Confessions from a Turkey Addict

[engfish]

Season G was unbelievable. The weather was perfect--almost too warm some days--and there were active birds in our area.

I have been entertained, inspired, and educated by the various posts. Everytime I hear negative talk about hunters, this forum is a great reminder of what it's all about. DonBo said it best, "It's about the gobble not the gobbler." Thanks to everyone for sharing your joys, your frustrations,your questions, and your tips. And the pictures. I've never seen so many beautiful birds and so many great smiles, especially from the younger generation.

The guy that I took turkey hunting last year didn't get a bird. Worst of all, he wasn't with me the morning I knocked down my first turkey. I promised him that this year was his time and that I would do everything I could to make sure that he got a bird--or at least a shot at a bird.

I scouted as much as I could this past spring on both properties we have permission to hunt. When the season began last Friday, I was confident that we would see birds but I was concerned by the number of hunters who were having trouble getting the birds to come in to the decoys. I opted to go without any decoys (a first for me)and try to set up on locations where the birds would need to move closer to cover to "find" the hen. Unfortunately, Friday was very windy, and I didn't hear a single gobbler in the morning, but I did see a few birds working a CRP field that was adjacent to the property. I made the decision to set my buddy up in a blind on Saturday and hoped the birds would come to us.

Saturday morning the woods lit up like it was April. It seemed like there were gobblers all around us. And mosquitos! I was never so glad in all my life to have a bug suit and a head net. It served me well the entire season. My heart was pounding, and I was sure that we were only minutes away from having one of the big boys moving toward us. I'd like to say I used a lot of "soft calling," but I got a little too excited. And the birds moved off into the wooded areas and ravines behind us. I made the decision to relocate on a wooded hillside adjacent to a crop field where I had bagged my tom last spring.

We walked several hundred yards before we had to do a sneak down a steep wooded hillside with a lot of dead downfall and lots of emerging vegetation. We tried to stay on the deer trails as much as possible, but I could't believe how dry it was despite the rainfall the previous two weeks. I wasn't sure that we could get close enough to the field edge without spooking any birds nearby.

As we got near the bottom of the hillside, my buddy stopped and pointed into the field. There was a gobbler in full strut on the other side of the field. I gave him a sign that I though indicated "I see the bird. I'm going to set up next to this tree and call. You set up next to that tree and get ready." Apparently, my hand signals and gesturing were misinterpreted. He sat down next to his tree, and before I could get set up to call, he fired at the gobbler! The second shot was when it took flight. When I asked him why he shot before I had a chance to call him in closer, he said, "I thought you were telling me to shoot!" Needless to say, there was a short tutorial on the way back to the vehicles about hand signals and effective killing range on a turkey for the next morning's hunt...

After two days of hard hunting and scouting and very little sleep, I was dragging my tail on Sunday morning when we hit the same property on Sunday morning. It was another beautiful day, but it came as no surprise to me when we heard not one gobble. I was a little irritated to say the least, and I was kicking myself for not going to the other property. My gut and my fatigue told me that we should go back to the same field where he had missed the previous morning.

So once again, we did the sneak back down the steep hillside trying not to make any noise. I kept shooshing my buddy who seemed to be snapping every branch I was avoiding. By the time we got set up, we were within 25 yards of our previous set up on Saturday morning. Sweat was poring down my face, and the bugs were having the time of their lives at my expense. I was tired and miserable but I started calling softly and napping in between. Just when I was about ready to call it a morning and head in for a late morning breakfast and nap, we finally heard a gobble. It was quite a ways off, but we both gave each other the thumbs up. Soft calling brought on a few more gobbles, and the bird moved toward us.

Apparently, he was also moving toward another hunter. A loud boom erupted on a nearby property. I laughed a little bit and said to him, "There goes your bird."

