Dale 1, Turkeys 0

Dale · Thu Apr 13, 2006 1:07 pm

Well, I managed to take my first bird of the season yesterday. After opening day weather, I managed to drag home a pretty nasty cold that kept me in the bed Sunday with a fever. I was scheduled off Tuesday and Wednesday to hunt with TScott and a friend from SC who had made the trip in. I was still pretty sick on Tuesday and opted out of the morning hunt that day, but caught up with the crew about 10:00 a.m. Tuesday. Didn't strike any mid-morning takers that day. Wednesday morning found my SC friend and I mid-way up a ridge in Craig County national forest. TScott had to rest up to return to work that day after two hard days of hunting with my SC friend (thanks for helping out while I was sick!). Roost gobbling was minimal with a pretty heavy overcast sky. We only heard two birds gobble on roost, one of which was in the 200-300 yard range and one in the "I think I'm going to cough up my guts if we have to walk after that bird" range. So, taking the closer bird, we cut the distance in half and waited for another gobble nothing. I pull out the GN special crow call and once again, it worked it's sweet magic. Crows had been calling for 10-15 minutes and no gobble but on the second note, GOBBLEEE at about 150 yards still in the tree. Game on. We circle the bird to get above him on a finger ridge. My friend was to be the shooter and I the caller. In getting set up, I hang to the left side of the small ridge looking into a steep bottom and my friend stays dead center of the ridge which is only about 70 yards wide. As I'm digging in, I hear a cluck down in the gobbler's turf and know now we have hen company. I'm getting ready to call and I hear walking in the leaves. I purr every so slightly on a TScott handmade slate over glass and set call down. I can hear multiple birds walking slowly below us along with some scratching. Within minutes, it's obvious there are several birds working up the steep creekbottom below me and too my left. The terrain is steep and the birds are right in the bottom. I reposition my gun 90 degrees pointing to the bottom in hopes that a hen will drag our gobbler along. No other gobbles from the bird, but I assume he would have flown down to join the hens. The birds are now within 40 yards, but due to the steep terrain and a slight bend in the hollow, I cannot make out a single bird. Cheek down, pick the opening and just wait! I suddenly make out motion in my right periphial and it's uphill about even with me! White head! I wait till the white head moves behind a tree, a quick glance back to my left and still no other birds in my vision path, quick shift to the right 90 degrees, out pops a gobbler from behind the tree 35 yards away. He is slightly anqling towards the hens in the bottom and I quickly question my move as he seems headed right for the feeding birds. No sooner than the thought crosses my mind he goes into half strut for a brief second or two, folds back up and angles uphill directly towards me. I pick my opening at 28 yards, cheek to stock, bead on head, slow breathing, slow steady sqeeze of the trigger and BOOOOM. The gobbler flew straight up in the air like a miss but then crashed to the ground and attempt to run. Another round anchored him, but he tumbled down into the steep hollow. The Downhill Gobbler Run proceeded. This ol' bird still had enough energy to drag himself under a logjam into the only hole with water in the entire hollow! I finally make out motion under the logjam and reach in to get my bird only to pull out his entire tail fan without him. He is dead, just jammed pretty tight. I tore apart the logjam and finally retrieved the now very wet and dirty bird! Don't know how the bird kept going as his head was simply full of #6 Hevishot. The birds had walked right past my SC friend just over the ridgeline out of range. No pictures of this bird due to the poor look of the bird after this ordeal, but it's in the crockpot a cookin! 7:15 a.m. 19 lbs, 7/8" left spur, 15/16" right spur, 9 inch beard. We continued to play the game with three other birds until about 10:30 a.m. with good ground gobbling, but could not close the deal for my friend. The adreneline rush on top of my recovering cold was a real hoot! An eventful day and a good time shared with friends in the spring woods chasing the magestic bird!

Dale 1, Turkeys 0

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