Way Cool!!!! ....... Tutorial Please

HaMeR · May 05, 2007, 08:29:19 PM

Way to go Stu!! That story is similar to mine for this year & I could picture the hedge row along the river the way you told it. I could see that ol boy struttin all the way in too.

I bet your gald you got that miss outta the way the other day now aren't you??

I think you answered your own question about "why down by the river" when you said you knew there were turkeys there. You can't hunt what isn't there either. Perseverance & patience won this for you. And 47yds is a purdy good shot on him.

When I seen that Tom on the table I knew it was yours. The wife even told me to quiet down in here!! :roflmao:

That aint gonna happen!!

I like mustard on my turkey sammich too!! :roflmao:

BTW-- The next one will probably play the same head games with you as this one did!! :roflmao: :roflmao:

Hawks Feather · May 05, 2007, 09:21:34 PM

Congrats on the turkey and the write up was equally as good. So you are bringing turkey for EVERYONE at LBL? Have you thought of going to the grocery for another 5 or 6 birds? No one will ever know which one is which.

Jerry

studabaka · May 05, 2007, 09:33:38 PM

:roflmao: :roflmao:

You are a wise one Jerry. If turkey is what is desired at LBL then I'll make sure there is enough for all [and mustard for Glen], but I agree I'll have to find an additional source

...... or I could stick a case or two of bud light in the truck and probably do just as well

Hawks Feather · May 05, 2007, 09:52:49 PM

Stu,

That might be gone quicker than the turkey, but it also might help some forget the turkey.

Jerry

HaMeR · May 06, 2007, 12:58:22 PM

I like mustard!!

nailbender · May 06, 2007, 08:03:43 PM

Way to go Stu!

vvarmitr · May 07, 2007, 02:41:30 PM

Great story Stu, really enjoyable.

Makes me almost want to buy a tag & call HaMeR & go after them.

HaMeR · May 07, 2007, 08:55:19 PM

git er done!!

:roflmao:

cb223 · May 07, 2007, 09:10:24 PM

Great story and congratulations on your first turkey!

studabaka · May 10, 2007, 09:19:55 PM

Well..... working on number 2...... season ends Saturday. Should have had one tonight

I went back yesterday morning to see if I could raise the one I have called in 4 times and shot at and missed. I figured I try another edge of the field vs the setup I had gotten the shot from. About 15 min after light, he starts gobbling and coming to my clucks, which is great cause a) the dumb sucker is responding again and b) I now know he ain't dead or maimed from my last attempt. Anyway, he would not come out of the woods near my decoy, but dang if he didn't come out and cross probably 250 yards of tilled field almost directly over the spot I took a shot at him a week earlier. He took his time, clearly saw the decoy, but only gobbled at it and never strutted..... but now I know he is there and still responding, so I figure given our ongoing and intimate relationship, I should work on him and court him into my freezer. I think he is notably bigger than the one I got, but that's kinda a 'fish that got away story', so will have to get some verifiable proof.

Tried him again yesterday afternoon, but couldn't hang till dark as I had to get to my daughter's soccer game [side note: first round of state playoffs and they one 3-0

2nd round is saturday :shck: which means I need to connect by saturday morning].

Just couldn't drag my butt out of bed this morning in time to make a stand, but asked the boss to move up a conference call, and was able to hit the field by 3:30pm. Time to see if I can raise my boy. I have a setup in the woods very near where I took my shot and where he came out yesterday morning. I tippie toe down to it, set my decoy, and head to my cover spot. Figure I'll just sit quiet for the first 30-60 minutes. I get my seat out, set down, and start getting my shooting sticks set to hold my gun. it's about 4pm and I'm figuring to be there for several hours before he wanders back to that area. He must roost there, but I haven't figured out exactly where. Anyway, I hear this sound that I have heard a couple times on other stands. It doesn't sound like one of my clucks, but more like the cross between a cluck and a click. I keep an eye on where it came from hoping to find out what is making it as I finished getting settled in. At 4:10, I turn my head a bit to the right and dang, that bad boy is standing there staring at my decoy. His face is crimson, but then he looks my way and it turns white....then back to the decoy and crimson again....then back to me and white. He's about 10 yards away from me and I'm doing the old statue of liberty play. If he takes 1 step forward he is behind a tree..... 2 steps forward and he is standing in front of my gun, which is setting with the barrel on the shooting sticks and the butt setting on my thigh.... but he doesn't take a step forward he takes a step toward me. Like he's going to join me in my little hiding spot.... He slowly circles me, but continually closer. He is standing at most, ten feet behind me when he decides I ain't cool and squawks and takes off in a roar of wing flapping.

