| Hi,I know this is a fishing page but this was
such a good story and such a successful hunt, I decided to put it up. It reminds me
of the steps we take to get a trophy.
Good Fishing All and Enjoy the Story,
Mark
Hello All, I had a good hunt in Stevens County. Got there on Sat. AM and drove around in the hills listening for gobbles. Heard only one bird way across a canyon and woods so we marked the spots we heard it from and took compass bearings. The next morning heard it again and took off through the woods to find it. Never did locate the bird that morning. Sunday evening went back again and got closer to the bird and actually saw it and scared it away. The next morning went back and set up within a couple of hundred yards from where I saw it the night before. At 6:30 the bird started gobbling again and I did a very soft hen yelp. More gobbles. I called very sparingly. I did a series of 3 clucks and was answered by gobbles. The bird was where he was the night before and gobbling fairly regularly. I kept quiet. Around 7 or so I noticed off to my left a turkey coming through the tall grass. He came out of the grass about 100 yards to my left and gobbled. He came fairly quickly down the trail to my decoys, walked past my ugly Jake and up to the hen. The decoys were 25 yards in front of me. When he got to the hen he started putting (pop,pop) and walked right at me. He looked right at me from 5 feet in front of me. You better believe I didn't breathe, blink or look at him. His head and neck were the brightest red color I have ever seen in my life. I was basically open to him in front of my hide, so I couldn't move a muscle. My gun was on my lap pointed to the right. He started walking off to the right side which I had lots of cover from so I slowly moved my gun up to shoot. There was enough brush I couldn't see my sights. There was a snow berry leaf right on my rear sight so I had to shake the gun to clear the sight. Then there were too many branches to shoot through. I waited just a split second for a clear shot and touched off on the bird's head. He collapsed at the shot, 15 paces from my hide, so fast I didn't even see him go down. 18 3/4 pounds, 9" thick ropey beard, 9/16" spurs. Very respectable bird for a beginner. 7:26 AM on April 26. My first turkey and exactly the way I hoped to kill one. Sometimes we just get lucky. Happy Hunting Joe S. |
