My buddy and I had an incredible hunt this morning! I've only hunted this property once before and I regard it as one of the most beautiful turkey spots I've ever hunted in, with springs that turn into a flowing creek in a hardwood bottom surrounded on all sides by Ponderosa Pine forest. We set up in the bottom first as there were a load roosted in the cottonwoods. We could hear a few up in the pines but it was obvious where to go first. We got in about 100 yards off the nearest birds and we could hear gobblers all up and down the creek. The first birds pitched down and it didn't take long for the first gobbler to start heading our way. After him it was a steady stream of birds headed our way. At one point I think there were around 10 mature gobblers, maybe three jakes, and maybe three hens in the meadow we were set up in. We had individual birds within shooting range several times, but I really wanted my buddy to get one as he had yet to shoot a bird this year, and I really wanted to try and double off the roost as that is something I've never done. These birds were out in front of us for about 17 minutes before I finally decided to take a bird as the whole group was starting to feed off. I connected on a beautiful bird with some sharp hooks and I'm guessing a 8-9 inch beard. As we were sitting there, within minutes of shooting my bird, a lone hot gobbler started working up the creek towards us. He got to about 200 yards and took a sharp turn towards the edge of the pine trees. The bank was steep enough that we thought we could zip up there and he may have a shot. We got to the crest of the bank and he was out maybe 40-50 yards (after we walked it off), but it seemed he was a lot further off. We called back and forth at each other for about five minutes before he finally worked off. We thought we would try and get out in front of the big group that was off the roost as they headed up into the pines. We hiked all over trying to pick the right drainage they were going up into, but it never seemed like we picked the right one. Finally, we just kind of went right at them thinking they were right below a steep bank in front of us. My buddy crawled up and I could see three jakes probably 20 yards away. He stood up and waited forever for a gobbler to appear and once one did he took quite a long poke at it, as I think he was feeling a little desperate. It was probably 50-60 yards, but didn't even phase it as we watched it run off with the whole flock. We boogered that group up pretty good but luckily there was a lone hot tom back deeper in the forest. It didn't take long to meet up with him and he came and strutted on a ridge top for probably five minutes before meandering our way slowly, and I mean slowly! It probably took him 15-20 minutes to come about 130 yards. Finally in range, my buddy made the most of the opportunity and put him down. Two beautiful turkeys on a beautiful day! Another fantastic hunting season full of memories has come to a close, and honestly I'm ready for a small break and I'm sure my family is too. It won't be long though and I'll be thinking of early teal!
