I had the pleasure of taking my friends 16 year old daughter out for the Pa Mentored Youth hunt again this year. It all started on Friday evening the 20th. I went out to try to put one to bed that evening, I knew where some hung out. I was driving up the road and looked on the power line and there was a gobbler feeding on it. I drove up the road and turned around and pulled in so he couldn't see me. I got out of my car and snuck out to the edge and watched him walking up the power line. I'm thinking, where's he going? I stepped out further and when he turned he saw me and high tailed it towards the woods. I stayed there until dark to make sure he was going to stay.
The next morning of the hunt my friend and his daughter picked me up at 5am. We got to the spot at 5:30am got our gear on and headed up the powerline. When we got to where I thought the gobbler went in I put out a decoy, I usually don't use one but did this time. As it was getting daylight we heard him gobble. Then he gobbled 3 more times on the roost. I let out a couple of soft yelps on my slate call but he didn't answer. We sat there for about ten minutes then I clucked 3 or 4 times and he hammered back, but this time he was on the ground and alot closer. I told her to get ready, just then I saw the gobbler pop out of the woods but he was to the right of us. I said don't move there he is. She had her gun pointed to the left towards the decoy. The gobbler started coming up and when he got to the top of a little rise he went into a full strut. He strutted straight towards us and got within 15 yards of us I told her to ease the gun over towards the gobbler ."I had a mouthcall in and started putting loud to get the gobbler to put his head up but he wouldn't. When she got lined up on him, I said "Shoot." She said to me, Ï thought you wanted me to wait until his head was up? I said he's close enough shoot him. BANG The gobbler went down like a ton of bricks. By the time I got over to him he wasn't even moving. She used a 20 ga with 3" Hevi Shot #6's
10 inch beard
18.50 lbs
3/4 inch spurs
