MidTennFisher
Well-Known Member
What a hard 4 days of hunting it was but on the last day, when I was just about done for that day, the events changed. My first Tennessee turkey in 8 years. Killed my first one in TN, then moved away. Felt nice to do this again. And it was on my family's land which made it even more special.
A neighboring property had several gobblers roosted but quite far away and every morning they'd wander off with hens in the opposite direction. I'm relentless and wasn't just going to accept that I'd never coax one my way.
Last morning I heard a hen get a bit sassy with me around 9am from well into that other property after I'd been doing some calling.
I was just texting my wife saying I'd call it quits by 930 if I didn't see or hear anything else. After 4 days of it I'd had enough and that was our last day in TN so I wanted to spend most of it with my family anyway. Well then a hen wandered past me alone. Heard a very distant gobble, then two more hens wandered past me. Then a 4th one. Just as I was thinking, "how can that gobbler not be following them", two of them showed up.
They very cautiously looked around, probably followed those hens in from way behind as they had no idea where they went. One gobbled right in front of me but just out of range for a shot. Greenup was real thick. Neither of them gobbled again, they were completely silent.
They went away from me and as I felt like they were far enough that I could do some calling and get away with it, I made some soft yelps and did some scratching in the leaves. I could tell they were interested but still being very cautious. They did a good deal of drumming and strutting and I just love watching that through the thick cover.
Eventually they started heading my direction so I just shut up and waited patiently. The rest of the story is shown below. At 9:48 I had two texts from my Dad asking what happened because he just heard the shot. Him and my daughter were picking asparagus in the garden. She took off running to the house to tell my Mom she thinks I just killed one.
I hope that feeling when I know I fooled one to get close enough looking for a hen he heard but can't see, and I'm about to pull the trigger, never gets old. If it does, the Good Lord can go ahead and take me.
A neighboring property had several gobblers roosted but quite far away and every morning they'd wander off with hens in the opposite direction. I'm relentless and wasn't just going to accept that I'd never coax one my way.
Last morning I heard a hen get a bit sassy with me around 9am from well into that other property after I'd been doing some calling.
I was just texting my wife saying I'd call it quits by 930 if I didn't see or hear anything else. After 4 days of it I'd had enough and that was our last day in TN so I wanted to spend most of it with my family anyway. Well then a hen wandered past me alone. Heard a very distant gobble, then two more hens wandered past me. Then a 4th one. Just as I was thinking, "how can that gobbler not be following them", two of them showed up.
They very cautiously looked around, probably followed those hens in from way behind as they had no idea where they went. One gobbled right in front of me but just out of range for a shot. Greenup was real thick. Neither of them gobbled again, they were completely silent.
They went away from me and as I felt like they were far enough that I could do some calling and get away with it, I made some soft yelps and did some scratching in the leaves. I could tell they were interested but still being very cautious. They did a good deal of drumming and strutting and I just love watching that through the thick cover.
Eventually they started heading my direction so I just shut up and waited patiently. The rest of the story is shown below. At 9:48 I had two texts from my Dad asking what happened because he just heard the shot. Him and my daughter were picking asparagus in the garden. She took off running to the house to tell my Mom she thinks I just killed one.
I hope that feeling when I know I fooled one to get close enough looking for a hen he heard but can't see, and I'm about to pull the trigger, never gets old. If it does, the Good Lord can go ahead and take me.
