Killer B’s 2023 Story Thread - Embellishments Encouraged

[twyatt]

Congrats again MG, great story.  Fill us in on the VA bird when you have time

[Meleagris gallopavo]

Congrats! It's amazing how focused they get at times. Way to keep your cool under pressure.


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Thanks. 


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[Meleagris gallopavo]

So this is the story on the VA bird.  I live in Suffolk, VA but I'm from the NC county just beneath it, which is Gates County, NC.  My wife and are both from there and we own or have friends and relatives that have property I can hunt.  In addition I have access to my deer hunting club's leases and just a handful of the club members hunt turkey.  My cousin is a large farmer who owns farms in VA, plus I have access to a few additional places to hunt there. 

So I killed the turkey from the first story in NC, got back home by 8:00 AM and dropped him off, then went to a spot in Virginia my cousin owns.  This particular farm is my honey hole and my son and I have killed many turkeys there over the years.  In fact, he killed a nice gobbler there the first Saturday the season opened this year.  This place hasn't been hunted since so I figure it may be my best option.  I drive there and find a Tom and a hen out in a field in a place where I can get close to them undetected.  So I slip in and find a hole in the edge of the tree line I can shoot through and set up.  I went to the edge of the tree line and peered down the field and I see the hen about 300 yards away.  I figure the gobbler is closer to the woods where I can't see without sticking my head out further.  I go back to my chair and start calling softly.  Nothing.  I do this again about 15 minutes later and still nothing.  I go back to the edge and see no turkeys.  I set my decoys out in front of the hole and call again and wait.  I don't call a ton, usually every 20-30 minutes.  The next time I call I use the Jordan to reach out there and I hear a barely discernible gobble way off behind me.  This is a different gobbler than the one I saw before as it's too far for that bird to have traveled I think.  It's probably in the woods on the other side of a big field behind me.  I stay put and keep calling and he answers me each time and each time I can tell he's getting closer.  I absolutely love these scenarios as I think most of you do.  I switch to a ceramic pot call which I can do more with and start cutting and yelping.  He goes crazy and closes the distance more.  Then he throws out a triple gobble near the edge of the field where my decoys are about 500 yards away.  I imagine he did that because he saw the decoys.  He does the classic move of circling in behind them in the woods so I switch positions to face where he's coming from.  He gets close, directly behind where I was sitting and I switch to my mouth call so I can handle the gun better.  He likes how the mouth call sounds too and gets so close that I should be seeing him but I don't.  He gobbles back and forth in the woods but won't commit.  So I go silent.  I scratch leaves and try making pecking sounds and walking sounds in the leaves which has worked for me before.  Nothing.  I call again and he's further away and I think he may have been intercepted by a hen.  I've had them gobble to my calling when this happens but they tend to get further and further away but he's coming back.  This whole thing has been going on over an hour and I'm worried that I may have to leave because my wife and I have a social engagement just after lunch.  I did the only thing I could do at that moment.....I texted my wife and asked her tell them we'd be a little late.  I put my phone down and immediately hear 2 putts real close.  I froze, scanned where the putts came from but saw nothing.  Not unusual as they can see better than I can and I figure I've been busted.  The putts came from near the edge of the woods and the field my decoys were in.  I stay frozen for a long time and wait.  Maybe we won't be late for our engagement after all because I think it's over.  I sit a while more hit the call and hear nothing, so I figure he's gone.  I laid my gun down and went to pack my chair and call bag up to leave, figuring I'd pick my gun up on the way out to the field when I go get the decoys.  About the time I had the chair folded up I hear an impact and wings beating behind me.  The gobbler is flogging my jake decoy and my gun is on the ground between me and him.  Damn!  So I ever-so-quietly crawl back to my gun.  I'm sitting in a spot where I can't see what's going on with the decoy beating taking place so I slowly stand up.  Still can't see worth a darn.  I can see the gobbler strutting and turning a little but that's about it.  So I look for the white ribs in the middle of his tail feathers which tells me he's facing away and I sidestep each time he turns his back to me in order to see well enough to shoot.  I'm still several feet away from the hole in the woods edge and at the wrong angle to use it.  But I keep edging left every time his back is to me.  I finally get to a spot where I can see more of him so I stand there with my gun aimed at that spot until I see his head.  My arms are aching from holding the gun and he's strutting and not giving me much chance at a clear head shot.  Finally he stops broadside and I pull the trigger.  CLICK!  Not again!  But this time the click was from me not taking the safety off and the hammer couldn't connect with the firing pin mechanism.  Evidently he's focused on the decoy and didn't pay attention to the click.  I take the safety off and wait.  Eventually he turns and faces me, and I don't typically shoot when turkeys are facing me in full strut like that but this may be as good as it gets.  I aim just above the wattles, pull the trigger, the gun goes off and he drops like a sack of flour.  No flopping or anything.  Stone cold dead.  However I'm shooting him from 15 yards or so with TSS number 9.5's.  The whole ordeal took 2 hours from the time I first heard the faint gobble.  A lot of second guessing myself during that time.  Now I have 2 birds to score and clean, but my heart is full.  The NC turkey ended up scoring the best even though this bird outweighed him by 0.85 lbs.  The NC bird at 19 lbs had longer spurs and a little over an inch longer beard.  How's that?


