Your most lucky harvest?

[TauntoHawk]

luck certainly can help on a lot of different hunts but I can think of a bird that I never had to call to that I would say I used a bad situation to get lucky on. Cold front blows in and its miserable for mid May 32 Degrees, snowing and winds howling at 30+ mph made the weekend almost impossible to hunt turkeys they way I'd like. I do manage to spend a couple of hours making several attempts at setting up on 2 birds and their 4 hens but nothing worked. Either they weren't gobbling, couldn't hear me, would go the other way or for a breif moment seemed interested but un-willing to cross a creek. I managed to roost them that evening and planned to hunt them one final day before I went home. Next morning was more of the same wind and freezing cold but I was there early and looped above their roost to a semi sheltered pasture where they were strutting the day before. It starts to get daylight and I see a truck in the distance driving down the farm lane, at this time of the morning its either the farmer or another turkey hunter. Well the truck stops under the hill and then I hear an owl hoot, and another and another. This guy must have seen the birds as well the evening before because in the early morning light he's walking across the filed blasting away on this owl hooter after 10 or so attempts on the owl hooter he starts ripping on a pot call then goes back to the owl hooting all the time walking straight for the roost. I knew exactly what was going to happen those birds could see him coming across the open and when he got inside the woods they were all going to blow out of the trees and they would fly across the creek onto the hillside and use a thick band of pines to slip away and over the hill. I slipped down the hill and into the band of pines and got to a stone wall when I hear wing beats and sure enough the hunter had bumped the birds and they all flew across the creek as I can see them landing on the bottom edge of the pines so I duck behind a large pine and sure enough very slowly and cautiously they walked straight up the hill through the pines to me all the while that hunter is still down in the creek bottom a few hundred yards away still hitting his calls as loud as can be to punch through the wind I tagged a nice mature tom at 19 steps without making a noise.

Honestly had it not been the last day of my hunt and horrible weather I would have let the birds walk and gone and found a gobbling bird to work but I had gotten beat bad by this bird and his pals the day before and spent the 2 days prior just trying to locate birds so I figured the history and conditions made the hunt worth while and I punched the tag.

[Cut N Run]

About 15 years ago I was hunting at my old lease in Granville County, N.C.  Normally, I might expect to hear gobbles from a few different birds around the lease and on the adjoining land.  That morning there was nothing happening. At all. It was almost too quiet.  I moved towards the back of the property hoping that I might be able to raise some action near an area where the turkeys traditionally liked to loaf around mid day.  Nothing doing.  I hung there until 11:15 and had to take a nature break.  I slowly looked around before I stood, then eased over a few steps to take care of business. Just as I zipped up I heard the unmistakable flapping of turkey wings in front of me and caught sight of two birds scrambling up in the air, spurring each other near the edge of the logging road about 120 yards below me.  I quickly sat back down and started scratching out some fighting purrs on my slate and purring as loud as I could on my mouth call to mimic their ruckus. Within a few minutes I saw turkey heads pop up looking for the other fight as they approached.  They had to pass behind a low growing patch of river cane laced with briers, which allowed me to get the gun up and get ready to shoot.  I could see their heads moving towards the edge of the cane and knew it was going to happen pretty quick.  As soon as they were in the clear, I was preparing to drop the hammer on the bigger bird, but I had to let his head clear a small tree first.  The smaller challenger made a lunge towards the big gobbler and both birds scrambled up in the air again.  I waited until the bigger bird had his head up and I squeezed the trigger.  CLICK.  Oh, NO!!!  Back at the truck, I'd eased a shell into the chamber and hadn't let the bolt slam closed on my Benelli, which didn't seat the bolt closed on the chamber.  Luckily, the gobblers were too preoccupied with each other and instantly started fighting again. I was able to slide the bolt open far enough to reset the hammer and palm the bolt closed quietly enough in my gloved hand not to disturb the gobblers as they tried to settle their differences. I waited until they went behind a big pine and got the gun ready to roll.  When the bigger bird stepped out, I clucked once on the mouth call to bring his head up and freeze him long enough to take the 19 yard shot.  He weighed 22 pounds 10 ounces with a 10.75 inch beard and 1.25 inch spurs.  Even though I never heard them gobble, I saw both birds strut and fight less than 25 yards from me. It was a hell of a show.  I was extra lucky that they distracted each other long enough for me to re-cock the hammer and make the shot.

