Thank You, Turkey Gods.

cesar

On Saturday morning, I headed out to try and get my second bird of Ohio's season. My brother and I chose to hunt a section of private land that was holding a few very quiet gobblers.

Around 5:45, we slipped into a good spot to listen. As the morning came to life, the birds began chirping and geese began honking, but the gobblers remained silent. We have hunted this 200-acre block for a few years now so we had a good idea where the birds would likely be.

When it became time, I offered a few fly-down cackles and then followed them with some tame cutts and a few yelps.... nothing. I let 10-15 minutes pass and then started confidence calling occasionally. A hen came in on my right. She was all alone, and proceeded to feed past me at about 30 yards.

Around 6:40, I decided to spice things up a little bit and got aggressive with my calling. In the middle of my second sequence, HE fired off! He was about 200 yards directly in front of us. My brother and I hopped to our feet and cut the distance to about 150 yards. A small 15-yard wide skunk cabbage swale stopped us from getting any closer. I new it was likely going to be a problem, but there was no way we could get across it quietly. The gobbler began closing the distance quickly, and within 15 minutes he and his crew were 70 yards away. They all hung up out of range on the other side of the cabbage. They stuck around for about 5 minutes and then began to move on down the small ridge they were on. The stutter of the group was a dandy. He looked like a 55-gallon drum with a white head.

As they worked away I made one attempt to pull them back...I wasn't concerned if it didn't work because I had a good idea where they were going to end up. He responded well to my attempt, but stood his ground, and then eventually began working down the ridge again.

I motioned to my brother to get up and come over. We made a mad dash to get around and in front of the birds. As we approached the end of the ridge I called just a little to locate the bird...he hammered...they were about 150 yards out and working down the ridge in our direction. Getting to the perfect spot was tough cuz the terrain at the end of the ridge was not ideal...there were two small swales, more skunk cabbage, and blow downs to consider. My brother and I set up about 40 yards apart, but because this part of the woods was a little on the thick side we could not see each other once we sat down.

As my butt hit the ground, a few soft yelps were sent just to let him know where I was.... he gobbled not 100 yards in front of me. At around 7:50, the stutter appeared in front of me once again. This time he was only 50 yards away and there was nothing between us to hang him up. The stutters crew fed around him as he worked a small 10-yard strut zone. A jake was out in front, and it looked as if he was going to drag the boss past me at about 20 yards. I tried to calm myself down when I noticed my gun barrel was starting to shake frantically (God I love that feeling!!!!). Then around 8:00, the jake turned and began feeding directly away from me. The jake fed past the boss and out of sight. OH NO!!! My only saving grace was a large cherry tree that separated us. Every time the boss strutted behind it.... he would hear scratch, scratch...scratch...cluck cluck. He and I played this game until 8:20!!! Finally, he began to move out of his strut zone. He would take one step toward me and then strut, take another step toward me and then strut... While all of this was happening his crew kept feeding in and out of sight.

At 8:30, my gun fired, and one of the biggest long beards I have ever hunted was laying still.

This, by far, has been my best hunt to date. If better ones lay ahead of me I am not sure my heart can take it!

I will never forget this morning. The bird weighed 21.3 lbs, 10" beard, and 1 1/8" spurs.... a respectable 3 year old.

I hope all of you have a morning like this very soon. Good luck.
Thanks
Cesar