Free: Contests & Raffles.
I had a great hunt yesterday in Dayton. I was able to get on some private land and the person I was hunting with put me on a bird that was still in the roost. This tom was hammering every sound that was out there, including the yotes and cows mooing in the pastures. Anyway long story short this Tom got hung up in the field across the creek. Switched to a slate and that really seemed to do the trick. He hopped the creek with two hens and started working in on our setup struting his stuff the whole way. At about 40 yards the two hens he was with started leading him away in the wrong direction. I wasn't in the best shoot position and I rushed the shot and shot low. He bolted and ended up flying a mile or so down the creek. I was annoyed as you could be but we decided to follow up the creek and hillside. We ended up seeing him in the distance still running in the opposite direction.Decided to give him a break and look for other birds that weren't spooked. With no luck we drove back to the area 3 hours later. By this time it was mid-morning and we weren't expecting much, but there he was on the far hillside strutting his stuff trying to get his hens back. We decided to leave the decoys and vests in the truck and try call him into us over the hill pretending to be his long lost hen. This didn't work so we moved up to close the distance. Naturally he spotted us at 70 and disapeared. We had no idea where he went and walk a mile to try and find him...nothing. On the way back to the truck thinking we were done my buddy heard a noise come from the brush in the creek bed below. We took a look and out bolts a hen flying away. I put the gun back on my shoulder and put the safety on and take off my shooting gloves and hat. Next thing I know, not 10 yards behind me out runs the tom from under a bush. (We must have walked past him at no more than 3 yards distance). Anyway, I bring the gun to bere, click off the safety, line him up (at this point he was flapping his wings to fly away at a full run) and bang...turkey down. What a great morning and certainly not the way I had planned on taking my first turkey of the season, but who cares. He was 20 lbs, 8 inch beard and 1/2 inch spurs. A nice 2 year old. Enjoy the pictures below.
nice bird did you find any shedhorns or see any elk
