2011 TN Trip!

[buck_hunter21]

My buddy Darius and I hunted TN last year and absolutely had a ball. We killed plenty of turkeys last year and had fun doing it. The trip down South for this year was in doubt for much of the winter/early spring. But about 2 weeks ago we made the split second decision that we had to go back down to hold us over until the Indiana season comes in. It was going to be a fast trip since we did not have time to plan it. We left last Wednesday evening and hunted until the Sunday. Like last year's hunt, it was a blast!

The first morning Darius and I were beyond excited. We set up in a field that we double up on a set of gobblers literally a year to the day last season. As it began to get light enough to see, we expected a slew of gobbles on the roost. To our surprise, not a single gobbler sounded. We sat there for a few hours and we didn't hear the slightest resemblance of a turkey sound. We both were a little down after expecting so much from our first hunt; but we knew the areas we were hunting had birds on them and it was a matter of time until we got on one. After the morning hunt we packed up and drove to another farm that we had success on in the past. We got set up a little after 11 a.m. and began calling. Like the first farm, not a single sound from a turkey but we kept throwing out calls every once in a while. Right at high noon I hear Darius say "Don't move, bird coming to our set up". A few seconds later I can see the bright red head of a gobbler walking straight to us. As he walked closer, he would stop and go into strut and follow that by spitting and drumming. He did this all the way up to 20 yards from us. After I told Darius to take him, I hear the safety of his gun click off. A few second later and after he broke strut again, the turkeys head doubled over from the impact of Darius shot. DRT! It was a dandy 2 year old that sported a 9.5 inch beard and had a gorgeous fan on him. The kill got us both fired up for the rest of the trip, but one thing still was different from last year's trip. We still had not even heard a gobble yet! We decided after we got pictures of Darius and his bird, we would stay in the same set up for the rest of the evening. From noon to 4:30 it was completely silent as far as turkey. At 4:30 I let out a yelp and heard a gobble on down the ridge. It was a long ways off so Darius was unsure if it was a gobble or not. I waited 5 minutes and let out another yelp. GOBBLE!! This time there was no doubt what we heard. I continued to call to this bird and he kept hammering back. This went on for about 10 minutes. As he got closer we both could tell he was working to an area behind us. This meant doom for the hunt. We had worked birds up that same ridge before and every time that they went behind us; they would not come back towards us. Just like all the other birds in the past, he did the same thing. He worked his way behind us and Darius spotted him at around 80 yards. Because of our set up I was unable to see him but Darius said he had a big ole rope on him. He also had a running partner with him that had kept quite the entire time. Either way, they worked their way behind us and then down the other side of the ridge. We never saw that bird again that day, but we had finally got a bird to let loose. Around 5:00 I let out another call sequence that was returned by a couple gobblers. These birds were gobbling harder and more frequent than the other gobbler that had just went by us. They both were flat out hot. They got so worked up that eventually a third bird started to chime in. I worked them to about 60 yards when we heard movement in behind us. At first I thought maybe it was the original gobbler that went by not too long ago. But I was wrong, it was 3 dogs running the woods and going straight to where we heard the gobblers letting loose. At that point I thought I was snake bit and just was not meant to kill a turkey that day. Because of the dogs going through, the gobblers went completely quite. We both thought they had fled the county. Because I thought it was over I decided it would be a great time to get more comfortable up against my tree. As I did, you guessed it, two heads near the decoys were staring right at me. The birds had circled the dogs and came in directly in front of us, instead of towards our left. The one on the left spotted me, the one on the right did not and was focused on the decoys. But because the one gobbler saw me he got skittish. He did not alarm put or run, he just slowly began walking back towards our left. As he did that, he got in behind a little dip in the field and I lost sight of him. Even though I could not see him, Darius could. He kept urging me "Shoot him Joe! Shoot!"  "Where is he? I can't see anything." "He's right there!!! See his head? Shoot him already!!!" This went on for like 10 seconds until finally I saw him. He was working towards the wood line at a slow steady pace. Once he got behind a tree I swung my gun around towards his direction. Right as he was about to go back into the woods, he stopped at 40 yards to look back at the other gobbler. At that point it was too late. I had the safety off my gun and my sight on the base of his neck. I pulled the trigger and all I saw was him get steamed rolled from the neck on up from my shot string. He was a good 2 year old, with a very nice thick beard that measured a tad over 10 inches long. Darius and I were fired up!! We had pulled another double on April 7th for the second straight year. As we walked down the mountain with a bird over of our shoulders, there was nothing more beautiful. The sun beaming down on all the green and the mountains rolling as far as you could see. It was a great day in the turkey woods.   