At this point I was too tired to move just yet, so we waited. Within ten minutes, from across the field in a wooded ravine, we hear another gobble and it was coming right toward us. Within a minute, a hen popped out of the woods and started walking right toward us. I stopped calling and she got within ten yards of us and then moved up the hillside into the CRP field on top. She didn't bust us, and the gobbler was still coming. A few more soft clucks and yelps brought him out of the woods--with two jakes--and it was game on.

The gobbler was intent on chasing off the jakes, so I could whisper to my buddy to get ready. I could hear him breathing hard, so I kept whispering "Patient. Patient." while the gobbler was bobbing and weaving trying to get both of the jakes off the field. He strutted once, and it looked like a bad picket fence. About every other tail feather seemed to be missing. He looked like he had been through a war! But he was a nice-sized tom, and he was making his way toward us.

Every time I thought he was getting ready to shoot, I'd whisper softly "No." I think I said it about five times. So when the bird moved into perfect range broadside within the opening of our natural blind, I said as quietly as possible "Now." He didn't shoot. So I said it again. "Now." He still didn't shoot. I was thinking to myself, "He must have gobbler fever! He can't shoot." Then I realized, he probably thought I was still saying "No" when I was saying "Now."

By this time, my heart was pounding and I hissed at him in a slightly louder whisper, "Shoot!" And he did. He flopped the big tom over on his side. The jakes didn't fly and I considered taking one of them to fill my tag, but since it was only Sunday morning, I left my gun in the woods and sprinted down the last ten yards of the hillside and stepped on the gobbler's head--just in case--during his last death thrashes. When the tom finally quieted, I picked him up off the ground and saw the double-beard! I lifted the bird up and shouted back at my buddy, "You lucky sonofa---! It's got a double-beard!"

He made his way down to field, gave me a high five, and said, "You did a great job guiding. What an awesome bird."

I think I smiled for the rest of the day. I was just as happy as he was. Maybe even happier.

This morning when I got up, I looked out the window and saw the dark clouds moving in from the west and wished I was out hunting again this morning. Those birds would have been active before the storm finally hit.

I can't wait for next year. Thanks to everyone for a great season of turkey hunting, and good luck to those of you hunting this final season. Once that rain stops this morning, they're going to be coming onto those fields again. Get ready!

[DonBo]

Great story engfish. Congrats to you and your buddy on a hard earned late season gobbler! Good luck with the rest of your hunt. Wish I was there.

[123fish]

Great story. Persistence pays off again. You left the part out about how you had to go home and change your underoos when he shot at that first bird unexpectedly. Sounds like your buddy learned his lesson though. Congrats. Stories like yours keep the flame alive. Just got off of Google Earth checking out our Nebraska spots before I came on to this site. Hard to let it go once your season is done like Don said.

[engfish]

No "underoos" needed to be changed, but my attitude needed a little adjustment.

I couldn't help swinging by one of my fields after doing some errands. Nothing there but two HUGE toms with four jakes and two hens on a field just off the Straight River. This was at 5:30 PM!

I'm dying...

[Shu]

Great story, must have been nice to bag that tom.

[mknolls]

Way to go with the patience and taking the time to introduce some one else to the field. Doesn't matter what type of hunt one's on as long as we teach what we all love. Great story and a nice finish. I still get my heart rate up long after my hunt is done for turkey. I still slam on the brakes make traffic behind me call out a few names in my direction as I pull over grab my binoculars and scan a field for a wildly animal that I love to watch and pursue and try to learn from as they are all smarter then one may think. Still amazing to see all the animals that I pursue in the field and how stunning they look in there habitat. Nothing like the outdoors and sharing with others who view it the same way. Thanks again for the recall.

[Grayfox]

Thanks for sharing your story,Engfish. I'm with ya. Helping someone else fill their tag,whatever it may be, is far more rewarding for me as well. I think the adrenalin runs a little faster and like you said, the smiles seem to last all day.

Rob

[Borch]

Way to go English!

The ups and downs of turkey hunting are what draws us to it.

Congrats on an exciting hunt and sharing it with a buddy to get his first bird!