Echo
Gone But Not Forgotten
Man, is it fun when a turkey hunt goes exactly according to plan! That's what happened to me this morning as I heard one gobble early while making my way down a gated woods road. I immediately exited the road and started in his general direction, pausing now and then to wait for another gobble in order to better chart the course.
It soon became apparent that he wasn't on the cane filled ridge with me but down into the vast open hardwood bottom below....and he wasn't alone as I was now hearing multiple gobblers. As I entered the bottom in the breaking dawn light the question became how far did dare push onward? I sat once but it didn't feel just right so I scurried up to huge cypress tree 30 yards ahead and dug in.
It was a fun wait as I was continually being bombarded by the most beautiful sounds that nature can throw at you. Finally they flew down although I heard or saw nothing when they did but the gobbling was now from ground level. I began to work my new Olin Humphries Scratch Box as well as my new slate pot with positive results.
The combo proved too much for one lone gobbler and his distant gobbles became ever closer and more insistent. I stayed silent and shifted my position around the ancient tree as he thoughtfully announced his approach route. Movement now...coming up low to the ground out of a slough at about 40 yards. My red dot found his red head as he stood in strut and peered my way.
The Federal Heavyweight 7 shell rang out through the bottom like only a turkey load can and the gobbler was down right in his tracks. As a bonus he turned out to be a banded bird and I was met at the check station by several interested DNR folks after calling the number on the tag. They gave me a nice run down on the two year old that was tagged last February as a jake. He had travelled a good ways!
Some pics of the bird, terrain, tag and the main call used...
It soon became apparent that he wasn't on the cane filled ridge with me but down into the vast open hardwood bottom below....and he wasn't alone as I was now hearing multiple gobblers. As I entered the bottom in the breaking dawn light the question became how far did dare push onward? I sat once but it didn't feel just right so I scurried up to huge cypress tree 30 yards ahead and dug in.
It was a fun wait as I was continually being bombarded by the most beautiful sounds that nature can throw at you. Finally they flew down although I heard or saw nothing when they did but the gobbling was now from ground level. I began to work my new Olin Humphries Scratch Box as well as my new slate pot with positive results.
The combo proved too much for one lone gobbler and his distant gobbles became ever closer and more insistent. I stayed silent and shifted my position around the ancient tree as he thoughtfully announced his approach route. Movement now...coming up low to the ground out of a slough at about 40 yards. My red dot found his red head as he stood in strut and peered my way.
The Federal Heavyweight 7 shell rang out through the bottom like only a turkey load can and the gobbler was down right in his tracks. As a bonus he turned out to be a banded bird and I was met at the check station by several interested DNR folks after calling the number on the tag. They gave me a nice run down on the two year old that was tagged last February as a jake. He had travelled a good ways!
Some pics of the bird, terrain, tag and the main call used...
