I made the two hour drive to my hunting grounds in Southern Ohio early this morning . I arrived at 5:45 a.m. and rushed into the woods to listen for gobblers. It didn't take long and I could hear 4 toms roaring in the dim light . I chose an area that was located between two of the gobblers and set up . I soft-called to the nearest Tom with a cedar and maple shortbox my good friend, Jeff McKamey, made for me last year . It was more than the old boy could stand and after about 20 minutes of limb-shaking gobbling on the roost , I heard him fly down to my left . It didn't take him long to start gobbling again and he was being drawn straight to me with the Twisting Creek caller . I could tell I wasn't going to have a clear shot so I stood up , using the cover around me , and made a move forward about twenty yards closer to the field he was in . I watched as he strutted and gobbled each time I softly yelped at him . I let out two clucks and set the caller down . He strutted into a clear area where I could get a shot and I pulled the trigger only to watch him run in a circle then start towards me . I fired again as he was running and missed him clean , but now he put it into over-drive and ran straight into the woods WITH ME ! Third times a charm , and I took him cleany with the last shell in my gun . He weighed in at 23 lbs , 10" split beard (looked like a double as he was coming in), 1" spurs . I have one more tag in my pocket for Ohio , then I am gonna have to go visit a friend and kill a bird or two somewhere else . Looking forward to more good hunts this spring !
