24 lbs!! Spurs and beard were average but man the fat on this bird was something. I got out this afternoon after work and headed for public land this time to an area I've seen birds the past 2 months. I setup in a nice bottom with a stream and called a few times to no avail. I started walking and got about 1.5 miles into where I knew there were birds but I've never been there in the afternoon so I wasn't sure on the timing. The WNC mountains are tough, steep terrain and that hike in always gets me. I found a nice shade tree and decided to pull out my great grandfathers slate that yelps like a clown but purrs and clucks like a dream. I was going at it and a hen started to get fired up. I played with her, practicing mimicking her tempo and tone when out of nowhere two gobblers thundered. I mean loud and they were right on top of me heading for the hen. I think I was just caught in the crossfire. They gobbled 20 times at least finally showing themselves to my left. A pair of jakes at 10 steps. I watched them and enjoyed the moment and they went about their way. I waited about 30 minutes and decided to keep moving and check the fields when I stood up and got packed up I slowly started to ease through the pines. I took 2 steps and had a holy s#*t moment. 3 gobblers at 100 yards and somehow they didn't see me. I hit the deck and crawled into cover. Got the slate back out and clucked a few times and they started looking my way. I hit it again and I saw them start walking towards me. They were sneaking in to take a look around and were not gobbling. I quit calling and settled in. I shot the biggest of 3 nice toms. Heaviest 24 lbs I've ever carried. Going out tomorrow again in the am to try to tag out. Crossbow only from now on. Man I love turkey hunting. I love it. (http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160414/095bc4de10ae9157aeccce502f634f8e.jpg)
Congrats on the fat one! whereabouts in WNC? Driving through those mountains, especially around the cherokee national forest, I always wonder to myself how people manage to hunt there and not have a heart attack climbing them mountains! I thought where i'm at in SC could be bad, but I can't imagine hiking them things.
Thats awesome man! Great story and great job on the hunt! Congrats. You are laying them down this year. I got 4 tags so hopefully I can start dropping them at the end of next week.
Congrats that's a beast. Thanks for the story. Those are the days that make turkey hunting my favorite. Nothing better then having to hit the deck and get into position.
Quote from: wmn2 on April 13, 2016, 10:52:53 PM
Congrats on the fat one! whereabouts in WNC? Driving through those mountains, especially around the cherokee national forest, I always wonder to myself how people manage to hunt there and not have a heart attack climbing them mountains! I thought where i'm at in SC could be bad, but I can't imagine hiking them things.
I'm about an hour northeast of cherokee
That's a nice one, good job
Good work!! He's a good one.
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That's a monster. What the heck was he eating to be 24lbs during the breeding season? Imagine what he could have peeked out at? Congrats.
Quote from: mlisandro on April 18, 2016, 07:33:29 PM
That's a monster. What the heck was he eating to be 24lbs during the breeding season? Imagine what he could have peeked out at? Congrats.
I was shocked. He seemed heavy carrying out but they all do. He had tons of yellow breast fat.
That's a fat one. Congrats
My birds are usually on a low carb diet, therefore they have very little fat on them when I skin them out :-)
All The Way!