NC Gobbler #1, "Mr. Redemption"

[tomstopper]

Hunted this bird yesterday morning and he had 4 hens with him and wouldn't gobble. After about 2 hrs, he followed his hens who were feeding there way to me into the field. When he stopped at 38 yards, I turned on my red Dot and found out that it had a dead battery (apparently I never switched it off after confirming that it was on before the season started). I reached for my backup battery and found that I didn't replace it from last year.

Rookie mistakes and I paid for it. Only option that I had at that point was to use my bead sight. I shot and watched as he immediately ran across the field with his hens, all unscathed (checked and seen no feathers on the ground)... Decided that seeing how I missed him completely, my best move was to just leave and head into work early for some OT.

Fast forward to today, I got up early and left the house with a new game plan. I figured that since I totally missed him, he might have found his 4 hens and regrouped with them In the trees last night. If this was to be, I would just use some soft calling? this morning with my slate (the day prior, I used my glass pot call and box call but figured if there was any chance of him remembering what the ladies voices sounded like the previous day that nearl cost his demise, I would just eliminate it from the equation) and peak his interest and with a little luck the hens would stick to their schedule of coming to the field early in the morning. I also planned on adding a strutter decoy to my hen set up figuring that he might get a little jealous if he seen his girls with another Tom and just come to the decoy.

My plan worked to perfection. Got in at 5am and just waited in a deadfall until about 6:15 when I decided to let out some soft tree yelps. Heard one lone gobble and none more. I knew it had to be him so I just shut up and gambled his ladies would bring him out. At 6:45 I seen the first hen emerge from the pines and into the field at about 70 yards. Like clockwork the next 3 hens followed suit. After about 5 minutes after they were in the field, out steps Mr. Redemption.

I slowly grabbed my 870 and turned on my Red Dot. I could see that he was looking for the hen who was yelping earlier so I just let out a series of clucks and yelps to get his attention. He immediately stretched his neck and peered in my direction. As soon as he seen my strutter, he tucked his wings and sprinted the 70 yards in a blink of an eye only to slam on the brakes and break out into full strut in front of it just 30 yards in front of me. As soon as his fan blocked his sight from mine, I grabbed the 870 and waited for him to turn and show me that  big white head. He did just seconds later and I sent a 3.5 in mag load of #5's his way and this time instead of running off, he began the Gobbler flop.

Not a monster but a great memory made. He had a 9.5 in beard, 3/4 in spurs and weighed in at 15.86lbs. Good learning experience for sure. He was my first miss in the last 12 seasons so now I get to start my count all over again...lol

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[daddyduke]

Congrats

[wade]

Looking good. I enjoyed reading the story.

[zelmo1]

Congrats, and nice story. I like tales of redemption 

[perrytrails]

Great story, congrats. I just put a back up battery in my vest!!

[tomstopper]

Great story, congrats. I just put a back up battery in my vest!!

Yep got two in there now....lol

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[tomstopper]

Here is a cell video of him and two of his hens yesterday at about 80yards out. He is in the upper left corner.http://cloud.tapatalk.com/s/5ad6a30362ade/VID_20180416_082245327.mp4

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[Cut N Run]

Congratulations!  Pay back's a B!TC#.

Jim

[Wrangler95]

Very nice gobbler,congrats!!!

[renegade19]

 

[surehuntsalot]

congrats

[TJK68]

CONGRATS!!!

[hobbes]

Congrats!

[gunboy203]

Congrats on a great hunt...