Larry A. Smail's Blog

I heard the first gobble at twenty-minutes after five this morning, but the bird was far off.  At 5:45 A.M. I decided to move towards the gobbler to see where he was gobbling. I suspected he may be across a road and Cherry Run for I had been fooled before at this exact place. The sound seems to carry and distort. Well, to not write a lot, the bird may have been on my side of the hill, but very low or he may have been low across the above-mentioned hollow. Regardless, I would cross the creek and try to find him. I wonder if any birds sounded off after I moved out of the original listening point. I guess I’ll never know.

Eventually, I reached the top of this hill calling trying to locate the bird. I received an answer and moved close before setting up to call. He liked my calls and moved closer to about eighty to a hundred yards.  He went quiet and after waiting some time I checked things out. This woodlands was very open and I believe the gobbler moved to a vantage point to see the mysterious hen (Me) and after a time walked off. Gobblers use their keen eyesight well. I believe the bird became suspicious after not seeing the source of the hen calling and departed. Remember, I stated the woods was very open. I heard some jakes a few hundred yards to my left on the next hill.

Fall-like colors of spring.

I walked to the jeep and deciding what to do  for time was getting short.

I drove a couple of miles south and walked to the top of a hill where a right-a-way cuts across the countryside. The time was almost ten o’clock. My  call received an answer and I moved closer and set up. The gobbler was across a small tributary on the opposite side  of this hill. I heard hen chatter  off to my right. A second gobbler began gobbling to my left.

The second gobbler came in behind me and at about fifteen feet I just couldn’t align the sights because as to how I was leaning in an awkward position. The turkey became suspicious at the movement and moved off. I could have shot the bird with a shotgun pattern, but I let him go. Remember, the other gobbler was moving too.

I began hammering on the call and the gobbler became excited. The gobbler went quiet.

In moments the full fanned tail appeared. The gobbler was coming in and fast. I leveled the shotgun and when a clear shot visualized the boom of the shotgun disturbed the silence.

I immediately realized this bird was bigger than last week’s kill. I weighed him at home and he was twenty-one and a half pounds. The broom-like beard was over ten inches and each spur was one inch long.

One of several deer I had seen these last two hunts.

I tagged him and off I went back towards the jeep. I felt blessed to witness the beauty of the spring woods and to top it all off with a nice gobbler.

I stopped by to see the landowner for I saw his car on site. I couldn’t talk him in to butchering the gobbler. The task had to be by me again.

I carried a tripod to set up the camera with delayed timer.

Dwarf Ginseng