standman Report post Posted April 20, 2009 My brother, Sam and I arrived in camp Thursday evening around 5 p.m. and after setting up we had time to go roost some birds. After going to a couple different spots, we were able to roost gobblers in three different spots. We discussed our options and picked which birds we would work in the morning. Opening morning arrived bright and early at 4 a.m. Sam was up and ready to go as we wanted to get to our spot and in position early. On our way to our spot the thermometer read 13 degrees, and I forgot my coat at home. We get set up with the decoys out in front, my brother and Sam up in front of me, and the gobblers gobbling just up the ridge above us. We called to the toms for about 15 minutes when they fly out of the roost, right over our heads and down to the middle of the main road right next to the truck. Sam was kind of freaking out and wondering what was going on as they flew right over our heads. We called to these birds for another 30 minutes but they would move as they stayed down in the road about 100 yards below us just strutting away. We moved two times trying different positions to get the birds in but they wouldn’t budge. Finally we got busted moving on them the third time as they saw us. The rest of the morning went about the same way as we worked quit a few birds but all were henned up and just didn’t want to come in. Sam’s spirits were high as we were in turkeys all morning long just couldn’t close the deal. The wind came up and we decide to look over some other areas. We found lots of turkeys every where we went but the wind was just too high for calling to be too effective. The rest of the day went about like this so we decided to go back and roost gobblers in our original spot. We couldn’t get any to answer us but we knew they had to be there. The next morning we got up to a balmy 17 degrees and Sam said that today was going to be the day. We got to the same spot as the morning before and we got them to sound off except this time they were below us roosted right above the river. The country was real open and we were afraid to get too close because we thought they might see us. We set up not in the best of positions but we were going to give it a go. After about 15 minutes of calling they came out of the trees and landed about 200 yards below us. There were three toms and quite a few hens. We could see them strutting down below us for about 10 minutes when the three toms broke away from the hens and started coming right for us. My brother said Sam got real nervous then as his knees started shaking. They came right at us with out hesitating strutting the whole time. They kept getting closer and closer but the problem was they were coming right at me and that was way to the right of Sam and he wasn’t going to be able to swing his gun to the right. When the first tom got to within 35 yards he finally saw the decoys and he made a hard right and headed right to them. He went behind a hump and Sam slowly raised his gun into position. The gobbler popped up at 12 yards right in front of Sam and he let the 12 gauge bark. Sam made a great shot and got his second spring turkey. Sam said that was the neatest thing he ever seen watching the toms come from around 200 yards all the way to the decoys. He was a big gobbler with 1” spurs but only had a 3” beard. But that didn’t matter. It was a great weekend. Sam had an amazing time as he had never been into so many turkeys. He can’t wait till next year. One more thing, we never saw another hunter in the area we were hunting which made the experience that much better. Congratulations Sam!!!! Brian Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Schmitty Report post Posted April 20, 2009 nice job! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Snapshot Report post Posted April 20, 2009 Excellent! Nice bird for the young man. 17 degrees? Bbbrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Lance Report post Posted April 20, 2009 Very nice! Congrats to all! Lance Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Red Rabbit Report post Posted April 20, 2009 Brian, You and your brother did well. Congrats to you both . You look a little blurry in the photo... were you shivering hard? Doug~RR Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
AZP&Y Report post Posted April 20, 2009 Awesome Brian - Great job- and I hope to have a bird this weekend ! Best of luck on your Goulds Quest- can't wait to see the pics! Doug Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
haywire Report post Posted April 21, 2009 Nice job!! Congrats to you!! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
geiset Report post Posted April 21, 2009 Very cool my mom has a hunt opening friday in unit 27 she is excited, great job and congratulations Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
CouesWhitetail Report post Posted April 21, 2009 Sitting for so long in that cold weather sure can make you shiver!!! Tough to not make movements when you are freezing! Congratulations on the bird! It's great you were able to watch them strutting. I love that! Amanda Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Coach Report post Posted April 22, 2009 Awesome, Brian - Great job to Sam and you! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Coues Archer Report post Posted April 27, 2009 Congrats on a huge turkey. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