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[Meleagris gallopavo]

Congrats Meleagris, great recovery on the dead shell and real nice Tom. Was it a reload? Gun not closed hard enough??

It was Verdict 7/8 oz 9.5s.  The gun was closed and the breach locked.  Big, deep dent in the primer.  These were shells I purchased this year.


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[twyatt]

Man that sounds like an awesome hunt!  Those are the type of hunts I hope for every time I go out.  The ones that rattle you to the core in excitement!
I had one putt this year too and thought the gig was up, then he walked off a few yards, then made a
b-line to the decoy.  Still not sure what that was all about
Heck of a day you had - congrats again

[JeffC]

2 great hunts, that is an awesome season! Congrats again! Great read.

[zsully]

The Band is Back Together:

I've been itching to get into the game since you gentlemen started laying down birds in the south. Well this year found A_jabbo and I split up on opening day. I can't remember the last time that's happened but my boys had baseball pictures and I didn't want to cut the hunt short for him so I bowed out and took my oldest for a quick hunt while A_jabbo took his cousin. It was a frustrating day for both of us. Then the band got back together and man the music was sweet on the first dreary Monday up here in Pa.  Rain was in the forecast but we saw a lone gobbler the night before in a spot we had never hunted. We had to give it a shot. An early work meeting would ensure it would be a quick shot but the chance of hearing a gobble with a gun in hand will always be worth it. When we arrived at our location the rain was worse than we thought. We called an audible and pulled the blind. On our way to set up things almost turned for the worse when I didn't see a groundhog hole and sunk up to my knee. While it briefly scared the crap out of me there was no damage and we were set up shortly after.

In the dark we sat and talked about how one gobble would be a win for the day when we got our wish and heard that first gobble of the morning. Shortly after a couple calls from A_jabbo told us there may be a group of birds all together. Immediately we thought it was jakes but they were split from another bird with a much healthier gobble and all birds were working and slowly getting closer. At 7:10 a lone gobbler showed up and, although it was brief, he put on a good show. At my shot he fell and the group of birds gobbled. Mission success!

Quickly A_jabbo got on them with the fighting purrs and I joined the chorus by slapping my hat....we made a racket!! And the group kept gobbling. So we started watching the clock. That 8am meeting is coming fast and I have to at least be in the truck for the call. 7:20 I started getting antsy but I really didn't want to leave. A_jabbo told me we should go and I told him we had time but I might have to do something I haven't done in a long time.....that would be sprinting up a hill. Shoot let's be honest, I haven't ran anywhere in a long time. Luckily we didn't have to wait long and not shockingly there were jakes. What was shocking is that in front of those jakes were 5 longbeards. That's not a typo.......5 freaking glorious longbeards. They fought the decoy they chased each other it was chaos!!!! Fantastic craziness all unfolding at 12 yards. At 7:25 A_jabbo's target separated himself from the group and it was over!!!! Absolute and total mission success! On a morning that we would've been happy with a single gobble we had heard plenty of gobbling and pulled off a double. It was amazing and now I can't wait to get out again. The weather is looking good for the end of this week and Twyatt is coming up.

Stay turned, hopefully there's plenty more to come!

We weren't able to get good field pictures because of my work meeting but I think you guys get the idea.

[Mossyguy]

Fantastic! Congrats guys!

[JeffC]

Congrats to the both of you.

[Meleagris gallopavo]

Well done fellas!


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[Yoder409]

CONGRATS X2 !!!!!

   

[POk3s]

Love that!! Great job guys! What an awesome hunt!

[Yoder409]

Killer B points on the ground, boys !!!

Story to come..........

[JeffC]

Congrats Don, way to go ,looks like a nice Tom!!

[Tom007]

Way to go Gents, a great late flurry!. Congrats to all!!!