My wife and I went to Alabama in 2012 and had a great time. I didn't know if she would want to go back for the 2013 Spring Break or not but she told me she would me mad if we didn't. I missed a few opportunities at birds in 2012 because of lack of patience and experience. I've been reading up on OG and lots of magazines trying to learn as much about gobblers as I could since however.
Anyway, I get of work on Friday night March 22nd at 11pm and my wife and I head toward Alabama. We roll into Tuscaloosa around 9 AM when my 10 day permit starts ticking. This turkey tag is burning a hole in my pocket. We get to Oakmulgee WMA and setup our camp at Payne Lake.
I get my gear on and go to a spot that I know holds birds. I sneak in thinking I might stumble upon a lonely midday gobbler. I don't hear anything but it sure felt good to be in the woods.
We go back to camp and crash out early because we are exhausted. Around 10:30 PM a storm wakes me up as the tent is starting to come in on us. I grab everything electronic that will be ruined if it gets wet. We make a run for the car and just after we get in the worst storm I've been through unleashed on us. There was so much wind, rain, hail, and debris that I couldn't even see to park the car at the bathhouse. The car took some hail damage and I'm not sure how many gallons of water we drained from the tent. We slept in the car and I lost the following Sunday of hunting to help get our camp site back in order. We went to University of Alabama to get lunch and spend the afternoon at a laundromat. That's how I wanted to spend my vacation!
Here is the view of our stuff getting soaked as we watch from the car.
The following morning looked beautiful after the storm went through. Hours before we were getting smashed with a terrible storm.
Back to business. I went out Monday morning to a new spot I looked at on google earth. There was a food plot surrounded by a few creek bottoms. Perfect habitat from what I've had as previous experiences and hearing gobblers. Its in the low 30s and I hear one maybe two gobbles all morning. I tried to wait it out until I couldn't stand the cold any longer. On the way back I got to see an eagle as he was headed to the lake we were camping on so that was the highlight of my morning. We went to go out for lunch and he was by the lake. He was wet and probably just had is own lunch.
Monday night we went to town to get dinner and try to roost a bird on the way back. I stopped right at dark and tried to get a bird to shock gobble. I walk in 250 yards and hear birds putting to my right. I can't see them through the brush but these birds were on the ground and I spooked them. I knew with it being so late that they probably wouldn't go far.
The next morning I woke up at 4:30 and hurried to get ready. The other hunters at the camp ground were a good motivation in the morning because I didn't want them to beat me to my spot. I walked in as quietly as possible the next day. I put a hen decoy just a few steps away on the logging road. I waited until the other birds and woods started to stir. I gave five of the softest yelps I could make on my slate call. Nothing. I waited 5 minutes and gave a single cluck. I thought I heard a few other clucks but was trying to figure out if my mind was playing tricks on me. Then there was the unmistakeable sound of wings flapping. I didn't see any movement or a bird to I figured the bird was stretching its wings to prepare for fly down. Next, a hen pitches out of the tree and flew toward my logging road. When I realized that she was going to land right in my lap I figured she saw the whites of my eyes and decided to land on the ridge to my left. More flapping. Next I see a bird with a small beard fly and land right behind her on the ridge. He took a step or two behind a tree and I made a grab for my gun and did a ninja spin move. He stepped out from behind the tree and I hit him in the lower neck at probably 25 yards with the right side of my pattern. He did a few flops but wasn't going anywhere. Unreal. This jake was my first bird ever. He flew off the roost in textbook style and I was back at camp as the sun was coming up.
I crawled into my sleeping bag and told my wife it was just too darn cold to hunt. She had a few things to say of how I was a "wuss." Then I rolled over and told her that and I already got my bird for the day! She was happy for me and we took tons of pictures.
Nothing like getting a public land bird as a self taught hunter!
This is my 835 with my SSX on my jake.
I'll tell you guys that these 3 1/2" Turkey thug 6s kick like a mule but they get the job do also. Field tested!
