Finally got me a bird after several seasons of doing everything wrong!

[Luckybuck]

Yesterday morning at 6:30 I was late getting up and getting out on the farm. A neighbor killed a big gobbler Saturday so I went in that general direction to see if the younger birds were going to try to "fill his shoes". Sure enough as I am walking across a small deer plot I hear a sledgehammer gobble. I almost fell down it sounded so close. I grabbed my hen out of my back pack and stuck her in the ground and quickly scooted into an old logging road that protected me from being seen. I forgot my head net but had an extra pair of camo gloves so I tucked them under my hat and hid my face. I started yelping and got a quick roost gobble. Then I clucked a couple times and had two different gobblers gobbling. I shut up and waited. I heard them fly down and clucked a few more times and heard 3 gobbles. Two were coming in my direction and were not real loud but one was going away and sounded like thunder. I cut loose a few times to really fire them up and they went into full strut and gobble mode at 70 yards. Heading straight to me. I watch them quickly strut and drag their wing feathers. They headed straight to the hen decoy about 12 yards waway and proceeded to give me the absolute best show of what male turkeys do to entice a hen. They took turns strutting complete circles around her. It was awesome! I watched this until I could not take it any longer and finally hammered down on the one that stuck his head up first. They were both jakes with 5 inch beards. The big boy went up the mountain and gobbled about 5 minutes after I shot. The other jake ran 10 yards and stopped and kept trying to get the hen to go with him. He ran up on the side of the mountain and then back down to the hen and then back up again and gave the warning sound several times. I clucked twice and he gobbled again. I let him leave out of sight and got my bird packed up my decoy and took off the gloves from under my hat and proceeded to walk back to my truck. The turkeys kept gobbling on the mountain most of the morning and were still gobbling at 9:30 when I left. Wow what a day. I will post pics when I get them developed.
Persistence finally paid off. Now I think I can have the patience to wait on a longbeard. I finally got me a bird!!!!!! Woohoo!!!

[Chenango Dave]

Congrats LuckyBuck - The first one always seems to be the hardest. Now good luck on the slammer :bigthumb)

[swoop]

Congrats LB! It sounds like you know what you are doing so it won't take long for you to get more birds. It is a lot easier after you get the first.

[John Maynard]

Way to go Lucky Buck. I especially like the way you didn't rush out to your bird after taking the shot. This shown excellent hunting sense on your part, not scaring that other jake any more than necessary. I would almost bet you that in a couple of days the incident will be forgotten and he will be back again in the same area doing the same thing and maybe the big boy with him this time.

[stahlj61]

The lucky buck kills the turkey! What to go! The 1st one will lead to a lifetime of turkeys! Awesome story!

John Stahl

[skin_dog1]

congrats!!!!!!

[Luckybuck]

THanks for the replies guys. I have a date with a big gobbler several miles from where I took that one. THe one I am shooting for has a double beard and is around 20+ pounds. Good luck to all of you.

[HH]

Great story, felt like I was there with you..... camo gloves under my hat and all. You will, no doubt , kill truckloads of turkeys in your career as a turkey hunter. Keep us posted on that whopper turkey still out there.


HH

[Luckybuck]

I hunted the big gobbler on Saturday and got one roost gobble and that was it. I had hens yelping for 1.5 hours and never saw the first bird. Even had a gray fox that came through and blew the setup. I am pretty sure that is what went wrong. I will give ole big toe another shot in the morning and hopefully setup just close enough to get him fired up.

[John E. Petersen]

excellent LB, great feeling Ha??? congrats !!!!