Jim

[LIMB Hanger09]

back about 8 years was my first season out on my own here in MI, I drew the 2nd general season which is only a week long running from Monday until Sunday.  i had taken a nice bird the year prior with the help of my good friend and turkey mentor,  but this particular year was mine to learn and grow on my own.

i clean missed a bird opening day and had many other near opportunities but just couldn't pull it all together and make it happen.  I'll be honest that 7 days  of hunting public ground had taken their toll and I was flat whooped by Sunday afternoon. It killed me to not notch a tag but I felt I had learned an incredible amount of knowledge, then it happened..

my phone rang and it was my friend/mentor, He was getting out of work and wanted to see how the days hunting had went.  Not being content with me throwing in the towel with 3 hours left in my season, he told me to meet him asap near one of our public grounds so we could hop in together.  As we pulled up to our spot he got a quick work call and he handled it quickly so we could hunt.

This spot is pretty small, basically a pine ridge running from the road in with lakes on each side . He hit one quick 3 Yelp call from the road and 3 birds hammer from up the ridge about 200 yds in. We scramble to get in off the road and had barely sat down when a bird 100 yards away is running down the ridge and disappears into a small valley about 50 yds out. Then another bird does the same thing followed by another.  the 3rd bird gobbles on his own halfway down the ridge and the first 2 birds exit stage right at 75+ yds with no shot.  We soon figure out why...

The 3rd bird pops up out of the valley at 40 yds and I let the nitro  shell fly.  22# 11.25 beard and 1.5 hooks that were flat on each side like cat teeth.  he was definitely the boss in this section. 

Best part is that all this happened, we took a few pics, and we're back to the car only 6 minutes after my buddy took his phone call.  So this was both my quickest and luckiest hunt, if it weren't for him I'd had finished that season empty handed.  Lucky and blessed to have learned from one of the best!


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[Greg Massey]

First bird i ever killed. I was a self learner on how to kill turkeys. That first turkey kill was over 30 years ago.

[Uncle Nicky]

About 5 years ago, midmorning on PA public land. I was walking down a cleared trail, and let out a squawk on my box call...GOBBBBBBB...couldn't have been more than 50 yards away! I looked around for a tree to set up against, all I saw were thin beech saplings. I quick ran behind a blowdown, peeked out an opening, and saw him strutting in, ever so slowly. I screatched the leaves a little, and he beelined toward me. I shot him through the opening in the brush, saw him go down, couldn't have been more than 15 yards tops. I set my gun down, and started walking over to him. Suddenly he jumps up, and starts trotting down the trail!! I leaped back to the blowdown, grabbed my shotgun, came back into the trail, and took another shot at him on the run, he was probably 35 yards off by now. This time I know I hit him good, his head was down and he was just barely flopping. I made sure to bring the gun this time when I picked him up, LOL.

In my excitement, I left my facemask behind at the kill site. A week later, a buddy called and asked me if I had lost a facemask, I told him yes, and he brought it by on his way home. Lucky twice.

[ilbucksndux]

Im gonna say that my luckiest turkey kill was my very first one. I dint have anyone in my family that turkey hunted,and turkey hunters are usually pretty tight lipped when it comes to killing birds so I went to the woods with a tag,2 decoys,my gun and a couple of calls that I could make turkey noises with but didnt know what sounds to make when. I had done some scouting and slipped into an area where I saw 20 plus turkeys feeding the night before right before dark. I put out my 2 foam decoys and waited till day light. When it started to get light I heard a turkey gobble twice. I made some noise on my call then put it aside. I looked at my watch(no phones then) and it was a minute from legal shooting time. Less than a minute later there was a gobbler standing looking at my decoys. I put the bead on his head and pulled the trigger he started flopping. After he nearly beat me to death with his wings I let him go and he finished his death flop. I rolled him over and saw his beard was over 10" and had over 1" spurs. I tagged him and was home before 0700.