Like I said, I went back to the area I missed him, that evening. It felt like the corner of his range. If he made it through this corner, he would've had to go a long ways back behind the way he flew to have any roost trees or proper turkey habitat. I just didn't figure he'd double back that far, in half a day.
So, The next morning, the plan was to stay mobile and find a gobbling turkey, on the limb, by covering country. I started where the bird sailed to the day before, and just 8 minutes after shooting light, he gobbled. WHAT A RELIEF! I had a turkey in my little corner and I knew I could not make another mistake. The time was now.
I looped around and got tucked into a beautiful location overlooking a small, green, grazed down opening but tucked way back into the brush just looking through a tunnel into this opening. Absolutely no way this turkey could pick me off. None. It felt great.
He gobbled a couple more times, and I did something I don't do often and that's to call to him while still on the roost. We had turkey vultures next to us and they were flying around, making noises with their wings hitting branches. It sounded a lot like turkeys so I figured I'd make it realistic. As they made their ruckus I called. I started slow and ramped it up. I just wanted it to sound like hens flying down for the day and advertise to this gobbler "here we are!"
There was 5 minutes of nothing and I thought maybe I'd made the wrong move. There was even some fog and I thought maybe I just got too close and he was able to pick us off. Oh well." I thought. I wasn't too aggressive and we've got a turkey to hunt. If this turkey did see us, there was enough cattle around that I don't think he's too spooked by shadows 300 yards away.
I'm pondering our next move when all of the sudden the turkey ran into the opening at a high rate of speed. My opinion is that he flew straight in, off the roost, as he looked to be setting his wings when I saw him. He stopped dead in the middle of my opening and stood there. I quickly got the bead on him, aimed...then really aimed and it was all over.
The final piece and all the closure I needed for an official public land grand slam of the wild turkey, all done on the public lands of this great country.
