Great Hunt with Dad

21.5 lbs - 10" Beard - 1" Spurs

Saturday April the 27th was a great day to be in the turkey woods. It started being pretty dead at the 1st property even though the weather was perfect. For whatever reason the birds there wouldn’t talk and I didn’t have much time this morning so we moved on. As we passed by a property I have permission to hunt I spotted a majestic Tom strutting his stuff! I drove past next woodline before I could pull in to park. Dad and I called a few times to get his location and decided our best course of action was to circle him.

We walked several hundred yards to be able to get around the bird and begin calling. He was stubborn. We got another bird fired up way in the distance but the tom we were after wouldn’t say a word. That is, until he got about 40 yrds away from us in the timber we were in! He then began to hammer away at the soft purrs emitting from my pot call. Dad and I were caught in the standing position, so dad just kept his gun at the ready waiting for the bird to come around some very thick underbrush the bird was behind.

All of a sudden I caught movement and watched as the tom ran out of the woods into a cut hayfield approx. 65 yards awway. A jake followed closely behind, but he stayed within approx 25yrds of us the entire time. The tom wasn’t about to come around the blind corner there in the woods, he was going to get out in the open away from any possible danger, out where the hen (me) could see him. As soon as I hit the call again the mature tom dropped the landing gear and began spitting, strutting and gobbling – it was beautiful!

This went on for several minutes as we watched the tom strut back and forth gobbling his head off while the jake was eyeballing us not 20 yrds away and was beginning to get suspicious! The jake began putting and purring and I imitated him, driving the poor tom crazy! The tom finally ventured in to about 50 yrds and it became apparent that that was as close as he was coming. I gave dad the green light and he did a great job of putting the hammer down and dropping the bird in his tracks!

This would be a great hunt with anyone but doing this with dad made this hunt all the more memorable. Thanks dad for another great memory!

I also killed my second bird this past Tuesday but have yet to have time to post pics and the story. I’ll be giving some more details on that hunt soon!