The next morning we were up and at them way before day light. We decided to go right back to the same area we had killed our birds the evening before. We made the long hike up the side of the mountain in the cover of darkness. By the time it was starting to light up we had made it the area we wanted to hunt. We got our decoys set up and made our way to our tree. To get an idea where to expect the birds to come from I let out an owl hoot. Almost before I could finish the call a gobbler hammered back about 80 yards from us. He was roosted very close to our set and luckily never seen us coming in. Surprisingly, he was the only bird that gobbled. I let out another owl hoot to see if another bird would let his presence be known. Same bird just roared back at us. So with only one bird gobbling, we got sat up and just listened. There were a lot of birds gobbling but most of them were a ways off. The entire time we sat and listened, the bird roosted 80 yards away was just going haywire. This went on until it was light enough for fly down. Before the gobbler flew down I let out a yelp to let him know where we were at. He hammered back at the call. This guy was fired up. He gobbled a few more times and then things went silent. I let out a yelp and he let loose, except this time he was clearly on the ground. He would gobble and gobble and gobble. He was gobbling his brains out. Eventually he got to an area where he could see our decoys. He would go into strut and spit and drum for what seemed like forever. There was a real hen down below him, so he split the difference from our set up and the real hen down below. He was showing off for anything and everything to watch. Finally, he cleared a tree and I got my sights on his neck. The Hevi 7's did the rest. I dropped him at around 25 yards and his head showed it. It was a mess. My second bird was down at 7:19am. The rest of the day was extremely slow. We could not get on a bird for Darius to save our lives. We heard a few gobbles here and there off in the distance, but nothing immediate. Unfortunately no more birds were killed that day.

With the luck we were having at this particular farm we decided to head back to the same place to try to squeeze one more bird out of this farm. The third morning was a completely different than the previous morning. We heard zero gobbles the entire morning. Around noon we packed up and headed towards the first farm we hunted the first day of our trip. As we pulled up the drive, Darius spotted 3 turkeys in opposite side of the field. We stopped the truck and threw on our vest and headed straight down the mountain to circle the birds. We got within probably 150 to 200 yards away from them and set up. We threw out some calls and occasionally the gobbler would gobble back but he was with a hen and refused to leave her. After about an hour we finally worked this group of birds near our set up. Because of the way we were set up Darius had the entire field to shoot. I was set up and had a small thicket in between me and the field. GOBBLE!!!! The turkey let loose without even a call and he was close. Shortly after Darius said he could see the gobbler and that he was headed straight to us. As he moved his way closer I kept my eyes glued in behind him trying to find another bird for me to shoot. Right as the gobbler got to around 20 yards to Darius, he went into strut. Right at that time up pops another birds head in front of me. Darius asks if I was ready and I answered yes. Almost simultaneously we fire our guns. Darius gave the strutter a face full of lead and I dropped the second bird dead in his tracks! It was another great day in the woods that started out very slow.

The last morning we went back to the same farm we double up on the previous day. The hunt did not last long. We got set up and did a little calling. At fly down time two birds came to investigate our lone hen. Darius picked the one on the right and I picked out the one on the left. Similar to the evening before, our guns sang in chorus and both birds dropped. That capped off our 4th day hunting TN this year and it was a blast! Darius killed 3 great birds and I was lucky enough to tag out in 4 days. It was a trip that exceeded our hopes by leaps and bonds. 

[870FaceLift]

Great pictures and great stories!  Can't beat a good hunting trip.  Myself and some buds are headed down to TN in two weeks.  I cant wait!

[a-j calls]

Great hunt and photo's..

[bowhunter84]

congrats

[tnturkeyman28]

Congrats on a awesome hunt!!

[TRKYHTR]

Thats some serious turkey killing right there. Congrats to you both.

TRKYHTR

[Wrangler95]

 


Very nice,congrats!!!

[harvester]

great story and congrats on a hunt like that.

[Hognutz]

Congrats. The pictures are wonderful. Nice story. Great hunt. Well done..Mike

[JVA54]

        Congrats!!

[hobbes]

Congrats!

[Bagg-it Tag-it]

Great trip and hunt!

[hookedspur]

Congrats on a awesome hunt!!

[Bagg-it Tag-it]

What part of the state were you in?

[RutnNStrutn]

Congrats on a great hunt and some beautiful birds!!