This is one of the reasons we moved to Tennessee. We have 5 acres in rural Columbia. This bird represents many firsts for me:
- My first turkey.
- My first TN big game kill.
- The first big game kill on my own land.
There were two hens in the yards scratching. I was doing other things, and the next time I looked there were FOUR turkeys there. Two jakes had shown up. They were about 10 yards off the back porch. First, I had to run and grab my shotgun. That made them nervous but they were still at 10 yards. Next I had to open a screen door to get outside. That made a horrible racket. The turkeys all took off. I watched one hen hovering on the perimeter. The jakes were on my neighbors property and about to go out of sight. I could tell they were uncertain of what they wanted to do. At this point the hen came back into the yard. I said to myself, "Those jakes are going to come back." So I sat down on the edge of the porch and waited.
I'm sitting there on my porch, in full view. The hen is at 10 yards again. Sure enough, the jakes start heading back in. I decided not to raise my gun until they were close to the hen. I didn't have much blocking me from their view so I had to chance it. I slowly pulled up the shotgun. That was enough to spook them again, but they slowly wandered off. The two jakes just wouldn't separate. They were now at 20 yards and just about to go onto the neighbor's property. Finally, they separated just enough. One was between two trees while the other was behind one of the trees.
I squeezed off. Remember, I'm sitting on the edge of the deck. The recoil nearly knocked me over from a sitting position, lol. The bird dropped like a stone. Didn't even flop. Later I realized I got a little lucky. My shot was probably high because there were zero pellets in his body. Either that or I executed perfectly.
I shot him right where the yard ends, between those two trees behind that stump you see.
These aren't town turkeys. I was certain I wasn't going to get one because they usually aren't hanging out in the yard. But it worked out! Thanks for listening.