Got my first solo hunt spring tom no help Friday. But before I tell the story this has been a season from hell for me. Opening day hunting with a bud and calls one in 1st 20 minutes for me. Tom keeps sticking his head in my window a few times and finally freezes, Bang goes into death flop, fist pump, them tom rises like a ghost and flies off into the woods. 2nd day nothing even wants to work no shots. 3rd day I can't hunt friend takes another bud to same spot and they get 1 tom a piece = 2 birds for their day.
We head for another spot a few weeks later, and screwed up the approach and heard some warning peeps close but no visual. So later I go my buddy can't and go where we heard the peeps and sneaked in under the moon light. They start to gobble on the roost and get set up as close as possible but still safe distance. Started to call a little when they hit the ground and had two coming gobbling like crazy and get pointed in their direction. Never saw them but they stalled doing everything to get me or the hen to finish to them. I did a few purrs and one behind me let out a gobble that sent a shrivel down my spine but inexperience said don't give up on the other two. A few minutes later I had a feeling to glance behind me and there is the tom sneaking though the saps. I wait until he is hidden and slowly spin around and he sticks his head up in a perfect window and peeps, Bang, goes down hard, fist pump, get up only to see him scrap his belly across the ground using his wings and flies off. Then my buddy tags out a few days later and I could not make it out.
Friday May 8th I can hunt. I go back to the 2nd loss opportunity spot. This time I get lost and end up in the place not to be in the roost. I don't panic because don't hear nothing when the other time I heard them gobbling their heads off 20-30 minutes earlier. I stay still and let out three calls in three directions a minute apart, nothing. So I put my call away with all hope lost. I start to think about what to do for 5 minutes when I get home, mow the law? Then the sound came from the heavens several hundred yards away to my disbelief and relief. Now its on like donkey Kong slipping around through the forest and keeping a safe distance from the gobbles. I get set up and another lets out a gobble across the meadow in the forest and I call two times and he responds each time while the one I set up on shuts up. Then I hear yelps on the one I set up on and think crap he has hens so I better get set up on the other one responding. I slip across the meadow using a tree line and get set up. I let out a call and the hen responds my direction and tom number one gobbles. This time I spin his direction and let out a call and the hen calls back even closer. So a few seconds later for the hell of it I call at her she speaks again closer. Of course tom 1 can't shut up now and coming my way slowly. Then the hen sounds so close can't believe I can't see her then there she is to my left so I thought. No beard but thinking there is a lot of red on that head then 20 yards away now can see the nub of a beard. Now was thinking I hope that big boy see's you jake. Jake freezes and looks at me and doesn't know what to think. Jake walks to my right steps behind tree and give him a soft call off yelps. Jake stops staying out of my sight then goes back to my left to look at me again. Then big tom comes into sight 100 yards away and goes into strut. Jake walks back to my right behind the tree and gave him another soft call then all hell breaks loose with tom. Tom comes storming across meadow full strut with gobble while jake is now on my right while now the hen shows up walking by with a mission not scared. Jake watches me do a little swing to get my barrel pointed to the right of a bush. Tom comes up to that bush and lets out a hiss and drum to chase jake away with in ten yards of me. Then tom peeks around the bush on the bead of barrel.
