meyeri
PMA Member
Well to say my first turkey hunt of the season was interesting would be an understatement. To make a long story short I had a gun malfunction with two toms in range my first moring out. After a afternoon wasted cleaning and reassembling my gun I learned that 15 year old Hoppes gun oil coagulates the guts of a gun pretty good.
The next morning I was back in the area where I called in the two toms on the first day and there were birds all around again. They went silent once they flew down and besides the occasional gobble here and there nothing seemed too interested. It was pretty windy so about 9:00 I decided to change my setup to the top of a ridge so I had a better view.
I generally do a series of calls with a mouth and slate call to sound like two hens then go quiet for 15-20 minutes. I did my typical call sequence then pulled out my phone to check my e-mails for the first time that day. I was busy replying to a message when a gobble startled me and I look up to see a tom, half strutting about 100 yds away and closing fast. I dropped my phone and slid my gun into position and waited for him to close the distance. He kept strutting and gobbling coming straight my direction. Perfect! Only problem was that he never turned for the deeks, he just kept coming. Realizing that he was gonna be in some really thick stuff in another couple yards I put the bead on him and squeezed the trigger at 30 yds.
He rolled at the shot and I brought my gun down thinking he was done. Wrong! He righted himself and started walking away! Yep that's right walking. I quickly shouldered the gun and tried to shoot again but I didn't cycle another shell after the shot so nothing happened. Crap! I pumped it and pumped another round in him....then another. This bird wasn't impressed so he just kept on walking away!
I sat there dumbfounded in disbelief as he crested the hill at what just happened. I loaded the gun and walked to where I first shot him to discover I had also killed two sapling trees about the diameter of my thumb; sheered them right in half. That explains why the first shot didn't kill him. I walked the timber for about 20 minutes looking for him and I was about to give up but I knew he was one hurting unit since he walked away instead of flying or running.
I started searching some really thick multi flora stuff about 100 yds from the shot and found him; still alive, bedded down in the middle of a thick patch. Sheesh this bird is tough as nails. I finished him off finally!
Funny thing is that while I was cleaning him I didn't find a single BB in any of the meat. My guess is that besides the first shot the 2nd and 3rd were so far away that they bounced off, merely adding to the concussed drunken walk he was doing.
He was young with 1/2 inch spurs, a 6 inch beard and around 18 lbs I'm guessing. It wasn't pretty but persistance paid off!
The next morning I was back in the area where I called in the two toms on the first day and there were birds all around again. They went silent once they flew down and besides the occasional gobble here and there nothing seemed too interested. It was pretty windy so about 9:00 I decided to change my setup to the top of a ridge so I had a better view.
I generally do a series of calls with a mouth and slate call to sound like two hens then go quiet for 15-20 minutes. I did my typical call sequence then pulled out my phone to check my e-mails for the first time that day. I was busy replying to a message when a gobble startled me and I look up to see a tom, half strutting about 100 yds away and closing fast. I dropped my phone and slid my gun into position and waited for him to close the distance. He kept strutting and gobbling coming straight my direction. Perfect! Only problem was that he never turned for the deeks, he just kept coming. Realizing that he was gonna be in some really thick stuff in another couple yards I put the bead on him and squeezed the trigger at 30 yds.
He rolled at the shot and I brought my gun down thinking he was done. Wrong! He righted himself and started walking away! Yep that's right walking. I quickly shouldered the gun and tried to shoot again but I didn't cycle another shell after the shot so nothing happened. Crap! I pumped it and pumped another round in him....then another. This bird wasn't impressed so he just kept on walking away!
I sat there dumbfounded in disbelief as he crested the hill at what just happened. I loaded the gun and walked to where I first shot him to discover I had also killed two sapling trees about the diameter of my thumb; sheered them right in half. That explains why the first shot didn't kill him. I walked the timber for about 20 minutes looking for him and I was about to give up but I knew he was one hurting unit since he walked away instead of flying or running.
I started searching some really thick multi flora stuff about 100 yds from the shot and found him; still alive, bedded down in the middle of a thick patch. Sheesh this bird is tough as nails. I finished him off finally!
Funny thing is that while I was cleaning him I didn't find a single BB in any of the meat. My guess is that besides the first shot the 2nd and 3rd were so far away that they bounced off, merely adding to the concussed drunken walk he was doing.
He was young with 1/2 inch spurs, a 6 inch beard and around 18 lbs I'm guessing. It wasn't pretty but persistance paid off!
