Rhett's Turkey Hunting page 2
Tag #2 with a double bearded tom.
One of the more fun hunts I've had... spotted 3 toms feeding/sunning themselves in a CRP field as I was moving to set up at another location. I watched them for about 15 minutes from a distance of 150 meters to see if I could set up somewhere and intercept them, but they staying the same area the entire time. Called a little to see their reaction, other than one fanning up, nothing... they had gotten drenched the night before so drying off was probably at the top of their to-do list. They were obviously not moving any time soon, so I took to moving on them.
Adjacent low ground let me get about 100m from the birds and they still were not moving, stayed in the same little area. At this point I dropped my vest and started low crawling in their direction. The grass was about 10-30" tall, much of it blown over, but it offered ok concealment as I slowly crept forward. Over the course of about 20 minutes I got to within 40m of the 3 toms. Could not see their beards, but were obvious toms by their heads. After a little more watching I could see their tail fans and confirm all three were toms.
Once I was within range the issue became separation between the birds, they all seemed to be stay within the pattern of my gun for a while. Finally they separated a little bit, I let out a couple clucks from a mouth call and got their attention. One fanned up while the other 2 watched, then I putted and the fanned up bird popped his head up for the last time.
He is a double bearded tom, main beard is 11", second beard is 7.5", spurs were sharper than any I've seen lately and came in at 1 1/8". As I ran up to recover the tom I shot, I got a good look at the other 2, both also had paint-brush beards. Usually turkeys in tall grass are my nemesis, but not this time. Awesome hunt, probably the last turkey hunt for a few years since we're heading to AK this summer.
I call this offensive turkey hunting since I moved on them and did not set up at ambush point along their route and knew that calling was not going to be productive on anything other than jakes this particular morning. Guess my point is, don't be stuck to sitting at the base of the tree, with decoys out front, waiting for a tom to come in. While that is a proven technique in many situations, the windy, rainy, stormy days like we've had lately require trying something a little different for success. I've probably shot as many turkeys from the prone position as I have from the sitting with my gun resting on my knee. My two cents for anyone that may be frustrated by turkeys lately.
Take care- Rhett
