#1225041 - 03/08/09 10:48 PM
Whats your best "almost got'em" story?
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BV
4 Point
Registered: 02/11/08
Posts: 177
Loc: Maury Co. TN
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My buddy and I were hunting last year and got set up on a gobbling bird before daylight. Everything worked out perfectly, he hammered at us on the roost, hit the ground and came in on a string. I lost the coin toss so I was video taping and my friend was shooting. As the bird worked his way towards us I was getting some great footage on the camera. Once the bird got to about ten steps my buddy pulls the trigger and the shell didn't go off! That bird putted and took off running, then flying for dear life!
We checked the video after he was gone and we realized that we both missed. In my excitement I forgot to hit the record button! Once the bird was gone we circled him and called him in again and he hung up at about 70 yards. We ended up naming that bird "Ol' Snap." He better look out this year though because its my turn to shoot ( with the gun)! Maybe this time I won't "miss."
_________________________
Dont't ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and go do that, because what the world needs is people who have come alive.- John Eldredge from the book Wild at Heart
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#1225046 - 03/08/09 10:58 PM
Re: Whats your best "almost got'em" story?
[Re: BV]
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JDBinTN
8 Point
Registered: 08/21/07
Posts: 1072
Loc: SE TENN
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2 years ago 2nd weekend of season at first light I gave an owl hoot and got one to gobble. I got within about 200 yds of where he was an tryed it again. He gobbled and so did another bird REAL CLOSE!!! I got set-up called some the bird answered each time he flew down within range. The problem was I was in a powerline and he was in a pine thicket so I couldn't see him I worked the bird for about 10 minutes could here his wings dragging as he strutted. He got quite for a minute or so. Then I saw him peering out of the pines directly to my left at about 6 yards he moved back out of sight and about 5 mintes later he crossed the powerline around 100 yds. away.
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#1225151 - 03/09/09 12:31 AM
Re: Whats your best "almost got'em" story?
[Re: JDBinTN]
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jackscreek
10 Point
Registered: 09/19/00
Posts: 2499
Loc: Jacks Creek, Chester County, W...
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This is my best one from last season. At daylight, I got set-up on a hot gobbler that was roosted no more than 75 yards away, across about 40 yards of a corner of a field. To say he was hot was an understatement. Every sound, no matter what, even the call of a songbird, was making this tom gobble! This went on and on, and even after the usual flydown time, he stayed in the tree gobbling non-stop. I was trying to entice him to fly down with some faint yelps and purrs that he would immediately gobble at.
Suddenly, I heard a gobble in the woods behind me and to my right that sounded to be about 100 or so yards away. I didn't want to turn around to get into position to shoot if he was coming in, because I thought the one on the roost in front of me would be pitching down into the field any second!
Then another gobble behind me, this time about half as far away!
I still didn't want to give up on the one in front of me!
Finally I couldn't take it anymore and shifted my body around to shoot at the one coming in from behind, and of course there he was no more than thirty yards away, running towards me! He didn't see me moving, but unknownst to me, there was another longbeard behind him that spotted me moving, and he let out an alarm putt. Needless to say, they both turned and went back the way they came, without my getting a shot.
And, adding insult to injury, after staying on the roost and gobbling practically nonstop for 45 minutes to an hour after daylight, the bird in front of me pitched down in the opposite direction and disappeared into a swamp, without my ever getting a glimpse of him. Lesson learned: I should have turned around to have been in a postion to shoot when the bird behind me gobbled the second time, making it obvious he was coming my way!! 
_________________________
It's not that I've mellowed with age, it's that I just don't give a xxxx anymore!
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#1225309 - 03/09/09 07:23 AM
Re: Whats your best "almost got'em" story?
[Re: jackscreek]
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CopperHead77
12 Point
Registered: 08/20/07
Posts: 6707
Loc: Hickman Co.
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JC, even though you didn't get'em don't ya just love those mornings where you don't know which side of the tree to shift to 
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#1225370 - 03/09/09 08:12 AM
Re: Whats your best "almost got'em" story?
