Home Forums Birds & Dogs Turkey Hunting MOGC's first 05' Gobbler.....

I've had turkeys all over the new farm. A couple of days ago five toms were strutting in the field right beside the house. Yesterday we had a huge old gobbler fly down from the roost into our backyard. He got confused and couldn't find his way out of the fenced in yard. I thought I was going to have to do what I did for the deer fawn last fall and open the gate and shoo him out. He finally figured it out and escaped. There were three toms that roosted within 60 yards of the house to the north gobbling their heads off yesterday morning. At the same time across the field to the south there were two toms and three hens fooling around in the field.

It started storming last night with lingering thundershowers this morning. I was able to take the day off and enjoyed sleeping in a little late listening to the thunder and rain and feeling the cool breeze off the storm front. I got up and let the dog out at 7AM as things were settling down some. About 250 yards from the house there was a tom absolutely smoking hot, gobbling at every rumble of thunder, and every caw of a crow. I had breakfast, got dressed and grabbed my shotgun and a glass friction call, let the dog in and headed out back. The gobbler continued to gobble at every sound he heard in his world. He was in the smallest of my fields, between a small pond and creek bottom and a wooded ridge.

I snuck through some woods beside the field and peeked out to see him strutting in the center of the field. I backed off the field edge and moved a little so a small rise was between myself and the center of the field. I was twenty-five yards from the edge of the field. Sitting with my back against a large tree with a big patch of honeysuckle behind me to further break of my outline I got the shotgun on my knee and picked up my call. Three subtle soft yelps brought a booming triple gobble. I clucked a couple of times and added some low purring and set the call down. The gobbler was on fire! He was on the run after another triple gobble. He came slightly above me behind a screen of brush and began spitting and drumming. I waited for him to shuffle into range but he seemed intent on staying on the little flat spot he was on. I slowly picked up the call and stroked out three very soft yelps and let it drop. He was on the way now for sure! At twenty-five yards I settled the sight on his wattles and crushed the trigger. The 3" .12 gauge Winchester Hi-Velocity Supreme no. 5's from my Benelli M1S90 and Kick's Gobblin' Thunder choke hammered him hard. On my digital fish scales he weighed 21 lbs. 3 ozs. with a 9 1/2" inch beard and 1" spurs. I figure him for a healthy two year old bird. I was back at the house within 30-40 minutes. Life on the farm is good.