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This morning's story of my first A-week bird!

mazzgolf

By mazzgolf
in Turkey Hunting

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mazzgolf 9 pointer

mazzgolf

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Well, that went from  hours of boredom to a few minutes of excitement without warning! My first A-week bird! Story down below...

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OK, I don't have any good pictures, because it started pouring rain as I was packing up. Took this one picture after the shot and then I caught a lull in the rain just long enough to hang it in the backyard and take a picture and then butcher it outside (The wife would have a seizure if I cleaned the bird in the house, so I needed to wait for the rain to subside.)

So, I get to this spot with a field where I saw Toms on Tuesday night during a scouting trip. This is NOT my " next to the creek with birds on the other side" spot. It's a little super-secret honey hole I got last year and got a D-week bird here last year. This year while hunting it, I haven't seen any birds except for one lonely hen here on Wednesday when I was walking around on my way to leave. I haven't heard any gobbles here (except for some way, way off on different property). It was so frustrating because I know there are birds here! But Wednesday and Thursday I struck out. I decided even with the rain, I was going to give it one last shot Friday morning - there HAD to be birds here, I kept saying to myself!

I get there this morning at 4am in the rain. I set up my blind on the edge of the field with a hen/jake deke pair out in the field about 30 yards in front. Should be perfect - with the rain, birds want to hit fields. But then I don't hear a single bird for hours. And the rain stopped at about 6:30, so there goes the "birds like fields in the rain" plan. I'm giving light purrs, clucks, and putts every 20 to 30 minutes.. .threw in a yelp or two, but most of my calls are not loud and screaming. These birds are quiet here - I don't hear any hens or toms - so rather than make a bunch of noise that the real birds aren't making, I just hit the pot call sparingly and with not a lot of volume.

Of course, after 4 hours of sitting there, I start thinking, "Welp, another A-week gone by without a harvest." At about 8:30am I give a little prayer to God, "I hate to ask for things like this but... can you throw a bird my way? Yet not my will, your will be done" :) I text my wife saying, "I'm gonna stay longer than normal. I want to give it some extra time this morning since its the last day for A-week".

Soon after that text (it can't have been 10 minutes later), GOBBLE GOBBLE! :shock: I couldn't believe it! Out of the blue a Tom sounds off directly behind me that can't be more than 50 yards away, but I don't know exactly because my blind windows are closed behind me. This bird came in stealth mode - he didn't make any noise all morning. But I'm sure he was announcing himself to my calls once he got in the area I was in (funny thing is - I hadn't let out any calls within the past 15 or 20 minutes. Yet more proof - no need to call every 5 minutes... the birds know where you are!). I knew he was bee-lining right to me when he let out another gobble, but I couldn't tell if he'd pass me on my left or my right.

I was predicting he'd come on my left, so I was concentrating on that side. Then my eye caught movement, and I saw him to my right. I wasn't paying attention in that direction - he had already passed me and was about 20 yards away. But now I faced a problem - this bird was walking in a straight line away from me on a path that is on the edge of the field. If he keeps walking straight, he's going to be out of range fast. I had put my dekes towards the middle of the field, but this Tom would NOT turn left and walk to them. I think he might have thought something was up... I may have put the dekes too far out in the middle of the field. Every time I saw birds here, they always hung around on the edge of the field, never towards the middle for some reason, so it's possible this Tom kinda knew something was out of place and wasn't kosher.  He would fan out his tail feathers, then immediately fold them back up and keep walking straight away down the path on the edge of the field. Fan out the feathers, fold them back, keep walking straight away. I wanted to scream at the thing, "Come on! Fight for the lady! You coward!!" But he wasn't turning towards the dekes. Well, he keeps getting farther and farther away - 30 yards... 35 yards... 40 yards.  By that time, I couldn't trust that he would turn around and go to the dekes - he was just on the edge of my comfort zone for a shot (I had patterned my gun a couple weeks ago at just this 40 yard range, and looking at the pattern I said at that time that this is the farthest I think I can go). So I had to take the shot or risk having him walk too far and not come back into range. From the first gobble to the shot was no more than 5 or 10 minutes. I spent hours in boredom, and then that happened! Crazy! :happy:

I shoot and he immediately goes down. PHEW! 40 yard shot is probably the longest I've taken at turkey - it was always in the back of my mind I'd miss at that distance :). I gather myself, calm down, and walk to the bird - bringing with me my gun and an extra shell "just in case." Well, it turns out, I needed it!! I get to the bird, and he's still blinking his eyes and opening his mouth. I'm looking at it going, "Uhhh... why aren't you dead yet?" I push him over with my foot, and it looks like he actually sits up and his head kinda pops up!!! :eek:  I have never seen this before (well, with a turkey anyway - I had two pheasants fly away after taking them out of me and my friends vests earlier this year!!!) I'm sure with the long distance shot, I only wounded him. I aimed for his head, but I'm guessing I hit a little low. Now, I readily admit I'm a wimp - I'm not reaching down to attempt to wring this thing's neck because I fully expect him to start kicking me with those spurs! So, I step back and put another shot in his head for a coup de grace. He does the final flopping around, and I can finally relax.

I fill out the tag, start packing up, and take my picture. I was hoping to pose the bird and get better pictures, but as I was doing all of this, it began to rain again! So I rush out of there, still excited and satisfied that I managed to tag my first ever A-week bird! Took me to the last day, but hey! I'll take it!

18 pounds, 7/8 inch spurs, 9" beard.

 

 

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