| Author | Message | ||
| Freddy McGuire (Vaturkey)
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Where do I start! A lot happened on my 4 day trip to TN... The whole 4 days I was hunting with GN. His son joined us for opening day only. The night before opening day there were terrific thunderstorms in the East TN area, but the rain had slacked at daylight and we heard a bunch of birds gobbling and got setup on the 3 closest. They had hens on the other side of them from us and after 200 gobbles finally flew down and went the other direction. We took up chase and then struck 2 new gobbling birds that were gobbling fairly well. Keeping in touch with a locator, we setup on them and they came to about 60 yards once and then, as it started to rain, drifted off towards a pasture that we did not have permission to hunt. We tried to stay above them and intercept them, and sort of got to the end of the ridge where the woods broke out in to pasture edge and there was THE FENCE that separated the two. Our hope was that the birds would ease up the hill to our calls on our side of the fence before they got in to the pasture. GN's son was the designated shooter, and GN and I were calling softly 30 yds behind him. The birds were gobbling hard and coming- but which side of the fence were they on? When they topped the hill at 25 yds they were on the wrong side for us and GN's son had a gun on them as they put on a show in the field and then drifted off when they finally spotted something that wasn't quite right and left the scene. Whew! As GN said, we got everything out of that hunt but a bird to clean. It was a very exciting hunt! As the rain and fog started in the birds pretty much shut down after that and we couldn't get a bird to gobble. Basically, the weather was against us for the first 2 days. Later that opening day GN and I setup on a green-field with a blind and some decoys. After a while GN says- "There they are!" It was 2 gobblers on top of the hill, but they didn't like something about our setup and went back into the woods on the other side. It was a good opener but no birds tagged. The next morning was cold and wet and GN and I setup on the edge of a green-field in THE RAIN in the morning. We had a few birds gobbling on the roost but it was cold, wet, and nasty. They had hens and once on the ground we never heard another gobble. Later that morning I got a jake to answer my calls with some yelps. These yelps were very familiar as they were the yelps of a jake when a strutting longbeard is nearby. The big gobbler never gobbled but I kept up with them by listening for the jake yelp. I slipped into position and then spotted 2 big longbeards, 2 hens, and the jake. I had them at 50-55 twice but could never get them close enough to where I felt I could close the deal. It was a fun hunt! That afternoon we left to head to middle TN to hunt an area down there. Sunday evening it was still raining hard in middle TN and we got in 20 minutes of scouting when we got there that evening. Neither of us had ever seen this place before, but we found a bunch of fresh tracks in a logging road. So that is where we decided to be standing at daylight on Monday. Monday broke cool, and clear skies overhead, some fog, but with GN's dreaded east wind. When the gobbling started there were several birds within 300-400 yds but none close enough to set-up on with confidence, and we felt the hens would be with the bird really quick. GN thought we should make a move. It was a good one. We slipped around the ridge in big woods and were trying to get to the corner of a small green field near the dam of a pond sort of on the edge of an area where the gobbling seemed most concentrated, as we knew the birds were likely to head for a field in the wet conditions. As we eased to the field below us we were concerned about staying low and out of sight till we got to the field edge. As we eased down a logging road, GN found THE DITCH that we could get in and get fairly close to the corner where he thought the birds would come out. We never quite got down there as far as we wanted. As we were heading down the ditch a REALLY close gobble caused us to drop in the mud and get the guns up. I was following GN down the ditch so he was in front and downhill. I would cover the hillside to our right and he had about a 30 yd shooting window in front of him. A few soft yelps later and 3 gobblers step into the corner on the pond edge and GN lets the largest bird have it at about 30 yards. It was a super bird- 22-1/2 lbs, 1-3/8" spurs, and a 9" beard. This all happened about 20 minutes after the first gobbles of the day. It was a really exciting hunt with several gobbling birds. Here is a picture of me with GN's bird...  After tagging his bird we took off to find me one but after the birds flew down they got pretty quiet. And it was open fields, with no leaves out, and big woods so it was difficult to move a lot without spooking birds. We heard a few more birds and worked one in a little hollow that refused to leave it. We then headed back to an area we had found a lot of sign and setup to blind call for a while at about 11 am. After about ½ hour a bird gobbled way in the hollow below us. The next gobble was closer, and the next gobble was really close. Finally I spotted him coming through the edge of the field to us. This is THE TRACTOR part of the story and here is where it went really bad... the bird was closing pretty quick coming 200 yds, we guessed in five minutes, but when he was 60 yards out the farmer pulls the diesel into the pasture 200 yds behind us to feed hay to the cattle and the bird stops dead in his tracks and marches back into the field and on in to deeper woods, heading straight away from us! We almost had him, but that's turkey hunting! We then went to have some lunch and on the way back we had an awesome experience- while driving down a gravel road that goes through the farm GN says "Look standing there!" It was 3 big gobblers standing right on the side of the road across a fence. This wasn't unusual but when they started gobbling at the truck that was something. They stood right there and gobbled in unison several times from no more than 20 yards. Here is a picture of them...  