Got on this bird last Monday morning, but when we tried to cut the distance, we came over the ridge/hill/mountain the same time the turkey did. We made eye contact at 15 yards before he flew off without a shot.
Got back to the same area Wednesday and heard him gobble around 7:00. I was trying to call him for my buddy. He came in wrong, and we had him at 10 yards without a shot before he figured something wasn't right. We made a big half-circle after he left. I got him fired up again, and once again he came in wrong for my buddy. These birds in the upstate (or at least this one) come to the top of a hill before they'll try and come down the side at any point. This time I could get on him though. Dead at 7:39. My first public and non-lowcountry bird.
He hit the ground after the first shot at 50 or so yards and took off flying, but the second shot dropped him for good.
These hills are a lot different to hunt than the flat swamps and pines back home.
9 3/8" beard, 3/4" spurs
Since then, I've been back hard on the public land trying to get my buddy on a bird (he killed his first earlier this year in the lowcountry). We should have killed a bird or multiple birds 4 out of 5 hunts (including one miss where I told my buddy not to shoot until the bird worked closer, and he shot after he took 2 more steps
), but we keep finding a way to mess it up. That's turkey hunting.
I've always been a self-taught solo hunter, and I'm relearning how to hunt in new terrain with another person. If I had been on my own, I probably could have filled my last 2 tags, but it's pretty neat going after 'em with another shooter.
