OVERULD
Member
I've been deer hunting for over 30 years and didn't start chasing turkeys seriously until about 5 years ago. I did a lot of reading on here, watched a lot of videos, asked a lot of questions of my buddies who were successful turkey hunters and even attended the NWTF show when it was in Atlanta awhile back. Never had any success in the woods, however. I had a few encounters where a Tom would respond to my calling but never saw them.
One of our club members, Jim Ware, was a very successful turkey hunter and always took one or two each season. He had offered to help me get a bird and we said we'd hunt together someday. He was older than me, and died several years ago before I was able to get a chance to hunt with him. I was able to buy his turkey gun when his wife decided to sell some of his things. I renewed my desire to finally get my first bird using Jim's gun, and was determined to get into the woods as often as possible this season to make that happen.
Opening weekend I sat through monsoon rains in Warren county, but heard good gobbling before the rain set in with a vengeance. I finally gave up around noon and went home. I missed the next weekend, but a buddy in our club took a nice Tom in the food plot I had hunted opening weekend.
This past weekend, I went down Thursday night and was in the woods early Friday morning. I started calling in an oak bottom that parallels a power line. On my first call, I heard gobbles to my right and my left. After some back and forth with the ones on my right (there were two), I realized they were on the way and I stopped calling. Just then, a hen appeared to my right in a logging road, and fed in the direction of the power line. I could hear the two Toms hammering every minute or two and I wasn't even calling. They then showed up about 65 yards in front of me and I could tell they were both good birds. I did not have a decoy set up as they were in my pop-up blind on a food plot in the power line. I mouth-called a few light purrs to try to entice the two Toms into the bottom for a shot, but they turned in pursuit of the hen they must have seen cross the power line in front of them.
I then eased over to my blind on the food plot, put out the decoys and spent most the rest of the day in that set, calling occasionally but only had hens feed through. Two of them pounced my Jezebel hen! It was very windy that day and it was hard to hear anything. Had a blast watching them anyway. Called it a day and went to the club house for a steak dinner.
Saturday morning, I repeated my plan from the day before, and only heard one distant gobble early. After that...zero. I had one hen feed through the bottom and out into the power line. So, I moved to the blind on the food plot, set out my decoys and settled in for the morning. It got REALLY windy...I mean, like 30 MPH. I was calling with my box call out the window of the blind every 20-30 minutes. Loud, raspy calls, and mixed in some other stuff on my two other calls, one slate and one glass. I was trying to make it sound like there was a big ol' turkey party going on in the food plot.
I wasn't seeing anything and was texting buddies to see what they were seeing, reading a book on my iPhone, and thinking, "I don't know what I'm doing and I'll never kill a turkey." In the middle of a text to a buddy, I looked out the window and there he was - in full strut, putting on a show for Jezebel! I have no idea where he came from, but I threw the phone down, and eased the gun out the window. When he came into range, I shot and he folded immediately, flopped a few times and went still! I was beyond excited! I shot him with Jim's gun, which makes him an even more special bird. I will have him mounted in full strut since he is my first.
The cheap scale we have at the club house said 16 or 17 pounds, he had a 10" beard and 1" spurs. Glad to finally be part of the longboard club!
BJ
One of our club members, Jim Ware, was a very successful turkey hunter and always took one or two each season. He had offered to help me get a bird and we said we'd hunt together someday. He was older than me, and died several years ago before I was able to get a chance to hunt with him. I was able to buy his turkey gun when his wife decided to sell some of his things. I renewed my desire to finally get my first bird using Jim's gun, and was determined to get into the woods as often as possible this season to make that happen.
Opening weekend I sat through monsoon rains in Warren county, but heard good gobbling before the rain set in with a vengeance. I finally gave up around noon and went home. I missed the next weekend, but a buddy in our club took a nice Tom in the food plot I had hunted opening weekend.
This past weekend, I went down Thursday night and was in the woods early Friday morning. I started calling in an oak bottom that parallels a power line. On my first call, I heard gobbles to my right and my left. After some back and forth with the ones on my right (there were two), I realized they were on the way and I stopped calling. Just then, a hen appeared to my right in a logging road, and fed in the direction of the power line. I could hear the two Toms hammering every minute or two and I wasn't even calling. They then showed up about 65 yards in front of me and I could tell they were both good birds. I did not have a decoy set up as they were in my pop-up blind on a food plot in the power line. I mouth-called a few light purrs to try to entice the two Toms into the bottom for a shot, but they turned in pursuit of the hen they must have seen cross the power line in front of them.
I then eased over to my blind on the food plot, put out the decoys and spent most the rest of the day in that set, calling occasionally but only had hens feed through. Two of them pounced my Jezebel hen! It was very windy that day and it was hard to hear anything. Had a blast watching them anyway. Called it a day and went to the club house for a steak dinner.
Saturday morning, I repeated my plan from the day before, and only heard one distant gobble early. After that...zero. I had one hen feed through the bottom and out into the power line. So, I moved to the blind on the food plot, set out my decoys and settled in for the morning. It got REALLY windy...I mean, like 30 MPH. I was calling with my box call out the window of the blind every 20-30 minutes. Loud, raspy calls, and mixed in some other stuff on my two other calls, one slate and one glass. I was trying to make it sound like there was a big ol' turkey party going on in the food plot.
I wasn't seeing anything and was texting buddies to see what they were seeing, reading a book on my iPhone, and thinking, "I don't know what I'm doing and I'll never kill a turkey." In the middle of a text to a buddy, I looked out the window and there he was - in full strut, putting on a show for Jezebel! I have no idea where he came from, but I threw the phone down, and eased the gun out the window. When he came into range, I shot and he folded immediately, flopped a few times and went still! I was beyond excited! I shot him with Jim's gun, which makes him an even more special bird. I will have him mounted in full strut since he is my first.
The cheap scale we have at the club house said 16 or 17 pounds, he had a 10" beard and 1" spurs. Glad to finally be part of the longboard club!
BJ
