Well, I made a shorter trip to SC just over the NC line about 10 miles yesterday to hunt with the Uncle Ken of my friend Scotty from down in the Low Country.
Almost immediately after getting off the four wheeler a bird gobbled from down on the creek. Ken and I began to move to him and we worked our way into about 125 yards of his roost tree. I sat Ken facing the bird and I sat on the back of tree facing in the other direction. Another bird was gobbling down the swamp about 400 yards away and we could hear 7 different gobblers gobbling through out the swamp. I decided to throw out a tree yelp and a hen roosted about 35 yards away actually pitched out of her tree down on top of us. She fed around for a minute then began walking toward the first gobbler we set up on. When she made her way over to him, he shut up.
About 10 minutes passed and I looked up to be busted by a hen. She got nervous and started easing backwards putting. I softly cutt and yelped on top of her hoping that she wouldn’t alarm the gobbling birds. She proceeded to spend the next 30 minutes half cutting, half alarm putting as she made a 70 yard loop around us making her way toward the first gobbler. When she reached him, where he was strutting in front of Ken about 100 yards away she stopped putting. I let out a final yelp at her and the bird in front of me about 500 yards away gobbled. I called again and he gobbled.
I waited to call for five minutes, when I called he was only about 200 yards away coming straight at me. I called again and he gobbled. Another five minutes of silence from me caused him to gobble what sounded like every step he took. At 80 yards or so I called and he answered with a double gobble. I shut up! He gobbled only about 40 yards in front of me, but it was so thick I couldn’t see him. He started skirting around us toward my right and finally at about 45 yards I saw his head and then heard a gobble. I was shocked that he wasn’t the bird gobbling, but he had a buddy right behind him. I let the first bird walk and when the second one got in front of my gun a soft yelp coaxed a gobble from him and I took him. He was 17 lbs, 9 ¼ inch beard and 1 inch spurs. We worked a few other birds during the morning and around 10 a.m. I actually thought Ken was going to kill one, but he wouldn’t close those final 25 yards. They had a lot of turkeys!
