Hey guys it is John P. (Ruger1022) and I have some exciting stories to tell. The first day, saturday I got up about 430 and rode back on the new rode about a mile from the farm fields, where I always hear birds. I heard 4 birds, the first at 530. the birds were too far away for me to pursue, and I am just too lazy. I went back and rested up for Mondays hunt, monday was a totally different day, it was raining, foggy and cool. The birds were in the exact same spot. Today though, there was a bird about 400 yards away from the truck, so I went after him. I dropped down the ridge top above him, set my decoys up, and gave a couple of calls, he hammered about 100 yards away. I sat there about 45 mins, but did not see a sign of him or any hens, so I pulled out and went fishing and groundhog hunting the rest of the day. Tuesday my dad came over to hunt with me, so I took him to my honey hole. At about 600 we heard this wierd sounding crow, then a hen yelping and cutting right below us. "Is that another hunter dad", I asked. A crow and a hen right is the same spot is a little weird to me. Sure enough it was a hunter from the the land right next to ours. He was very nice and so were my dad and I so we told him the boundaries and the we headed down off the mountain, with a disappointment in our minds, we were not alone up there.

Wed., it was a pretty morning to be in the woods, except the birds were not cooperative at all, by 630 700 the gobblers had stopped gobbling, I figured they were henned up. My dad said he heard hens in the direction we heard the longbeards. We started panicing, because we only had one more morning to hunt.

Thursday 5/11/06 was an awesome day, for my dad and I. Today we decided to go to buffalo hollow behind my Uncle's house and that was the best decision of the whole trip. About 615 I gave a couple of yelps and we heard 3 or 4 birds not close but close enough you could him them. I told dad I was going to walk across the hollow on the other side of the creek and kinda blind call, not really because we had heard some birds. I got to the spot where the birds could see my decoys if they came in. I gave a couple yelps,putts, and cutts with my mouth call and about 15 mins later, gobble!!!!! about 200 yard away across the hollow opposite the birds I was calling to. So I turned my attention the other way. I called a few more times and he hammered this time about 100 yards away, this bird is coming and coming fast. He gobbled once more about 80 yards away. 25 mins had past and I had not seen him, I was getting worried if he was hanging up or not. I sat tight because I knew he was coming. About 50 yards towards the bird there was a little bank that I could not see over niether could he, but then I saw a head peek over the bank and he just stood there for a while. He came down into the grassy flat coming straight towards me. He came to the other side to the creek about 40 yards away and started eyeing my decoys, perfect I am going to pound this bird. He dropped down into the creek as he came to my side where he was underneath the cut out creek bed, I positioned my Charles daly pump, where I new he would pop up the bank. As soon as I saw his red neck and head, I let him have it. Now he is in my freezer ready to be eaten.



3 1/2 # 4 shot
20 lbs
1 1/4 inch spurs
10 inch beard
He is a man in my eyes and a trophy I will never forget. This is my 3rd gobbler in the spring. The most memorable one yet. I had a great week of hunting and was very pleased with the number of gobblers and hens I heard. I love going to college so I can get out earlier than high school and go turkey hunting.

I would like add pics but I am not sure how
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Nice story .. congrats on a fine WV longbeard..

To add pictures you need to host them on a website like hunt101.com or something similar then paste the URL for that picture into your post and highlight it and click the IMG button and it will put the HTML code in to show your picture in your post.. good luck..

Congrats on a fine few days of hunting and for closing the deal on a fine bird. You gotta love when they come in on a string gobbling.

wAY TO GO !