Larry A. Smail's Blog

Left to right: Galen Braddy; Kip Feroce; Me and Ken Crummett

The following evening while we all ate an evening meal a severe storm erupted. None of us gave a lot of thought of what may had happened at the place we were staying.

Kip Feroce of http://www.ferociouscalls. com  and Judge Galen Braddy of North Carolina    decided to head off to work for gobbler action at various places. I was going to help Ken Crummett of West Virginia to set up in a blind. As you may recall from the previous entry here of Ken’s two strokes and limitations. Just as the sky was showing a morning to be I decided to walk to where Ken’s blind was set up. The blind was gone! The winds pulled up the blind’s roots and I found it down over an embankment. The blind had two logs attached to it. The winds must have been very strong. I used a flashlight in my mouth to carry the blind and reset it before Ken’s walk over. I gave assistance to Ken as he struggled to walk. I went off around the hill to see what I could hear this morning.

Dawn had arrived and I wasn’t where I had hoped to be listening, but I still heard a tom gobbling around the slope. I worked above the turkey, but by the time I had set up and called he had flown way down over the steep side.  I went to work a long ridge to call and listen.

I was returning to check with Ken when I first heard the gobble. He was quite a distance away and I hurriedly tried to close the gap between the two of us. Once I arrived to where he had roosted I heard a lone gobble way down the hollow. I circled around the round top and checked with Ken. He was doing fine and had seen a jake and three hens. I told Ken I would be back later and was going to try to get close and arouse the gobbler.

          I worked down the slope and set to listen. I heard the gobble far down the hollow. I walked along the hill’s side to try to work above the turkey. Eventually, after stopping and listening and moving on I found myself high above the gobbler. I began to call a little more aggressively than earlier. He answered. I moved in on him several times before settling against a huge oak. I saw a

Apple blossoms

Fisher moving through the forest while I waited.

The bird went silent and I had the Remington 870 (Assault shotgun…sarcasm) in position and waited. Suddenly, he gobbled and much closer. The gobbling increased in intensity and soon I could seen the big bird.

The gobbler approached , stopped and gobbled while displaying his fanned tail. The big gobbler stayed in one place and finally he began moving upslope. He stopped to look for the unseen hen and at 38 paces he was mine.

The gobbler was heavy to carry up and over the steep country. The distance was close to three-fourths of a mile.

Unfortunately for Ken a jake was walking through the woods when it suddenly ran off. I entered the scene close to ten-o’clock and may have ruined Ken’s chance. I apologized, but Ken was ready to call the hunt a day and begin preparing for their trip home.

Eventually Kip and Galen arrived without success this morning. We said our goodbyes and off I went home to clean the turkey.

The gobbler weighed 22 pounds sporting a nine and three-fourth inch beard and each spur was one inch.

The turkey was the “icing on the cake.” Without the success this hunt was  still grandeur. A more beautiful morning is hard to come by. The temperature was comfortable and colors of the spring woods and the morning hues were perfect! Scarlet Tanagers were fluttering about. Deer and squirrels were all about. The forest was just perfect. What else can I say?

Juneberry or Serviceberry blossoms