Spent most of the first 3 days of the season on this guy. Even though I had him scouted and patterned pretty well, could not get him to do much at all. Would not even respond to my calls. I even tried gobbling at him, figuring he might be goaded into a fight with my strutter. Nothing. He only gobbled a couple times on the roost and not at all on the ground. Since it was raining this morning I decided to try one more time because I knew he used this field a lot on rainy days. Got set up real early and didn't hear anything. I'm thinking great, this really sucks, should have went somewhere else!
Oh well, I decide to stick it out and be patient. After I figure they're on the ground, I make one call with the Hooks Enforcer and sit quiet. A few minutes later, he shows up in the field from an unsuspected direction. He had roosted in a different spot. Probably because of the storms that went through yesterday? Good thing I sat tight! I call real soft to him and he sees the decoys. Bad move. He gets real fidgety and is heading off away from me (he'd done that Monday from about 300 yards away without seeing the decoys).
Time for another trick. I grab the pot call that my buddy made me and give him one soft cluck and a purr. Amazing! Friendly talk is all he needed. He turns right around and heads in. Few minutes later and he's in range. Boom! 18#, 10"beard, 1 1/8" and 1" spurs. Funny thing is when I dress him out, he's had the snot beat out of him. Actually had a huge bruise on one leg and 2 nasty puncture wounds. Plus, he was missing 4 tail feathers. No wonder he was so quiet and shy all week!
Maybe I'll try to find the bully that messed him up when 5th season gets here!!
Great story !! Too often we turkey hunters are not patient enough. Your hunt certainly gives reason for patience. :icon_thumright:
Congratulations, good story. Nice bird, hope you get the bully.
:z-guntootsmiley:
Very nice gobbler,congrats!!
Congrats on a great bird and hunt.
Persistence and Patience.
Nice job and nice bird.
John
Patience,patience,patience and then.......................................more patience.
Good job!
Congrats. :icon_thumright:
Congrats! I've only been hunting turkeys for 4 years and it's a good lesson for newbies that less is often more when calling and that patience kills turkeys. My top two pieces of advice to other new hunters.
Congrats on a beautiful bird! :you_rock: :you_rock:
awesome job . thats why i got in to blind hunting ,wait them out i have better out comes with bigger birds .
Great read and gobbler. Congrats...
Nice tom, Congrats! :icon_thumright:
Great story and great bird. Congrats
Congrats on a job well done! :icon_thumright:
congrats
Way to go! Congratulations!!!
congrats!
Congrats!!!
Patience usually pays off. Congrats. :gobble:
Congrats on a fine tom. :icon_thumright: