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matthewp45

Great Opening Morning!

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My dad and I got drawn for the unit 1 second turkey hunt this year. I had not had a chance to get up there to scout so I got a hold of my good friend Tom (tomgobbler) on the forum and asked if he wanted to tag along on the hunt. He knows the area alot better than I do and he is a dang good turkey talker as well. My dad, Tom and I got up Friday morning and headed out from our cabin in Springerville. We made our first call about 5:30am. First stop I shock gobbled and heard our first gobble. We went after him and he didn't seem interested. We went about a mile down the road and Tommy got out and let out a hen call. Boom there was another answer except this time he was pretty close. We get set up and Tom starts calling and within about 3 minutes a gobbler pops his head over the hill and boom my turkey tag is filled. With a real nice 9" bearded tom. We were pumped, giving high fives and acting like little kids. We took a bunch of pics and loaded him up and took off to the next spot. Here is a pic with just me, me and Tommy and me and my dad. I had to get a pic with everyone.

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So we move down about 3 miles and get out to call again. Right off the bat a gobbler sounds off pretty close. Tommy and I used every call we had and the bird would not come across this open area. We tried to get into his comfort zone to get him in and ended up bumping him. We found where he was strutting while we were calling and it looked like he had tore up a 1/4 acre of snow struttin for our calls. On to the next spot. We actually got to the end of our road where the snow had made it impossible to go any further. Tommy jumped out and ran up the road around the corner to call. About a minute goes by and he comes running back telling my dad to get his gun and get up there now. I run up there with my dad and before we could call the gobbler sounded off close. I just sat back and watched as Tommy called the hottest gobbler I have ever seen. It was like watching a hunting show. This bird had a perfect lane to come down the snow covered hill side and he came right down the middle of it. He would strut back and forth and then run and then strut again. It was awesome. He got to 30 yards and I heard a click and I almost fell over. My dads gun misfired, he did have a shell in it but it did not fire. I thought to myself this is the most awesome turkey sequence I have ever seen and my dad is going to loose this bird. Well he jacked another one in and Tommy stopped the bird with a few more calls and boom the bird was down. Tommy and I started screaming and giving high fives with my dad. Tommy earned his forum name that morning for sure. He is definetly the Tomgobbler of calling turkeys. I want to thank Tommy very much for taking time away from his family and work to come out and help us. We could not have done it with out him. Thanks to my dad for a great hunt.

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Tommy is going to mount both birds for me and my dad to put up at our cabin. He does awesome turkey mounts I can't wait to get them back.

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That was awesome Matt!! and I cant imagine what went trough your dad's mind when he herd the "click" of the missfire!! Congratulations to all you and specially to Tom.

 

Ernesto C

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matt,

thanks for inviting me, and letting me tag along! it was a morning i will never forget, 4 inches of new snow, beautiful turkeys strutting to the calls, and double up by 8:00.... who could ask for more!? very special morning getting to HELP in the taking of these 2 fine birds. what an experiance it was. i was just tickled to get to watch the show and be apart of something i love to do, and to be able to help a friend be sucessful.... they did'nt really need me but since i couldnt do any shooting they felt sorry for me and let me do a little calling :) thank good ness it worked out, or they wouldnt let me tag a long again :) it was a BLAST. cant wait until next year!

nice shooting, and congrats again

tommy

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Man that's really neat the turkeys in the snow, great job, congrats and thanks for sharin the hunt.

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Tommy is the man. I met him on my elk hunt and we became friends almost immediately. He is a great turkey hunter no matter what he says. He got those turkeys going crazy. Thanks again Tommy and hopefully you will be hunting with your own tag on the rez with us next year. You can bet your butt you will be on all my hunting adventures when ever you want you will always have an invitation. I know you $%^& yourself when you heard that gun go click too.

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yea i'de love to tag along on any of your hunts that you need a hand! and yea i think my heart quit beating when it went click, i was like you have got to be kidding me, i finally get everything perfect and the guns doenst fire ( of course at that point i thought he forgot to put a shell in) glad it all worked out though!

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Congratulations to you and your Dad. It was especially nice of Tommy going along and helping out on your turkey hunt. The pictures are great. I seem to never get a good picture like that. There is no better feeling than hunting along side your Dad. Thanks for sharing your story and hunt. May you and your Dad have many more turkey hunts in the future. :)

 

TJ

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Awesome job Matt! We had a bunch of snow falling at different times last weekend but it never stuck for long on the ground, looks like you had plenty of it on the ground up there! Thanks for the great story and pics and congrats to you and your dad! JIM>

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