Snatching victory from the Jaws of defete

[Moon Tree]

a follow from this thread
http://www.rossi-rifleman.com/viewtopic.php?f=22&t=3649

What a difference 3 days makes during turkey season. There wasn't a 10th of the gobbling going on this morning.

I was up at 5AM out the door at 5:30 seated with decoys standing at 5:50. Then nothing. I'm hunting on Steve's farm at the mouth of the hollow were I heard a tom while I was back at the house cleaning my turkey Wednesday morning. About 6:15 I hear a fly down and gobble at the head of the hollow. No other toms gobbling anywhere. My hopes are still high; the only turkey thundering is the one I'm hunting.

I do a short series of calls. No answer. OK, he's with hens. I might have to wait him out until the hens move off. I wait 5 minutes and hit the slate call again. No answer. But I catch movement on a hill on the next farm. It's a Tom but he's not talking. He's to the extreme right of me about 100 yards out. When he goes behind a large cedar/honeysuckle tangle I slowly reposition myself. I see him fly. GRRR he busted me. I call with the slate just in case. I see the Tom. What I saw of the bird flying was him flying over the fence. Now, we're both on the same farm. Problem is, my decoys are in a straight line from me to the tom. The tom is kind of hung up. He'll take a couple steps then eyes the decoys, but he's also looking straight at me. We are in a flat area with a couple small rises in the ground. He starts to walk left, paralleling the decoys. He goes behind a small cedar. I'm thinking he's not going to come any closer. When he steps out I take the what I believe is a 30 yard shot. It rocks him back on his heels, then he takes to the air. I only see him for about 4 feet before he disappears behind a tree. Maybe I hit him just hard enough so that he can't clear the fence. I go look for him counting my steps as I go. What I thought was 30 yards was 45 yards. "Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! You've got to be more patient, Dave." The slight rolls in the earth caused me to misjudge the distance. NO BIRD!

"OK, regroup. That wasn't the Tom up the hollow. My shot Wednesday didn't affect him, because he was gobbling 30 minutes later. I'm just going to set here for 30 minutes to let thinks settle down. Then, I'll start calling again." It's 7 o'clock.

7:20 Tom-up-the-Hollow double gobbles. He's a couple hundred yards away. I chose to stay put instead of moving closer. If I can't get him closer, I might move later. I have pretty good idea of his strutting area, so that's an option. Since he didn't respond to the slate call I pick up the box call and a gave couple soft come-get-me clucks. Nothing. Two minutes later he gobbles. "I'm going to play coy. I don't want him to think I'm easy. If he wants me, he's going to have to come to me." I wait about 5 minutes before hitting the box call again. He waits about a minute then answers. "I know your game ol' boy. Let's play." Now, he's closer, only about 100 yards out, but he's on top of the hill instead of coming down the hollow as I had expected. I position myself for the shot. I wait another 5 minutes then do a couple little purrs.

Gobble...Gobble. Two gobbles BUT, they are behind me on the Spurlock Farm and they're only about 70 yards away. I turn slowly, flip off the safety and wait. There's a tom at 60 yards coming down the hill toward the fence. There's another tom with him and he's closer. Now it makes sense why there was a slight pause between to the 2 gobble instead of the robust normal double-gobble--it was two Toms and not just one.

Tom2 keeps coming down the hill, grazing as he walks. Tom1 has made it to the fence and is walking away. When Tom2 is 28 yards away he stretches out his neck to peck at a grass blade. BOOM! It was his last supper.

As I was crossing the fence onto my farm, I heard Tom-up-the-Hollow gobbling. I smiled. "Maybe we'll meet in the Fall ol' Boy. My tags are filled for this spring season."

He's another 20 lb. bird. Both spurs are 1", beard #1 is 11 inches, beard #2 is 2 1/4" It's not a huge second beard, but it's my first double-bearded turkey.

[Hombre]

Once again, nice story. Thanks for the play by play, and congrats!

[akuser47]

Great story and awesome end. Thanks for sharing , An enjoyable read.

[Moon Tree]

Thanks AK and hombre. It's been a fun week. I was feeling a little bummed, though this afternoon, with hunting seasons being over till Fall. Then I checked KF&GD regs this afternoon, Spring squirrel season starts May 15th. I do love me some fried squirrel. It's actually my favorite wild game meal. If I were on death row, for a last meal, I'd order fried squirrel with squirrel gravy, biscuits eggs and homestyle hash browns.

While I prefer to hunt squirrels with a .22, I don't feel safe shooting a .22 at a squirrel in a tree on my farm. There's just too many neighbors within int he mile and 1/4 range listed on the box. So, I image I'll be using my my Rossi double barrel .20 and the Gamo.

I'll keep you posted, as usually.

[Jaybm]

Great tale and I should guess with two gobblers that we're all invited for
a Thanksgiving Dinner ??? GPS coordinates appreciated.

There's at least three of us in the subdivision trying to reduce the squirrel
population. A couple of whites are excluded. One neighbor has used
subsonic .22LR ( possums are a problem too ) with some success. I just
mention that as an option in case you might want to try those. I don't
have a safe line of fire for those so I stick with the .177 pellets.

Oh. my DIL can cook up a great squirrel and dumpling meal but they
still reside in MO.

Now my mouths watering so I better start breakfast. Jim

[Ranch Dog]

Yes, great play by play! Well done!

Would your regs let you use a round ball in your Rossi 92s?

[Moon Tree]

Thanks Michael. KY only allow shotgun firearms.