With the success on opening day where dad killed a nice longbeard straight off the roost in a classic spring time hunt, to say he was fired up is quite an understatement. We had a couple days to hunt so was hopeful we could somehow muster a repeat performance. Sunday morning we switched to a different swamp and chose to sit in a place where I have had numerous encounters over the years. Well before light enough to expect gobbling I whispered to dad and alerted him I was sure I could hear a turkey drumming. Wasn’t long before his thunderous gobble announced that he was indeed there and in the mood. The turkey on open morning only gobbled a handful of times, this Sunday morning monarch was a different fellow… he gobbled well over a hundred times and is one of the loudest drumming turkeys I have ever heard. A few soft tree calls and a subtle flydown issued, he sailed down and started right at us. I was already counting the chickens before they hatched … dad moved the gun readjusting for a shot at 20 yards and it was over before it even started. The drumming turned into putting and he walked off without a shot fired as dad just didn’t feel comfortable shooting at a moving, weaving, bobbing head. We squeezed every ounce of fun out of him as we unintentionally played catch and release. We hunted Monday and Tuesday of opening week and were around turkeys, but with very limited mobility was just never in the right place to really be in the game.
Fast forward to this weekend, where dad said he had caught up on his rest and was ready to go give it another try. Friday morning found us sitting at the same tree where dad found success opening morning, with a gobbler roosted out in the swamp in the same general area as before (likely the other bird we heard the previous Saturday). He gobbled sparingly, but aggressively answered when I sent a fseries of soft tree talk his way. I heard him fly down just up the swamp from us and asked dad if he heard it. He heard the noise but wasn’t sure it was the gobbler. We sat tight for a dozen or so minutes and I gave a fly down and yelped a couple of series as I had hit the ground looking company. About two minutes later dad turned his head to the right to look up the swamp edge and the dreaded alarm putts, flushing wingbeats of a large gobbler flying to parts unknown across the swamp filled the low grounds. We had another encounter later in the day with a group of turkeys (adult gobbler, hen and two jakes) that we watched for the better part of two hours, but they never were in range for a sure kill. A thrill to watch them, and intense at times….. close but no cigar.
Saturday morning found us sitting at the base of the same tree where we had been opening Sunday morning, hoping for another encounter with the “loud drummer”. Much to our disappointment he didn’t appear to be home in the slough where he normally seems to roost. We heard a few turkeys gobble, most so far off it was very difficult to get a bearing on their direction. There was a hen roosted in a cypress right out in front of us and she and I had some light tree talk back and forth. When she flew down on the other side of the slough I began yelping at her and she returned the favor. As we called back and forth it turned into aggressively cutting at each other. Suddenly a gobbler sounded off a couple hundred yards up the slough, only problem was he was across the swamp … on her side. A few minutes passed, little more calling and he gobbled directly across from where we were sitting. Few cutts and nasally yelps and he went into a gobbling frenzy, then all became silent. I was watching across the swamp and caught movement, saw him going down the edge, then he turned around and went up the edge, then down the edge, then up the edge. I told dad, don’t move a muscle I see him across the swamp and he looks like he is trying to figure how to cross, I think he is going to fly over here. About a minute later I yelped once more and He flew the swamp and headed our direction …….He should have kept his ass on the other side of the swamp with his girlfriend…..