So our vacation did a 180 that Tuesday morning. The weather was not quite so windy and cold and I had a bird finally. After 4 years of chasing birds on public land I got one. My wife didn't know if I would continue to hunt or not after getting my bird. Well of course I was! There is nothing like being in the woods when your states season doesn't start for another month!
At this point in the trip I've heard one gobble from Saturday afternoon through Tuesday morning when I got my jake. Since I didn't get to far in stir up that trail I figured I'd check it out the following day. On Wednesday morning I went in and the Alabama Gobblers were hammering away! What happened! They flipped a switch and gobbled all morning until they hit the ground and slowed down a bit. I creeped toward them and they got lockjaw. I didn't have muck luck that morning so I decided to scout a different location. I walked down a different logging road and didn't figure they would gobble midday. I spooked a bird off a food plot from probably 300 yards away as I cam over a hill. I assume it was a hen and could see the wing tips as it ran and flew away. I sit there on that hill hoping for a gobble or some action. Nothing. I work down into that food plot and can see a hen sitting there watching me. I guess she was sitting on a nest? I didn't go any closer and didn't want to disturb her. I couldn't figure out why she didn't leave. Next that that happened that morning was a game changer. A jet flew over from the south and got a bird to gobble. I tried to get him to gobble more but he wasn't having muck of it. He was safe in a creek bottom and not coming out. I was about to leave so I poked my head over a hill to see what it looked like. Two birds flew off. They looked really dark and I figure it was two gobblers.
Game plan next day... I went into that food plot and sat down. I decided I would let the gobbler tell me where he was first. As the woods came alive his first gobble was very close. He was diagonal across the food plot and down the hill a bit. I gave a him a few yelps and he hammered back. I thought could this really happen! Then this dirty little hen started competing with me. He was on the ground en route to her location. I put together a plan. If he was in the creek bottom the day before around 10 AM I would be there at 7:30. I make my way through the pine needle forest floor to a saddle that works to the creek bottom, a bunch of thick brush in from of me, and a hill to my right that dropped off around 30 yards. Perfect.
I give some yelps and a bird a quarter mile away gobbles. A few minutes later he gobbles. I yelp to him and he cuts me off. This bird farther away is just hammering away all morning. The gobbler that was by the food plot is a few hundred yard around the hill from me. but gobbles once every 10-15 minutes. Well, around the hill he is coming. He is taking his sweet time however about to give me a heart attack. I was breathing hard and had to pull down my mask because I was so hot I couldn't breathe. I was hoping this bird would come out 30-40 yard in front of me and the direction I was facing with my gun up. They never cooperate.
The bird goes down in the creek bottom around the brush and he gets close enough to where I can hear him crunching through the brush and spitting. I've never heard a turkey spit or drum. I've never even see a large long bearded tom while hunting. He finally lets me get my eyes on him as he struts through the brush. Imagine that he goes behind a tree like my jake. I throw my call down do a 180 and where is he at? I can't get a good picture through my scope because of my angle and the way I'm holding the gun. This moment means so much for what I've been trying to accomplish over the last for years. Countless hours, ridiculous amounts of money, and lots of effort boil down to this moment. There he is! I get my sight picture in line with him and try to calm down my turkey fever. The 835 is out in my bicep and my shot angle is wacky but he is in my sights and I let her bark! Longbeard down! I run up and he is flopping through some brush. My shot wasn't the best but I got my foot on him and he is in the freezer right now.
My first long beard!
His spurs and the Ozark Custom Call I used on both birds.
The call and his beard
His noggin and his rope.
10.5" beard.
Another of Richard's call with my jake.
I've called in jakes and hens but never a long beard prior to this trip. I've had many birds hang up and not get to even see them. It's been 4 years of hunting and my quest is just beginning. I'm a newbie turkey hunter. I don't have any private land to turkey hunt. Public land, self taught turkey hunting and thats my story!
