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Freddy · Tue Mar 18, 2008 9:21 am

Max and I had a great trip to Central Florida. Little did we know we would only turkey hunt about about 45 mintes... but what a 45 minutes it was!

We hunted with our good friends Brian and Tom with Clenzoil (http://www.clenzoil.com/) and they were great to share a hunting camp with!

It rained almost all day on Friday when we arrived. Max and I had driven almost all night, only stopping in GA for a quick nap and breakfast in the Waffle House parking lot. We didn't really get to scout or try to roost a bird because of the rain but Brian already had a spot picked out for us and didn't seem to be worried that we would hear birds and then be able to move on them if we were out of position.

The rain ended that night and we headed out well before daylight Saturday AM. Brian pointed out the large oak tree and clump of palm fronds on the edge of the pasture in the dark and we got setup. Luther out in front about 18 yards with a Swingin' Hen in front of him. We settled in to wait for daylight and I did a little blogging. Finally the whip-or-whils quieted and the cardinals started. Before long the gobblers started talking all around us but nothing that you would call really close. No worries, we were hearing 4-5 different birds and they were gobbling pretty good.

After good light I picked up my little slate and did a couple soft yelps on it and was answered by a gobbler about 150 yards away in the swamp to our right. Great! We then focused our attention on that bird and I went back to blogging for a quick update. As I was typing I heard a turkey fly and looked up just in time to see a big gobbler fly out of a cyprus head and land in the pasture about 40 yards away to my left. Max and I were both out of postion because we were focused on the gobbler to our right. I was holding my Blackberry and Max had the camera on me. Max and I quickly addressed the situation and about the time we were getting ready to make a move on the gobbler, a second gobbler flew from our right and landed right behind Luther sitting in the field. He immediately went into strut and headed for the decoys. Max was able to spin the camera on him and I was able to get my gun up and around on him. Now was time to watch the show and he came in to Luther. He approached Luther from the backside and then made a little circle as if to be sizing him up. Now both gobblers were right near Luther and acted like the were going to leave him be and head off so Max and I communicated about the shot. He was pretty close so I bore down tight on the sights and squeezed the trigger. It was over... or so we thought. After thanking everyone and checking out the gorgeous but sandy and wet gobbler, Brian suggested we get back in the blind and try to call in a few more turkeys for some more footage. This longbeard completes my "longbeard" slam as I had taken a jake in FL last year.

We did just that and ended up calling in about 10 more longbeards in the next half hour... all in groups of 2,3, or 4. They were literally coming from everywhere into our setup. A pair of gobblers came right by us at about 8 steps heading to Luther. Gobblers would filter in and out of the swamp all through this little pasture field. It was really incredible!!!

After taking some pictures and getting a big breakfast we got a tour of the farm/ranch and it was absolutely beautiful. We saw all kinds of wildlife including a bunch of pigs. Well... the rest of our trip was going to be a pig hunt!

Tom and I headed out to a stand Saturday afternoon for him to try and kill a hog with his bow. We got situated and it wasn't long before the pigs started coming to the feeder. They wanted us to shoot a boar so we watched sow after sow after piglet after piglet come through until finally we spotted a nice red/black botched board come in. I was filming Tom and he was like a pro. We communicated really well and he made a nice shot on the hog. He ran off and we heard him fall and thrash in the palmettos about 50 yards from the stand. Very cool! Tom and I were waiting on Max and Brian and Tom's son Austin so we went ahead and tracked the hog and found him but instead of getting him out we put my sunglasses on the boar and then let them track the hog when they arrived. The reaction when they found him was great!

We had another great meal and got some rest for tomorrow so Max could try and kill a hog. We all got setup on stands and I was hunting by myself with a rifle and the camera and Max and Brian were hunting together. We got situated in the stands fairly early but after daybreak and had turkeys gobbling around us... it was killing me! I called a couple times with my voice and got some response. Shorty after 2 big gobblers slipped in on me! I also had a few pigs come by but nothing that I could shoot but it was a great morning. Max and Brian heard some turkeys as well but didn't get on any hogs. We headed out to eat again!

Later that morning Brian had to head out but the landowner was gracious enough to let us stay on and try to kill another hog for Max. We headed out about 11:00 to just do some spot and stalk hunting and we covered a lot of ground and saw a few hogs but couldn't really get on them until we finally spotted a dry sown and another smaller hog. We stalked them for a couple hundred yards through the swamp and basically having no idea where we were but come to find out the hogs were headed to a feeder. We stalked on in and then realized we had hogs all around us! We got situated and soon spotted a nice boar and Max shot him with his .44 mag pistol. We had really worked hard to get this guy and it was a fun hunt. Max's hog was about 90 lbs and we got it skinned out and packed on ice and decided to head back home. We drove all night and got home yesterday AM about 9:00.

What a great weekend with some great new friends and a super way to kick off the 2008 spring gobbler season!

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