travails of turk2di

[turk2di]

Got to my usual listenin spot at Peabody this morning about 5:45. Heard nothing but rain as i expected. That went on until 8:30. With no fields, i felt somewhat helpless. Finally got on one about 10:30. Had him in a loggon road only 50yds or so around a bend. He wasnt particularily hot, gobbling only about 10 times in 30 minutes, then he broke & took off. I keep tryin to head him off & reposition, but his bags were packed. Heard 2 more about 3/4 of a mile, one which was fired upon twice. Bailed out at 1pm, tired, hungry & turkeyless! If its snow flurrying 2mar morning as i heard it might, i may just wait until Monday. I expect a heavy crowd 2morrow anyway!

[Country2dBone]

i hear ya turk my opener went down in flames as well buddy. we still have tomorrow

[turk2di]

Heard one bird gobble twice from 3/4 of a mile at 6:05. That was it for the day!

[turk2di]

My buddy wanted me to tag along with him hunting a couple farms. So i thought, what the hell, im ready for some easy turkeys anyway! First place was a mountain & my early morning legs werent up to the hike. I sounded like Thomas the train by the time i reached the top, 3 breaks later. Heard nothing but a chicken somewhere's! Everything was quiet, muted early. By 8 am, we had enuf of that & went to another farm. We made many friends there, or at least i guess they liked us, cause the cutiest little cattle followed us all the way to our chosen blind calling spot. Even after running them off repeatedly, they kept comming back. After i couldnt see our decoys anymore except for the stake between some legs, i would run them off, thundering over a crest of a hill. But one head, then two & soon all heads signaled the return of the pasture punks & here they come again. After 4 attempts, enuf was enuf & we fled from there, our buddies trailing in our wake to the truck! Tried another farm, run off some hens because we just had to take a couple more steps to see over a hillside. Anywhoo, were sittin there playin with our calls, no fask mask or gloves, nothin, guns leaning against a tree when my buddy says" Don't move! Theres a gobbler standing there"! Now r u gonna believe your buddy when he says somethin like that? How many times have you done that to your buddy? Fess up! But when he began breathin hard, had the look of seeing an approaching tornado, i knew he meant it. Since i was the shooter, he whispered to me to take his gun when he gave the sign. 20 seconds later, he gave the sign, the gun was moved to me quickly, but undrer control. Whew, got away with it! Now mind you, im not facing the turkey, he is. On his next signal, he whispered" OK, roll over & come up on your knees & shoot". Like a sumo wrestler, i rolled & come up, shouldered the gun & BOOM!!! FINALLY. My camera is just 6 inches away, still parked beside the computer where it was left last nite after my daughter uploaded some pics! So no pics because my buddy lives 15 miles from here & we skint up the bird at his place & he has no digital camera & honestly, i NEVER THOUGHT ABOUT THE CONTESTuntil i got home and on this site! All i can say is im sorry. Im not too good at these contests! Now back to peabody 2mar & the to Missouri this weekend! The bird was a 2yr old, about 18lbs, 3/4 spurs & only an 8 inch beard.

[turk2di]

After a couple days break, we headed to Missouri on the 21st of April to hunt starting on Sunday the 22nd. The day began with followig my buddy Neill Prater to some of his private ground haunts. We heard one bird from a distance, close the distance, but never heard him again. We went to another spot & spied a couple gobblers struttin in a pasture field. Tho we got close several times, the sparseness of vegetation & dry leaves prevented us from gaining the additional 30- yds needed to get in range. So on to Monday the 23rd. My buddy Randy that made the trip with me won the coin flip so he got first choice of spots & not surprisingly, took the most likely to shoot spot, a point near the field. Sure enuf, at 6:10am, his gun roared. He had bagged a fine 2 yr old. Now, it was time to go to another spot & try our luck there in hopes of gettin me a shot. We pulled up at a gate, loaded up & slipped quietly down a roadbed, a pasture field to our left, sparse, burned out oak timber on our right. I called with my Butski box call intermittenly as we eased along, cuttin & throwing in some yelps too. No answer. We reached a spot that funneled, so we decided to take a break. Puttin out 2 hen dekes in case we fell asleep. However, we were too keyed up & rehashed his kill over & over. A thunderous gobble from just 50yds up the road the way we had come only 10 minutes earlier refocused us to the task at hand rather quickly. My buddy, sittin to my right in line with the gobble, laid flat out, he said it was so i could shoot in that direction if need b. I wouldn't have if i could have, but it was thick with a big evergreen that way anyhow. I stammered out a low volume yelp & zoned in that area. Hearing drumming shortly, the tom come into view at 40yds, moving right to left. He apparently wasnt going to commit all the way to the dekes, insatead pickin a path that would cross in front of us. When he got within 35yds nearly straight out, i lowered the boom. Whew! What a day. Im love Missouri! Bird fell just left of my right foot, i shot from left, behind camera!


After getting home on the 25th, i took a day off & back at them, but decided to hunt locally as thunderstorms were in the firecast. About a lucky kill as i ever had. Checkin out a field of wild Mustard, i noticed a gobbler in it, feeding right to me. Being no dummy, i simply got ready & waited. He walked to within 35yds & Boom! Surprise!!! I had no more shot that crack went lightening nearly overhead! It was a quick 200yd jaunt to the truck, my season over! My 83 yr old dad is in the last pic!


My season is over now. My how quickly it goes, especially after calendar watching for 11 months. I feel very fortunate to have killed even one as many Kentucky hunters have struggled mightily. Low number of 2yr old birds, coupled with Janurary weather the first week of April seemed to have thrown normal mating routines out of whack. So 3 birds in 12 hunts was purty good. Only 349 more days!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!