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I had a plan for opening morning. I needed a good plan given the experience of opening morning of youth season the week before. Cole and I entered the woods with that excited shiver of anticipation that most real turkey hunters experience on opening morning, only to meet the dawn to hear every bird vocalization possible in north Mississippi, except of course our beloved Meleagris gallopavo silvestris. Disappointing to the least, especially so for my young compadre', who I was aghast to learn had bragged to some of his school pals that his dad was the best turkey hunter in the world and he would be killing his fourth turkey for sure on the opening morning. Cole is an academic scholar but it seems that his ESP skills are woefully inadequate —but we made the best of our day in the woods and genuinely enjoyed each others company. Now that Cole is recently 15, our hunting experience is ever so gradually evolving form a father/son relationship to one of good hunting buddies.
Opening morning found me on the same tract of private ground that Cole I hunted on opening morning of youth season. My plan was to instead of hunting the nice hardwood ridges we struck out on the previous week ; I would go to the back-end of the property where the terrain is comprised of low lying pastures and wooded fence lines. I positioned myself in the back corner of the property and as dawn arrived; I found my hand grasping my Harrison's Hootin Stick but the magical tones of gobbles echoing out both in front and behind my position caused me to slip my treasured owl hooter back into its position in my shoulder bag. I guessed it to be 10-15 gobblers gobbling on the roost and I quickly decided to set up on the closet sounding group which was behind me—and also—just off the property. I set up in a little hidey-hole I fashioned just inside the wood line looking into the field. Once I determined they had left the roost, I offered up a four note yelp on a mouth call made for me by James Harrison. The best I could tell, the entire wad of gobblers answered back. "Alright" I thought to my self, "I am in business now—they'll be out in front of me in this field in no time!" It was along about then I heard the unmistakable scratchy whiney yelp of what I was sure was a Bass Pro Shop box call. "Dang it man" I thought, "I've got company". I did give some slight consideration to moving but I was on the right side of the fence and I was sure those gobblers we headed my way---besides—who ever those pilgrims were wielding that box call sounded terrible and there was no way those gobblers were going their way. It wasn't long after those thoughts entered my head until the loud report of a shotgun startled me off my cushion. "Well I'll be damned" I thought, "Those pilgrims must have gotten lucky and set up on some tone deaf turkeys". I had to implement Plan B—so I gathered up my gear and headed in the direction of the other group of gobblers I had heard earlier in the morning.
As I was hot footing over to my new hunting ground, my mid raced to formulate a Plan B. On the way, I heard a few more gobbles which helped me pin point their location and allowed me to decide where I should be situated for this battle. I settled in against a large post oak against a wooded fence line on the top of a hill. I could see over 300 yards to my left and only 75 yards or so to my right. Neither direction provided a straight away view since the terrain was very uneven and there were small patches of woods dotted here and there. I pulled out my "Mother Lode" slate and with a purple heart striker produced a string of sweet sounding yelps. Several turkeys gobbled a good ways off to my left and one gobbled less than 100 yards to my right. "Hey now" I thought, "This is just like I like it---in the middle of the gobblers and no squawking box calls to contend with. I was sure the close gobbler on my right was on his way, but as the minutes ticked by, he became much less vocal than the far away turkeys to my left. I continued calling sporadically on my trusted slate but after a little over an hour, the gobbles grew quiet and nothing answered me back. I sat there and waited as good turkey hunters do. After 30 minutes or so of me enjoying the morning and generally being lost in my thoughts, I almost nonchalantly cranked a few yelps before I got up to leave. GOBBLE!! He was close and just over the rise of the field I was looking at. I miscalculated the speed of his advance and before I knew it, there he was---all blowed up and looking right at me with my gun on my knee but not on my shoulder. He continued towards me, still in strut and taking two or three fast steps at a time only to stop and strut along the way—all the while with those laser beam eyes of his drilling a hole through my chest. I moved my gun to my shoulder like molasses in the winter time—it had to take a full two minutes. By the time I was ready with my scope on his waddles, my thumb decided he was close enough and without any prompting from my consciousness, involuntarily clicked the safety off. BOOM!!! He went down and I tore my britches on the cattle gap racing out to put my foot on his neck. As I stood there waiting for him to stop beating my legs with his wings, I remembered to look up and thank the Lord for his gifts of nature and for the success of Plan B. You've always got to have a plan, and as this morning proved—most times you need two.