That afternoon we setup in a likely area again close to where we had seen all the tracks the evening before and later in the afternoon we had a few gobbles from a bird in a green field that we could not move on because it was so open, but nothing came to our setup back in the woods a bit. We stuck around until fly-up and although we could hear fly-ups and gobbles from different directions and roosted several birds, I had my sights on one in particular in "the Tractor Field" that I was holding a little grudge against! ;o) So GN went on to tell me he had rarely if ever killed a roosted bird and I told him I was often successful with it. But we thought out a plan for the next morning and it worked to perfection! It was going to be clear and light wind but a half full moon would illuminate the field, so we planned to leave at least an hour earlier than normal, get in the field, along the edge and hopefully be able to use the moon shadows on the edge of the field to hide our entry along the edge and get decoys in a point on the field where any bird around it could see them at daylight. THE BATTLEFIELD: The next morning we went in early - early and set out 2 hens and a jake decoy in the corner of the pasture near where we thought the bird was roosted lower along a creek. It was a fairly bright moon but by using the tree shadows I was able to get out in the field a little ways to setup the decoys. As I slipped into my spot, and GN sat up 30 yards behind me, we heard the unmistakable sound of pppffffttttt-vvvvrrrrrrooommmmm! It was a full 30-40 minutes before even the faintest hint of daylight and our bird was already drumming in the tree and I was really close! Well, we had sure underestimated how many birds might be around that field. Even though we had heard only one roost gobble from the area of the field, when birds started gobbling, the place lit up with gobbles from 3 directions! There were at least 8 or more different gobblers roosted around this field. As it got lighter and lighter I finally spotted "my turkey" sitting on the limb strutting for all he was worth at 80 yards! The serenade of gobbles was incredible and it was a show I will never forget. We were getting ready to have big fight in this pasture and we were going to be in the middle of it! I was not in a position to make a call of any kind and GN was just making some soft yelps and purrs on his slate and that's all the calling we would need. Some of the birds starting flying down right in the pasture and began to cross the field towards our set-up. Finally "my bird" pitched down out of the tree and as much as I wanted to watch a huge turkey fight I couldn't stand it. Elvis, Dr Funk, and Hulk Hogan, all rolled in to one, had entered the arena and he was huge. He came up my edge of the field and I took the first clear shot I had. The shot was about 35 yards and it was another beautiful TN turkey- 25 lbs, 10" beard, and 1-1/8" ivory colored spurs. This is the heaviest bird I have ever taken. Here is picture of me and my bird. Also a picture of where I was sitting and a picture of me with both birds...    That morning was a truly memorable experience as was the entire hunt. GN says he has seen some incredible early morning experiences turkey hunting but this last day's hunt is right at the top tier, and I can only say "me too". You have to love it when a plan comes together! Thanks again GN! You are the best! | ||
| TScottW99
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Holy Cow what a story!!! Loved every second of it. Congrat's you two on two VERY NICE Gobblers!!!!! Sounds like one heck of a hunt. now my blood is boiling and I still have 10 days left  I'm happy for ya' and also for the rest of us, sure glad those two birds arn't Virginia Gobblers ;o) The Contest would be over for sure | ||
| Big Bird |
Congratulations you two. That is what this is all about! 22 1/2 and 25lbs?!!! What a couple of brutes!!! | ||
| Cliff |
Very good story and a heck of a start of a new season, congrats GN and Freddy | ||
| Dale |
I'm speechless...the only way it could get any better is if the whole thing was on video...congrats. | ||
| Ryan Tucker
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Awesome story! Those are memories you'll never forget! | ||
| Strutstopper |
Wow, great story and even better birds. Congrats! | ||
| Gobbler Getter
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What a story! What a hunt! really nice birds too! Can't wait for the season to come in here in Va. Kevin | ||
| HODY |
Freddy reading that story was better than hearing it, WOW what a hunt. By the way I am glad you decided to only allow birds killed in Va enter the contest, cause your bird would have been hard to beat. Gn congrats on your bird too. Hopefully several of us will have awesome stories to share with each other come the 13th, which is now only 9 days away!!!!!! | ||
| VolDoug |
Great story Freddie! I'm glad you and GN had a successful trip. Now STAY HOME where you belong! The birds in Middle TN are further along than those in East TN. I'm only hearing gobbling from the roost, and then all's quite here. I did kill a 20 pounder on Tuesday though. | ||
| wgb1 |
Great Day - what a story and what a hunt. Way to go you two. | ||
| hnt4bucks |
Great story and congrat's. Nice birds. I also killed my biggest bird (25.0 lbs)in middle TN. Great hunting in that area. Almost every bird I killed in that area was over 21 lbs. Can't wait to go back. Good luck on your next trip! |