beaulesye10
Senior Member
Well guys I have to say I am one happy turkey hunter this year! I think I pulled off a small miracle Sunday, but I'll let you guys be the judge of it. My girlfriend has wanted to kill a turkey for the past two years... Last year she missed a Jake at about 25 yards so she was determined to make it happen this year...
Well two Friday's ago she missed a nice gobbler as I stated in my story last week. She was a little discouraged, but ready to try again... Well Friday I got off work at noon and she was off for the day so I asked if she wanted to go and try some afternoon hunting... I told her it wouldn't be as exciting as the morning hunts, but with the weather changing I figured the birds would be in the fields.. (Now little did she know but I had spoke with the farmer of our property Monday and he had told me they would be turning over some picked peanut fields that had lots of involuntary peanuts growing. So in my mind that told me easy food for turkeys and great odds for us). Well we make it to the first field I had seen a nice two year old in on Wednesday, and low and behold there were two sow with about a dozen piglets that must have just dropped feeding...
Well many of you know my club has quite a hog problem and we try to shoot all on sight... I had my bow in hand and a slug and buckshot in my turkey vest... I asked if she wanted to shoot a pig and she was stoked! We changed her shells out and I pulled the range finder out. The goal was to get within 40 yards and for me to shoot one with the bow and then her lay into the others with hot lead. Well we made it to 50 yards before one of the sows caught us stalking in I ranged her and she was 51 yards... I told Shelly she was broadside to just put it mid body and squeeze... Well she snatched the shot a little and hit about 6 inches over the pig and then in all the rush didn't know where to aim with the buckshot so we did not get to eat bacon... I laughed and told her it was fine, we reloaded her gun with turkey loads and walked the 100 yards or so to the back "L" fields to check for birds... As we rounded the corner I caught movement about 80 yards in front of us. I checked with the binos and sure enough there was the bird I had my heart set on this year... He is one of the larges birds I've ever seen he is sporting a beard at least a foot long. He had two hens and he was strutting his stuff as they fed. Now like I said I have my heart set on this bird, but love makes us do silly things so I decided I'd let her have a go at him... I knew where the bird liked to end his days in a secluded field witch was the east and west part of the "L" fields and I had already planned how to kill him so I told her to come on lets go get him... We backed out and made a huge circle some 800 yards around and come up at the complete opposite end of the back field. As we belly crawled up to the field edge I could see the bird standing there in full strut 50 yards out and walking our way... I told her to get ready he was coming... Now I don't know if it was the fear of missing, the shock of such a large bird, or the 800 yards we had just ran to get to this point but she just froze. The bird closes to 40 yards I tell her to ease her gun up she doesn't move. The bird makes it closer I range him as I'm looking him over 36 yards I say "Shelly ease your gun up and shoot"! No movement just a "he needs to be closer, now be quiet" from her... I range the bird again 33 yards I say "shoot before he makes it behind this brush" She slowly moves and starts to raise her gun to her shoulder... She puts the gun on him... BOOM!!! I see the bird take off running as she shoots 2 more shots before the bird takes flight. Now heart broken doesn't begin to describe what I'm feeling, here was the bird I was after this year within shooting range of my bow, that I had in my hand, and she misses with a shotgun... I tried not to let my frustration show, but I think I did a little as we made our way back to the truck..
By Saturday afternoon I was ready to try again on the two year old I had scouted out for Shelly. I had the ground blind set up pretty boy 7 yards in front of us and her loaded and ready by 330 Saturday afternoon. By 530 we had 3 hens standing in the field feeding on the turned over peanuts... At 630 Shelly says "I'm ready to go" I purred and clucked some on my Hollerman slate and said lets wait till 7:15... At 635 I look up and there is the two year old in full strut on the edge of the field some 80 yards. I tell her to get the gun up and be ready. The bird see's pretty boy and gobbles as he comes out of strut and comes running over to check out the little jake. He runs to withing 40 yards and puts on the brakes... Now looking back I know the bird saw Shelly's face because she had forgotten to put on her face mask but I thought he was just nervous of the strutting jake... Regardless he begins to putt and slowly walk away I range him at 43 yards and say it's now or never... She aims and squeezes one off...The bird ducks and takes flight... I couldn't believe it! She had missed again! I really wasn't very upset, though she was. But, after I told her it was a bit of a poke for a novice hunter and we could come back Sunday afternoon and try again, she felt better.
