Some of you know that I'm in a wheelchair, what I would like to do is tell how my hunting tactics differ from those of most able-bodied hunters. First, I make sure there are turkeys in the area then I find where I want to set up, usually on the edge of a field. I have someone level off a spot and place a 4x4 sheet of plywood on the ground for my chair to set on to make maneuvering it easier. I use some camo burlap to drape in front of me to conceal my movement. I typically drive my van right to my pre-chosen spot then try to get set up well before daylight so things have a chance to settle down. My hunting partner will move the van out of site.
I often hear birds gobbling on the roost in the distance, I will let those birds know where I am just in case they want to come in early. Very seldom do I kill a bird right off the roost, that's one thing I do miss about hunting before my injury. Most often they will hook up with a hen and get lockjaw for a few hours, this is where patience comes into play.
An old timer once told me that a bird you call to early in the day will often come looking for you later when his hen leaves him, so just stay put and throw a call out there every now and then. If a bird comes back and gobbles looking for that hen he heard earlier then he's ready to die. Most of my birds are now taken between 9:00-12:00
My hunt this past Friday followed this script almost to the letter. My friend and I got set up early on the edge of a pasture and then the woods around us came to life with birds gobbling in all directions. This went on for an hour then as if you flipped switch they all went silent, and I'm talking about 6-8 different birds. I told my partner then that we were in for a wait. And wait we did.
At 9:50 a bird announced himself about 200 yards off. I waited a bit and he gobbled again, oh yeah, he was looking. We played cat and mouse for a little while with him slowly getting closer. Finally my friend spots him on the edge of the woods and he has a buddy with him. The one bird strutted a little, looked around and then they both started away from us. We had dekes out but there was a rise in the field that prevented them from seeing them. I told my buddy to give a few soft yelps, he did but they kept going away. Desperate times call for desperate measures so I turned my head away from the birds and cut hard on the little green tube you see in the pic. They both hammered back. I cut again then followed it with a gobble and they both went absolutely crazy double and triple gobbling. Now I do have one bad habit when calling, I LOVE to hear a bird gobble so I hit the call a couple more times just to hear that wonderful sound, even though they needed no more encouragement. They came in a dead run right into the dekes, I picked out the strutter and the game was over.
I looked at my watch, 10:20, yep, another typical wheelchair hunt.
Bird was 21 lb 2 oz. 10 1/2" beard. 1" spurs
