Forum Member bags a nice Tom
Gordon and I met on this forum and have been out duck hunting and Turkey hunting several times over the years. I was never able to put Gordon on a nice Tom. After my pre scouting yesterday, where I saw at least 10 really nice Toms, I was feeling pretty optimistic about today's hunt.
Gordon got to my place at 5:00 am and we then walked back to the blind. We set up a funky chicken Jake decoy, a foam Tom and Jake and 2 hen decoys. By legal shooting time we still had not heard any Toms gobbling. I tried a few calls every once in awhile and we finally had a Tom respond from the woods behind us. he continued to make his way towards us and I could see him walking along the lower edge of a hill. He then went down the hill out of sight and we could hear him gobble off and on. I tried a few more calls and then we heard another Tom gobbling. The original bird stayed close to the edge of the trees and would not come any closer. After 15 minutes or so he was gone. A few minutes later, I went out and brought in the funky chicken and foam Jake decoy.
About half an hour later we see a mixed flock of birds working there way across the adjoining field. There were a few Toms strutting but the Hens seemed more focused on eating. There were very few calls coming from these birds. I would try the odd call about every 15 or 20 minutes, with no response.
Shortly after 8:000 am I try another call and we hear a gobble behind us in the trees. I tried a few more calls over the next 15 minutes and got a gobble in response. When the Tom stopped responding I set down the slate call. At 8:30 the big Tom comes strutting beside the blind at about 7 feet. He then struts across the front of the blind and makes his way over to the foam Tom decoy. He starts to circle it and then Gordon takes his shot. Big Tom down at 15 yards!
Both of us get out of the blind and make our way over to the Tom. A really nice looking bird and as you can tell from the picture, a very happy hunter. I'm really glad that Gordon got his Tom! A nice start to the 2015 Turkey season. Approx details 21 pounds, Beard 8 inches, Spurs 1 inch and just under an inch.
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