Well Sunday rolls around, Shelly decides not to hunt so I took Uncle Vic to try our luck. I call in a Jake that morning but opted not to shoot him with the bow and my dad saw our white hen in the field he hunted plus the large gobbler I had my heart set on... The big bird offered no shot for dad though.
That afternoon I had Shelly, myself, the ground blind, pretty boy, and two hens are set up in the edge of some planted pines in the same field she missed the bird the day before in by 430... At 530 I had a hen standing at the deke set less than 10 yards away feeding... I leaned over to Shelly and told her that one hour and 4 minutes from right now is when she missed her bird on Saturday...So don't worry it would only be and hour before he came in today with a grin since we where so much closer... At 615 I purred and clucked and threw in a lost hen yelp serries... A few moments later I had her look out her window to see if a bird was coming, but before she could I saw movement through the pines in front of us. I raise the binos up to see a hen at about 100 yards cutting through the pines I whisper its just a hen... as I lower the binos down there stands a gobbler at 15 yards in full strut! I told her to ease the gun up and take the shot... The bird turned to walk towards the hen not giving Shelly a shot. I whispered for her to hang out of the window and take the shot... So she stand up leans out the window and pulls the trigger....But no boom and she snatched the trigger so hard that she almost fell... Thank God she still had the safety own I thought... She clicks it off took a breath and manged to squeeze the trigger...BOOM!!! The bird falls straight down.. She had done it! A perfect 35 yard shot and she had her prize! I looked down at the clock 630 exactly!!! We hugged, kissed, and took lots of photos of her milestone and to say that she is hooked might be an understatement!
The bird was a 2 year old with 3/4 inch spurs a ten inch beard and weighted 18 pounds! I couldn't be more excited for her or myself I now have everyone on my list a bird and I get to focus on my large tom with a bow for the next 5 weeks! Hopefully more beard and spurs to come!
Well two Friday's ago she missed a nice gobbler as I stated in my story last week. She was a little discouraged, but ready to try again... Well Friday I got off work at noon and she was off for the day so I asked if she wanted to go and try some afternoon hunting... I told her it wouldn't be as exciting as the morning hunts, but with the weather changing I figured the birds would be in the fields.. (Now little did she know but I had spoke with the farmer of our property Monday and he had told me they would be turning over some picked peanut fields that had lots of involuntary peanuts growing. So in my mind that told me easy food for turkeys and great odds for us). Well we make it to the first field I had seen a nice two year old in on Wednesday, and low and behold there were two sow with about a dozen piglets that must have just dropped feeding...
Well many of you know my club has quite a hog problem and we try to shoot all on sight... I had my bow in hand and a slug and buckshot in my turkey vest... I asked if she wanted to shoot a pig and she was stoked! We changed her shells out and I pulled the range finder out. The goal was to get within 40 yards and for me to shoot one with the bow and then her lay into the others with hot lead. Well we made it to 50 yards before one of the sows caught us stalking in I ranged her and she was 51 yards... I told Shelly she was broadside to just put it mid body and squeeze... Well she snatched the shot a little and hit about 6 inches over the pig and then in all the rush didn't know where to aim with the buckshot so we did not get to eat bacon... I laughed and told her it was fine, we reloaded her gun with turkey loads and walked the 100 yards or so to the back "L" fields to check for birds... As we rounded the corner I caught movement about 80 yards in front of us. I checked with the binos and sure enough there was the bird I had my heart set on this year... He is one of the larges birds I've ever seen he is sporting a beard at least a foot long. He had two hens and he was strutting his stuff as they fed. Now like I said I have my heart set on this bird, but love makes us do silly things so I decided I'd let her have a go at him... I knew where the bird liked to end his days in a secluded field witch was the east and west part of the "L" fields and I had already planned how to kill him so I told her to come on lets go get him... We backed out and made a huge circle some 800 yards around and come up at the complete opposite end of the back field. As we belly crawled up to the field edge I could see the bird standing there in full strut 50 yards out and walking our way... I told her to get ready he was coming... Now I don't know if it was the fear of missing, the shock of such a large bird, or the 800 yards we had just ran to get to this point but she just froze. The bird closes to 40 yards I tell her to ease her gun up she doesn't move. The bird makes it closer I range him as I'm looking him over 36 yards I say "Shelly ease your gun up and shoot"! No movement just a "he needs to be closer, now be quiet" from her... I range the bird again 33 yards I say "shoot before he makes it behind this brush" She slowly moves and starts to raise her gun to her shoulder... She puts the gun on him... BOOM!!! I see the bird take off running as she shoots 2 more shots before the bird takes flight. Now heart broken doesn't begin to describe what I'm feeling, here was the bird I was after this year within shooting range of my bow, that I had in my hand, and she misses with a shotgun... I tried not to let my frustration show, but I think I did a little as we made our way back to the truck..
