Monkey Off My Back! - Photos Added

Dale · Tue Apr 12, 2005 2:27 pm

It's been three LOOONNNGGG years, but the monkey finally jumped from my back this morning, thanks to the Man upstairs and a good friend found because of this board. TScott and I headed out this morning to a field setup deep in the national forest that has been known to harbor birds on dreary days such as the one predicted for Tuesday. The morning greeted us without rain, but a heavy overcast. A single gobbler sounded off 6:25 a.m. on a ridge behind the field some 150-200 yards away. The decoys were in the field well before daylight. We were set to play the game. Unfortunately, the ladies were with the gentleman who was only mildly gobbling. After flydown, everything got quiet and calls went unanswered. We decided to do a little running and gunning to see if we could strike another bird. While picking up the decoys, TScott hears a bird a good ways off but back towards the truck. We start making our way back out the grassy access road, stopping every 100 yards or so. Each time either Scott or I hit the crow call, the bird that Scott first heard would answer. Because of the terrain, it was really hard to pinpoint his location, but we were definately headed in the right direction. The road we were walking had several bends and traversed some hills and hollows. At each bend, we's seperate, one hitting the crow call, one listening. Each time, we honed in on the bird. We reached a high point in the road and decided to pause and listen. Nothing. Crow call. Nothing. I told Scott that I really felt like the bird was one more ridge away and that we should work our way around the next bend and give it a listen. We start down a slight incline in a wide section of this grassy road and as we are coming around a bend I caught a glimpse of the top 4" inches of a black fan. We dive to the side of the road. The bird is 50 yards away in the road strutting by a blowdown blocking the road. There is NO COVER in which to set up. Scott settles in on the side of the road. I slowly slide up a small hill about 10 feet and rest my right shoulder against a small pine barely big enough to support my leaning on it. I'm basically laying on the side of a hill of small pieces of shale with one bare budding shrub between me and the road. The road takes a slight bend to the right, so terrain is to our advantage. If he comes up the road, when I see his head he'll be within range. Scott starts the game with a couple of short, low purrs on the slate and a tad louder yelp. GOOOOOBBBBLLLEEE!!! I nearly jumped out of my skin. I started to hypervenilate. My glasses fog up. My heart is in my throat. I quicky start to will myself out of this state or I know I'm going to blow the opportunity that has been presented. Seconds tick by and I can hear the bird drumming and a clicking sound that I had never heard from a bird previously. My glassess are starting to clear as I get my breathing under control. Scott puts on some more sweet music for the gentleman around the corner and GOOOOOBBBBLLLLEEEEE!! One of those deep, rattling gobbles that shakes you to the bone! Check to stock, bead on the bend in the road. Blue head, half strut, out of strut, neck extended. BOOM! Bird down. Sprint to the bird. Boot on head. He's dead! Man, what a rush. Haven't had that much adrenline flowing in a long, long time. Unload the gun and high fives! It happened so fast, yet took so long to play out. Thanks to the Man upstairs and to Scott for his good ears and mighty fine finese turkey talk, I was blessed with a nice national forest bird. 20 lbs 6 oz., 1" left and 1"right spurs, 9 10/16 beard. This is the first turkey I've had the opportunity to shoot with my new 870 Express Super Magnum. The 3 1/2" Hevishot #6's did their job at 25 yards and then some. What a morning!

Monkey Off My Back! - Photos Added

Who is online