This season has been a strange one. The birds are just not using my private property spots. I had to branch out. My two go too public spots are being hunted hard this year so I needed to find new spots.
I decide to take a couple of days off to do some serious turkey hunting. Thursday evening I found a gobbler and three hens out in a field. I know theres at least one other guy hunting this spot, so I decide to play it safe and see what the turkeys were doing. I put the Mohican sneak on them and got within 60 yards. I sat down and waited to see what they would do. There are two major creek crossings here. They used the other one. The hens came buy in range but the gobbler disappeared on me. The hens flew up only 30 yards from me and kept me pinned down until after 9:00. I managed to slide out without alerting them.
Friday morning I slipped up the creek and positioned myself on the creek bank about 70 yards from the roosted hens. Two gobblers across the road on private ground started gobbling early and often. This got my gobbler fired up. Somehow he had skirted me and flown up on the other side of the hens without me knowing it. He flew down pretty early and the hens were still in the tree. I thought I had him. I answered his gobbles with some soft purrs and scratching the leaves. He wouldn’t budge and just strutted back and forth under his hens. The hens finaly bailed out and I could hear them scratching just out of sight. I answered there clucks with my own and scratched in the leaves. After 15-20 minutes it got quite all of the sudden. I was straining to hear any sound when I heard wing beats. I look to my right and one of the hens is in the creek only about 10 yards from me. That’s when I hear him spit & drum. Hes about 30 yards down the creek to my right and I don’t have a shot. Theres a double creek bank here with the bank, a 15 yard wide flat and another bank. The other two hens turn on the flat and come right at me. There getting awfully close when the man decides to strut up on the second bank at about 40 yards. I shifted my gun alittle which made on every one stand up and look. I put the shot on him and he rolled down the bank. 1 1/8 spurs, 9 ¾” beard and 21 pounds.


Saturday morning I started making the rounds to several different spots. The woods were silent so at 9:00 I decided to go back to the spot that has been the most productive. I eased onto a flat, setup and started blind calling. I had been there an hour and was half asleep when I heard a faint gobble. I really wasnt sure where it came from. He gobbled again and I got a direction on him. I answered him with some yelps and he did not answer back immediately. I moved closer to him and called. We went back and forth with neither answering the other. Finally I had crept to the other end of the flat and he had not moved. I sat down and said im not moving another inch. I called one more time and put the call up. I really didn’t like my position so when he gobbled from the same place I got up and moved about 30 yards to the left. A few minutes later an ambulance went down the highway. This set him off. He started double and triple gobbling and just kept going. After a few minutes I could see his fan just poking over the lip. He went back and forth for a few minutes then his fan disappeared. I reached over and scratched in the leaves. He then comes back over the lip but not strutting. He very slowly walks to the edge of the opening and stops. There are a lot of leaves and small twigs in the way. He starts getting spooky and stands all the way up. All I could see of his head was from the beak up. I know at 30 yards there is know where to hide in my pattern so I drop the bead down and take the shot. He disappeared so fast I thought I missed. The heavy shot blasted thru and killed him stone dead. He had never even moved. When I got over there and looked at his spurs I was like oh boy! Hes my second largest bird ever. 1 5/8” – 1 7/16” spurs, 9 ½” beard and 20 pounds.

Nice hunt In the spring season my zone is limited to one bird.

I be out with my call this week helping a friend almost as good

Congratulations... nice looking birds.

Those are some serious hooks!

Good hunts and good results. You obviously managed both hunts just right.

Conglads on a good hunt. I really like the 1st photo!

Congrats on your birds!