Hunter Haven
Senior Member
Wow, what an incredible morning to wake up to and finish out my season here in Georgia. Many are aware that I've been hunting a tough public land bird that was certainly uncallable, to say the least. I have all but killed this bird on previous hunts, even having him at 30 yards needing two more steps and having two coons come between he and I and start fighting only to allow Liberache to putt and walk off
. Out of the 7 hunts, I've seen Liberche 6 of those hunts!! Arrow 3 has joined me on a few of the hunts and realized first hand how difficult he was to harvest. This morning made my 7th hunt on this particular bird and it all fell into place, but not without disasters to say the least. Liberache(The gay gobbler
) loved to roost out over the lake, but may be anywhere on a 500 yard stretch. He loved to gobble and normally would sound off at 6:20 each morning. His last few days had kind of taken shape of how he was working throughout his mornings, but it wasn't the exact routine each day, but close. Knowing what I had learned, I decided to beach my boat at a particular area and go on up the hill in the dark and wait for him to sound off. Well, I touched down on land, tied my boat off, expanded my jake decoy, put on my mask and gloves, take three steps and ole Lib bust out of a tree at a mere 8-10 yards from my boat
. He flies across the pocket towards the east(dawn is approaching and shedding off daylight) and I see him land in the tip top of a tree directly across from me. I'm so sick at this point, I sit down and just look his way. How in the world had I got so unlucky as to beach my boat exactly where he was roosted(which by the way, he had never roosted here before) I had blew it! All the effort that I had put into this bird was a waste.... I thought. Since I knew where he was, I stood and circled around the pocket of the lake towards where he landed. I stake my jake decoy at the very back of the pocket(I just didn't feel that it was really needed at this point) and then begin walking up through the woods towards the bird. I get to within 80 yards of him(he's now out on a point of woods surrounded by water on each side) and I decide to sit and wait for him to fly down, hoping he would just walk by me within gun range. Then he gobbles in the tree and I feel better. 5 minutes later he gobbles again. I quickly jump up and move up about 8 yards into a better field of view and sit down.I then here him fly and look to my left and see him pass right by me. He flew into another tree back behind me, in the very back of the pocket out near where I put my jake decoy. He lands and now he's about 60 yards from me. My boat is probably 65 yards on the other side of him and he can see it. I can't physically see him, but I know he is there. Several minutes go by and he HAMMERS with a gobble. 3 more minutes and GAWWWLLL. Then another two minutes and GAAAAWWWWLLLL again, but facing me. Finally I here him start flapping and look up and he is pitching down coming right towards me. He lands about 15 yards from me, I pull the hammer back, he tops the hill, I cluck one time to stop him, and the 10 gauge went BOOM! I shot him at 10 yards and the wadding hit him in the chest! I got him. I had finally won the battle with ole Liberache. He was the King of the Woods and had given me 7 of the best hunts of my life
I never would have thought in a million years that this story would have ended this way. What I thought to be a mistake with beaching my boat actually turned out to be a big reason for me harvesting Liberache. He just didn't want to fly back over there and pitched down towards where I was sitting. For the note, the last tree he was in was within 10 yards of where I had placed my jake decoy. It was between him and the boat and I feel like that is what he gobbled at those last 3 times while in the tree. It didn't move, walk, or sound back off to him and I think this made him weery of the situatin, thus flying back towrds me. I'll never know if this is what really coaxed him into flying my way, but I'll always think it had something to do with it. It was just my time to win.
I had asked the Lord for his blessings today and I recieved them. I kneeled down beside my turkey and said a prayer to the Lord. I thanked him for his continued blessings upon my life.
Sorry for this being so long, but this bird meant a whole lot to me. I couldn't have ended my season with a better bird. Thank you Liberache for the best 7 hunts I've ever had with a turkey
Pics to come
. Out of the 7 hunts, I've seen Liberche 6 of those hunts!! Arrow 3 has joined me on a few of the hunts and realized first hand how difficult he was to harvest. This morning made my 7th hunt on this particular bird and it all fell into place, but not without disasters to say the least. Liberache(The gay gobbler. He flies across the pocket towards the east(dawn is approaching and shedding off daylight) and I see him land in the tip top of a tree directly across from me. I'm so sick at this point, I sit down and just look his way. How in the world had I got so unlucky as to beach my boat exactly where he was roosted(which by the way, he had never roosted here before) I had blew it! All the effort that I had put into this bird was a waste.... I thought. Since I knew where he was, I stood and circled around the pocket of the lake towards where he landed. I stake my jake decoy at the very back of the pocket(I just didn't feel that it was really needed at this point) and then begin walking up through the woods towards the bird. I get to within 80 yards of him(he's now out on a point of woods surrounded by water on each side) and I decide to sit and wait for him to fly down, hoping he would just walk by me within gun range. Then he gobbles in the tree and I feel better. 5 minutes later he gobbles again. I quickly jump up and move up about 8 yards into a better field of view and sit down.I then here him fly and look to my left and see him pass right by me. He flew into another tree back behind me, in the very back of the pocket out near where I put my jake decoy. He lands and now he's about 60 yards from me. My boat is probably 65 yards on the other side of him and he can see it. I can't physically see him, but I know he is there. Several minutes go by and he HAMMERS with a gobble. 3 more minutes and GAWWWLLL. Then another two minutes and GAAAAWWWWLLLL again, but facing me. Finally I here him start flapping and look up and he is pitching down coming right towards me. He lands about 15 yards from me, I pull the hammer back, he tops the hill, I cluck one time to stop him, and the 10 gauge went BOOM! I shot him at 10 yards and the wadding hit him in the chest! I got him. I had finally won the battle with ole Liberache. He was the King of the Woods and had given me 7 of the best hunts of my life I never would have thought in a million years that this story would have ended this way. What I thought to be a mistake with beaching my boat actually turned out to be a big reason for me harvesting Liberache. He just didn't want to fly back over there and pitched down towards where I was sitting. For the note, the last tree he was in was within 10 yards of where I had placed my jake decoy. It was between him and the boat and I feel like that is what he gobbled at those last 3 times while in the tree. It didn't move, walk, or sound back off to him and I think this made him weery of the situatin, thus flying back towrds me. I'll never know if this is what really coaxed him into flying my way, but I'll always think it had something to do with it. It was just my time to win.I had asked the Lord for his blessings today and I recieved them. I kneeled down beside my turkey and said a prayer to the Lord. I thanked him for his continued blessings upon my life.
Sorry for this being so long, but this bird meant a whole lot to me. I couldn't have ended my season with a better bird. Thank you Liberache for the best 7 hunts I've ever had with a turkey
Pics to come
and I would hate to see it come to that 
