Weird Hunt. . .

[Guyon]

Last week, I took a turkey in a most unusual way.

First of all, I snuck up within 20 yards of him--something you usually just don't do. I was easing down a pipeline cut through and heard rustling in leaves down a wooded hill to my left. I thought it was another hunter at first, so I just froze and surveyed the terrain. Lo and behold, there's a turkey straight down the hill less than 20 yards away. I crouched down out of sight and waited about 5 minutes, straining to listen for him coming up (or going down) the hill. I was so close I was afraid that a cluck or yelp would spook him. Behind me was a leafy (noisy), steep bank, so I couldn't back into the opposite direction and call to him without being seen or heard.

Finally, I couldn't stand it anymore, and so I eased my head over the rise again. He was still there, picking through leaves and having breakfast. I just stood still and watched him for a while. I know that he looked right at me once, but since I had on a leafy suit, maybe he thought I was a big shrub. I just knew that if I raised my gun, he'd spook, so I held steady and watched.

Finally, he just starts puttering up the hill toward my left. As soon as he got behind some brush, I knelt down and aimed my gun at the point I thought he'd exit the woods. Sure enough, he popped right out about ten yards away, took one look at me, and flew. I let him get about 5 yards, took my time on the shot, and crumpled him. Shot was a good one to the head. No damage to the breast meat, I'm happy to say.

Wasn't a big bird. Just a one-year old jake, but I'll take what I can get on public land. One plus: he'll be mighty tender.

Like I said...strange hunt. I snuck up on a turkey and then shot him in the air. Anybody else take a turkey on the wing?

 

[Greybeard]

Good story. Sounds like a little more than "fair chase" to me. Enjoy the grub.

 

[dongun]

Great shot! I'll take luck over skill any time. It's too hard to get a shot at any turkey to pass on a legal jake - I'll take one every time.

Here in Arkansas, we get two turkey tags, but only one can be a jake. My hunting buddy took a jake first thing opening morning (last weekend). Yesterday (Friday), he called up four jakes together, but just had to watch them go by. Shortly afterward he moved around to the opposite side of the mountain and set up again. You guessed it - he called up the same four fakes. He recoginzed them, because one had a very short beard and another a very long beard (for a jake). So he moved again. On this set up he got a hen answering his call and she came in with what sounded like a big tom in tow. She popped up over the rise, followed shortly by a jake ... then another ... then another ... then another - same four jakes. I laughed my a@@ off. Just kept calling in the same four jakes and couldn't shoot. You may not believe it, but he called the same four jakes up again this morning.

If I don't hit the jackpot in the morning, I'm going after one of those four tone deaf jakes.

 

[NRA4LIFE]

On the wing

I have taken 4 on the wing. However, all have been during Missouri's fall season. 2 I called in (one a HUGE tom) and they came silently from odd angles where I couldn't get turned around before they saw me and took to wing. One I jumped in some high grass and one was similar in nature to yours. I heard her clucking in a bean field that I was approaching on a very brushy path, where she could not see me. I could just barely see her through the brush about 25 yards from me. I got down and made some soft clucks but she wouldn't come down the path I was on. After awhile I decided to ambush her and ran into the field where she took to flight about 5 yards from me. All on public land as well.

 

[Sisco]

Last spring I took on a Texas Rio with my bare hands!
The bird had been shot on-the-wing but didn't go down. We went searching for him, I was carrying my rifle instead of a shotgun because there were feral hogs in the area too.
I spotted the gobbler hiding under an evergreen tree and figured it was too close to shoot with a 25.06 so I reached in and grabbed him by the tail feathers. (Hindsight being what it is, I would take a different approach the next time!)
The bird did not want to cooperate and I quickly found out why God gave them spurs. Got him by the neck, swung him around it a couple of circles & dropped him. My hunting partner walked up about the time I let him go, wiping tears from his eyes saying that was the funniest thing he'd seen in a long time.
Tom wasn't down for the count yet however. As we were standing there looking the bird over he raised his head and looked back at us! I grabbed him by the neck again but this time I had my knife out and slit his throat.
Slow cooked the sucker over a bed of mesquite coals that evening.

 

[Stinger]

Sisco,

Somebody really ought to do something about those mean ol' turkeys. Somebody could really get hurt

Great stories, guys

Stinger

 

[TangSafetyM77]

Yes, I've seen one taken on the wing before. I was out on the family place (Central Texas) this weekend chasing Toms with some friends. We never did get one in close enough for a shot, so we just re-lived our past successes around the camp fire in the evenings, and I recounted a glorious hunt from my youth.
The only turkeys I have killed have been targets of opportunity while deer hunting save one, my first, when I was 12, on the same family place. My dad and I built a ground blind near the roost one afternoon and called in 4 gobblers. He had me all set up, and I blasted one at about 20 yards with my 20 ga youth model. 2 of the remaining gobblers ran directly away from us, but one flew, sorta at a quartering towards us. My father stood up and dropped him with his 12 ga wingmaster automatically without thinking about it. Best turkey hunt of my life...I thought I was the only one to ever see a turkey taken on the wing. BTW, I still have the beard from the Tom I took those 17 years ago.