I finally got to hunt here in Florida. I headed out to my favorite WMA today. When I got to my spot, I found someone already there. I took note of a couple of other trucks headed to other areas I liked. So I opted for Plan B, I would walk the roads in a different area, and go to the gobble.
As dawn broke, my girlfriend and I headed down the road, listening for gobbles. Unfortunately, the gobblers weren't saying much this morning. So I owl hooted and a gobbler fired back from the roost, about 400 yards up the road.
We quickly cut that distance in half, and I hooted again. The tom gobbled out an instant reply.
I looked down the road, and there was a huge, towering, bushy oak tree. It was large enough and positioned in the right spot to cover our approach to the gobbler. We hustled down the road until we reached the base of the ancient tree. I owl hooted again, and the roosted tom hammered out a throaty gobble from 75 yards away!
We dared go no further. Using the massive oak as cover, I set out a lone hen on the other side of a trail. Then I got set up under a small oak off the side of the trail. My girlfriend got set up behind me and off to the side with the video camera.
After putting on my facemask and gloves, I popped a diaphragm into my mouth, and slid my scattergun up onto my knee. Then I owl hooted again to make sure he was still on the roost. The gobbler roared back at me in verification.
I let a couple of minutes go by to make sure my girlfriend was set. Then I floated out a few soft tree yelps............nothing. I waited a minute, then sent a few more soft yelps aloft in his direction...........still nothing. Hmmmm.
Was he still on the roost? Was he on the ground? Did we spook him? What was he doing? I sat there contemplating the possibilities, and considering my options. Should I hoot again? Should I call? Should I stay silent? Hmmmm.
While all this was running through my head, I caught movement out of my peripheral vision through the short bushes and tall weeds. It was his white cap bobbing down the side of the trail, headed my way.
Apparently he had sailed off the roost in response to my calling, landed in the road and saw my decoy. Now he was marching in to meet my seductive temptress. Since my gun was already on my knee, I slid it up into shooting position. I tracked him through the scope as he worked his way in. When he finally stepped out from behind the weeds and bushes, I dropped the hammer on him at 20 yards!!
He folded and dropped into the sand!!
Then I heard my girlfriend say, "Wow!! Really?? You just shot a turkey?" Oops!!
I had gotten so caught up in the hunt, I forgot about her being there to video.
She never saw the turkey and didn't get anything on film. Oh well, it was still an exciting, textbook hunt!! It was time to celebrate and take some pictures!!
My first Osceola of the 2011 season weighed 17 lb's-12 oz's, had a thick 10-1/2" beard, and sported sharp 1-1/4" & 1-1/8" spurs, scoring 62.5.
He had a cool fan. It was missing the dark barring at the tips of the feathers on the middle two primaries. And while the dark tip is less pronounced on the secondaries, this gobbler didn't have any change in color over the entire secondaries. Also, they had a reddish-orange tint to them, instead of a more normal brown color.
