An amazing end
This past week my friend and I were drawn for a permit only gameland. I've been trying to get him on a turkey for 3 years and something always happens to prevent him from getting the shot. He's moved when he should have stayed still, had birds hang up out of range, and just had bad luck. He had family commitments on Saturday so his time was limited. We had high hopes that this weekend would be the one. I toted my gun but had no intention of using it.
James was delayed getting to the GL Thursday and arrived shortly after lunch. I was stuck at work getting text messages about hearing a gobble and a quick recap of the early afternoon. He had a longbeard come to the field but hang up at ~70 yards. Eventually the bird wandered off after not seeing the hen. I finally arrived around 4pm and we made a game plan to try and roost a bird for the next morning. Neither of us heard anything that evening so we had a general starting point for Friday.
Nothing happened until ~8am when we heard the first gobble 300+ yards away so we headed off in his direction and got set up. Long story short, he skirted us and ended up 75 yards from our original starting point so we backed around and came up a firebreak. He blew our hats off with a gobble and we dove off the trail. Once again he skirted us at ~75 yards the whole time gobbling like a fool. By this time it was approaching 11am. The bird had wandered off and stopped gobbling. We decided to come back after lunch and try to pick him back up. On the way out we saw him in a field and he pegged us in the woods. He didn't spook too badly and quickly walked off.
After lunch we decided to set up in a shady spot just off the edge of the field. James was slightly in front and to my right. The only shot James couldn't take because of a limb was to his 9 o'clock. Some time had passed when James whispered to me that he heard something walking to his right. About that time the gobbler is standing 12' away from us. The bird simply turned around and walked off. Not two minutes later two jakes appeared directly in front of us but were so close together there was no shot opportunity. It seemed like status quo for James. Any legal bird was fair game because he had never killed one. I gave him the green light whenever he felt he had a shot once we confirmed both birds were jakes. The jakes were walking with a hen and she was leading them away. The branch that prevented James from shooting to his left was also obscuring my view. James took a shot and both jakes jumped into the air and ran off as soon as they landed. It turns out that they had really moved out and were well past 60 yards when he paced off the shot.
All the turkeys stayed in the field but moved to our far left, out of sight unless we really stretched out. We stayed put just in case, we also didn't have a reason to leave given the fact the birds were still around. At 6:30pm we were watching a larger bird cross the field moving away toward some big woods. I hit the call and he didn't pay any attention so I hit it again a little louder/aggressive. The bird turned toward us and his head lit up like a light bulb. From 150 yards it looked like a white dot on top of a black ball. He started to walk away again so I made some soft chatter and he double gobbled and headed straight for us. When he dipped below our line of sight I told James to get ready and that if it tried to cross the trail to my left (my only shot) I wasn't going to let him get by. After an agonizingly long time I spotted movement to my 10 o'clock. With James blocked out I clicked off the safety and put the red dot where I last saw his head. The next time he stuck his head up I took the shot. We were taking pictures at 7pm. Other than a two hour break for lunch we were on this bird for almost 11 hours, had him at 70 yards twice, 12' once, and even took a long poke at a jake and hour earlier. It was a great battle and we were able to stay in the game the whole time.
I looked at him and could only say sorry. We worked hard to get him in a position to kill that turkey but his streak continues. I wasn't ready to end my season and had no intentions of doing so this past weekend. Turkey season was exactly what I had been looking forward to sitting in the hospital praying we would get to this point. I have been blessed by many things this spring.
I'm going to try and call one in for him still and am looking at trying VA as soon as work clears a little.
What a rookie looks like after having a turkey triple gobble in front of you, but in thick brush and out of range.
18# 10oz, 9", 1" & 1-1/8"
First gobbler for this M1. Sumtoy choke and LB #6's'
Last edited by gooseaholic; 04-17-2017 at 10:03 PM.
Vegetarian: Native American for Piss Poor Hunter
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Originally Posted by JABIII
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