Mr. Scruggs had a couple more “Foggy Mountain Breakdowns” for GN and I on my annual trip down for the Tennessee opener.
GN had, as usual, done his homework and before daylight on opening morning we crawled into the blind he set earlier and waited for the show to unfold. GN had been watching this group of birds and had their travel plans pretty well figured out (as well as you can figure turkeys out anyway!). When it started to get light the birds started gobbling, but a dense fog rolled in and visibility was reduced to almost nothing. Some birds started flying in the field and several gobblers were around us, but either they didn’t see the decoys, or were totally unconcerned with them. We got a great show as hens, jakes, and gobblers paraded around the field. We had a jake come right in to the decoys, and 2 big gobblers at 50 yards, but nothing would ever commit all the way. Throughout the morning we would hear a gobbler behind us, and as the morning wore on he was getting closer and answering calls. With birds still in front of us, we soon heard the unmistakable sound of a drum, followed by GN saying “Here he comes!”. The bull of the woods made his appearance around the corner of the blind and headed in to the decoys… but was stopped by a load of #5’s from my shotgun. Wow! GN had done it again… another gift turkey! This old boy was a fatty… weighing in at 25 lbs!!
Here’s the fatty…
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We left that place for another farm and GN passed up a shot at a gobbler that we just walked up on, and later we called in a gobbling, strutting jake, which put on quite a show. Storms started rolling in and pretty much ran us out.
We had repositioned the blind from the morning before but once again rain and storms throughout the night covered the field in a THICK blanket of fog… even thicker than the morning before. Watching the boss get whacked the morning before had them positioned a bit different and despite the fog some of the birds flew down early and one gobbler even walked by us, likely in shotgun range, but we couldn’t even see it!! Most of the birds got by us in the fog and once they are away from the treeline they are totally unapproachable, so we moved the blind again and headed out to grab a quick bite.
Like I said, GN had been watching these birds and told me about a crippled one he had seen and heard. On the drive out, I spotted a gobbler in a pasture and after getting binos on him we confirmed that it was the limping gobbler. Lunch was put on hold and the hunt was on again. GN knew how to get us where we needed to be and he got setup with me 20 yards behind and my first call was answered. 1 leg or not, he was interested. I kept telling myself to be patient, that he would have to take his time because of his limp. With GN in front he motioned for me to shift 20-30 yards to the left to try and pull the gobbler at a better angle. A few more calls and responses and he went quiet… and was likely on his way. A little more soft talk and his next gobble was just over the hill. When he periscoped over the hill, GN hammered him and the wounded gobbler was done. Upon inspection the gobbler’s leg was completely atrophied and his spur and toes on the bad leg were pretty nasty looking. He was on borrowed time, so it was a good one to take. Congrats GN on a great gobbler and a great hunt! Despite his injury he was still a respectable 19 lbs and had a VERY thick beard. Now it was time for lunch!
Here’s the wounded bird…
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After scarfing down lunch we headed back in to another area to setup for a midday nap… but the turkeys had other ideas and a couple birds answered GN’s crow call on the way. We setup but they slowly moved away until a farmer came in and then all went quiet for about an hour… and we got a nap. Tossing out an occasional call, we thought we heard a bird gobble about a million miles away. A short time later another gobble, but only 500,000 miles away. We finally spotted them out in the huge field but they weren’t coming to us, but just walking perpendicular to us. We had a jake decoy and 2 hens out so they could see turkeys there. All at once, they turned and went straight back into the woods where a chorus of jake yelps, clucks, and gobbles commenced. After about 20 minutes of that I looked back up in that corner and here comes the 2 longbeards and 11 jakes down through the field. The jakes hung back but the gobblers marched all the way to 30 steps where I shot the lead bird. Amazing… Those turkeys had to have walked over a mile from the time we first heard them until they walked into shotgun range. You just never know what you are going to see out there. Thanks again to GN for another incredible opening weekend in TN!!! He is THE MAN!
Here’s me with the long distance gobbler with GN and his wounded gobbler…
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), "Grand Ole Three Toes". "Three toes gets grass stains". "Three toes meets the masked man". You get the drift. Looks like grand fun for sure.
