This was a strange hunt to me anyway I'll tell yall how it went down and you be the judge... got to my old trusty listening spot not sure of where to go because since I moved away I don't have any time to drive up there to scout so I got in there this morning rediculusly early. Let me stop the story for just a minute and say I absolutely love getting in the woods with it still being pitch black and the stars are shining... it's just pure magic... anyway it came about that time so I owl hooted and got 2 responders right off the bat but the bad news was they were well on to the property behind us. I had an encounter last season in an area not far from the listening spot and kind of dejected I decided just to set up there and hope I could get one moving through even though nothing was sounding off. I Found the spot I wanted and found droppings right where I stuck my stakes in the ground so I thought I could be in business. Well after fly down and hearing those other birds off in the distance go all morning (minus the few minutes I heard a 4wheeler drive through) I decided to move over to another spot I called in a silent bird last season roughly 500 yards away. (roughly 7:30am) Well to get to that area I had to go back past the listening spot where I could hear those roosted birds a lot better from. I decided to owl hoot just to see if I could get a response and I did! Those birds had traveled a good 500 yards up the ravine. Stopping the story again to describe the lay of the land... I'm on a big ridge almost a mountain that makes a horseshoe shape and on the back side is a very steep ravine/hollow that goes back to another steep ridge so foot distance we're talking a pretty good hike but as the crow flies distance 300 ish yards I'd guess. Any who... I thought there's no way to call those birds moving away through that ravine which has a spring running through it but I thought it'd be fun to just have some responses and thought why not I'll try it. So I half heartedly set up on a tree without even putting my decoys out and start calling. I got no response... about 15 minutes go by and after the third calling sequence and hearing nothing I thought I wonder if they'll shock gobble on that owl call again so I hit that and they responded what sounded like from the same place. So I repeated... another 2 or 3 calling sequences no response... thinking I was just wasting my time I actually was about to get up and had already pulled my mask down and hit the owl again just to see where they were... when I hit it one cut me off and he sounded closer! I thought there's no way... but I pulled the mask back up and hit some more notes on my mouth call and threw in some cutting.... no responses to the hen calls I hit the owl again and one gobbles what felt like in my face! He was less than 100 yards! I got my gun on my shoulder and went silent. I finally laid eyes on 2 turkeys walking down in the ravine on the side of the ridge. I watched them until I couldn't turn my head any more left or cut my eyes any further left without breaking my neck. I couldn't tell what they were but I know one was a hen because she started calling. Well they walked on off to where I thought I could turn my body more to the left without getting seen and I called and BAM instant response! I hit him with another couple of yelps and he hammered again! He finally came into view and I could see that gorgeous ref white and blue head with a rope hanging from his breast. He got to about 35 yards and another turkey coming in from where he came the first time I saw him started putting... so he stopped in his tracks and started looking around really hard when I said well its now or never and I let the #6 long beards do their job! I was in shock on how the whole thing unfolded... first bird I've ever called in and killed without at least 1 decoy set out. He ended up having a 9 1/2" beard and 1" spurs.
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