By Nate Garrett

It was a breezy, cool April morning. I was out looking for a long beard with three other hunters. With the strong wind, we were kind of skeptical about the turkeys gobbling or moving very much. But we went out anyway and all headed to our separate hunting spots.

I headed toward a big power line that ran down the middle of the property in a patch of chufa that we had planted for the turkeys. I set the decoy out and started calling. I never heard a gobble, but with the wind it was hard to hear really anything. Still, I was confident that I was going to at least see a turkey, because I had scouted hard and seen turkeys here for the last week. I stayed in this same spot for hour and a half before I decided to move on.

As I was walking around, off in the distance where Nelson MacCrea, one of the hunters in our group was, I heard, Boom-Boom. Sure enough, when I headed back to the camp, there was Nelson at the cleaning table with a nice tom. The bird had a 10-inch beard and 1 ½-inch spurs. We couldn’t weigh the bird because we didn’t have a scale, but it was a good gobbler.

Nelson said he was sitting there and never heard a gobble, and he started to give up. Then, out of the blue, three big toms appeared. He said they caught him off guard. He lifted his gun, aimed and shot…and hit a tree! He said the bird was running off, but he shot again, and this time he connected.

Now, that morning I was planning on hunting where Nelson killed the tom, but I wanted to hunt the power line because I had seen more turkeys there. The moral of this story: Always evaluate each spot and scout as much as you can, because these birds moved from one area to another in a half a day. And try to find out where the birds are roosting and feeding and where the trails they’re traveling. This will make you become a better and successful turkey hunter. And maybe you’ll be the one who shoots a bird, not another guy in your hunting party.

Comments (6)

from Nebraskahunter18 wrote 3 years 6 weeks ago

okay advice but your takeing the fun out of the HUNTING part if you know where they are you sit there they come in and you shoot no fun its called hunting like in finding them not called killing

-8 Good Comment? Yes | No | Report

from BowtechWVU wrote 3 years 6 weeks ago

Thanks for the wonderful advice for preparing the scouting techniques for turkey

0 Good Comment? Yes | No | Report

from fisherman wrote 3 years 6 weeks ago

The same sort of thing happened to me when I was hunting. I had done my scouting and I was sitting in the woods because the turkeys had gone the other way off the roost. I knew there would be birds in the field next to me I'd have a chance at, so I stayed put. Soon four gobblers came out of nowhere and I shot one. Everyone scouts for deer, but next to nobody scouts for turkey. They think they can go out and roost one the night before and be in business, but they're wild animals. It just doesn't work that way!

0 Good Comment? Yes | No | Report

from Del in KS wrote 3 years 6 weeks ago

On all the farms we hunt the favored roosting spots are known. We always set up in a good spot and if there are birds nearby attempt to call them in. This morning there was at least 7 birds gobbling within earshot. Three birds flew down at first light and hot footed it across the ridge to find that hen calling to them like a siren from Homer's Odyssey. Turned out that siren was my box call and the dominate bird met up with a load of #6 high density shot. He went 19 pounds even had 10 in paint brush beard and 1 in spurs. This is my 3rd bird taken from that particular ridge. Photos will be posted shortly.

0 Good Comment? Yes | No | Report

from Elmer Fudd wrote 3 years 6 weeks ago

way to go Del!

might do an "answers" on quiet gobblers. My opinion is to always be ready when calling.

0 Good Comment? Yes | No | Report

from justin isaacs wrote 2 years 40 weeks ago

Thanks for sharing your great story with us... It was wonderful and scouting does pay off.

+1 Good Comment? Yes | No | Report

Post a Comment

 

All submitted comments are subject to the rules set forth in our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.

from justin isaacs wrote 2 years 40 weeks ago

Thanks for sharing your great story with us... It was wonderful and scouting does pay off.

+1 Good Comment? Yes | No | Report

from BowtechWVU wrote 3 years 6 weeks ago

Thanks for the wonderful advice for preparing the scouting techniques for turkey

0 Good Comment? Yes | No | Report

from fisherman wrote 3 years 6 weeks ago

The same sort of thing happened to me when I was hunting. I had done my scouting and I was sitting in the woods because the turkeys had gone the other way off the roost. I knew there would be birds in the field next to me I'd have a chance at, so I stayed put. Soon four gobblers came out of nowhere and I shot one. Everyone scouts for deer, but next to nobody scouts for turkey. They think they can go out and roost one the night before and be in business, but they're wild animals. It just doesn't work that way!

0 Good Comment? Yes | No | Report

from Del in KS wrote 3 years 6 weeks ago

On all the farms we hunt the favored roosting spots are known. We always set up in a good spot and if there are birds nearby attempt to call them in. This morning there was at least 7 birds gobbling within earshot. Three birds flew down at first light and hot footed it across the ridge to find that hen calling to them like a siren from Homer's Odyssey. Turned out that siren was my box call and the dominate bird met up with a load of #6 high density shot. He went 19 pounds even had 10 in paint brush beard and 1 in spurs. This is my 3rd bird taken from that particular ridge. Photos will be posted shortly.

0 Good Comment? Yes | No | Report

from Elmer Fudd wrote 3 years 6 weeks ago

way to go Del!

might do an "answers" on quiet gobblers. My opinion is to always be ready when calling.

0 Good Comment? Yes | No | Report

from Nebraskahunter18 wrote 3 years 6 weeks ago

okay advice but your takeing the fun out of the HUNTING part if you know where they are you sit there they come in and you shoot no fun its called hunting like in finding them not called killing

-8 Good Comment? Yes | No | Report

Post a Comment

 

All submitted comments are subject to the rules set forth in our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.