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Not as planned, but I’ll take it!

K

Kat

Guest
You know how you can get so excited about hunting the next morning that you can’t sleep? Well, that was me last night. I finally dozed off in the early hours and when the alarm went off I somehow fell back asleep. Needless to say, I wasn’t out before dawn like I had planned. No problem, I thought. It’s pretty chilly this a.m., maybe they will be late off the roost. I pulled up to my landowners about 6:15 – right before sunrise. I headed out to where I wanted to set up and wouldn’t you know it, it looked like turkeypalooza in the field. I thought maybe I could skirt around them, but no such luck. Even at 300 yards they knew better than to stick around. I kept with my alternate route, staying close to the bottom of a terrace to follow it to the corner of the field. As I rounded a bend there stood two gobblers about 60 yards away.

Like all predators, I am an opportunist, so I froze and slowly ducked down to consider my options. There was no cover and the terrain was wrong for a sneak. I was pretty much as close to them as I was going to get. Figuring I had nothing to lose, I sat down right at the bottom of the terrace. They didn’t spook, but instead seemed interested in me. I pulled out my new wingbone call, (made by IWs own DLO from one of my toms last year,) and gave a few yelps. They both cut loose, gobbling over and over again. They strutted and gobbled for me, thinking that this strange looking blob must be a hen. They put on quite a display, but they didn’t come any closer. I kept yelping softly, when another bird gobbled somewhere on the ridge behind me. That was all it took to convince these boys that they had better make the first move. They walked right up to me, and at 15 yards I let the lead bird have it. He fell like a stone and the other tom just stood there, looking at his buddy in disbelief. From several directions I could hear other toms shock-gobble at the sound of the shot. A deer snorted, and then all was quiet. He started flopping and his buddy turned on him, jumping on him and doing a victory dance. Finally I stood up just so he would leave.

I took a few pictures with the camera on a tripod. I took one in the shade and some on the other side of the field in the sun because I wasn’t sure how they would turn out. Interesting how different they look. Then I looked around for morels and found a nice batch.

It was a short but very exciting hunt, and I couldn’t have asked for a more beautiful morning. I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else in the world.
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Oops, I forgot to add that he had a 10 1/2" beard and 1 inch spurs. I don't know how much he weighed.
 
Kat..you are the bomb! Congrats. What an awesome turn of events! You must have made those good decisions out there because you were well rested with those extra minutes of sleep.
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Wow you've really got it going on.
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Sounds like a great hunt and looks like a real good bird. I'm hoping to have some luck this weekend. Congrats on your harvest, You never cease to amaze me.
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