Mississippi gobbler

[Jrkimbrough]

I hunt about 2500 acres of private land alone.  Very lucky and unheard of here in the SE US.  My boss has a hunting lease that he deer hunts and he doesn't turkey hunt and I'm the only one that has permission.  It's made up of roughly 50/50 open ag fields and wood lots.

I go to a place I'd busted 5 gobblers the weekend before at daybreak to listen and don't hear a peep.  So I start moving to another location I've seen lots of sign.  I ease down a road that opens up into a huge ag bottom, field is probably 2000 yards from end to end and 200 yards wide.  I make the bend in the road where you can see into part of the field and see something, it's a coyote.  He moves out of sight and I ease down to the end of the road where the road goes into the field.  He moved over 30 yards from where I first saw him and I really hate to shoot at 7am and ruin my morning with a coyote.  So I squat down and make a little squeal and of course he turns and starts trotting straight towards me.  I shoot him twice and he runs off across the field out of sight.

So i ease out into the field and look down the opposite direction and their are turkeys everywhere about 1000 yards away, roughly 50+ turkeys with 3 strutters.  I think, man, I've screwed this mornign up but they never budge and keep right on strutting like it doesn't bother them.

So i end up slipping up down this field on the inside of the woodline constantly trying to keep my eyes on them so they don't slip away with me not knowing which direction they go.  It takes roughly 2 hours to get within 100 yards of them because the woods are super thick, lots of briars, small saplings, etc.  Had to belly crawl several times in water to slide up and get a check on them to see their location.  Luckily there is a small berm along the edge of the field that helps with cover.

I end up getting close enough and start kee keeing to the hens hoping they might close the gap and pull the three strutters within range.  Up until then the flock had been pretty quite, no yelping or gobbling.  When I started keeing the boss hen started to yelp pretty good but she never did really move any closer.  When she got more vocal the gobblers started to gobble.  At times all three of them would all gobble in unison like you see on the hunting TV shows.  It was awesome!

While trying to reposition I guess one bird spotted me and they started to slip to the other side of the field, about 150 yards away, they were n't spooked but just didn't feel comfortable.  Gobblers went back to strutting, hens yelping, etc.  As I silently watched I heard a random gobble to my right away from the group, I turn and look and here come another gobbler running towards the group gobbling.  The three strutters break off and run towards him, they have a small fight and the lone satellite gobbler walks away and the strutters return to the flock.  I do a few soft yelps and purrs and the lone gobbler is working my way almost within range.  A few jakes break off the group and finally bump him even closer.  Few more soft purrs and yelps and he finally works within range.

In the midst of the stalk, I end up shedding my jacket and vest along the way.  When i go back and find my vest I surprisingly find several nice morels all around my vest!  Icing on the cake!

Classic early season hunt!  Patience mixed in with a lot of luck!










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[cwb04]

Congrats man! Great way to start off the season.  See ya on the Bull!

[Tunaguy]

Congratulations! Sounds like an exciting hunt!

[POk3s]

Great job! Sounds like a fun filled hunt!

[Greg Massey]

congratulations , nice bird.

[coachmitchel]

Congrats, nice bird!

[Haypatch]

Nice... sounds exactly like the birds I've been hunting ... field and all!
Congrats on a nice Tom!

[Yoteduster]

Congrats on a nice bird and good hunt

[tomstopper]

God job getting it done. Congrats

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[Tom007]

Beauty, great job

[Beards and Hooks]

Man that is  awesome, sounds like a field of dreams. Congratulations on a great bird and hunt!

[Jfowler82]

Congrats ! Nice job !

[Spitten and drummen]

Good job buddy.

[Tetelestai]

Awesome story and sounds like a great situation to be the only person to hunt such a large tract of land. Thanks for sharing.

[Muzzy61]

Congrats, good job