THWAK1
New member
- Joined
- Jul 25, 2011
- Messages
- 787
I took the girlfriend turkey hunting this past weekend. We had planned on bowhunting but she messed up her neck and can't draw her bow, so we resorted to shotgunning.
The ranch where we hunt usually has 150+ turkeys behind the buildings all winter and this past winter there were only 20. We chose not to be too pickey.
The first morning I headed to a well used roosting area before daylight (the gf decided to sleep in). I heard a tom gobbling and moved within 100 yards and set out a lone hen decoy and let out a few soft calls. I watched as he flew out of his roost and slowly worked his way toward the decoy. He held up at 55 yards and started strutting but wouldn't come any closer. One shot out of my Browning and he was down. I took a few pictures and was back to the truck by 7:30am.
I woke up the gf, she got ready and we took off looking for a bird for her. I parked the truck in an area where we could glass and we started making sandwiches for lunch. Half way through lunch, she glassed a bird moving in the shade on the far side of the field. We finished eating, grabbed our gear and headed out to cut the bird off.
I was leading the way through tthe timber when we topped a small ridge and I could see a bunch of red heads down below us. I glassed them and confirmed that they were all jakes. I asked if she wanted to shoot a jake and she said yes, as she has never shot a turkey and wanted to break the ice. They were out of range, scratching and eating. I started by letting out soft purrs and that got thier attention and got them headed slowly our way. Finally within range, I let out a few loud clucks and that got thier heads up. I told her to take the close one and she dropped him with one shot.
We took some pictures and headed back to the truck to take pictures of both of our birds together. I offered to carry her jake but she insisted on carrying her own bird out. It was a fun hunt and we got a couple of great birds for the freezer (now I can try out the turkey fryer I got for Christmas).
The ranch where we hunt usually has 150+ turkeys behind the buildings all winter and this past winter there were only 20. We chose not to be too pickey.
The first morning I headed to a well used roosting area before daylight (the gf decided to sleep in). I heard a tom gobbling and moved within 100 yards and set out a lone hen decoy and let out a few soft calls. I watched as he flew out of his roost and slowly worked his way toward the decoy. He held up at 55 yards and started strutting but wouldn't come any closer. One shot out of my Browning and he was down. I took a few pictures and was back to the truck by 7:30am.
I woke up the gf, she got ready and we took off looking for a bird for her. I parked the truck in an area where we could glass and we started making sandwiches for lunch. Half way through lunch, she glassed a bird moving in the shade on the far side of the field. We finished eating, grabbed our gear and headed out to cut the bird off.
I was leading the way through tthe timber when we topped a small ridge and I could see a bunch of red heads down below us. I glassed them and confirmed that they were all jakes. I asked if she wanted to shoot a jake and she said yes, as she has never shot a turkey and wanted to break the ice. They were out of range, scratching and eating. I started by letting out soft purrs and that got thier attention and got them headed slowly our way. Finally within range, I let out a few loud clucks and that got thier heads up. I told her to take the close one and she dropped him with one shot.
We took some pictures and headed back to the truck to take pictures of both of our birds together. I offered to carry her jake but she insisted on carrying her own bird out. It was a fun hunt and we got a couple of great birds for the freezer (now I can try out the turkey fryer I got for Christmas).
