Earlier this year I had asked a duck hunting buddy, Jeff if he would be interested in hunting the final weekend of 4th season in Illinois with me, given we had not had the pleasure of a hunt together in almost two years and we had only been on one previous turkey hunt.
Jeff could only hunt one morning, so the pressure was on and though I wanted to go after Hakuna again, I decided to overlook my obsession and head for some newer ground that was untested. After gaining recent permission, plans were set and we met on Sunday morning for 20 minute drive to our destination. The morning was calm, muggy and 78 degrees before dawn. We eased across the first field to the pasture and I whispered to Jeff that this entire farm screamed turkeys but for some reason I only heard them in one general area, and never on the side we were on, despite how great the habitat looked. We eased into my planned set up where I had recently heard birds and as we were setting up, the first bird opened up with a loud gobble...directly behind us, right where we had just came from. I began internally kicking myself for not waiting for the birds to gobble, but I still felt good about our set up. I decided to stay put. The bird was in a pasture directly behind us with a strip of thick trees between us and a deep creek/ravine in the bottom of the strip of timber. As the bird repeatedly gobbled, a few more birds joined in. To my surprise there were several to the South, and a few up the hill behind us to the West...also near where we had walked on the way in.
Fly-down approached with the close bird doing a lot of gobbling and the birds to the far south, which I estimated to be 400+ yards away. I hit the close bird with a quiet tree yelp, and he paused, then gobbled. I repeated and he did the same thing again. After he gobbled again on his own, I hit him with a slightly louder tree yelp and he cut me off with a loud gobble. Again I started thinking, if I had been set up where I sat last week, that bird would be right in front of Jeff right now. My thoughts were cut short as I heard the unmistakeable sound of a gobbler taking flight...followed shortly by the sound of wind cutting over wings when I glanced up I see this gobbler sailing ABOVE the tree line directly over our heads and into the field! He hits the ground approximately 100 yards out. I was sure we had this bird, as I had a very realistic hen decoy out (dsd) and have yet to have a bird not commit to it...until now. I thought the bird looked strange in the early morning fog, that hung heavy over the bottom, but I could tell by his gobble he was definitely a mature bird. He had a strange beard that stuck straight out and then dropped down, almost like it had been broken...or he had two beards. Regardless he started making a wide circle around the decoy, going to half strut and looking hard at the decoy. All the while the birds to the south had shut up with the exception of one bird that was gobbling every 30 seconds to a minute solid.
The bird continued to circle until he was 100 yards directly across from the hen. I hit the call now that I was in line with the decoy and the bird, and he immediately gobbled, and went into half strut, he continued this process for a few minutes before turning and circling the opposite direction angling back away from us. As he moved the far bird continued to gobble and seemed to moving slightly closer. I decided by the demeanor of the first bird, he was a lost cause and I turned my attention to the bird that was somewhere in the fog some 300+ yards down the field.
Before calling I crawled to the field edge and peaked down to our right where I saw the first bird still standing on the field edge being wary. I eased back in the brush and told Jeff to be prepared for this bird to sneak in right along the timber line. It was a tough set up with thick underbrush on the field edge so we had trouble seeing in the direction the new bird was now approaching and the original bird had gone. I hit one series of yelps on the call and the far bird immediately answered. I waited a few minutes and hit the call again and he answered again, he was definitely closer. I whispered to Jeff "he's coming." He gobbled again on his own and seemed to have turned the other direction, so I called again and he hammered, this time I estimated him to be 150 yards out. I hit him one more time and he again hammered, sounding even closer.
I knew based on the terrain he could see the decoy so I decided to shut up. He never gobbled again, so I had a hunch he was on his way. About one minute later and I hear the awesome sound of a gobbler drumming. I whisper to Jeff that is what is going on and he has to be close!!! A few seconds later and I see a tail fan through the brush to our right and the big ole gobbler appears in full strut, spitting and drumming right to the decoy. He had us pinned at 15 yards as he headed from right to left to the decoy. Jeff was frozen with gun down as the bird continued to spit, drum, and strut right in our faces moving slowly to the decoy and putting on a show! My heart was pounding and I wasn't even hunting, as I whispered to Jeff to let him turn away and pull the gun up, the bird suddenly turned and as Jeff pulled the gun up, he turned back directly at us, still in full strut!!! Jeff was frozen with gun half up and I could see it shaking slightly as we both hoped the bird would spin with his back to us. Finally for a split second the bird blocked his own view with his tail fan and as Jeff shouldered the gun, he turned facing directly at us in full strut at 15 yards!!! I was screened at this point by a bush and watched Jeff as the shot rang out! I noted he wasn't jacking a second shell in and just like that the celebration began!!!
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| The author and Jeff with his bird. |
Jeff's first longbeard turned out to be a stud bird. 22 lbs 4 oz, 10" beard and 1 7/16", 1 8/16" spurs!!!
NWTF score: 71.625
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