On the 1st mornin' hunt of our OK adventure, Rickey & I paired up & headed out to the same spot that Rickey has taken his 1st OK gobbler the evening before ...
We settled in along the big field's fenceline up against some fine sittin' trees about 10 yards from each other, & as the mornin' was gettin' started we heard birds gobblin' all around us, but don't think we saw any birds 'till about 7:30 or so ...
... we soon enough had 2 nice longbeards standin' on the field edge, about a 1/4 mile or so to our left - they gobbled a little at our callin', but were both lookin' mighty hard at where the callin' was comin' from ...
... for a minute or two there it looked like they might commit & come on in to us, but they just stopped dead in their tracks & seemed to loose interest, & both finally turned & walked away ...
I'm pretty sure that was when Rickey & I both realized that these local birds had been pounded pretty darn hard by the previous hunters – after all, this was the last weekend of the OK season ...
Well, after that encounter & a short strategy pow-wow, we decided to take a little break, & chow down on the breakfast burritos we had stuffed in our pockets …
A little while later we were both doin’ a little callin’ & I ran a couple of yelp series on an Albert Paul all-Walnut box, & then picked up my Chinaberry from the Snozz & ran it a little, & we heard a bird fire off a gobble a little ways off to our right ...
... I first saw the gobbler comin' 'round the field point within' 5 minutes or so of his 1st gobble ...
The 1st time I ranged this bird he was at 125 yds & comin' at a creep, but comin' none the less ...
... he would gobble & strut every now & then at Rickey's sweet & soft feedin' hen purrs & clucks & I was tryin' to keep up with some soft talk on my mouth call ...
The 2nd time I
"sneak" ranged him he had made it in to 74 yards, & at this point he was struttin' pretty good most of the time, & would crank out a fine gobble now & again for us ...
... the 3rd time I
"sneaky-sneaked" ranged him he was at 54 yards, still a little far, but he was in full strut most of the time - Rickey was still right there with him with the mighty fine purrin' & soft cluckin' from his pot ...
It was gettin’ pretty classic at this point; he would strut to the right & then turn & strut back to the left - the sun was really lightin' him up, & what a great show he was puttin' on for us ...
I had picked out a couple of few spots that I was hopin' he would make it to, but at a few steps short of 50 yards, I purposely loud clicked off the safety so that Rickey was sure to hear it ...
... you see, somewhere between the rangin' him at 54 yards & the clickin' of the safety, I had a
"tickle" come on in my throat from the
"breakfast burrito" field breakfast that our
"guide" had provided for us ...
I had let out the quietest muffled cough I could muster to try & clear my throat, & Rickey
"covered" it; & me; immediately with some fine cluckin' from his pot caller ...
... the gobbler never knew what had happened, but I still think Rickey's quick reaction cover callin' to my untimely cough surely saved the hunt - he jumped in almost as if
"on cue" ...
At this point I'm tryin' to get the mouth call out of my mouth, & tryin' not to cough, but still tryin' to get rid of the tickle in my throat & keep the mouth call between my lower lip & my facemask so that I could recover it when needed ...
... I wasn't really sure whether I was gonna' start coughin' or laughin' at this point, & just figured that I better put an end to all this ASAP ...
I somehow regained my composure, recovered the mouth call, & clicked off the safety loud enough for Rickey to hear it ...
... we both started loud cluckin' a little to get the gobbler to stretch his head out of the strut tuck, & when he finally did I let the Benelli in on the hunt ...
The gobbler went down & the feathers were flyin’, & for a couple of seconds there I thought that all was good in the world …
… well the next thing I see is the gobbler kinda’ quick hobblin’ for the fenceline bushes, & I had to bring the Benelli back up for a couple of quick finishin’ shots ...
I looked at my watch & it was 10:30, & I don’t know about Rickey, but I was pretty well spent after workin’ that fine gobbler for about an hour & a half, maybe even a little longer …
We were both laughin’ & grinnin’ pretty darn big-time when I got to Rickey to shake his hand & thank him for
“the save” & all the fine purrin’ & cluckin’ he had been doin’ all through the bringin’ of this bird in ...
... while layin' in the tall cool grass & lettin' the adreneline drain from my body, & reflectin' on the great hunt we just had; I nicknamed him
"the 6" at a time" gobbler ...
... it seemed like he would come in 6" & then go back 4" - he sure took his own cautious sweet time about comin' in to us ...
What a great first hunt for Rickey & I, my 1st Rio Gobbler put on the
“whole show” for us, & I will surely remember this outstandin’ hunt with my good friend for a long time to come -
a true classic for sure ...
