LoessHillsArcher
PMA Member
Up until this year, I hadn't turkey hunted myself for 5 years. I think hours upon hours upon hours upon hours upon hours upon hours upon hours upon hours upon hours upon hours upon hours upon hours upon hours upon hours upon hours upon hours upon hours upon hours upon hours upon hours upon hours upon hours of sitting in a blind burned me out on turkey hunting years ago. But this year we had gotten the itch again.
In April I shot a bird in the first 30 minutes of hunting during 2nd season, just a jake but I was excited. It was too quick and fun of a hunt... so I went and got a 4th season tag! Fastforward to this weekend. Up to this point, while chasing birds during 4th season I had a few close calls with birds but no shots.
Well Saturday afternoon around 1pm; Russ, Preson, and myself were heading out to move a deer stand. Right before leaving I threw in a camo shirt, facemask, gloves, mouth call, gun, and turkey fan... just incase.
We go do our stand work, and Russ is driving back to the farm. For some reason he keeps driving past the building and goes around the farm... "ok?" I think to myself. Well we go up the road and I spot 2 birds along the field edge. Russ drops me off, I put on my camo shirt but still had blue jeans on... oh well. I run around to a ridge top near where these birds were and start slowly working my way through the timber. It is THICKKKKKK in the timber right now. I'd sit down, call, and listen for a little bit (had to rely on listening in the timber since you could only see about 20yds when sitting on the ground)... move 30yds... call/listen... move 30yds...etc. You get the picture. The only sign of life as I worked through the timber was a doe that walked 10yds from me, which was cool, but no turkeys. I finally had snuck my way through the timber and knew I was getting close to where we had spotted the birds from the road. I put the fan infront of my face, clicked the safety off the gun, and raised up to peak over the weeds/brush in the timber.
There it was, a turkey head right infront of me, ~30-40yds away I'd guess! But I couldn't tell what it was... hen, jake, tom? I had to lower down and think about this... I listened for any alarm puts from the bird, but nothing.. they weren't spooked! So I made a few soft yelps with the mouth call. Then slowly raised the fan again, gun shouldered, and the bird was still there... but I still couldn't tell what it was. So I lowered back down, still not sure what I'm looking at. I make a few more soft calls and slid my way closer just a couple more yards. Now I was right on the edge of the ridge so when I peaked my head up I would be able to get the best view of the bird. I raise the fan, wave it around, and I can hear the bird coming at me... and getting close! I hold the fan/gun with my left hand, shoulder the gun, right finger on the trigger, raise up... and there is the bird right infront of me. I let it walk a couple steps, I can tell it isn't a hen, and at 14yds I let it have it!
Russ and Preston came to take some pics and check it out!
This last picture is kind of graphic... So I will just post a link incase someone doesn't want to see it. But this turkey got hit hard... the other side of his head was the impact side
click HERE for picture
In April I shot a bird in the first 30 minutes of hunting during 2nd season, just a jake but I was excited. It was too quick and fun of a hunt... so I went and got a 4th season tag! Fastforward to this weekend. Up to this point, while chasing birds during 4th season I had a few close calls with birds but no shots.
Well Saturday afternoon around 1pm; Russ, Preson, and myself were heading out to move a deer stand. Right before leaving I threw in a camo shirt, facemask, gloves, mouth call, gun, and turkey fan... just incase.
We go do our stand work, and Russ is driving back to the farm. For some reason he keeps driving past the building and goes around the farm... "ok?" I think to myself. Well we go up the road and I spot 2 birds along the field edge. Russ drops me off, I put on my camo shirt but still had blue jeans on... oh well. I run around to a ridge top near where these birds were and start slowly working my way through the timber. It is THICKKKKKK in the timber right now. I'd sit down, call, and listen for a little bit (had to rely on listening in the timber since you could only see about 20yds when sitting on the ground)... move 30yds... call/listen... move 30yds...etc. You get the picture. The only sign of life as I worked through the timber was a doe that walked 10yds from me, which was cool, but no turkeys. I finally had snuck my way through the timber and knew I was getting close to where we had spotted the birds from the road. I put the fan infront of my face, clicked the safety off the gun, and raised up to peak over the weeds/brush in the timber. There it was, a turkey head right infront of me, ~30-40yds away I'd guess! But I couldn't tell what it was... hen, jake, tom? I had to lower down and think about this... I listened for any alarm puts from the bird, but nothing.. they weren't spooked! So I made a few soft yelps with the mouth call. Then slowly raised the fan again, gun shouldered, and the bird was still there... but I still couldn't tell what it was. So I lowered back down, still not sure what I'm looking at. I make a few more soft calls and slid my way closer just a couple more yards. Now I was right on the edge of the ridge so when I peaked my head up I would be able to get the best view of the bird. I raise the fan, wave it around, and I can hear the bird coming at me... and getting close! I hold the fan/gun with my left hand, shoulder the gun, right finger on the trigger, raise up... and there is the bird right infront of me. I let it walk a couple steps, I can tell it isn't a hen, and at 14yds I let it have it!
Russ and Preston came to take some pics and check it out!
This last picture is kind of graphic... So I will just post a link incase someone doesn't want to see it. But this turkey got hit hard... the other side of his head was the impact side
click HERE for picture
