Hi guys....Here is the story and picture of a 4 year old or plus bird I took.....I write a turkey hunting column for the news paper "The Sand Mountain Reporter"...That's why it is so long...............Thanks for looking.
Jordon Watts calls me Saturday night to ask me to go hunting with him Easter Sunday morning. He said we would be back in time for church. I said no way, I'm not chancing it. He was persistent and persuaded me to go. It's not hard to persuade me to hunt turkeys.
When we arrived early at the gate in Cherokee Co. (in Blanche). I jumped out to unlock the gate. Jordon handed me 2 keys. He said these were made for the gate. Neither one worked. we had to park the truck there at the gate and make the long walk up to where we were going to hunt. When it came time to cross the big creek, Jordon watched as I made my way across it first. I think he did this because of a similar experience we had last year when we both fell in and Jordon Baptized his shotgun. I had never laughed so hard in my life. So as Jordon watched me make my way across, my foot his a slick rock and down I went. The whole right side of my body and the side where my gun was hanging on my shoulder, totally submerged in the cold water. I then stand up and pick my shotgun out of the water. Call it ironic I guess. As soon as I caught my breath I could hear the high pitch chuckle from Jordon. If you know Jordon, you have to admit, you love to hear him laugh. I didn't find it funny really, but had to laugh when I heard him cut lose.
On our way up the ridge now, we hear a chorus of hoot owls hooting and laughing as well. If you have ever heard this, it can really sound eerie if you don't know what it is, it goes something like this; Hoo Hoo Hoo-Hoo, Hoo Hoo Hoo-Hooooo. Waa waa waa waa hoo hoo. Sounded like there was about 6 owls taking on non-stop and loud. These dudes were close. We continued our way up the ridge and finally made it to the top. This is when Jordon and I separated. Jordon wanted to try and get on the bird that he and David Byess got on the day before, so I made the extra journey to the hardwoods where I thought would be a good place. As I entered the hardwoods I walked the edge of the pines to keep my moon lit silhouette kind of hid. I'm by myself and the hoot owls start up again, closer than ever; Hoo Hoo Hoo-Hoo, Hoo Hoo Hoo-Hooooo. Waa waa waa waa hoo hoo. It gave me chills. It was awesome.
The sky was now beginning to lighten up somewhat and all of God's creation was beginning to wake up. I sat on an old log to catch my breath and to take in what I was hearing and seeing. I sat there and awaited to hear the first gobble of the morning. About 2 minutes later I heard one way off in the distance. I then continued my walk and when I finally reached my destination, there were bird hammering everywhere. I am hearing at least 15 different birds in every direction. Then I hear a big gobbler sound off not 100 yards away. I find a big white oak and settle down at the base of it. I immediately drag out all my calls and stick a hen decoy to my left at about 5 feet. The big boy gobbles again and he is on the ground. Then I heard it. The sound that you don't want to hear coming from the gobbler's direction. A trio of hens begin to yelp. Yelp, yelp, yelp, ...Gobble. I placed one of Jordon's Dixie Delights, 3 reed, split V mouth calls in and begin to cut and cackle back. All I got back was a distant gobble. The hens was taking him off of the side of the ridge. I immediately got out my BB-Fighting Purr slate call and created a fighting purr for about 15 seconds. Picking up a rubber banded box call, I shake it kind of staggeredly to mimic a Jake gobble. This caught about 6 different birds attention so I ran through it again and a third time. After the third time, it was evident the big gobbler had temporarily forgotten about his harem of hens and was coming in. Then it got quiet. I resorted to simple cluck and purrs at this point. I couldn't hear anything. This is when many hunters make the mistake of standing up and thinking of moving closer. Then I saw the helpers. Two crows was flying in low, broad side and it looked as if they would pass directly over where I last heard him. I said to myself, "Crows, please caw caw right now!". They answered as if they heard me, "CAW CAW CAW".....GOBBLE!! He was about 70 yards. I was getting chills at this point. Then it got quiet again. I sat there, looked at my watch, it was 6:25. Clucking and purring softly, I hear the sound that will raise the hair on your neck. Click, Vrrroooom. The bird was spitt'n and drumming. When you hear this sometimes it is hard to determine what direction it is coming from. At one point I thought another bird was coming in from my back. My heart begin to race. Then I see him. About 60 yards in front of me he was closing in fast and he hammered again. GOBBLE!! I actually see the fog coming off his breath as he announced his presence! He breaks the strut and walks closer. He is at 40 yards now. GOBBLE!!! Steam flying from his beak, my hat dang near flew off my head. Standing there with his head held high, he begins dipping it and lowering it eyeing the hen decoy beside me. I glance at the decoy as if I was wanting her to do something, like it could. She stood there motionless. I focus back to him and draw a bead with my gun and wait. This is that time when you want him to come even closer and put on an even more spectacular show. You don't want to shoot because you know this is all about to be over. For all the hunters who have been here, they know what I'm talking about. Then he turned his right side to me and gave that alarm, sharp, PUTT. I knew it was now or never because he was about to leave. I closed the deal with the announcement of my single shot H&R 12 gauge with my Kick's Gobbling Thunder choke and filled him with number 5's. It was 6:35.
What a day, what a morning. The bird weighed in at 24lbs. had a 9-3/4" beard and 1-1/4" spurs. All of this and we still made it to church.
