Well, call it beginners’ luck but I had an exciting hunt and managed to pull off a major fail followed by a major win today.
I got into my blind by 5:10am this morning. Nice and early I thought. There was no wind, no rain but it was slightly overcast.
After opening the blind, I had time for a coffee and watched a large mink run past the front.
I called a little on my box call, very faint, not knowing how much I should be calling. At just before 7am I could hear a hen calling to my decoys from my left about 100 yards away. I answered back a few times really softly, not wanting to overdo it.
After about 10 minutes of calling back and forth she walked by the front of blind at about 10 yards. She took a good look at the decoys and stuck around for about 5 minutes before slowly moving along. I thought that was kind of cool. If nothing else, I had an experience. Not what I was looking for but cool, nonetheless.
Things got quiet again and I looked at the solunar tables on the ood website to see what the major period was – said about 8:10am – so I waited.
It was pretty quiet until about 9:00 when all of a sudden to my left, I see a gobbler in full strut approaching my decoys. I had limited visability there and He didn’t make a sound. I remember thinking the thing is HUGE!
I managed to pull the shotgun up as it approached the decoys at slightly over 20 yards away. Clear shot, open field, all looked good. I lined up the shot, pulled the trigger and….missed!
The thing went airborne and flew away totally unscathed. I couldn’t believe it! I’m thinking to myself “how could I miss a chip shot like that!”. I was kicking myself!
I got out of the blind and went to see if I could find any trace of a hit. No feathers at all. I found the shot cup and went to look where the turkey flew to just in case. No sign whatsoever. I must have shot over him.
At this point I’m thinking I just blew my chance. Should I pack up and go home?
Nothing to do at home but work, so I thought, nah, stick it out a little longer.
I got back into the blind, poured myself a coffee and started to make some more turkey sounds on the call. What the heck, might as well try I thought.
At about 10:30am I hear a Very distant gobble - like 400 yards distant. What the heck, I hammered the call with a bunch of very loud clucks, trying to project the sound as loud as possible. About 15 seconds later the thing answered my call with another gobble that seemed to be closer!
This went on for about 30 minutes, back and forth, closer and closer. At about 200 yards I stopped answering his calls. I’ve never called turkeys before, so I didn’t want my sucky calling to scare him off. He made a few more gobbles, seemingly coming closer and closer.
Suddenly, he’s right in front of the blind, to my left at about 10 feet, and his head is all red and blue and in full strut!
He took a step into the open and I let him have it. I didn’t miss that shot!
If I’m measuring right, he has a beard with the longest hair at 10 3/4 inches and the biggest spur slightly over 1 ¼ inches.
That’s it. That’s my hunt for today. I hope you enjoyed the hunt as much as I did.
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OOD 2022 BIG GOBBLER FUN CONTEST LEADERBOARD - official thread to post your scores and pics
Originally Posted by Markster
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