so we decided to sit there and give it a while in hopes one would gobble closer. At 5:05 I hit the coyote howler and the woods came alive the closest bird was only about 150-200yds from where we were and right where we wanted him, on a ridge I knew very well and have killed a ton of birds on back when I only gun hunted so we set off in that direction and just kept getting closer and closer until I didnt think we could go anymore without bumping him. We were set up about 60-70yds from the bird and by now he was gobbling his fool head off. I threw out a couple decoys found a tree and grabbed my slate and made a few soft purrs and tree yelps, which he responded to with double and triple gobbles. It was starting to get a little lite in the timber and we had another bird gobbling hard about 200yds behind us so I thought maybe id try to speed things up a bit so I just started to grab my wing flapper out of my vest to do a flydown and heard the bird we were set up on pitch down. So now im nervous because they had not been flying down this early the past few hunts, so I thought maybe he had seen me go for the flapper and bailed on us. Just to be sure I got my gun up to my knee and cut a few times with the slate and he answered and was headed our way FAST. Once I saw his bright head glowing through the still somewhat dark timber, it was only a matter of seconds till he was in the clear at 30yds, so I squeezed off a load of heavyshot #5's and rolled him. Dont get me wrong I love chasing these things with a bow in a blind but theres something about sitting in the wide open with your back against a tree stressing every move you make and feeling those gobbles roll through the timber like thunder thats just hard to beat, its definately a completely different way of hunting. Im glad the DNR now lets us experience the best of both worlds because thats a feeling that ive missed the last few years. The whole hunt gobble to gunshot only lasted a touch over a half hour.
Didnt get a chance to weigh him, he felt a little on the lite side anyways /forum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/wink.gif but he had an 11 3/4" beard and matching 1 1/8" spurs
Didnt get a chance to weigh him, he felt a little on the lite side anyways /forum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/wink.gif but he had an 11 3/4" beard and matching 1 1/8" spurs
