Top_Heavy's World

"How close are you going to let them get?"... I thought it was sort of a strange question, so I had to think a second before I answered. "As close as we can" was my whispered response, my face still firmly pressed against my Remington SP10. I was lined up on the tom on the left, and I was watching for any sign of them spotting us. Ernie, a good friend and companion on this hunt, was sort of nervous, but steady enough on the bird on the right. The pair continued up the trail, ducking a rose branch, they were inside of 15 yards. Both birds were magnificant, full tail fans, worn wing tips, very colorful heads and long spurs. We were hiding from the birds on the opposite side of a wooden gate. The open barbed wire fence offered no cover, so we had settled for the heavy posts and boards at each end of the gate. "Shoot on 3" I whispered, knowing that they would lift there heads and we would take them immediately if they heard me. "On 3 or 1,2,3 then shoot?" Ernie was trying to be funny, like in the movies with Danny Glover and Mel Gibson... I find it funnier now than I did at the time. "You shoot first, and I will follow you..." I whispered back. Ernie settled to his stock and I watched his finger tighten on the trigger... I heard the safety "click" and the birds froze. Their heads came up and one let out a "PUTT". I settled my barrel on the turkeys neck, at 6 yards they wouldn't be a tough target...
Ernie and I had hunted all morning, with lots of gobbles to be heard, but no birds to be seen. We were hunting my wife's, grandmother's place, a 100 acre piece of old stand timber, with a pair of CRP fields. My initial set up was great, tons of sign, droppings and feathers, dust bowls and tracks, but we needed to be there in the afternoon, not while they were already on the roost. We moved as close as we could and I did my best to coax a bird closer, but no one was buying. The 5 or 6 gobbling birds worked South towards the river as the morning progressed and we were soon sitting in a very silent timber. I decided to show Ernie my "Cut and Run" routine. We left the decoys and vests full of items, and scampered across the little creek. We worked through the next patch of multiflora roses and we were almost to the crest of the hill... I stopped and motioned for Ernie to do the same. Never crest until you have called, you will be visible from a long ways away, and you will not know the birds were there, until they are running or flying. I did my standard series of yelps and I got a gobble immediately. We moved up the side of the hill to get closer before we peaked over. I yelped again and he answered. Laying in the grass on the side of the hill I slowly raised my head to try and locate the birds. I cut really aggressively and 2 birds gobbled back. I could finally see the sun reflecting on the tails of 2 strutting birds. They were on the other side of a very steep ditch, there was no way of pulling them across that feature. We slid back below the sight line of the birds. We casually walked up the hill towards the junction of the ridge we were on and the ridge they were on. I didn't call again until we were against the fence. The toms had heard me call a couple of times as we were locating them and moving closer, so they were already on the way to meet us. They were so sure we were a hen, they almost met us at the gate!
Their heads came up and one of them let out a "PUTT. I settled my barrel on the turkeys neck, at 6 yards, they wouldn't be a tough target. Ernies 12 guage exploded and the right bird folded. I hesitated only a second and folded my bird as well. The excitement of a successful hunt was fantastic. High fives and hand shakes, it couldn't have been much better. I was lucky enough to capture a mid morning picture of Ernie and the results of a great spring hunt.