| Author | Message | ||
| VA Hen
|
Well, this morning dawned really yucky!!! And I came really close to staying in the bed, but the thoughts of Tommy Three Toes coming thru where we wanted to setup was “haunting” me. So Freddy and I headed to the mountain for one last morning of hunting. It started raining fairly hard when we got out of the truck. We put our rain jackets on over our turkey vests and headed to the spot we had talked about last night. We set-up our “Condo”….a blind and an umbrella combination. We set out 3 decoys and got comfy. We were going to stay out the better part of the morning. About 10 minutes after we set-up Freddy was busy killing honey-bees with his hat. We evidently had their favorite tree too! About 20 minutes later, a hen came into the field (35 yards) and was never bothered by the decoys. She got closer to the woods and the wind started blowing really hard. Well, she wasn’t about to get any closer to the woods so she flew back to the middle of the field. The wind and rain was not cooperating. It played havoc with our blind and our umbrella. At one point while the hen was 30 yards of us, half of the blind was blown over and then the umbrella was turned inside-out. Ugh! Some of the things we go thru for a turkey! :o) After about an hour of seeing and hearing nothing, not to mention being wet, cold and windblown, I decided I’d had enough. Freddy eased up to peek over the little rise in the field and boy am I glad he did. There stood 3 birds about 80 yards away (at this point he wasn’t sure what they were, could just see their backs as they were feeding along). He eased back down and I prepared to shoot. After a little while with no birds, he stood back up and no turkeys. He climbed upon a log behind our tree and kept on peeking. Nothing! All of a sudden I looked in the field to my right about 150 yards away and there were 4 longbeards feeding directly to us. Never heard a peep out of them. Evidently the 3 birds earlier were Jakes and when they saw these guys, the Jakes were outta here! Freddy eased back down against the tree and turned around, so he could see what I saw. And they just kept on coming. I was following them and just anticipating the shot that I would have at one of these guys. They got about 80 yards out and decided they didn’t want to come any further. We are still not sure what they saw they did not like, but they never putted, never flew, they just turned and trotted back the way they came. Boy was I ever disappointed! Stupid turkeys! Freddy looked at me and said, “We’re going to do something drastic!”. And so off we went. We went back up and around the mountain and went to try to set back up on them before they left the big field all together. Off we go and Mrs. Short Legs here is trying to keep up with Mr. Long Legs. It was hilarious! Even the 5-strand barbed wire fence was not too much of a problem, but I did have to crawl between the strands. We hit a little road that the farmer uses to get up into the mountain and hustled down it to get in front of the birds. We got to the edge of the field and were able to get set-up in front of the birds. At this point we were glad that it was windy because it helped hide our movements as we eased up to the edge of the field. Freddy started peeking up into the field to check their location and the crazy birds were out in the waist-high (for me) hay field that had not been cut yet. He got me up in front of him and I finally saw this cute little red head, about 40 yards away, peeking out of the hay. And they were standing stock-still and not moving. They evidently were trying to figure out what was going on to their left. Well, since my season has had a miss in it, I wanted to be really careful and make sure everything was right and NOT rush the shot. So I walked myself thru everything, telling myself to keep my head down, cheek on the stock and squeeze the trigger really slow (thanks GN). And BOOM! I stood there and watched three turkeys fly off and thought, “Crap, I’ve missed again!” Freddy said, “You got him!” Off goes Freddy running full blast thru the hay field, so I take off after him. He got to where the bird was standing and started hooping and hollering! Well, then I realized that there was a turkey that didn’t fly away! MINE!!!!! I started crying and he picked me up in a bear hug! What an awesome hunt! It was a great ending to a season that hadn’t gone so great for me! YEE-HAW!!!!! Well, Max…I betcha’ I won the Ladies Category! :o) 19½ pounds 10½“ beard 1¼“ spurs Score: 65.5 Awesome Mountain Bird!! Pictures coming soon! | ||
| mtnbuk |
Congrats, Amy! Glad to see I wasn't the only one out in that weather this morning. (Except I stayed in the truck till the rain quit!) I met/shared a table with you & Freddy and others at the Roanoke banquet. Hope to see yall at the cookout. mtnbuk | ||
| Big Bird |
Way to go Amy!!! Now that's what I call redemption. Freddy, I know you wanted this as bad as Amy, so congrats to you too and nice move. Awesome way to end the season! | ||
| TScottW99
|
Congrat's Amy!!!!!!!!! Great story & Hunt, thanks for sharing both... Glad you ended your season on such an awesome note  | ||
| HODY |
Great Bird Amy. I am also glad to see I was not the only crazy one out there Sat. At one point the rain was sideways and the wind was around 20mph. I really questioned what the heck I was doing out there. I had a decent season, sort of glad to see it end so I can catch up on some sleep. | ||
| GN |
Somebody needs to count up how many turkeys the folks on here have killed i n the fields i n the rain this year...it is a bunch. Congrats Amy. As far as the ladies category , you may be the only entry? | ||
| Turkey576 |
Good job Amy. Nice bird. Freddy is teaching you right. I read some where that the student is always more in tune than the teacher. You and Freddy are a tough team on the birds God bless you both. Jon | ||
| VA Hen |
Thanks again guys....it was awesome!!! Amy | ||
| maytom |
Great story and bird Amy!! I'm proud as a Peacock for you girl!! Very impressice stats on him as well!! You go girl!! |