Saturday turkey

[gillripper]

 

I shot this bird opening week of turkey season but never shared the story. I like reading about other hunter's hunts so here it is. I like many here have kids and don't get out like I used to. My fishing and hunting is crammed into short windows between family obligations, soccer games, volleyball, etc. I had a Saturday only hunt permit. I got the permit never expecting to fill the tag due to time limitations. Anyway, I got up that opening Saturday and went to a spot that was absolutely trampled with turkey prints back in the winter. When I arrived I did not call at all for at least the first 45 minutes I was there. I could hear birds on the hillside gobbling but they were on the other side of a river. I tried unsuccesssfully four times to cross the river to get closer to those birds. With all the rain we had it was going over my boots. I started to head back to my truck defeated. But I said to myself, "walk up river a little bit in the direction where I heard those gobbles". I did and hit the slate. All of a sudden this tom explodes right over the river. In retrospect it was probably a blessing in disguise that I could not cross that water. I said to myself, "holy crap-he's close but I doubt he'll cross this river". Oh well may as well try-I've got nothing to lose. I hit the slate again and now he's even closer. I immediately found a thick tree and sat up against it. I did not call anymore and he's continuing to get louder. This all happened in under 10 minutes. He must have been trucking down that mountain towards me. Now I can see him on the other side of the river. A few wing beats and he flies over the water right at me. I'm saying "I cannot believe how hot this bird is". He goes behind a tree for a minute and finally sticks his head out. I pulled the trigger at about 40 yards and he went right over. As he was flapping around I thought, "this is the best hunt I ever had". When I walked up to him he was beautiful. He checked in at 24 lbs. with a 9 inch beard and 1.25 inch spurs. What made this even sweeter was that he was taken on public land and I never saw another soul that morning.

Edited May 22, 2017 by gillripper

[Cedars]

Good story! Nice bird! Congrats!

[Lunatic]

Great bird, good story

Congrats

[Nomad]

Very nice bird. Congrats!

[mazzgolf]

Awesome that he actually took to the air to fly over the water to come at you! I would have loved to see that. You had the bird going crazy! Great story   and love how you didn't give up. When you are hearing birds, never give up! Sometimes they go into stealth mode and before you see or hear anything they are on top of you.

 

As for public land - it has been a weird year. The times I've spent on public land this year I never saw a single hunter and didn't even see trucks parked in the usual spots. Like I had the woods to myself. Not that we should be complaining 

Edited May 21, 2017 by mazzgolf

[BHC]

congrats, thanks for sharing

[kmtpr]

Nice bird. Congrats!

[LPJR]

Awesome hunt! 

 

Too cool and somewhat rare that he flew across the water to get to you. Well done! 

[hammer4reel]

congrats ,m thanks for sharing the story

[Rusty]

Congratulations on a nice gobbler gillripper.    

[Buck154]

Congrats. Great story

[rackemup]

Great Bird and story!! Congrats!!

[Bone collector 85]

Congrats nice bird and great story

[Shootstraight]

Congrats  

 

SS!