Sat in my favorite spot at sunup & the birds were again roosted downhill of there. That's been the case the last few times I've hunted there. They tend to fly down into the valley & gobble for a bit and eventually come up towards the pasture, going out into there via one of the several saddles. I've killed 7 turkeys within a 75 yard radius of this particular spot in the previous 4 years.
Just before 10:00, Josh was sitting about 15 yards to my SouthEast, looking to the SouthEast while I was against a stump looking South/Southwest and the Sleeping-Reading-Sneezing Woman was sitting against a log facing East (so she could be in the sun and stay warmer
). I was using the call Too-Tall made for me 2 years ago and getting some responses, but nothing too close. I caught movement through the cedars at the Southwest and whispered for her not to move because they were coming from behind her. There was a huge red head coming along about 65 yards away. I got my gun around when it was behind some brush. Then he strutted and I noticed another one there with him. I was lucky Josh didn't move, as he tends to be pretty fidgety and likes to stand up alot. He had been sitting for nearly 15 minutes so I figured he'd be wanting to stand really soon. I was giving a play-by-play to Mrs. Hollister to let her know what was going on just over 50 yards behind her. Finally one gobbled and I guess Josh about jumped out of his skin. His mom motioned to him to stay down & get his gun ready. The way the tree was laying I knew there was no chance those birds would make it to him. They would go into the field long before he would have a shot.My gun was on the log, and my diaphragm call was ready. The lead bird eventually stepped behind a tree while the other one was strutting away from me. I got my head down on the stock and waited for him to take a few more steps. When he did, he came out in full strut. I yelped and he gobbled really friggin' loud. As soon as he quit gobbling, I blasted him. There were 3 other gobblers with him. I hadn't seen the other 2. From where Josh had been he could see 3, but only the tops of their tailfans.
22 lb., 9.5 in. beard, 1.125 in. spurs.
We took our pictures and I carried my bird to the fence so I could hang it in a tree and keep it away from the coyote that we saw the hour before that. When I got to the fence I saw 2 gobblers in the field about 200 yards away. I crawled back into the timber and wasn't spotted. I told Josh we'd try to get behind them and call them back to the timber. We made it to where I think they left the timber but never saw them again.
After sitting for about an hour watching that saddle I got up to sneak a peek into the pasture and pee. I heard a couple gobbles out in the pasture near the pond, which is a good 300 yards away. About 20 minutes later I asked Josh what he wanted to do and he said he'd like to sit in the spot we were in before. We quickly went back there and he sat down against the log facing West. It would've been a bad deal if turkeys had come from the East. Somehow, Mrs. Hollister heard footsteps. She motioned towards the pasture for me to look that way and I heard it, too. In a few seconds a tom was visible. We're about 30 yards from us, towards the fence and the bird is right against the fence. Josh was dozing off and had to be shaken to get his attention. He was slouched down so far he didn't see the bird. It had kept its head down, feeding the whole time. Luckily, there was another behind it that only I could see. I told him to get his gun up and ready because another was gonna step out. When that bird got in the clearing, it poked its head up and looked into the timber. It was just enough for Josh to see and I told him he had the shot, so take it. The bird went straight down and never flopped a bit. The time was about 12:14.
I suspect these two birds were the same ones I spotted in the field earlier, which later gobbled at the pond, and they took a huge loop around the pasture. Of course we'll never know for sure but I think that may be the case.
22 lb., 10.5 in. beard, 1.25 in. spurs.
His first gobbler. He's now 3-for-3 the last 3 years.
A successful day in the timber.
