Had the Turkey hunt of a lifetime today. I went to Fort stewart for a rematch with the Tom I missed last week. I got there and "my" area was scheduled for control burn.....So I signed in to F1. An area I`ve never set foot in. Looking on the map it had several drains and looked promising and no one else was checked in it.
I walked the first drain I came across. I would walk a ways and yelp a bit then if no action I move on.I checked the sandy high spots in the swamp for strut sign and logged awful hog spots in my head.
I decided to ride the perimeter road around the area and check for tracks. I came up on an old logging road running parallel with a drain and about a 100 yards from it.The road was a bit muddy and had a lot of Turkey tracks with zero human sign.After about 250 yards from the jeep I was standing near a big white oak and heard a Gobbler sound off. I had not called yet...
He was a couple hundred yards away so I cut the distance more than in half. The woods were thick enough I thought I would get away with getting close before setting up.
I had on my leafy jacket and hat ,no decoys and no chair.I had one mouth call and a hungry Hill bow.
I let out a few yelps and THEY jumped on them. There were at least two gobblers and they gobbled at least 10 times non stop. They would gobble at me and each other.
I eased my phone out of my pocket and called Brother John Bookhart. I whispered"listen" and yelped. The Gobblers hammered about 50 yards away. I yelped again and another Gobbler gobbled 20 yards in front of me.A sneaky one. I have been hunting without a blind since I killed my first bird of the year and have really enjoyed the run and longbow hunting method. I was on my knees behind a big triple trunked live oak with gaulberry bushes spotted all around. I had a real thick behind me as well.The bird came to my right side where I could`nt shoot and walked a half circle and was behind me at ten yards. I leaned over and had the bow horizontal to the ground ...same as my pig shot last week.....I missed. Shot low and the bird jumped and went behind a bush. I loaded up another arrow and he came out behind the bush in full strut...my kind of Turkey.
Almost at full draw the bird saw me and turned towards me and kept strutting. I did`nt miss...He flew about 8-10 feet straight up and came down staggering.Walked ten yards and fell over . Estwing Dead....Estwing is a hammer for you city fellers.
where he fell..
A pic at the pass and permit the nice Lady took for me.
A pic my Son took for me at home.
A pic of my homemade Turkey killing single bevel Magnus I head and an 8 1/2" beard.
Thank You Good Lord.RC
Topic: Leafy suit Gobbler down..one for Brother John (Read 716 times)
