Seth
Active Member
After passing her hunter's safety in February, my girlfriend Joanna was pretty excited about going out turkey hunting this spring. However, since she is in the final semester of college, the only time she really had was this weekend of second season. I really wanted to make it a great experience for her so I put everything I had into this weekend.
Well Saturday morning and evening were eventful and plenty of birds were seen but we couldn't draw any tommy boys away from the lady birds. Well this morning we set up in a blind on top of a bluff that was damn near underneath a roost and listened as the gobbles echoed through the wooded ravine we sat on the edge of. When that first gobbler fired off directly above us the look of excitement on Joanna's face was priceless.
A subordinate tom flew down 30 yards from the B-mobile and hen decoys we had set up and didn't even look twice before meandering down the bluff. After a few hens, a pheasant, and a deer walked within 10 yards of the blind we decided to move to a different spot. I headed back to get the truck and Joanna started taking down the blind. As I was walking along the fence I saw a fan in a bean field thru the brush and immediately snuck back to get Joanna. She grabbed her gun, I grabbed the video camera and her camo jacket since all I had on was a black longsleve- talk about fat guy in a little coat.
We crawled on our hands and knees for 70 yards and got as close as possible to the bean field. A couple different times I had to grab her foot to stop her because in all the excitement she was crawling twice the speed I was. "You gotta slow down," I'd say. And with an excited smile she just said, "sorry."
She set up on a tree facing the field and I sat 10 yards behind her and began calling. Nothing. Then I crawled up to her tree and explained to her that we just couldn't belly crawl to the edge of the field like she wanted to because there was no cover. "Alright," she said with a sigh.
Just then I see two fans and they are getting closer and I'm still stuck behind her tree. I gave a few yelps and they committed so I shut up. The camera was rolling as they strutted down the fence line all fanned up and puffed out. They came within 30 yards. "Shoot whenever you get the chance," I said. They came a step closer. "Take him!" They came a step closer. "Shoot him!" They came a step closer. "Take h- BOOOOM!!!!!!- Holy sh!t you smoked him!!!!" As he flopped on the ground my girlfriend was speechless. It was one of the greatest hunting moments I've ever had. It was the first shot she had ever taken at any game whatsoever and she executed it perfectly from 25 yards on a big turkey. My grandpa said it best when we showed him, "That's somethin' else, I've been hunting for 80 years and I've never even had a shot at one."
Apparently that hat she's wearing went from "my new IAWhitetail hat" to her new "lucky hunting hat"
The tree behind and to the left of us was the one she was set up on and where we are at was about where the bird dropped.
Ground measurements were:
23 1/2 lbs.
9 inch beard
1 3/8 & 1 1/4 spurs
Kinda puts my 1st season jake to shame
Too bad I can't use her bird for the turkey contest.
FYI She might be featured telling her story on Joe Wilkinson's noon hour segment this friday the 27th on KGAN and I also think she might be in an upcoming column of his in the Press Citizen. So if anyone in the area is interested it should be a good one.
Well Saturday morning and evening were eventful and plenty of birds were seen but we couldn't draw any tommy boys away from the lady birds. Well this morning we set up in a blind on top of a bluff that was damn near underneath a roost and listened as the gobbles echoed through the wooded ravine we sat on the edge of. When that first gobbler fired off directly above us the look of excitement on Joanna's face was priceless.
A subordinate tom flew down 30 yards from the B-mobile and hen decoys we had set up and didn't even look twice before meandering down the bluff. After a few hens, a pheasant, and a deer walked within 10 yards of the blind we decided to move to a different spot. I headed back to get the truck and Joanna started taking down the blind. As I was walking along the fence I saw a fan in a bean field thru the brush and immediately snuck back to get Joanna. She grabbed her gun, I grabbed the video camera and her camo jacket since all I had on was a black longsleve- talk about fat guy in a little coat.
We crawled on our hands and knees for 70 yards and got as close as possible to the bean field. A couple different times I had to grab her foot to stop her because in all the excitement she was crawling twice the speed I was. "You gotta slow down," I'd say. And with an excited smile she just said, "sorry."
She set up on a tree facing the field and I sat 10 yards behind her and began calling. Nothing. Then I crawled up to her tree and explained to her that we just couldn't belly crawl to the edge of the field like she wanted to because there was no cover. "Alright," she said with a sigh.
Just then I see two fans and they are getting closer and I'm still stuck behind her tree. I gave a few yelps and they committed so I shut up. The camera was rolling as they strutted down the fence line all fanned up and puffed out. They came within 30 yards. "Shoot whenever you get the chance," I said. They came a step closer. "Take him!" They came a step closer. "Shoot him!" They came a step closer. "Take h- BOOOOM!!!!!!- Holy sh!t you smoked him!!!!" As he flopped on the ground my girlfriend was speechless. It was one of the greatest hunting moments I've ever had. It was the first shot she had ever taken at any game whatsoever and she executed it perfectly from 25 yards on a big turkey. My grandpa said it best when we showed him, "That's somethin' else, I've been hunting for 80 years and I've never even had a shot at one."
Apparently that hat she's wearing went from "my new IAWhitetail hat" to her new "lucky hunting hat"
The tree behind and to the left of us was the one she was set up on and where we are at was about where the bird dropped.
Ground measurements were:
23 1/2 lbs.
9 inch beard
1 3/8 & 1 1/4 spurs
Kinda puts my 1st season jake to shame
Too bad I can't use her bird for the turkey contest.
FYI She might be featured telling her story on Joe Wilkinson's noon hour segment this friday the 27th on KGAN and I also think she might be in an upcoming column of his in the Press Citizen. So if anyone in the area is interested it should be a good one.
