Well, I made one last hurrah trip to WV. It ended with one of my favorite hunts of all time. My dad is 76 now and in not so good health. He had Quadruple bypass when he was 69 and he can't hear much any longer, plus he is diabetic, his hands shake (DTs we think he won't go to the doctor about it), and he has a growth in the back of his throat that makes it hard for him to eat much and he chokes a lot, so he doesn't enjoy hunting as much.. we have been on a few hunts over the last 5 to 6 years, but none resulted in a kill. This one turned out pretty awesome. I think it had been ten years since we killed one together.
We didn't hear any gobbles at daybreak, but I was in my honey hole that has produced a lot over the years. I looked back and I have been in on a kill in this spot for 8 or the last 9 years, and the one year we didn't was a miss. Over my life I have probably been in on at least over 30 kills in this place, and quite a few misses
.. We had a hen fly down right behind us, I heard her pitch down.. she was less than 10 feet from us, I looked around to see her from the corner of my eye. Dad even heard her and that is saying something, she was close. after a while she drifted off and another hen answered me still in the tree. She flew down in the field. She finally drifted off too.. we just stayed patient.. glad dad was with me, or I may have abandoned the setup in search of greener pastures, but he can't get around much any longer.. Around 8:15 I did a loud calling sequence and thought I heard a gobble way off. I waited a few minutes and called again.. nothing.. Called off and on till around 8:35 and nothing.. then looked left and saw a Jenny hen step out into the field about 40 yds away. I got dads attention and pointed that way. Then another Jenny stepped out.. three came out in total. I didn't' think much of it being Jennies, and didn't even bother to turn the camera on. I thought if they go to the dekes I will turn it on then. Then a tom about blew my hat off from inside the tree line above the three hens. Dad still didn't hear it.. I relayed the message that a tom was with them and to get ready.. I switched the camera on.. eased my head around and he was coming off the hill by the hens and was already locked onto the Dekes.. the rest you can watch below, the video includes a couple of other hunts over three days I spent there and my niece and I came oh so close on another hunt. Dad killed this bird with a new .410 I setup for him a week before. His 12 GA kicks too much for him any more.. 9.5 inch beard, 1.25 sharp spurs, only weighed 14.7 lbs.. true Mountain Turkey.. they don't get too big around those parts anyway.. especially this late in the year.Video .. Please excuse the language. I am really going to try to stop cussing so much in life. Open to suggestions.. gonna start with a swear jar I guess.
https://youtu.be/FIg-JM5Z9A8
Some pics.. even saw a bear down the road from the house and got a blurry image of him..
