Montana Merriam

**elkoholic** · 04-23-2012, 09:43 PM

I managed to close the deal on a hot spring afternoon when I probably should have been fishing, but on a day when I spent the morning cleaning up brush and splitting wood a little afternoon hunting luck puts a nice finish on the day. I had just showered to wash off the morning grime and was considering a short nap when a gobbler cut loose up on the ridge behind the house. Well, at that point I thought a little walk with the Remington 3&1/2 inch was in order. I slipped some calls in my pocket, grabbed a couple of shells and with the Remington slung over my shoulder I made my way up the ridge. I eased around the point of the ridge and found a shady spot to sit down and scratched out a few clucks on my slate call. There was an immediate gobble in reply from about 200 yards away and I saw a gobbler moving up the ridge. I tried a few more calls to bring him my way but there was only silence in return. I switched to a box call and got another immediate response lower down the ridge. A couple of more calls and I had not one but two gobblers headed my way. Time to put the calls away and get the gun up and ready for action. When the closer of the two had approached to 35 yards he spotted me (I was not wearing camo and had on a tee shirt and khakis) and as he stood with his head up staring at me I decided to take him. As I put the bead on his head a fly landed on the rib obscuring the bead, so, I blotted out his head with the fly and sent a load of #5 hevi-shot his way. He went straight down and only kicked a few times. A short half mile hike back to the house, a little work with the knife and he is in the freezer now. I hope everyone else has such good luck this season.