Fun start in Bama

[Beretta686]

Wow, what a fun first couple of days in Bama. First day out on the youth hunt my hunter kills a very nice bird. Opening day was rain so I postponed my trip back to the river for a day. Rain didn't stop me from hunting though. I went with a friend and all I could think of was you fool, you have all types of under armor, specialty wet and warm gear and your big ol dumb butt puts cotton on and hunts in a cool rain. ( the saying I teach in Boy Scouts; Cotton Kills) At least we did hear one gobble.

Yesterday my friend and I headed to the river. Running late again we got there with way too much light, when we got out of the truck one was gobbling his head off and we must have just driven under him. He was close and he was hot so off we went. It was 2 gobblers acting a fool at every crow, owl, and any other noise out there. I did a soft tree yelp and they both gobbled. I put the call down and figured we were in business. All of a sudden the dreaded hens start getting cranked up. I was hoping they would get mad enough and come over to me dragging a gobbler in tow. Well no such luck, they pitched down into the creek bottom and had their own party. We picked up our stuff and headed down Gobbler Road (the new name we came up with on the drive down there). Not a alot of action, but just as we got to the cabin I hit the box call and he hammered real close. Same place I have killed several turkeys. We just stepped into the woods and got ready. I yelped one more time, no response, but I could see the tail fan headed our way. I look and there are 4 long beards headed towards us, one in strut. My friend was running the camera and we had 4 that wanted to be on a video. I took the safety off Ms. Wicked. When the first gobbler stepped into the road I realized I was looking into the sun with the scope. I guess you could say target panic set in, gobbler fever or whatever. I moved the scope to the second gobbler and swear I had the scope on his head. Wicked spoke and nothing went down. I could not believe it. Nothing but air between us and I flat missed, all on video. The shot was not even close, all I could do was laugh. When we got back to the truck i set a target up and touched another of my reloads off, it shredded the target. 100% operator error on the miss. That made for a long drive back to work (130 miles).

It was Wednesday and my friend and I headed to Birmingham to visit a friend in the hospital. We have been visiting him every Wednesday Since December. Just because I was tired, not an excuse not to see a friend. When he sees us walk in he raises his hand, waves, smiles, and shakes our hand. He had tonsil cancer and after the surgery he had a massive stroke. The surgery was December 15.

To say I was beat was an understatement. When I got home I laid down and went to sleep. It was a good thing I set my alarm on my phone on the way up to Bham or I would never remembered to set the alarm by the bed. I got up at 5, on the way out I saw the box from Ol Smokey, it was a travel call from aother forum. I grabbed the box and tossed it in the passenger seat.

When I got to the woods I opened the box and put the call and striker in my vest. I went to the same place I have hunted for 25 years the only difference is the neighbors clear cut the place and are digging gravel. I went to the same tree and waited. They should be roosted over the water just like every year. Nothing, I heard a gobbler along the creek and thought hmm. I waited another 5 min and when nothing gobbled in the flooded timber it was time to go play with him. I remembered an old road I had cut through to the creek, it is grown up but easier and quieter walking than through the thicket. I found it and it took me right to the other road along the creek. I knew I didn't want to step into the road so I slipped within 10 yards, grabbed a tree and pulled the hood up on my gillie suit. I reached into my vest, pulled out Smokey's call, soft tree yelp, and he hammered. That began gobble fest. It was hard not to call to him, but he knew where I was. All of a sudden the hens cranked up, i then cranked up too. When they got quiet, I got quiet, when they got loud, I got louder. There was gobbler on the ground in a dried creek bed, I could hear him walking back and forth gobbling at the hens and I. I kept scanning waiting for a head to peak over the lip, he was close, but I could not see him. I look up and a turkey is flying out of a tree, I look up and it has a rope hanging. The gobbler lands in the road, the other gobbler is still gobbling in front of me. The one in the road acts like he is going to walk away from the party, I purred and clucked and he turned and strutted back to down the road. I took the safety off Ms. Wicked and let her speak. This time we had our mojo back and he went down with a load of meanie greenies.

I went over to keep him from flopping I reached down to grab his legs and his spur cut my glove. That's when I looked down and saw the daggers.

Sorry for the bad pictures, both my cameras batteries were dead

[kansas hooks]

Congrats!!!!  Those are some daggers!!

[bowhunter84]

awesome hooks!!!!     congrats

[hobbes]

Yep........those are daggers.  Congrats on a great bird!

[LX_Trkyhntr]

Congrats!! He's a dandy!!

[Basser69]

Congrats!!!!  Those are some daggers!!

Congrats! Great daggers!!!   

[jshively]

Thanks for sharing your hunt, congrats on your bird. daggers for sure.

[njdevilsb]

Congrats.  Nice hooks.

[guesswho]

Good job Jeff.  And good to see ya over here.

[Rio Fan]

Congrats - those are some hooks! 

[Hognutz]

Congrats on a great bird. Those are some hooks, for sure..Wow..Mike

[alloutdoors]

Nice bird, really like that pot call with the tanager on it. 

[hookedspur]

awesome hooks!!!!     congrats

[JVA54]

   Congrats!!   

[spur collector]

Congrats on a real fine bird.