[Re: CopperHead77]
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Grizzly Johnson
Good ol' Boys "Team Grizzly"
16 Point
Registered: 10/07/08
Posts: 12838
Loc: Mid. TN
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One weekend last spring I was hunting a nice place where I always heard this gobbler hammering away about every morning. This property was only open two weekends of the turkey season and adjacent to the property I normally hunted so I knew the birds were over there. Well Baxter83 and I spend a Friday playing chess with this particular bird for the better part of 3 hours. It seemed like a sure thing at first but he gave us the slip. After some scouting, I made my plans to go back the next morning and give him another try. I waited until the perfect time to slip into the old creek bed and ease toward where this bird likes to roost. I had gone about 150 yards and he gobbles. I close the distance until I get in my comfort zone and find a big oak to lean against. I start getting my calls out and a second gobbler starts hammering to my left. I start thinking this is going to be good, wish Baxter was here for this!!! I make a few soft tree yelps and a gobbler sounds off RIGHT ABOVE ME!!! It's getting daylight, the turkeys 2 longbeards and a jake are hammering back and forth to each other. The tom to my left flies down and disappears in the saplings. The jake above me flies across the creek to my right. The old tom on the roost to my front now is still hammering away. I yelp a few times and the bird to my left starts coming towards me and the jake flies back across the creek and is within 40 yards now looking for that hen but I'm not interested in taking him. Meanwhile that old tom is still hammering away in his tree. The bird on my left is closing fast. He gets within 15 yards but I am still facing the middle bird that's still in the tree gobbling. I wait until the left bird goes behind a tree and shift. Well somehow he saw movement and turn and trots off away from me. I didn't want to take a desperation running away shot so I held tight not wanting to alert the tree gobbling turkey. He eventually flew down and took basically the exact same path around this particular property as the day before. After an hour he gobbled several more times and went silent. We played another chess game which he wound up winning. Hopefully I will get a chance to test him again this spring.... maybe the odds will be in my favor.
_________________________
VooDoo Mafia
Bustin' Heads Is Our Specialty
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#1225482 - 03/09/09 09:38 AM
Re: Whats your best "almost got'em" story?
[Re: Grizzly Johnson]
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megalomaniac
10 Point
Registered: 10/28/05
Posts: 4887
Loc: Mississippi
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Big ole 25lb tom I had worked several times that season, never really had a chance. Well one morning, I managed to get in between him and his hens. I was set up in some really thick stuff, and after around 30 minutes of calling, had him at 30 yards, but no clear shot. He was still working his way toward me, but then a bobcat broke from around 5 yards to my left and made a rush for him, spooking him into the air.
Never got that bird that season, one of the few I really wanted but never killed.
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#1225691 - 03/09/09 11:42 AM
Re: Whats your best "almost got'em" story?
[Re: BV]
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Baxter83
Good ol' Boys
12 Point
Registered: 09/03/08
Posts: 7243
Loc: Winchester, TN
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Wow! This is a lot of reading so I'll make mine short and sweet.
My first several attempts at turkey hunting back in 1998 or 99 I came out empty handed. The very first bird I called in came in to me without a peep. I had a couple decoys set up on top of a hill (bluff) overlooking the river. I didn't roost them the night before because I was too young to drive alone, and my dad didn't want to drive all the way to the farm after work that Friday. However, they always seemed to roost there or one other spot on our farm. Anyways, that morning I set up just before daylight and was calling at day light trying to get one to gobble. I didn't have a locator call so I just yelped a little with my diaphram call (which sounded horibble). At about 6:45 I heard something behind me so I turned around the tree (mistake) and there he was 25 yards from me. He started to turn to go down the hill so I turned around as fast as I could and shot (mistake # 2). The feathers flew and so did he.............right across the river. I saw him land and shake it off then walk out of sight. I only went a handful of times after that and never saw much after so I got bored with it and quite all the way up to last year.
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