Our turkey season started on April 14th. That was twenty days ago. I have hunted all or some of nineteen of those days. I've passed on jakes several times, but until this morning have had only two gobblers within shotgun range. The first of those was killed by a friend who was hunting with me. The second came in yesterday evening, didn't like something he saw, turned and started walking away. After all this time my chance at a gobbler was fading fast. I shot at him as he was going away........ and I MISSED him! I was quickly beginning to regret passing on those jakes.
I had been watching a different gobbler and several hens a few hundred yards away shortly before missing my shot. They were crossing a field, heading toward a tree line where I assumed they would roost for the night. So, this morning I was up at 4:00 again and headed to where I hoped those turkeys would be.
I had my decoy out and was set up just after 5:00 waiting for the gobbling to begin......and nothing. Not a peep. Most mornings the gobbling has started around 5:30 and they have flown down a little before 6:00. This morning they decided not to gobble.....or yelp, or make any noise at all that I could hear. So I yelped a few times and waited.
About 6:20 I spotted a hen crossing the field a hundred yards or so away. I started yelping and clucking at her, just to see if I could get her to come in. She looked at my decoy, and came a bit closer, but never really closed the distance. Eventually, I lost sight of her, settled down to wait some more.....and there he was. Thirty five yards away in full strut. He had slipped along the wood line to my right and was putting on a show for my decoy.
He moved a few yards closer, and I had the gun up waiting for him to clear a bush that was partially obstructing my view, and to come out of that strut. He eventually offered and clear shot and when he dropped his tail, and raised his head I pulled the trigger. Down he went and I finally had a gobbler.
This wasn't the biggest turkey I have ever killed, but it is certainly the one that I put the most effort into getting. It has been a long, often frustrating season, but I have enjoyed it.
Waiting on a gobbler yesterday evening.
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loginThe Encore and a load of Winchester number 5's did the job.
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loginI put a lot of time and effort into this guy:
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