So close....but yet so far.

[Mike Honcho]

Set up yesterday morning where two Eastern toms and three hens were roosted on Wed.  Silence....they had moved south apparently and joined a larger flock on land I can't hunt.  They were just across a creek gobbling like mad...maybe 6-7 toms and lots of hens.  These creeks are 20 feet deep and wide so they don't normally cross them.

On way back to my truck I spot 4 hens in an adjacent field....a levee between me and them about 4 feet tall....I slip in against the levee in a plum thicket to take a look...it hit my box call and a gobbler answers about 250 yards away.  I don't see him at first but soon he appears.....fast forward about 10 minutes and he has worked his way to the hens....problem is they are about 60 yards from me.   A few soft clucks and purrs gets him to 50 yards buth the hens move south feeding. I crouch and move low south on my side of the levee....The hens are staying their 50-60 yds from levee...I try my Lonnie Sneed Green glass and finally the hens are starting to inch closer to me, the tom now just inside 50 yards and moving with them....by now I have my Ithaca 37 Turkeyslayer red dot on him waiting for him to get a little closer....at about 45 yards it's looking good...safety comes off.....then suddenly all the birds turn and look at something north....then high tail it south....a coyote is hunting them too....about 15 more seconds and he woud have been on the way back to my truck with me.  Oh well hopefully he'll be there next time.

[albrubacker]

Good luck on getting him. Maybe get the yote too.

[Dan Mallia]

The game. Love it. Good luck on getting him. 

[Gooserbat]

just keep on pluging away, and you'll get one.

[R AJ]

Hey Mike - You did your part and the best you could do. Nice job of giving the old bird another day so that you still have something to hunt on your side.

Through the years I've had deer, armadillo, other hunters, hens, and even dead limbs falling to keep me from slinging one over my shoulder. It's part of the experience.

[jblackburn]

Good news is he's still there for another hunt! 

[DirtNap647]

 

[RutnNStrutn]

Dang it man!! That stinks!! I hope you get another shot at that gobbler, and the yote too!!