Unfortunately I didn't get this turkey with my bow, but I was wearing Ultimate Camo so the mods might let it stay. The camo worked great with this bird. He was looking right at me the entire time, but never noticed me. I went to visit my dad this weekend. Sunday afternoon I got pretty bored and decided to take a ride out to our land in Chesterfield to see if I could call in a bird. Turkeys roost on it all year long, but being such a small piece of land it's hard to keep them there whenever Spring comes and the farmers' fields turn green. Whenever I pulled up the neighbors wife was riding her grandson on their 4wheeler near our property line so I figured I had just wasted a trip. I turned around to go back home and seen a jake cross the road onto our property. I decided what the heck, I have nothing else to do so I will at least go down to the creek and set up under one of our big white oaks and call every now and then. As I entered the woods I noticed a lot of turkey sign including some really nice dust bowls. A lot more sign than I've seen in a few years. I thought I may just have some luck so I worked my way down to the creek, got my decoys set up, and got comfortable beside our largest white oak. As soon as I sat down I heard a hen behind me. I got my calls sat out and rang off a few soft yelps. Didn't hear anything else of the hen, but I hit the call a few more times then laid it down beside me and sat back enjoying the beautiful evening. About 15 minutes later I hear a bird gobble down the creek to my left. He was a few hundred yards away and at first I thought it was the jake the that I seen cross the road earlier. I picked up my call and worked a few soft yelps then a few fast cuts and he cut me off. About three minutes later I hit the call again trying to get a better idea of how far he was and this bird closed some distance FAST. He was about a hundred yards and closing. The only problem was that he wasn't working his way along the creek bottom, he was up on top of the hill in the pines. I had to get up and move around the tree facing to my left. He gobbled a few more times whenever he was about 50 yards out. I gave him a few more soft yelps then put my call down and got ready. A few seconds later I could hear him spittin' and drummin', but I couldn't see him. It sounded like he was behind me on the top of the hill and I was worried he would by pass me and I wouldn't get a shot. I waited, but didn't ever see him. I could hear him in the leaves and still hear him spittin' and drummin', but I just couldn't find him. About two minutes later I see his head 30 yards directly in front of me. He is blowing up and strutting back and forth over on top of the other hill. He is too far up on the hill to see my decoys and I can't move to run my call because he is facing me. He blows up, struts back and forth several times. I reached over and made some scratching in the leaves. He popped his head up to look, but he wouldn't leave the top of the little hill. Since I had my shotgun instead of my bow I decided to take him at 30yds. Put the bead on his head and squeezed the trigger as soon as he came out of strut. The ole 10ga put him down. What makes this bird even more special is that it's the first bird I've ever killed on the land that he own. I have called in a few jakes, but this was the first long beard. The last picture is the work of my bestfriend's g/f. 23lbs 9 3/4 beard 1 1/4 spurs
Great bird,congrats.Been trying to get my first with a bow but have taken two with shotgun instead,maybe it's time to leave the shotgun home!