So now it's, 4:20pm..... I'm busted on my boy.... what to do?

Should I head to the river or maybe head across the road where I called in a hen once, but have never heard a gobbler? I figure I'll try across the road. Set the decoy out in a secluded field in the bright sun. I find a spot to set back in the thick. I have my doubts about seeing anything here, but settle in and position myself so I have a shooting lane if one comes along the edge inside the woods or out in the field. My back is facing up the edge of the woods/field I just walked in on. I check the time 5pm. Figure on just setting quiet for maybe 15 minutes and then start clucking. Don't see or hear anything during that time, but that decoy does look fine standing in the sun in that field may 20 yards out from me. I give a couple of soft clucks and watch and listen. Nothing. I turn my head to look off my right shoulder and across the field and dang There is a gobbler in full strut not ten yards away from me right along the edge of the field I just walked in on.

if I had just held off clucking for a few more minutes. I go into my statue of liberty routine, but my cluck must have clued him in on my location an he must have been thinking it was his lucky day and he had two hens

He stays in full strut, but keeps moving along the edge of the field between me and the decoy. He's maybe 5 yards away from me. His face is as blood red as anything I've ever seen and he is as puffed out as he can possibly get, and he is staring at me trying to find that hen..... not quite to where my gun is pointing and he figures out....oh crap.... head down and making tracks. I wing a shot at him, but I couldn't swing my gun as fast as he was hauling and I knew when I shot I was behind him.

So....... now it's 5:30pm.... 2 gobblers in damn near kissing distance..... what to do? head home? Na..... I picked up and moved maybe 800 yards and setup again. Decoy on a field crest, me in a bunch of thick stuff under a tree in the field, near the hardwoods leading down to some thick stuff on a creek bottom. Stayed till dark.... clucked only a handfull of times. Heard gobbles and clucks and that strange cluck click sound I now know to be a gobbler being sneaky. Never saw one, but now I got to figure out where to be at 5am tomorrow.

Roundman · May 10, 2007, 09:44:52 PM

Great job Stu. You rock man.

keekee · May 10, 2007, 10:33:02 PM

Thats just plain cool Stu! Great write up!

Brent

KySongDog · May 10, 2007, 10:42:01 PM

Great story, Stu!

If the bird gets in that 10 yard range, move the gun and kill him before he figures out you're sitting there! He will see the movement and will probably run instantly but, hey, he can't out run that 12 ga.

Also, I always keep the gun in my shoulder. Saves time and movement. Good luck!

keekee · May 10, 2007, 10:50:21 PM

Thats true Stu! I have swung the gun around and shot several. Sometime its that or nuthing. Most of the time there is that split second when you first start to move that they run there head up "like what the hell" and it gives you just enough time to pull the trigger.

I don't recommend it for guys I take out but for most guys they can pull it off, its usually a clean miss or a dead kill. At 10 yards its like shooting a slug....lol....Sometimes it all you can do though.

Brent

FinsnFur · May 10, 2007, 11:32:06 PM

Something tells me Stu's gonna show up at the LBL this year with a head dress made out of turkey feathers

Awesome post Stu. You have every right to be proud

vvarmitr · May 11, 2007, 07:12:25 AM

Wow ! That is too cool.

Great story Stu.