Got a nice tom this morning!

**lil hunter** · 05-12-2007, 03:26 PM

This season was starting to look like it wasn't going to be a success. The start of my hunt today pretty much continued the luck I have had all season. Trying to walk to where I wanted to be, I jumped at least a dozen birds out of the roost. I thought the morning would be ruined. I was hunting the edge of a big field, and I new at least 2 of the birds I spooked flew out somewhere into the field, so I chose not to put out and decoys, I just sat down and watched to see what I could see. About an hour or so later, I hadn't seen or heard anything, so I figured it was safe for me to get up and put out a couple of dekes. As soon as I get to the fields edge, I saw a tom way out in the field, and another hen at a different part of the field. So much for that idea. i was already standing at the edge, so I decided to go ahead and put my jake decoy there. I did so, and walked back into the woods. I walked a little farther back onto a ridge, to see if I could get a better look at the tom, but I realized he wasn't even there anymore. I also saw the hen walk pretty quickly out of the field. Since both of them had obviously spooked already, I decided to go ahead and put the dekes out. It was about 7 o clock when I did that.

I sat watching for another half hour or so, when my dad walks by. He thought I was at a different part of the field, and he was gonna set up right where I was at, but he noticed I was there so he just walked on to where he thought I was. I figured, since he just walked through the edge of the field, any turkey around would have seen him, so I was kinda feeling like this morning was gonna be a complete bust. Boy was I wrong though. About 30-35 minutes after that, I spotted a tom out in the field. Basicly right between where the other tom, and that hen had been earlier. There was a big hill, and apperently he walked over it without me noticing for a few minutes. He was just out eating randomly, about 150 or more yards away. He walked to where I couldn't really see him anymore, because of a tree in front of me. The birds have always seemed somewhat wary of calling out there. I wanted to get his attention though, so I did a series of about 5 yelps, and a few clucks. Then I just sat there, leaning back and forth with my binoculars, trying to see him on one side of the tree. I finally saw him again a minute or two later. He had sure gained a lot of ground too. He was about 80 yards away from me now, and coming fast. I didn't have my gun up to my shoulder, because I had been using the binoculars, but there was a deep ditch that he would have to cross about 60 yards out in front of me, so I knew I'd be able to raise it while he was in there. He kind of hesitated to cross, and just stayed on the other side strutting for a minute or two before he finally commited. I got my gun up, and was pretty much ready for him when he popped back up on my side. He took a few steps slowly on my side, then started almost running to the decoys. I had my gun ready, and could tell right where he would be when he got to where there was no brush in the way. He was in about half strut when he got there and BOOM. dropped like a rock. I was more excited than I have been in a LONG time. then I got up and ran out to him. It took me a few minutes before I started packing him back out, because I had to pick up dekes, then go back to my tree and pick up my call. Then I realized I needed to walk out the distance and see how long of a shot it was. Right at 25 yards, he was even closer than I thought.

STATS: At the check-in station, the guy checking all the birds asked me if I thought he felt heavy. Of course I replied "yeah" because I had to lug him out a couple hundred yards. I was guessing 21 or maybe 22 pounds. It was just a pure guess, and I mainly picked that range because it would be big enough to make me happy, yet small enough that I wouldn't likely be greatly dissapointed at him being much smaller. Turns out, the sucker weighed 24 pounds! Way bigger than I was really expecting. He also had a 10 1/4 inch beard, and 1 inch spurs. That puts him at a score of 64.5

I couldn't have asked for a better result of this hunt, especially given the terrible beginning. Sorry for such a long story, i tend to ramble on a little too much. here is a pic...