... my good friend Glen Marrer of Finger Lakes Custom Calls came way down south for a little visit, & the turkey gods were sure enough smilin' on us last Wed mornin' ...
After gettin' a little bit of a late start
, & then havin' no response at our first stop, we decided move on down the road & slip in through a narrow section of trees to get a look-see at the power line, just to check if any birds were hangin’ in the clover ...
Nope, no such luck - good thing I had grabbed one of my Snodgrass Paddle callers out of my vest & decided to do a little yelpin’ to see if anyone might be in the general vicinity ...
... I didn’t even get through my third yelp on Ralph's ChinaBerry Paddle, when we heard what we were pretty sure was a gobble, followed by some very intense mad hen scoldin’ …
... well, with the morning sun in our face, we decided to try to move in to one of the closer clover fields from where the birds were; to try to get a better set-up - just in case ...
After checkin’ to see that the field was clear, I got set-up in the scaffolding under the deer stand; which is about 40 yards off the bottom of the field; & Glen moved in to about half way up the left side of the field – the birds should be off to the right side of us ...
I gave Glen a little time to get settled in, & then I ran a couple of few soft yelps & clucks on a Dawkins aluminum pot, & then heard Glen runnin’ some soft & sweet hen talk from his special slate pot
“Tiffany” that he’d turned just for this trip ...
A few minutes into it; & as I was just about to grab the Snodgrass paddle for a second go-round; a hen flew into the field from the topside & musta’ landed just about in Glen’s lap, & from her reaction after touch down I was pretty sure she’d startled the heck out of both of ‘em ...
... it was everything I could do to cover my mouth to keep from laughin’ out loud & blowin’ the whole thing …
I ran a little soft purrin’ on my pot to try to settle her down, but she just headed right on up & out of the top of the field …
A few minutes later I catch a glimpse of a second hen runnin’ for all she’s worth comin’ from the bottom right of the field to the top of the field – right past Glen’s spot ...
... the next thing you know, I hear
ka-booooom & see the hen flyin’ on outta’ there; & then a second
ka-boooom & the hen’s gainin’ some serious altitude at this point ...
Now I can’t see the far right side of the field & all I’ve seen is the runnin’ & flyin’ hen, so I don’t have a clue as to what’s goin’ on, or to what just happened, or what the heck Glen was shootin’ at ...
... the next thing I see is ol’ Glen fast struttin’ right across the field & I figured that somethin’ good musta’ had just happened …
When I came out of my spot & cleared the lane to where I could finally see the right side of the field, I saw ol’ Glen standin’ on the far side of the field, on a gobbler’s head; & I felt the biggest grin creapin’ all across my face ...
... it turns out that the second hen had come flyin’ into the bottom right side of the field with the gobbler flyin’ in right on behind her – all this of course in an area that I couldn’t see ...
That ol' hen had lit out straight up the middle of the field towards Glen, but when the gobbler started move off towards the bottom of the field ol’ Glen decided to ruin his mornin’ & make ours one that we’ll both never forget anytime soon ...
... this was the heaviest gobbler we’ve taken on this place to date; at just a few pennies shy of 19 lbs; he had a 9” beard & had only one spur – hence the name Captain Hook, of the singular persuasion ...
... I can sure feel that elusive 20 lb’er comin’ …
All-in-all it sure made for a heck of a fine hunt, & a great memory with a great friend – & that’s what it’s all about in my book !!! ...
