Coalinga,Ca bird down!

[socalturkeyman]

 

Well I shot a bird last saturday on a last minuet trip on my new club lease. I was really unprepared,I forgot all kinds of things for the trip up there. I forgot my camera,tape,and scale. Well anyways I reserved the ranch on friday night and took off for Coalinga,which was a 5 hour drive from my home. When I got to the ranch gate it was about an hour and half after flydown time. Well I started out by wondering around looking for sign and a nice spot to start. I have never been to this ranch before so I didnt know anything about it or let alone,on where to start. So I blind call for about two three hours with nothing answering. I also only saw one hen track that was old. After all of that I decide to go back to the check station and re-look at the map. I find out that there is another access gate up the road so I go and check that spot out. Now this part of the ranch was more like the terrian I like to hunt gobblers. Small creek bed with thick woods on the hill sides. I walk no more than about 30 yards from the truck and I start to see some sign and. So I poke my nose around and find a nice area to set up with some scratchings in this little bit of leave but it also could have been old pig rooting. I stick around for a few hours and head back to the check station. I look at the map again and see another gate futher than the other I found. This ranch is huge 5000 acres, I get there and I started to get ready and ran into another member of the club that was hunting the ranch across the street and said he was in deep with turkeys early in the morning. We talk and he departed,So I started to hunt. I figured I'd hang out kinda close to the road and hope to call them across the street to me.I open up with a series of gobbles and aggresive yelps and cuts and then I stop calling. Well about in hour later I hear a gobble super far away with the help of my walker game ear head set. So I pick up my call and gobble....I get cut off instantly,now this bird is within a 100 yards and coming hard.But the hole time I thought this bird was coming from across the street but he was really coming in behind me and to the right. So I swing around 90 degrees at the base of the old oak tree I was sitting against. I didnt grab/ position myself with my call so I didnt have anything to finish the deal with. So I started to yelp with my natural voice and purred too. He boomed back at me with a thundering gobble,and comes runing in half strutt gobbling all the way to the gun. And thats when I stopped him and Layed the hammer on him at 40 yards. I thought since he did a back flip he was absolutely done right.....well not quite. I gathered all of my gear smiling and giving myself a pat on the back for killing a bird,untill I start walking up on him. I get within a few steps and see that he's still standing and bleeding form his eyes. I couldnt beleive it!! I take about 5 to 6 cautious steps back and let him have it one more time. Bird wasnt a big bird but he was fun.I estimated him at about 15 to 16lbs 8 to 8 1/2 inch beard with about 3/4 inch spurs.A great end on the last weekend of the season.

[Houndstooth Game Calls]

Turkeys in tha shower! haha congrats awesome hunt!!

[Flydown]

Heck yea man, great hunt! Congrats on a fine turkey!!!

[HARDCORE]

Congrats!

Nothing wrong with that, good job.   

Turkeys in tha shower! haha congrats awesome hunt!!

Give him some slack Lyle, everything is a little bit different in Cali. 

HC

[TRKYHTR]

Congrats on getting it done on the last weekend.

TRKYHTR

[kj]

Love the turkey in the hotel room.  Congrats on getting your bird before the season ended.

[Wrangler95]

Very nice,congrats!!

[Mark K]

Congrats on the bird!!

But, you joined a lease and had never seen it?

[hookedspur]

Yes Sir Nice Going and a Great Bird.

[tomstopper]

Beautiful bird. Congrats..

[RutnNStrutn]

Sometimes it just works out that way. Congrats!!

[socalturkeyman]

Congrats on the bird!!

But, you joined a lease and had never seen it?

Its not like a normal lease,Its I think like 150 ranches ranging form 150 acres to 30,000 acres spread though out california and oregon. So with that being said lol I would never be able to check out all of the properties that are leased by the club. THat would be awesome though,but I have seen some of the one closer to my home. They did show me pictures of the game and lands enrolled with the club when they interviewed me at my home.

[surehuntsalot]

congrats on the bird

[dlquinn]

Congrats on the last weekend bird 

Was this on WU property?

[Lumpy]

Way to go man, congrats!!!
God Bless