Burned a day off to turkey hunt.

NCST8GUY

Frozen H20 Guy
So after getting beat by a dominant bird on my first day of 2018, I have only been back once and it was pretty uneventful. I set up in a blind, about directly under 3 hens, who talked with me all the way to flydown and then they walked away......no gobbler in tow :(.

3 days later, I burn a work day, and hunt exactly where my first hunt happened. The entire area was socked in with fog. But the river bottom was especially socked in, so I stayed high (sound familiar?). A bird, I think finally out of boredom, starts gobbling. I have to decide, stay put? Or move? After 20 minutes, I decide to move down towards him. He was probably 300 yards lower, I went 100, under complete cover of trees and fog (, and he shut up!). I stayed there 3 minutes, then retreated back to my setup.

5 minutes after getting settled, he gobbles again. :mad: Heck with him, I'll call his hens. I call every 15 minutes until I'm hungry. So hungry, I have to leave. I go to the clubhouse, make a sammich or 3, and then............the need for a nap is PROMINENT! So I take one! Or 2....Next thing I know, it's like noon lol.

I decide I'll do this, do that.....Finally get dressed to hunt the afternoon hunt (which imho, is a club legal "hunt/scouting" episode for future days (I have 2 left)

I pick a spot, ride the atv to within 400 yards, walk to it, and set up. I'm on the edge of the pasture but a little bit in the woods. A lovely cool breeze (probably the last one of 2018) was cooling me off. I put out no decoy's. Any birds could come from literally the 180 degrees in front of me which are hardwoods, or the 180 degrees behind me which are pasture with clover, green stuff etc.

I wait 10 minutes, then make some purr's and calls. 10 minutes later repeat. 10 minutes later I'm about to repeat and I hear a "purr" of a different sort at my 8 o clock. I turn my head. In the tall grass, is a head, purring, too red to be a hen! I click the camera, raise the gun barrel, and focus.

"Is there a beard?!?!?!?!" 5 more steps and this bird will be blocked!!! "Does it have a beard?!?!?!?"

2 more steps and I see "beard". Safety.......CLICK.

2 more steps and it's in an opening. I "Putt!!! PUTT!!!!'

It raises it's head and I fire.......................

Flopping!!!!! :mosh:

I rip my brand new pants on the barb wire trying to get to "him". When I get close, I realize, ruhroh, not a long beard, might be a 2 year old. When it rolled over, I saw the frist tail feather and though ruh roh, might be a jake.

When I finally saw the spurs = huge sigh of relief!
 

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gameland

Twelve Pointer
Congrats!! But I will have to say.... I think I’m prouder that you got up from the nap! I know how good a nap feels and I’m not sure I would have went back out after getting my belly full and relaxing at a quiet hunt camp.
 

dobber

Old Mossy Horns
i actually expected a nap while out there in the sun with that cool breeze (being it may be the last one of the year)

good stuff on a great bird
 

josh

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
Nice bird! I love your hunting stories lol, I visit the “best of” section a bit to reread the classics again haha

Congrats
 

NCST8GUY

Frozen H20 Guy
Great job! Are u going to post the camera footage?

Unfortunately, the camera footage did not survive the blast. I noticed when I set my gun down, I could not turn the camera off. I had to remove the battery to power it down. As you can see in the video, the video stopped at the gunshot, the audio kept going until I paused it however.


Gonna send the camera back to Tactacam and see how good their customer service is ;)
 
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