Toughest Bird That Wasn't Killed................

[redbeard]

Sorry guys, I got turkey on the brain. Here's another.......His name was Orville Wright, The *(&%$*& flying turkey. Hunting this peach orchard farm, I ran into some buddies about 8 am, they were headed out, me in. They mentioned a tom gobbling just off the pasture earlier and they couldn't do anything with him, so off I went. Heck, I thought it was going to be the easiest hunt ever. No sooner than I'd finished a run on my Primos Super Slate, here he came...........S L O W L Y. I was in the middle of some thick stuff and was wishin' I wasn't . Never could get a bead on his head without the chance of cutting wood at the same time. Well, he inched along and all I needed to do is move my barrel maybe two inches. I did just that and I did it slow. Well, that was all that bird needed to see and he was outa there. Oh well, I was disappointed but there's always tommorrow. I went back and set up further into the woods than the last time. Offered up some tree yelps and he obliged by gobblin'. What he did next is lesson one from one smart tom. He pitched off that limb and sailed into the pasture, high stepping outa there only to pause and gobble. Dangit. Well, the next hunt, I decided to sit up in the pasture. Guess what, he pitched right down in the woods. We repeated that scenerio for the ENTIRE season. Wherever I sat up, he pitched the opposite. He had me frazzled. Had I not gave up one day in search of another, he'd skunked me that season. Never did get that bird and he never was seen again after that season. A deer hunter found the remains of a fine gobbler with inch and a half spurs in the general area the following fall. Guess he must've crashed. He still eats at my soul...........

[Rhino]

Re: Toughest Bird That Wasn\'t Killed................

Ahhhhh………the dreaded devil gobblers! Yep those suckers can ruin you r season if you let them. Encountered quite a few of them that lived to probably die of old age and bagged a few too. I learned a long time ago when encountering those old boys to occasionally back off and work on some that aren’t wearing graduation caps and tassels for hunter evasion. Helps to build up the confidence level ya know.

One of the more memorable ones was a nasty tactician. The 1st time I hunted him I had him coming but he hung up for just a split second and then went to what turned out to be one of his favorite hen searching spots. Where he actually hung up was at the limit of my range but I second guessed taking the shot and lost the only real chance I ever had at him. I paced it off later and by the time that season was over I wished I never had. His favorite spot to gobble for hens was at the point of a high ridge overlooking where 2 hardwood booms joined a large hardwood bottom. The point of the ridge was only about 1 yard wide. For a distance of maybe 30 yards it was less than 3 yards wide. After blowing the 1st opportunity I tried setting up between him and that point and that sucker came through on the side of the ridge around me to get to the point. I never saw him but I heard him when he got there. He began sporadically gobbling for hens for about 15 minutes or so and then shut up. After a while I decided to crawl up closer and re-set up. Where I set up turned out to be about 50 yards from him but he was just out of sight on the point of that ridge. After waiting and calling trying to get him to answer again I was convinced he had left with hens. When I stood up there he was on the point and he was over the end of it in a flash. After that day I tried everything I could think of (including setting up within 30 yards of the point) but he would always accommodate me with an ample amount of gobbling but I never actually saw him again. It seemed like he knew every feature of that ridge and if something wasn’t right he had alternate positions to overlook the same area but he definitely had a preference for that point. I once tried making him mad by just using a gobble call and it sure did. He hung up every time and I moved several times that day but I guess he thought he was gobbling me into submission since I wouldn’t come in to challenge him. I sure couldn’t make him come close enough to me but that sure was a fun hunt that day. The following season I was there on opening day and heard nothing but song birds so I guess he died of old age.