Doe Master put away his shot gun and pulled out the turkey calls to assist me in my hunt. On the way in he shared his lucky charm with me and who was I to argue as it had already brought home 3 this season alone. So donning the charm we headed deep into the bush.
Once in place it only took 10 minutes to hear the first gobbles of the day. Of course they had to be at least 500 yards away! Wouldn't want to make this too easy.
Doe Master asked how much I wanted this bird and with that we were on the move,
We reached legal hunting as we chased down the bird, so locked and loaded we moved in on it's roost located in the tightest dead falls, scub and other crap you ever want to come across in the bush.
Approximately 100 yards away we found a tree to set up at. Doe Master moved in behind me about 20 yards hoping to be able to draw the bird across in front of me with calls.
It didn't take more then a couple of calls for it to go ballistic in it's roost. It flew down from it's roost across in front of me and landed about 10 - 15 yards past me and about about 30 yards out in the field gobbling almost before it's feet hit the ground.
Then it was show time as I watched it strutting and listened to it's frantic gobbles. Next thing we know a hen sitting in behind Doe Master starts calling and the competition between Doe Master and her drove the Tom into a mad frenzy of calling. It was a sight to behold!
Becoming more aggressive the Tom in full strut, and gobbling his head off headed into the bush to find these hens. Of course shooting lanes at this time would have been a wonderful option but such is my luck that there wasn't one to be found as he walked by me at about 20 yards.
The first time I had a possible shot there was too much scrub to pick out the actual direction he was moving in so I had to let that opportunity pass. He moved about another 10 feet giving me the chance to determine his direction. Coming out from behind a tree he stuck his head up to find his lovely ladies placing it right into my window of opportunity which I happily slammed shut immediately!
Doe Master managed to beat me to the bird. His excitement was such to have called in a bird for someone that I'm not sure who was more excited! Him or me!
I'm betting on me though!
The Tom had a 8 1/2 inch beard, 3/4 inch spurs and weighed in at 17 lbs 12 oz.
Probably lost a little weight missing a few meals during courtship.
After all the combined hard work on this one the following photo was a fitting tribute to the tag team that brought him home.
Thanks bro!
