I'm new here and relatively new to turkey hunting. I have been hunting the last 4 years and finally connected this year on my first. I apologize if some of you have already seen this report.
I set off last Friday after work with visions of turkeys gobbling just as I have the last 3 turkey seasons. For one reason or another, the last three seasons have shown me just enough action to tease me. I arrived just after dark Friday night to get the calls organized and set out the stuff for the morning. However, I was way too excited to sleep.
Morning came and we set up just far enough away from where the birds usually roost. Not long after daylight we had lots of hens on us. We were hoping a gobbler was somewhere with them, but we never saw him. We heard a few gobbles, but that was it. I did get to hear the hens do some serious yelping, clucking, and cutting. I had only heard yelps and clucks before, so it was cool to hear that. We jumped up once they left and ran in the direction they were heading in hopes to meet up with them again and hopefully see the gobbler this time. Once we got to the field, we got the dekes out and set up. I had my back to this old cypress tree.
In front of me...
Now the waiting game.
Not long after a series of yelping, I heard the unmistakable sound of a gobble. Then it seemed every two or three yelp series yielded a gobble. I never realized he was moving closer, but out of nowhere he appeared in front of me, strutting in on the other side of the field. I waited for him to cross the big oak in the middle of the pic and then I got my gun up. He stopped just inside it and I couldn't wait. Three years of anticipation pulled the trigger, not me. This was the first shot I ever had at a gobbler and I had ranged the oak in at 37.5 yards, so I took it. He ran just down into the bottom where he came from and my heart sank. I finally get a shot and I rush it. I saw my first bird disappear before my very eyes. This could not be happening! I jumped up and ran after it. I found it dead about 15 yards from where I shot him.
Holy crap! I just killed a turkey.
It had a 9.5" beard and 1-1/8" spurs
I can't describe how happy finally getting a gobbler made me, but I am still grinning ear to ear (3 weeks later). Also, with that under my belt on the first hunt, the rest of the weekend was simply enjoyed hunting with my gf's dad while he tried to get one.
Those birds get HEAVY after a long walk through woods, but it hurt so good! Got him back and time to clean him. The dog was excited too!
He weighed right at 20 lbs!
Then I took some time off to do a little casting in the pond while everyone else napped. Not much action, but did get one fish before my rod tip snapped!
The afternoon hunt was pretty uneventful. The birds weren't talking and it was pretty windy. It probably made it hard for us to hear them and for them to hear us. We decided to just do a lot of scouting trying to figure out where to hunt the next morning.
Looks like a good spot!
Bonus find!
That night as we were eating dinner, two big gobblers came across the pasture. Both had at least 10" beards. We watched where they went and roosted and decided to set up on them the next morning. We knew they went on top of a hill, but we weren't sure which trees they had roosted in.
We set up way before daylight and settled in. Before the sun was even up good we had one gobbler back behind us gobbling at EVERYTHING! If a donkey brayed, he gobbled. If a canadian goose flew over, he gobbled. If a dog barked, he gobbled. We were talking about where he might be and then we let out a couple of small tree yelps and BAM! Two different gobblers gobbled right in front of us! We couldn't see them, but we had apparently set up right on top of them. They continued to answer our yelps, while the gobbler back in the distance continued gobbling his head off. Finally the two in front of us flew down. They WERE right in front of us. They were in the big pine directly in front of me, then flew down to our right (next pic).
We both got ready as they were both strutting and gobbling about 45 yards to our right. We were hoping for a double, but then they started walking away and we lost them. We let them get ahead of us a bit and ran up closer to them trying to call them back in, but I think since they were together, it was going to be tough. No doubt if one of them had been by himself, we would have killed him. The rest of the day was tactical. Lots of sneaking up on birds, dropping in the middle of roads as birds sneaked up on us and running and gunning. We tried several spots and although we heard gobbles throughout the day, we couldn't get any to come in.
It was a heck of a weekend and I am still on cloud nine!
