Home Forums Birds & Dogs Turkey Hunting Last day success....

This is a bit long winded, but this ole tom deserves it…

Man, I thought this guy was going to beat me this year, but I finally got it done on the last day! I wasn’t even going to go, but decided to give it one last try…

This guy was hunted nearly every day for 4 weeks straight, there seemed to always be trucks parked around this particular block and always fresh boot tracks on the trails surrounding the pine thinning he liked to hang out in. It was just too easy to access off a couple gravel roads and just screamed turkey habitat. He had a pretty sweet set-up though, he could see a long ways from a ridge in the thinning, so it was going to be hard for anyone to get close. The thing that puzzled me at first was he didn’t gobble early hardly any during the season or so I thought, but I finally figured out his routine. I had 4 close encounters with him throughout the season, but he beat me each time. The first time I got on him I had him in range, but he spooked before I had a clear shot. The second encounter I had him at 40yds, but he came in silent at 11am that day and I wasn’t expecting him, so he spooked again. The third time I had an encounter with him, I heard him way off and he finally slipped in behind me at 11am again, but dummy me tried a dang Zink decoy out in a big opening and he wasn’t having it, as soon as he topped the ridge and spotted the decoy the putting began and he was gone like a ghost. He had my number, I wasn’t worried much about other turkeys, I wanted to rip this guy’s snood off! Friday I was off work, so I made the 1.5hr drive to try him again, but when I showed up there was a highline crew on the gravel road clearing the ROW and making a ridiculous amount of noise. Despite the noise I heard a couple distant gobbles, but didn’t get into any action. Saturday I told Dad to go with me, he said “You sure you want me to kill that tom?” and I said heck yeah, I want him bad and I don’t care who shoots him as long as he’s coming to my calls! Well, the darn highline guys decided to work Saturday as well, so we broke daylight to the sound of saws running nearby. Dad and I were sitting close to the truck shooting the breeze and about 8am I thought I heard a gobble, but too much noise to tell for sure. I let out some cuts and thought I heard it again, so I told dad let’s go set up in the thinning and try it out. Sure enough he was in there despite the noise. In short order he was coming in hot and heavy gobbling like a love sick 2yo would, but he beat us again by hanging up 75yds out, then disappearing like the ghost he was. About 9 the clouds were getting thick and a front was approaching, but I told Dad, this is his midday sanctuary, let’s wait him out. We moved to where he’d hung up earlier and waited. About 10 the rain started and we decided to leave after a bit, but as we started to get up the rain stopped. I told Dad we needed to hold tight, he loves this place midday. Sure enough it wasn’t long after that he ripped off a gobble about a 1/2mi out, so I cut him and here he came. He cranked up at about 300yds and was comin’ in hot! This time he circled around behind us and luckily I was sitting behind dad, so we had that direction covered as well. That rascal must have been 40yds hammering, I could hear him gurgling with each gobble, but there was just too much brush for a shot and once again he shut down and disappeared like a ghost. It was exciting none the less and I’ve had a good year, so it was a good note to end it on. I couldn’t quit thinking about him though and there was one day of season left. I really needed to help watch the twins, but the wife asked me if I wanted to go, she didn’t mind. I told her I’d be back around 1 and made the 1.5hr drive yesterday morn. Luckily the front had pushed through, no rain, and the highline guys had finished up. It was a good morning, nice and cool. As daylight broke nothing sounded, then about 6:30 I heard a distant gobble, but it was waaay off and I thought it was a different bird. By 8am nothing had sounded close by and the other bird had gobbled several more times, so I decided I’d give him a shot since it was the last day. I went through thickets, a creek bottom, another thinning, and finally came to a gas well site, so sat down to give it a try. He gobbled again and was still a long ways off then shut down, so I decided to go back where I started as that’s the guy I wanted anyway. Since it was quiet, I decided to loop around and walk through the thinning to gain a bit more knowledge about the layout. I found that there was a little bowl in the back side that the timber co had left a little strip of thicket in, but up twds the ridge they’d made a pass through leaving a nice clean path. It made sense as he’d always be South, then North, and shortly back South to get to where I’d been getting on him. I thought this could be a funnel, I bet it’s his path to get up top where he likes to be midday, so I backed off 40yds and sat tight. I’ll be danged if the distant tom cranked back up. I let out some loud cuts and he’d hammer back, but I really didn’t want to bust brush again, so decided to wait it out and see if this tom was around. Then the distant gobbles got just a bit closer and a bit closer. By 10:15 he’d made it to about a 1/2mi or so, so I started pouring it on him and the rascal kept on coming. It was him, he just had a weird way of getting to the thinning and I couldn’t believe how far he’d roosted with the differences in timber stages between him and me, but there’s a maze of various gas wells around, so it’s definitely possible to travel a ways quickly. About the time he’s getting reasonably close some dude drives up on the gravel rd, get’s out, then lets out some pretty pathetic attempts with a crow call. Luckily the tom didn’t sound, but the guy came on in anyway and got about 150yds from me and started making terrible racket with a box call. I started whistling at him and I guess he heard me as I heard him crank up and move on. Back to business! I cut him again and man, he’d closed the gap big time, he was already on the other side of the thinning. It wasn’t long and he cranked it up and was coming in hot. I shut up when I felt like he knew exactly where I was. He eventually worked his way down to the other side of the thicket and hung up, then shut down for a while. A crow flew by and he gave another gobble still in the same place, so I purred a little and shut up again. After a bit he gobbled further away, so I said screw it and cut him. He ate it up and started hammering again, then came right back to where he’d hung up earlier. As bad as I wanted to call, I just stayed quiet and about 15min later I saw that red head bobbing through the brush, he was headed right to the funnel and I just let him come. He went right through the trail and was headed right for me. At 35 I couldn’t take it any longer, I settled the dot and let the 20 eat! Man, I haven’t worked that hard for one in a while, he’d flat beat me this year and I’d just about admitted defeat. Persistence pays off once again.





Have a good one,

loder

CONGRATS! That's a Dandy longbeard.

Great story, thanks for posting. There were certainly many obstacles thrown in your way towards bagging him, but you kept at it and won the day.

NB

Awesome. How big were his spurs?

Not huge, one was blunt and the other the tip was chipped off, both just shy of an inch. 3yo

Congrats! Nice pictures, too!

Steve.

Terrific story!

Congrats on bringing the wiley feathery spawn of Satan to heel.

Well done.

Great story. Way to stick with it and hammer him last day. I too have had a few over the years you have to work hard to kill over the season, and those birds are why we keep on hunting turkeys. Sometimes they win, sometimes we win. Keeps it interesting. I have one more in my pocket and 2 weeks to get it.

Thanks guys and good luck to you guys still chasing them.

Good read man! Staying with them pays off.