Made big mistake.....but luckily got my bird.

crghss

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We watched 5 turkeys strut around a field behind my hunting cabin. All afternoon back in the words back out again. Two hens disappeared leaving a hen and two Tom's. One of them massive. As the sun went down the turkeys disappeared into the corner of the field.

So I discussed my plan with my Dad. I'd goto the center of the field, along the wood line that leads to the corner of the field we saw turkeys in and place a decoy. Then call turkeys from the roost. He'd goto the field on the other side of the woods in case the turkeys went in to the woods deeper then we thought.

So an hour before sunrise I start up over the mountain to my spot. As I pass thought some fields I see deer galore. First four deer, as move along three more. I get to the top of the field and three more deer run out right in front of me. So now I'm not paying attention to the task at hand. I don't look into tree tops for the turkeys. I don't listen for turkey chatter. Suddenly I hear the swooshing of turkeys , I look up and there are two turkeys flushing from their roosts in the tree tops. Damn, I blew it. Now what do I do? But this is the first time I got lucky, the hen flew left into the woods and the Tom flew right out over and down the field to trees at the bottom of the hill.

As I stand there like an idiot I hear the hen calling in the woods. So I quickly go down the field and setup between the hen and where the Tom landed at bottom of the field. Put out decoy on edge of field and wait. The hen is really yelping. Never hear a thing from the Tom. Which I hope is the big ole Tom. Since I didn't see a third turkey flush I have no idea which it is. The hen keeps yelping for like 45 min (I'm guessing) no response from any Tom. Finally the hen has had enough as I hear her going away from me along the ridge line. So I give a yelp and the hen starts making her way back towards me, yelping the whole time. She gets very close but I can't see her. She's yelping and yelping but no Tom. Again she starts making her way away from me along ridge. She sounds faint, I yelp, she comes back again. We do this 3 more times. Over a hour has passed. No Tom, now what do I do. So I turn my setup away from decoy turkey in field and looking into woods in direction of hen. Thinking Tom must have come up behind me in the woods.

Well, after I spin around and position myself behind some cover I take a drink out of my water bottle. Don't I see the Tom coming over the hill in the center of the field behind me. I freeze, damn, blew it again. Tom's looking right at me, water bottle up to my mouth. Gun leaning against tree stump next to me. Turkey caller on fallen tree by my leg. Now what do I do? Well he's headed right for the decoy. As he gets closer the stump gets in his line of vision and I take the water bottle down. The turkey caller isn't in my hand so I can't purr or anything. And I get really lucky a second time.

He breaks off his approach to the decoy, I'm guessing because no turkey calls/sound is coming from me. He heads for the tree line and enters about 20 yds to my right. He goes behind the first tree and I get the gun to the ground. He is really cautious, going real slow. He knows something isn't right. Goes behind two trees side by side. I raise the gun thinking he can't see me. It's a pump and it makes a little rattle noise. Damn, did I blow it again? I have gun raised pointed left of the tree waiting for him to came out. And I'm waiting, guns getting heavy. Finally I'm starting to think he heard me and slipped away. But no there he is, he sticks out his head a little and I take him.

He wasn't the big ole Tom as we saw him later but he had 9 inch beard and weighed 17 lbs.
 

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congrats

Well........sometimes you do get lucky, even more than once.

Your story is pretty interesting. I noted, no gobbles in your story. Makes me wonder if your bird knew his place in the pecking order and was reluctant to sound off, as the Boss was in the area.

Also, turkeys flushed does not always mean turkeyless, if you follow what I mean.

How much longer does FL season run, I would have thought it would have expired by now?
 
Congrats on a nice bird.

Sometimes you can do everything right and get no bird
Sometimes you feel you did everything wrong and be successful.
Way to hang in there;)!

... I start up over the mountain to my spot.
How much longer does florida season run...

I've been all over the state of Fla. and have never seen a mountain:p:D. Bet crghss is hunting in another state.
 
News flash, Florida hunter seen in West Virginia mountain cabin. (lol)

Seriously, good job with the hunt. Patience paid off for you, I'm usually not so lucky. Now to finish the story, where were you when you get the Tom?
Obviously not in Florida!
 
Good hunting there.

no gobbles in your story

Sometimes this is best.

Saturday morning the guy at the top of our valley and the guy at the bottom were out had decoys staked and were gobbleing to beat the band. What did the turkeys do? Came to my tree line behind the house, got my neighbor he had a tag, crept up to the barrier (trees cut and stacked up as a barrier) slid the gun over and bagged a huge tom. Then we went back to working on our fields, Deer same way.

Turkeys know what a turkey sounds like. Mess it up and they will still come cause they are stupid :)
 
Sorry, I wasn't very clear in my little story. I was raised in PA and now live FL. I was reading bamaranger's Bad luck ridge story (amongst others) thinking man I really miss turkey hunting when, ring, my dad calls. Says he's going to the mountains (as we say) turkey hunting. So I said hold on, be right there. Booked a flight and few days later I was in PA, the day before turkey season. The rest is history or at least a short story on TFL.

Owe a thanks to bamaranger and the rest of the turkey hunters that posted stories out here. That definitely helped me get my butt moving. Now my dad and I have a great and memorable time together. Fly fishing, turkey hunting, eating trout, cleaning the bird........priceless!

bamaranger your absolutely right. If you'll note in the story there where two Tom turkey's (three total turkeys). I never saw the "'ole Tom" when I flushed them, only my Tom and hen, as I later learned. My Tom was trying to get back to the rafter(gang). And he definitely played second fiddle. Saw the Big Tom push him around the previous day. Also saw a third Tom rush out of the woods and taken on the 'ole Tom and get his butt kicked and chased back into the woods.

FYI, drove to Summer home/hunting cabin friday. Hunted to 1 p.m. (law) on saturday then went fly fishing. I saw turkeys late Sat. and all day Sun. You can't hunt Sundays in PA so "The Hunt" took place Monday morning.Bagged him at 6:50. Saw those turkeys graze, strut, fight all day Sunday. That alone was worth the trip.
 
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thanks

If I motivated somebody to turkey hunt, I'm tickled. . I love it and if I could choose only one kind, that would be it.

Ol' Ben Rogers Lee, also from AL had a great audio cassette tape (am I showing my age) in which he stated..."if you're gonna be a turkey hunter, you're gonna need a good wife, and a good job, or you'll loose'em both. You'll turkey hunt 'till you die....." Or words to that effect.

What part of PA you hunting? I went to school up there and killed some birds and deer. Managed to graduate in the process.
 
Bamranger,
Ben Rogers Lee had some real good cassettes on the 'how to's' of turkey calling. Used to listen to em on the way home from work and get some real odd looks from people in other cars. :D. Sure beat listening to the loud rap music thats blasted today:rolleyes:.
 
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