I have turkey hunted fall and spring for 20 years and yesterday morning was the first time I have missed a turkey and it didn't bother me! It has been raining cats and dogs here in VA the last few days but the radar Mon. night looked like we were going to have a small window in the morning where it would "dry" so I got up and headed to the field where I killed a turkey a couple of weeks back but the creek I usually cross was up way too high to cross even in my truck so I went down the road to another spot where I have killed turkeys before. I ease up in the woods and as I start to cut across the ridge turkeys start clucking in the trees ahead of me so I plant it and after a bit of listening I join in. Well the "hens" I hear clucking turn out to be two jakes that break loose gobbling after a mature bird in the distance gobbles. I do my usual flydown routine and wait, nothing! Finally a hen pitches out and lands 20 yards from me, she walks off and I think maybe one of those jakes will follow suit but one pitches away from me, I call, he gobbles but he continues to walk away, the other jake flys down and goes with his buddy. They are both headed toward the mature bird I hear on another farm so I get my stuff and head that way. I fooled with that mature bird for over an hour, he answered everything, even gobbler yelps and clucks on my old lynch world champion box. I would kee kee run like a jake and he would gobble, but he wouldn't budge. I decided to get up and move further to my right where he was at, I couldn't go to him as I do not have permission to hunt this other farm. As I stand up I hear a gobble and it's close, so I sat back down and he gobbled again but he was behind me, and I'm thinking where in the h&@! did you come from, I switch sides of the tree and grab my slate call and give him some soft yelps, he gobbles and he is right below me now, gun up safety off! With the wet leaves I am straining my eyes for movement and he gobbles again but he has increased the distance and is right about where I was sitting at daylight. At this point it is now thundering and the sky is getting darker, but I was not about to move because I would spook him going back to my truck. I cluck with my mouth call and he finally gobbles again and sounds like he is headed my way. Still got my gun up and straining to see movement, it's 8:30 at this point and the sky is dark enough with the clouds that it looks like it is just breaking daylight. I finally see him and his snow white head coming my way, I just sit patiently waiting for him to close the distance and listening to the ever approaching thunder in the distance as it gets closer. Finally he gets to about 35 yards and cuts to the right so I have to ease my gun over and I get BUSTED! His head goes upright and he gets that nervous walk they get and starts to go back the way he came, I quickly get down on the gun and with all the little saplings behind him I find his head and BOOM, he flys off unscathed! I walk over and check the hollow he came from just make sure it was a clean miss and it was. I get my stuff together so I can beat the storm and head back to my truck. While I am driving home I said to myself, "your not beating yourself up like you usually do when you make a bad shot" I thought yeah I'm not, I called him into shotgun range, he was fooled, when they come in with a head white as snow they have one thing on their mind. He was none the wiser til I eased my gun over, I only missed him because of my mistake in rushing the shot. I said I have finally reached a point in my hunting career where the misses don't matter as much as the time spent in the field enjoying what our good Lord has provided for us. It's amazing how the older you get the more your perspective changes. Yesterday morning will go in my memory bank as a match well played, he just lived to play another day. I know this got long winded but I thought you all would appreciate it!