By Saturday afternoon I was ready to try again on the two year old I had scouted out for Shelly. I had the ground blind set up pretty boy 7 yards in front of us and her loaded and ready by 330 Saturday afternoon. By 530 we had 3 hens standing in the field feeding on the turned over peanuts... At 630 Shelly says "I'm ready to go" I purred and clucked some on my Hollerman slate and said lets wait till 7:15... At 635 I look up and there is the two year old in full strut on the edge of the field some 80 yards. I tell her to get the gun up and be ready. The bird see's pretty boy and gobbles as he comes out of strut and comes running over to check out the little jake. He runs to withing 40 yards and puts on the brakes... Now looking back I know the bird saw Shelly's face because she had forgotten to put on her face mask but I thought he was just nervous of the strutting jake... Regardless he begins to putt and slowly walk away I range him at 43 yards and say it's now or never... She aims and squeezes one off...The bird ducks and takes flight... I couldn't believe it! She had missed again! I really wasn't very upset, though she was. But, after I told her it was a bit of a poke for a novice hunter and we could come back Sunday afternoon and try again, she felt better.
Well Sunday rolls around, Shelly decides not to hunt so I took Uncle Vic to try our luck. I call in a Jake that morning but opted not to shoot him with the bow and my dad saw our white hen in the field he hunted plus the large gobbler I had my heart set on... The big bird offered no shot for dad though.
That afternoon I had Shelly, myself, the ground blind, pretty boy, and two hens are set up in the edge of some planted pines in the same field she missed the bird the day before in by 430... At 530 I had a hen standing at the deke set less than 10 yards away feeding... I leaned over to Shelly and told her that one hour and 4 minutes from right now is when she missed her bird on Saturday...So don't worry it would only be and hour before he came in today with a grin since we where so much closer... At 615 I purred and clucked and threw in a lost hen yelp serries... A few moments later I had her look out her window to see if a bird was coming, but before she could I saw movement through the pines in front of us. I raise the binos up to see a hen at about 100 yards cutting through the pines I whisper its just a hen... as I lower the binos down there stands a gobbler at 15 yards in full strut! I told her to ease the gun up and take the shot... The bird turned to walk towards the hen not giving Shelly a shot. I whispered for her to hang out of the window and take the shot... So she stand up leans out the window and pulls the trigger....But no boom and she snatched the trigger so hard that she almost fell... Thank God she still had the safety own I thought... She clicks it off took a breath and manged to squeeze the trigger...BOOM!!! The bird falls straight down.. She had done it! A perfect 35 yard shot and she had her prize! I looked down at the clock 630 exactly!!! We hugged, kissed, and took lots of photos of her milestone and to say that she is hooked might be an understatement!
The bird was a 2 year old with 3/4 inch spurs a ten inch beard and weighted 18 pounds! I couldn't be more excited for her or myself I now have everyone on my list a bird and I get to focus on my large tom with a bow for the next 5 weeks! Hopefully more beard and spurs to come!
