Evening Spring Turkey

[tree-rat sniper]

I finally got my spring gobbler yesterday evening!! It was a long, crazy, surreal day here in beautiful NEIA! I started out at 4:30 this morning parking my truck at the neighbors confinement building parking lot & walking another 1/2 mile to set up decoys where I have seen 2 big long-beards with some regularity. I parked two decoys at the edge of a cornfield & took a spot at a stand of trees. As I was sitting down I could already hear gobbling in the distance. I purred on my slate call occasionally but didn't get much action and the gobbling decreased. The gnats were going after my eyes something fierce as everything else was covered in camo & sawyer brand bug spray.

After a couple of hours I decided to move out, bagging up the decoys I headed over the hill to see if I could see anything in the beanfield across the road. Through the timber, I saw one of the the toms in the beanfield moving away from me. Thinking "what the hell" I stuck my Funky-chicken decoy in the ground and set up about 15-20' from it. Chirping the K&H "white-liar" slate call did the trick & he started to head my way, plus his buddy that was hiding up near the opposite treeline decided to join him!

Soon they were crossing the road heading for me as I kept purring occasionally. They committed and came right towards my decoy that I now realized I was too close too! I had the sights on the Franchi on them as they came in side by side. The bigger of the two skated around the decoy about 30 yards out as the closer tom went right for the Funky chicken, I lined up the shot & squeezed the trigger... CLICK!! Nothing. The turkey that was less than 20' away just looked at me with disdain & then proceeded to peck the hell out of my decoy! It was like something that you would see on TV! Stunned, I just sat there & watched hoping to work the bolt & grab a quick shot... Didn't happen.

EPIC FAIL with the new Franchi, of which analysis revealed nothing. Loaded round in the chamber, safety off, action cocked... Not even a primer strike (later in the morning I tested it at my backyard range & it functioned perfectly).

I sulked out of the woods, called my wife & had her give me a ride to my truck. Figuring today wasn't my day, we went to town, hit the farmers market, ran some errands & went to dinner. I decided to give it another go after dinner hoping to catch the longbeards heading back to their roost location. This time I grabbed the old cheap trusty pump-gun Mossberg 500. Mrs. Tree-ratsniper dropped me off & I set up at a fence on the south side of the beanfield. As she drove off, I realized I had forgotten my decoys. DOH!

Winging it, I set up & had been sitting about 5 minutes when I noticed something seemed strange (feel like I'm being watched)! Slowly turning, I noticed a raccoon staring at me about 6' away! I waved at him shooing him off & resumed calling. Before long a lone hen appeared to my right & came towards me, I immediately stopped calling, thinking she is going to bust me... The hen passed by about 15' in front of me. Suddenly a gobble rang out from across the road! I let the hen get some distance away & resumed calling again.

As I purred, the gobbling kept getting louder & louder, he was now on my side of the road but on the wrong side of the fence. I clucked & he gobbled back and forth for 10-15 minutes straight. Turning to get on my knees to face the other direction I finally caught a glimpse of him. He was 30 yards out through a nasty thick brush of a fence line. I got to a crouching position & began to raise up & right in front of me, here comes Mr. Raccoon Again! I am not making this up. The coon & I made eye contact & he headed in the direction of the turkey. The Turkey, probably thinking that the coon was the hen that was singing him a love song, finally came towards the fence/me/ the raccoon.

I stood & took a 25 yard moving shot at the barely visible head & neck, the Mossy roared & the bird went down! The raccoon, most likely scared out of his wits just leaned up against a wooden fencepost, as I ran toward the flopping bird to make sure he wasn't going anywhere. As I got near the bird, the raccoon hightailed it as I danced a jig, thanking the hunting gods, Tom Cruise, Baby Jesus & whoever else was within earshot! Needless to say I was happy, happy, happy!

I called the wife to pick me up & took a few pics. The hero shots are in our yard a few minutes later. The bird weighed in at 28 lbs!! Had a 10-1/4" beard, Left spur was 1-5/16" Right spur was 1-1/8." It was a highly emotional day running from pure disgust to sheer exhilaration. The past two weeks of the season (and pre-scouting) was a struggle between rain, heat, gnats, spring planters, coyotes, deer, morel hunters, trespassers, target shooters on either side of the road re-enacting WWII, sore feet & lots of miles scouting... All worth it. If anyone is still reading this, the moral of the story is don't give up just yet!

Tools used were (the replacement/ back-up) gun, a 20 ga. Mossyberg 500 turkey special with a HS Undertaker choke and gobble-dot sights. Winchester 3" 5-shot turkey loads, a Knight & Hale "white-liar" slate & My trusty Steiner safari binos... The Funky chicken decoy survived the assault & definitely worked as advertised.

[101st501]

  Heck of a story, it sounds like my typical hunting experience.

[alloutdoors]

Congrats!

[zelmo1]

Congrats


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[jepcho]

Congrats! Awesome story!

[Greybeard11]

What a day!! Congrats.

[tomstopper]

Congrats

[tree-rat sniper]

Had to add that the next day I saw the two that I called in on the funky chicken in the morning down by where I originally set up my decoys! 

[kyturkeyhunter4]

Congrats! Good Story

[surehuntsalot]

congrats on a bird well earned

[jbrown]

congrats

[mgm1955]

Congrats!!

[Tail Feathers]

Way to hang with it.  Search "Benelli click" and the fix for your franchi.

[RutnNStrutn]

Heck of a gobbler on a heck of a hunt!! Congrats!!

[stinkpickle]

Heck of a story, it sounds like my typical hunting experience.

LOL!  Exactly! 

If you get one fired up like that late in the day, he's yours.