duckhunter175 Report post Posted April 17, 2017 Short background to the story: I left active duty after over 10 years and 7 combat deployments, moved to Dallas and went into the National Guard to give my wife a shot at chasing her dream job. For the last little bit I've been occupied as a "Stay at home Dad, with no kids". Some might call that a dream job in and of itself. However- we've been house hunting, doing a bit of traveling and right now, still waiting on our movers to arrive with our stuff!!! Fast forward to this past Friday-- I was supposed to be on a Turkey hunt road trip between Alabama, Kentucky, Missouri and Oklahoma. Movers are going to be late... by 5 days (thanks Army) and I have to cancel the first leg of the trip. So, to make the best of a bad situation I decide to chase turkeys here in Texas while we wait. The opening day is Saturday, 15 April. I scrounge up some camo, as my official "Turkey Tote" is not here, no dekes, nada. I go buy snake boots, license, PUBLIC LAND LICENSE (thanks Texas) and decide to get in some quick google earth scouting. The Texas PWD website has some decent resources so I scour what land doesn't require their version of a limited license and is within a decent drive of the house. Bingo-- 85 miles away there is a section of National Grassland that is wide open. I spend an hour whittling down some spots, dropping points and then uploading imagery to my GPS. Now 10pm it is time to dig the shotgun out, change chokes and get ready to roll.... Benelli- Check... turkey choke... NOPE... full choke... NOPE--- Looks like it will be Improved Modified and some Hevi-13 #6s. I decide it will be 30 yards or closer or I won't be pulling the trigger. 0400 comes quick and I'm in the truck rolling, arrive at my 'hidden' spot and there is already a truck. Nice gentlemen and his grandson-- we quickly deconflict areas so there will be plenty of room between us if we need to make moves on birds. He scouted the night before so I defer to him on where he wants to be. Glad to hear he found good sign. By 0600 I'm easing into the unknown on public land that I've never stepped foot on and less than 600 yards from the truck a bird FIRES off... and then again. He is roosted on a thin row of trees between two overgrown fields. I cut the distance to him down by creeping through the woods. I am now 150 yards west of him and the parking area is 500 yards east. A door slams in the parking lot at 0620 and he triple gobblers... Now everyone knows where the game is going to be!!! I scoot in close, hoping that the other hunters didn't hear him or if they make a play they might push him to my side of the field. I'm now 100 yards from the gobbler and out of room to manuever and its 5 minutes until shooting light. I quickly plop down, tree yelp and he GOBBLES. Cue the other hunters who have moved in on the east and set up. I do two more light yelps and transition to my secret call.... I grab a stick and rake the heck out of the oak leaves around me. The gobbler hears this and just cannot stand it, he fires off again and again... I stop mouth calling and just scratch a little bit. Not 5 minutes later I hear wingbeats and look up to see this guy sailing across the field right to me!!! He plops down at 25 yards but is obscured by some small oak saplings. I scratch again... gun is in my lap (always a good plan) He runs 5 yards to the right to see and when he clears the oaks I drop him, 10 minutes into the opening morning!! 18 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
PelaPapas Report post Posted April 17, 2017 Dang thats the way to get it done! Congrats man! 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bigorange Report post Posted April 17, 2017 Awesome stuff. Congrats. I have several stories like that with birds going crazy on roost, but they always end with hearing the gobbler fly down and not a peep again until he's 1/4 mile away. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
WHT_MTNMAN Report post Posted April 17, 2017 Great job!!! "Scrounge" up some Kuiu huh??? 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
duckhunter175 Report post Posted April 17, 2017 Great job!!! "Scrounge" up some Kuiu huh??? LOL. The Tiburon pants were luckily in my 'big game bin' which I moved myself. The top was brand new purchase for my turkey road trip.... And as a bonus-- the movers called this afternoon and they are coming tomorrow... but apparently didn't get the note or 3 phone calls that an 18 wheeler won't fit into my 'hood. So we will see how this adventure goes. If all goes well I will be in Oklahoma by Friday and then KY and MO.... AL sadly will be a wash this year:/ Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
cramerhunts Report post Posted April 22, 2017 Congratulations on a fine bird! Good luck on the rest. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Slack40 Report post Posted April 24, 2017 Was hoping I'd get the chance to chase them while I was back home this weekend, we've got a few on our property out west, but seem to have more success with them on public land than I do on ours. Hopefully I'll be able to connect with one here this spring! Congrats on the bird! 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