Great read! And congrats!!! Glad to hear it worked out on plan B and you didn't have to take it to plan Y.
LOL!!
:funnyturkey: Plan B! Isn't that a contraception pill? :goofball: :TooFunny:
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Nice read!!
Congrats on "Plan B" !!!!!
God Bless,
David B.
Nice Congrats
Man I love your stories Tom!! Congrats brother!!
Way to go Tom .Glad God approved of plan b also. :icon_thumright:
Congrats and good story !!
Congrats!!
:icon_thumright:
Congrats :icon_thumright:
I can read Catdaddy Chronicles all day long. Congrats on your opening day gobbler.
TRKYHTR
Love the story Catdaddy! Good job on a good-looking bird.
Thanks for the awesome story and congrats on the great bird.
Quote from: TRKYHTR on March 22, 2012, 08:40:09 PM
I can read Catdaddy Chronicles all day long. Congrats on your opening day gobbler.
TRKYHTR
:agreed: :thanks:!!!!!
Way to go. And a fine read also. :icon_thumright:
I hear you Joe! I would love to share a camp with this guy. He makes you feel like you are there! Congrats!
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Nice 1,800th post.
I never get tired of reading your stories.
Great story catdaddy, I absolutely love to read your stories!!!
congrats!! and nice story
Quote from: drenalinld on March 22, 2012, 09:04:25 PM
I hear you Joe! I would love to share a camp with this guy. He makes you feel like you are there! Congrats!
I have. He's better in person. Can't wait to make it happen again.
TRKYHTR
Nicely done Sir! Congrats! :icon_thumright:
Quote from: 4nwtf on March 22, 2012, 09:18:45 PM
Great story catdaddy, I absolutely love to read your stories!!!
Me too! Wouldn't be turkey season without em! :fud: :OGani:
Way to go, Tom. Congrats on the nice gobbler. You are a wordsmith from the word, go. I love your stories, and am proud to be able to call you my friend. Good luck to you and Cole with the rest of the season. I look forward to the great pictures, and the absolute best turkey stories on the web..Mike
Congrats on a fine Gobbler! I felt like I was sitting right beside you the whole time! Awesome read as always! Thank you!
You the man Catdaddy, BIG fist pump to you. :icon_thumright:
Congrats. Enjoyed the story as well. I felt like I was there.
Quote from: pullit on March 22, 2012, 10:32:01 PM
You the man Catdaddy, BIG fist pump to you. :icon_thumright:
Indeed! :you_rock: :you_rock: :you_rock:
Thanks for sharing Catdaddy. Been waiting to hear a good story after seeing your kill pics. Congrats again on a fine bird. It's Cole's turn now. Can't wait to hear the next adventure, probably with no shoulders involved. Way to go friend.
:thanks:
....and so it begins! Congrats! :z-guntootsmiley:
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Congrats. Thanks for sharing with such detail -- felt like I was sitting there with ya!
Congratulations , nice bird and a great story
great read. i got that excited chill when you were describing opening morning :icon_thumright:
Thanks fellers!!!!
I scored again Sunday. I will post up some pics after I finish the story that goes along with it. I am thinking of titling this one
3 GUESSES/HURTS SO GOOD
:) :)
:z-guntootsmiley: :z-guntootsmiley: :z-guntootsmiley:
Congrats Catdaddy, love reading your stories, hopefully one day I can tell the difference between my calling and a Bass por box call