|
|
It started out as any other
March morning after a cold front, 28 degrees, clear as a bell, no wind,
and frost in the air. I unloaded my four-wheeler and set off into the dark
and cold. A 15-minute ride will wake you up and get your senses going.
After setting up my 3 hen decoys before light I settled down for the wait
till first light in a blind that I had made the day before with Mickey
Lewis. At 6:10 this gobbler sounded off from about 100 yards to my right,
north. I picked up my glass call that I had set out along with my box call
but the frost had set in and all my calls were wet and/or frozen. I pulled
my Paddle box call out and gave some yelps as soft as I could and he gobbled
back. Alright, he knows where I am. After he flew down from his roost
into a clear-cut that had just been planted with small pine trees, he started
toward my set up. For some reason, only known to turkeys, he moved to the
west into the hardwood stand separating the planted pines. While he was
moving, another gobbler sounded off to the south in some big pines next
to a hardwood stand. The first bird moved behind me and set the woods afire
with his gobbling and moving back and fourth on an old tram road.
At 7:00 he moved back into the clear-cut where he first flew down. I saw
a hen move past us and figured the show was over but she moved off to the
east into some sparse cover. She did not pay any attention to him so he
cranked up his gobbling again. He was hung up and not moving so I started
crawling over a spoil pile I was setting on and a limb broke while I was
crawling down the back side and I just rolled down the back side of the
pile getting dirt, sand, leaves and grass all over me, so much for finesse.
I crawled on my hands and knees in the wet grass and mud for 30 yards to
about 15 yards from the open ground. He gobbled again closer. "CRAP"!
...I knew I should have stayed put. I know better that that. "STUPID,
STUPID, STUPID”. I got set up again and got my wing bone call out and
yelped. He came on a run from about 100 yards away and started strutting
at 30 yards. After he quit strutting and stuck his head up for a look I
drew a bead and pulled the trigger, he rolled over after being hit and
took off running. I jumped up and rolled him again with another shot at
about 50 yards. He took off again headed for the sparse woods to the east
with me trying to run him down, bad hips and all, jumping limbs and tree
furrows and dodging stumps.
He was putting the
distance between us fast and all of a sudden, only known to turkeys; he
turned west toward the hardwood strand and me. I ran to my left and cut
him off from the woods. My hat came off during this last sprint and my
camouflage facemask fell down over my eyes. I snatched off my facemask
and my glasses got caught in it and off they came into the sage grass and
mud. I then saw him stop in the sage grass at about 30 yards so I fired
again, but with no glasses I could not see him very clearly so I missed
him with the third shot. After the shot, he took off to the hardwoods again
and I saw him stop at about 40 yards next to the hardwood strand. I fired
again and hit him with shot number 4 but he ran into the woods with me
hot on his trail until I tripped over a big pine stump and fell with one
of my world famous head first nose dives into the sage grass, mud, sand
and small pine trees. I got up and looked but he was gone in the woods.
That was it; I only carry four shells in my gun. I remembered that I had
put an extra shell in my pocket this morning to put in the truck. Great!
It was there. I reloaded and went into the woods moving slow and looking
in the woods for a running bird. I looked for a minute and saw him lying
next to an Oak tree close to a deep mud hole. He looked like he was almost
dead and I did not want to shoot him again, so I put my gun down and grabbed
him by the neck. Another lesson learned today, DO NOT GRAB A LIVE TURKEY
WITH YOUR HANDS. I got flogged with the wings and spurred in both hands
and my leg. When we finally got away from each other and he had landed
in the mud hole. I was MAD
at the gobbler and myself so I took care
of him with a lighter pine limb after I got him out of the water. All right!
My first bird of the year. 17 ½ lbs., 8 ½" beard, left spur
1" and right spur 1 1/8". Now I needed to go find my hat, facemask, and
glasses. I backtracked to the brush pile and as I was looking I was wondering
how I was going to explain to Judy Gail how I lost my glasses. After about
10 minutes of looking I found my hat, then face mask and then my glasses.
On the way back to the four-wheeler I knew the old saying that “ God takes
care of children and idiots” is a true statement.