sportsman94
Senior Member
Well it's been a long time coming. I've turkey hunted for several years off and on but never went more than a few times and never put all that much effort into it. I killed a Tom my first time out with my buddies dad calling for at the age of 10 or so and then last year killed a Jake while calling with a Buddy of mine.
So this morning my alarm clock goes off a couple times before I slowly open my eyes and roll out of bed. I'm dragging this morning knowing it's gonna be pretty cold outside and running on 4 hours of sleep. I drive to the 100 acre property that I will be hunting today and grab all my gear. I didn't forget my gun this time luckily! i started walking across the property when it's just barely light enough to see and spook several deer out of a food plot. I decide to set up on a trail between two food plots so I make it to my spot and set up my decoys and the waiting begins. As I settle and the woods begin to wake up I hear a barely audible gobble several hundred yards in front of me then all is quiet except for the song birds. Next the crows start going to town and I hear what sounded like a gobble that was a couple hundred yards away to my right. That bird keeps hammering every minute or two for awhile so I made some yelps and clucks and hoped for the best. After 15 or so minutes I let out a few more calls and had the crows start going insane in the direction of the turkey. I got quiet and got my gun up in case he was making his way towards me. About 5 minutes pass and the crows stop with the commotion and the bird was no longer gobbling. I waited another 5 minutes or so and let out another series of yelps and was answered shortly after by the same bird id been hearing. Then, a minute or so later, I heard another gobble that was much more clear and closer coming from the opposite direction. I let out a few soft purrs then could see a dark body moving through the woods about 100 yards away on the other side of one of the food plots. The body got about 20 yards closer and I could see him strutting. He gobbled again and that's when I realized he wasn't alone. He had two more gobblers with him. Well they hung up about 80 yards away so I started scratching the ground and gave a few soft purrs. After about 5 minutes of strutting where they were they started moving towards me. By this point my heart is beating out of my chest, I'm praying to God that I don't mess this up and that these birds work into my set up. They start coming in a line of 3 and I get my gun up. The last one blows up and struts for a few seconds at a time then runs to catch up with the others. Now they are within 30 yards and while my gun is up I don't have it to where I can get on them and shoot so I have to watch as they walk around my Jake decoy. I'm thinking they are going to try and bully it a little bit but instead they act like they are going to leave and get a little jumpy. I eased my gun up and leaned to my right to avoid the pine tree between me and the Turkey. The last one in the group takes a step from behind the decoy and it was lights out for him. I was ecstatic with the fact that a plan had finally come together for me in regards to solo turkey hunting.
This one had a 10.5 inch beard and 1 1/8 inch Spurs. Not sure how much it weighed but I couldn't be happier with my first solo bird
So this morning my alarm clock goes off a couple times before I slowly open my eyes and roll out of bed. I'm dragging this morning knowing it's gonna be pretty cold outside and running on 4 hours of sleep. I drive to the 100 acre property that I will be hunting today and grab all my gear. I didn't forget my gun this time luckily! i started walking across the property when it's just barely light enough to see and spook several deer out of a food plot. I decide to set up on a trail between two food plots so I make it to my spot and set up my decoys and the waiting begins. As I settle and the woods begin to wake up I hear a barely audible gobble several hundred yards in front of me then all is quiet except for the song birds. Next the crows start going to town and I hear what sounded like a gobble that was a couple hundred yards away to my right. That bird keeps hammering every minute or two for awhile so I made some yelps and clucks and hoped for the best. After 15 or so minutes I let out a few more calls and had the crows start going insane in the direction of the turkey. I got quiet and got my gun up in case he was making his way towards me. About 5 minutes pass and the crows stop with the commotion and the bird was no longer gobbling. I waited another 5 minutes or so and let out another series of yelps and was answered shortly after by the same bird id been hearing. Then, a minute or so later, I heard another gobble that was much more clear and closer coming from the opposite direction. I let out a few soft purrs then could see a dark body moving through the woods about 100 yards away on the other side of one of the food plots. The body got about 20 yards closer and I could see him strutting. He gobbled again and that's when I realized he wasn't alone. He had two more gobblers with him. Well they hung up about 80 yards away so I started scratching the ground and gave a few soft purrs. After about 5 minutes of strutting where they were they started moving towards me. By this point my heart is beating out of my chest, I'm praying to God that I don't mess this up and that these birds work into my set up. They start coming in a line of 3 and I get my gun up. The last one blows up and struts for a few seconds at a time then runs to catch up with the others. Now they are within 30 yards and while my gun is up I don't have it to where I can get on them and shoot so I have to watch as they walk around my Jake decoy. I'm thinking they are going to try and bully it a little bit but instead they act like they are going to leave and get a little jumpy. I eased my gun up and leaned to my right to avoid the pine tree between me and the Turkey. The last one in the group takes a step from behind the decoy and it was lights out for him. I was ecstatic with the fact that a plan had finally come together for me in regards to solo turkey hunting.
This one had a 10.5 inch beard and 1 1/8 inch Spurs. Not sure how much it weighed but I couldn't be happier with my first solo bird
