Southern Sportsman
Well-Known Member
This one, I just had to share.
My wife has always been tolerant of my hunting obsession, but she didn't grow up in a hunting family and has never shown the slightest interest in going. And after 10 years of marriage, I didn't think there was much risk she ever would. However, knowing that turkey hunting is far and away my favorite, not long ago she mentioned casually that she wouldn't mind going on a turkey hunt "just once, to see what the hell all the fuss is about." At her request, I took her the Sunday of opening weekend but it was cold and windy and we didn't see or hear a thing. We've tried to plan a few more hunts since then, but with three young kids it's hard for us to work out hunting together. This past weekend, my parents volunteered to keep the kids. She didn't complain about the 3:30 wakeup, and we headed out to a small farm I have permission on in the river bottoms of Obion County.
We never actually made it to the place from which I planned to listen because a turkey gobbled early during our walk in. He gobbled good on the roost, and two others soon joined the chorus nearby. We moved towards their roost spot, but the only path with adequate cover was cut off by a small slough, so we just sat down and listened to the world wake up. They eventually flew down to the edge of a small field and, having dueled with turkeys in this area before, I had a decent idea of where they might be heading. As soon a they gobbled on the ground we backed up and moved a hundred yards or so south hoping to get in front of them. There were no good trees to sit against so we laid prone on a small embankment facing a corner where field, woods, and slough meet. As soon as we got situated I saw a fan 200 yards away and pointed it out to my wife. From that moment forward, the hunt was about as good as they get.
My first yelp was cut off by the lead gobbler, followed by a cacophony of gobbles from the two behind him. The fan turned towards us and dropped out of sight. A minute later the gobbles were discernibly closer, and then a bright white head appeared, followed by two fans 75 yards behind him. All three turkeys gobbled back and forth at each other throughout their approach. When the lead bird got to 50 yards, he paused, strutted, gobbled, and cautiously looked around for what felt like 10 minutes. The rear guard was steadily gaining ground on him, so I was optimistic that at least one of them would close the gap to within easy .410 range. But with them being in the open, I had a nagging fear that they might hang up and drift away. Just then, however, a hen started cutting and yelping 100 yards directly behind us. That sealed the deal. When the hen fired up and the pair was gaining on the lead gobbler, he suddenly decided to hurry up and get there first. I was trying to video the hunt with my phone, but when the lead bird broke, I thought he was going to charge past us. I didn't want her shooting at a moving head at close range, so I forgot all about videoing and started cutting to stop him. That worked. He stopped, gobbled, stood tall, and was shot neatly in the head at 15 yards.
There is no "kill shot," but the video gives you a pretty good feel for the hunt — which was one of my all-time favorites and one I will certainly never forget. I've been lucky enough to kill a few turkeys in my life, but I've never been more nervous as one approached. The shaky, ragged breathing you'll hear in the video is me trying to hold it together.
And now that my wife knows "what the hell all the fuss is about," I suspect this won't be her last turkey. 
FYI - the video isn't great regardless, but it's higher resolution if you clink the link to actually watch it on youtube vs. watching the embedded link here.
My wife has always been tolerant of my hunting obsession, but she didn't grow up in a hunting family and has never shown the slightest interest in going. And after 10 years of marriage, I didn't think there was much risk she ever would. However, knowing that turkey hunting is far and away my favorite, not long ago she mentioned casually that she wouldn't mind going on a turkey hunt "just once, to see what the hell all the fuss is about." At her request, I took her the Sunday of opening weekend but it was cold and windy and we didn't see or hear a thing. We've tried to plan a few more hunts since then, but with three young kids it's hard for us to work out hunting together. This past weekend, my parents volunteered to keep the kids. She didn't complain about the 3:30 wakeup, and we headed out to a small farm I have permission on in the river bottoms of Obion County.
We never actually made it to the place from which I planned to listen because a turkey gobbled early during our walk in. He gobbled good on the roost, and two others soon joined the chorus nearby. We moved towards their roost spot, but the only path with adequate cover was cut off by a small slough, so we just sat down and listened to the world wake up. They eventually flew down to the edge of a small field and, having dueled with turkeys in this area before, I had a decent idea of where they might be heading. As soon a they gobbled on the ground we backed up and moved a hundred yards or so south hoping to get in front of them. There were no good trees to sit against so we laid prone on a small embankment facing a corner where field, woods, and slough meet. As soon as we got situated I saw a fan 200 yards away and pointed it out to my wife. From that moment forward, the hunt was about as good as they get.
My first yelp was cut off by the lead gobbler, followed by a cacophony of gobbles from the two behind him. The fan turned towards us and dropped out of sight. A minute later the gobbles were discernibly closer, and then a bright white head appeared, followed by two fans 75 yards behind him. All three turkeys gobbled back and forth at each other throughout their approach. When the lead bird got to 50 yards, he paused, strutted, gobbled, and cautiously looked around for what felt like 10 minutes. The rear guard was steadily gaining ground on him, so I was optimistic that at least one of them would close the gap to within easy .410 range. But with them being in the open, I had a nagging fear that they might hang up and drift away. Just then, however, a hen started cutting and yelping 100 yards directly behind us. That sealed the deal. When the hen fired up and the pair was gaining on the lead gobbler, he suddenly decided to hurry up and get there first. I was trying to video the hunt with my phone, but when the lead bird broke, I thought he was going to charge past us. I didn't want her shooting at a moving head at close range, so I forgot all about videoing and started cutting to stop him. That worked. He stopped, gobbled, stood tall, and was shot neatly in the head at 15 yards.
There is no "kill shot," but the video gives you a pretty good feel for the hunt — which was one of my all-time favorites and one I will certainly never forget. I've been lucky enough to kill a few turkeys in my life, but I've never been more nervous as one approached. The shaky, ragged breathing you'll hear in the video is me trying to hold it together.
And now that my wife knows "what the hell all the fuss is about," I suspect this won't be her last turkey. FYI - the video isn't great regardless, but it's higher resolution if you clink the link to actually watch it on youtube vs. watching the embedded link here.
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