My wife has hunted with me off and on since we started dating nearly 9 years ago. She has been with me on a few hunts that I killed on, but about 3 or 4 years ago she really got bit by the turkey hunting bug. Last year she killed a couple out west and she has been fired up for the season since last May.
Well, her hunting has been limited due to her work schedule and being on-call.
Saturday started out with us on a gobbling bird at daylight. He didnt pan out, but we heard one burning it up North of us. We went to him and I figured it was a bird I had pegged as an old bird from how he'd played the game with me before. A week before I had him in gun range to only let him slip off. Well, to make a LONG story a little more short, we setup for the first out of five times at 7:15. We left him at 11:20. We were both worn out mentally and physically. He was so close multiple times we could feel him drumming and his gobbles were so close you could feel the rattle.
We licked our wounds and struck back out around 4 yesterday pm toward some fields on my place. Walking in, I kept seeing real fresh tracks in the road. I cutt on my wingbone and heard a jake yelp. We eased up to the field and you guessed it, a strutter, 2 longbeards, 5 jakes, and 7 or 8 hens. I explained that since I don't use decoys and it was such a wad that we had a tough row to hoe. That being said, I knew they walked in on the road we were on.
We setup and I started yelping on my wingbone. The strutter faced us after my first series and never stopped coming our way. Like I said earlier, she is on-call alot with her new job. Once the turkeys committed, the triage nurse called. Maggie answered the phone, I was FLIPPING out! She was talking on the phone with turkeys at 150 yards and it sounded like she learned to whisper in a sawmill! After a meltdown, she informed me that the call was just to let her know that she would normally have to leave but that it was handled and they didn't need her! The Turkey Gods were smiling down on us![cool] They got to 100 and I txt my dad to tell him it was inevitable, a shot was coming. I knew better than to send it. Sure enough, they exited the field. I called 5 jakes back in but they didn't see a turkey and they left. As soon as they got back to the gobblers a fight broke out. Once the fight ended I kee'd and jake yelped. The next thing I know, my bride tells me she sees turkeys coming back. I jake yelped again and the strutter ROARED in our face and he brought a partner charging in to 30 yards. The rest was history! She SMOKED him with a TSS handload and he never quivered! She is as cool as a cucumber under pressure. Of course, I was shaking like a school girl!
I've killed one or two and there ain't one thing more special to me than watching her excitement when she hammers a big longbeard![cool] He sported a 10" beard, 1" sharp spurs, and weighed a hefty 19lbs.
