It has been a rather frustrating season, mostly because my hunting has been limited to one farm. There just aren't any turkeys on some of the other places I usually hunt. The farm I am hunting is planted in wheat, and that has limited the area the turkeys use. But, there have been birds there every day. On opening morning, Saturday the 17th, I called up a bird about 45 minutes into the hunt, and had a good shot at about 30 yards. The gobbler was out in the wheat, and there was a strip of weeds between the wheat and where I was sitting. Long story.......I have no idea what happened, but I either missed, or the shot had run out of steam by cutting it's way through all that cover, because the turkey flew off. It looked like a weed eater had cut a swath up to where the turkey was, but there no sign of a hit. I was shooting a 3 inch 12 gauge, #5 Longbeards.
Fast forward till yesterday. I'd been on a bird Friday and Saturday, he'd gobble on the roost a few times, then fly down in an open field, be joined by hens, and still be there when I left. Sunday morning I decided to cut him off at the pass, so to speak, and go the field and hopefully be there when he showed up. I heard him gobbling on the roost exactly where I thought he would be, but it was a long walk to where I wanted to be, and when I got that at 5:45, the bird was already in the field.
I was in the woods, so I went as close I could get, and kneeled down behind a tree lap. The gobbler was by himself, and gobbled his head off for 30 minutes. I was softly clucking and putting on an old push pin call I've used for 30 years. He was about 70 yards away, and finally broke and came in to about 35-40 yards. I was trying to shoot through the tree lap, without a rest, off balance, and it was probably one of the hardest shots I've ever took at a turkey. But, my gosh, it was a fun hunt. I shot him with a Mossberg SA-20, Sig Romeo red dot, Carlson Longbeard choke, and #5 Longbeard shot. Bird weighed 22 1/2 pounds, 10 inch beard, and 1 1/8 spurs.
We can kill two here in Kentucky, but with numbers being as low as they are, I'm on the fence about killing another one. I will keep on hunting, and hopefully can find something for my son and granddaughter to hunt.
![[Linked Image from i.imgur.com]](https://i.imgur.com/qfd7jek.jpg)
![[Linked Image from i.imgur.com]](https://i.imgur.com/d1MHAB6.jpg)
