Bird you suffered the most for?

[Cut N Run]

There was a gobbler at my old lease that would always roost on a fairly open hillside that couldn't be easily slipped up on.  He constantly had hens around him and would either go the opposite way from our calling, or would move around our positions and end up gobbling behind us as he went away.  One day, three of us set a game plan where we would form a triangle a hundred and fifty yards apart around him, so one of us might hopefully get good shot at him.  Like usual, he managed to skirt between us and nobody saw or got a shot at him.  He seemed like a mind reader or a ghost.  The other two guys gave up hunting him all together.

I'm not sure if I'm more dedicated, or just more stubborn than those guys, but I just don't like having a turkey get the best of me.

One night, a front moved in where it was forecast to rain all night and clear off near daybreak.  I sensed my opportunity to go after that hilltop roosting gobbler.  Below that open hilltop was a wide spot in an old logging road that I knew his hens would most likely gravitate towards when all the limbs and leaves in the woods would still be dripping.  I'd bought a strutter gobbler decoy the year before, but hadn't used it yet.  It seemed like a having a gobbler strutting just below his wheelhouse might be the thing to help draw him into range. I silently eased through the planted pines to the old logging road and started setting out the feeding hen and strutting gobbler I'd brought.  It was still 90 minutes from sunrise, though it seemed to be getting darker.  About that time, the bottom fell out and it poured down rain in buckets.  Since I was using a real fan for my strutter, I kept the fan held up against my chest and I hunched over it to keep it dry.  Meanwhile the rain was running a stream down my spine and my rubber boots were filling up with water.  After I dumped the water out of my boots, my feet kept making sucking sounds with every step.  By daybreak, the rain was coming up and I managed to get the mostly dry fan into the strutter.

I slid under some short sweetgum trees up against a big pine, behind a few stumps and waited. It wasn't long before I was shivering all over, though the first hen tree calls I heard from up on the hilltop made the shivering stop right quick.  The turkeys were about 75 yards and the heavy rain must have helped keep them from busting my movements. I clucked quietly a few times on a mouth call and got a thundering gobble in response.  One by one five hens worked their way to the opening and scratched  around the decoys as they moved across the face of the rise.  I heard spitting and drumming just over my shoulder to my right near the low spot that was running with rain.  The gobbler popped out about 20 yards to my right and when he saw the strutter, he took off like he was shot out of a cannon.  He hit that decoy so hard that it snapped the stake in half and the fan flew 16 feet from the decoy.  He realized something was up and started that head bobbing walk they do before breaking into a run.  I never gave him the chance.

He was a little over 23 pounds, had 1.125 inch spurs, and an 11.125 inch beard.  The feathers on his breast were worn bald from covering so many hens.  I found 5 pellets of copper plated #6s when I cleaned him.  A few days after I killed him, other gobblers were starting to move into the area and we heard more gobbles around that property than we ever had before.

Jim

[Dmason3]

Last day of season my second year. Had to leave the house about 230 to be in the woods on time. Only gobbler I could hear was across the creek and didn't have time to drive all the way around.  The water didn't look so deep until I fell in haha. Got across the creek, set up my decoys, sat down and emptied my boots. Gave a couple of light yelps and just sat there. I wasn't going to hustle after any other birds. Twenty minutes later he flew down and zig zagged straight to my decoys. Got him on the ground and had to wade back across thigh deep water. Loaded him up and on the way out saw a gobbler strutting a quarter of a mile from the cabin on what would have been an easy walk across open ground haha.


Fast forward to last year. Good ol Illinois is screwed up with turkey seasons. 5 seasons and you can apply for up to three tags. Somehow they drew two tags for the same season. I thought I'd be lucky to kill one bird all year let alone two in the same weekend.

The last day of said season I couldn't find a bird let alone hear one. Drove to all my hunting pieces at least twice. Finally passed some strutters harassing a hen. Drive around them and sprint down the hill and through the woods to get ahead of them. Sat there for an hour. Not a single gobble or sight of them. Got up and walked back through the woods and back up this good sized hill. Jumped in the truck to look for em and sure enough they were heading to where I was calling. Through the truck in reverse and drive like a maniac back to where I can park. Grab the dekes, sprint down the hill and through the woods and get set up. A couple of light calls and wait. And wait. Finally these birds come down into the field and Coke straight into my decoys. Popped one, spooked his buddy for a split second. Once his buddy saw he wasn't gonna have to share he came back in to take a dirt nap himself. One of the coolest things I've ever done. Never imagined I'd double up.
Keep the stories coming!

[blueridgegobbler]

I hunted a bird for 4 straight days I heard 4-5 birds each morning but this bird had a deep gobble all together different from the others he would gobble hit the ground and disappear. Day four rain the night before was a blessing I walked in the dark without a light to within 100 yards of his roost and sat down made 3 soft yelps when he made the first gobble he gobbled several more times but I never made a sound. He stayed on the roost later than any bird ive ever seen when he finally hit the ground he slipped up to me so slowly and stealthy. 16.5 lbs 11.5 inch beard 1 1/2. Just an old warrior.

[Greg Massey]

I guess the first bird i ever killed it was a Jake on public land that you had to buy a permit form a logging company and wildlife Agencies ...I was just learning to turkey hunt and it took me forever that morning to kill him as he could gobble good and after trailing behind him for several hours to his strutting area and belly crawling thru mud and water i got him. I was as proud of this turkey as any i'v ever killed to this day..back in those days you didn't see a lot of people carrying a turkey on his back out of the woods...

[Spurs]

Long story short, I sat in a fire ant den and got ate up.  He was a Jake and didn't flop much.

[Buddy]

I'll make it brief a bird I hunted 14 days in a row and finally realizing that he wasn't coming to me.  I finally realized that I had to get in his preferred route each morning and when I did it was over.  I thought he would have 1.5 inch spurs but they were only .75 when I finally killed him.  I was foolish to rely on calling skills versus woodmanship  and adjusting to what he wanted and did do each morning.  While not a limbhanger a trophy none the less with all the effort I put in for this bird.  I could write a novel on how this bird fooled me day after day thinking calling skills would persuade him to come my way.

[Buddy]

I'll make it brief a bird I hunted 14 days in a row and finally realizing that he wasn't coming to me.  I finally realized that I had to get in his preferred route each morning and when I did it was over.  I thought he would have 1.5 inch spurs but they were only .75 when I finally killed him.  I was foolish to rely on calling skills versus woodmanship  and adjusting to what he wanted and did do each morning.  While not a limbhanger a trophy none the less with all the effort I put in for this bird.  I could write a novel on how this bird fooled me day after day thinking calling skills would persuade him to come my way.

[birdman67]

Had a bird that I called the Road Runner. He roosted right on the side of a public road. Which ever side I sat up on, he would fly down on the opposite side. I tried everything I knew to kill him. Finally, on the last weekend of the season, I outsmarted him. I went over on one side of the road and called, then walked across to the other side. After 10 minutes, he came strutting across the road, right to me. That bird taught me a lot about turkey hunting that year.

[catman529]

Awesome story. I haven't gone that far to kill one, but I have taken boots and pants off to wade a creek and kill one, and done plenty of stalking. I guess if I get locked onto one particular gobbler for long enough, I will do anything to kill it. Just hasn't happened yet