4-11-13

Today I guided Greg Scoles on a turkey hunt. We arrived at the ranch around 5:30 and as soon as we stepped out of the truck some coyotes started howling and then the turkeys went nuts! This continued as we got our gear together and as the sky started to lighten I could see a gobbler standing in the roost tree not 300 yards from us. We headed in his direction and got set up and gave a few calls. The gobbler immediately answered back and it looked as if he may come right to us when he left the roost. As it got lighter the gobbler was getting restless so I knew fly down was close. He pitched out of the tree and went straight away from us, he must of sensed something wasn't quite right. He was still gobbling to beat hell so we snuck out and tried to get around him. As soon as we set up and called he gobbled and it sounded as if he was headed our way. Slowly but surely he came closer and kept calling but all of the sudden he hit the breaks and would not come any closer. I kept trying to coax him in but he stood his ground and eventually had enough and moved off in the other direction. While all of this was going on there were turkeys gobbling all over, so we picked one that sounded the most excited and headed his way. We closed the distance quietly and got the decoy set up in a small meadow. After catching our breath and getting hidden under a big oak I let out a call and got an immediate answer. I gave it a few minutes and called again, he answered right back. We kept this going for a few minutes and soon we spotted the gobbler headed our way. Each time I would call he would puff up and gobble. It was quite a show as we watched him close the distance from a couple of hundred yards down to a mere 20 yards. We kept messing with him, as we were having too much fun watching him drum and strut for his new lady! I could sense that Greg had about all of the watching he could take, so I gave him the go ahead and he put the smack down.  He was a beautiful bird, packing a 9" beard and 1" spurs. This was Greg's first turkey and I have a feeling it won't be his last!

Casey