Great finishing hunt to limit out with!


Rhino

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I took off the gloves on this turkey hunting trip. Left the bow at home and broke out my shotgun again.

I went back to the place where I sort of outsmarted myself this past weekend and set up on the same tree before daylight. I won’t go into last weekend’s story except to say we all make mistakes. As darkness began to turn to daylight on this cloudy morning, 2 gobblers began to sound off about 100 yards northwest of me. These birds were really fired up on the roost and I saw one of them fly down on the other side of a short spur ridge. I called and they answered with those loud gobbles that seemed to echo across the ground. They moved on top of the main ridge and gobbled off going toward the west away from me. I called again and they came gobbling their way back but hung up around 50 yards away. I could see both birds peaking around looking for that sweet talking hen. They stayed there a few minutes and without a hen in view, they went off to the west gobbling again. They yo yoed like that several times staying just out of range but I couldn’t risk moving closer in those open woods with 2 gobblers moving around on that ridge top. After about 15 or 20 minutes of this action, a hen came walking up the spur ridge to the northwest. As I was watching her move in she went to full alert. I’m thinking what the heck did I do? In a few moments I saw the movement of 3 deer cross the spur ridge right behind her. I was shocked she didn’t spook. She went back to feeding and slowly started moving toward me. I guess she thought she had a sweet sounding sister hanging out over there. Suddenly one of the deer came back up on top of the ridge, walked between me and the hen and began feeding between me and the 2 gobblers. I just knew I was out of luck now. Out of nowhere came a jake from the east without me ever seeing him until he was about 30 yards away. He must have walked by my right side while I was watching the hen and looking for the 2 gobblers. He went right after that hen chasing her around in circles. The whole time the other 2 gobblers were steadily gobbling their way closer but I was sure worried about that deer that was still between us. I was shocked to see them walk by that deer to get to the other 2 birds. When they came into a wide open view with their beards swinging the big one approached the upstart jake. Man he had a rope too. The big gobbler chased that jake around in a couple of circles and then he disappeared going east before he got his feathers pecked out of this tail. The hen followed him and the gobbler was following her too with his running buddy behind him. Right before the bigger gobbler was about to disappear, he stopped to check on his buddy. His mistake. That’s when I rolled him over with a load of # 5’s at 42 steps. I couldn’t believe it, but the deer didn’t run off. When the gobbler started flopping around on the ground the jake and the hen ran up to the other gobbler and they stood with the deer right behind them watching my gobbler flopping around. I waited until he quit flopping and they all stayed there until I finally got up to get my gobbler. My 3rd gobbler of the season has an 11 1/8” beard and 1 1/8” spurs. When I arrived at our camp I found out my new apprentice turkey hunter had killed a big one too with an 11 1/16” beard and 1 3/8” spurs. It was the 1st bird he called up and killed by himself. I called in his 1st gobbler earlier this season. I’m limited out now so I’m just a spectator for the rest of the season.

Here's my final gobbler of the season by the tree I was sitting on.

My_3rd_2005_Gobbler.JPG

Here's me and my new addicted turkey hunter with our 2 birds. Later we hung both birds together from a limb.

Gary_and_I_with_our_daily_double.JPG

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Re: Great finishing hunt to limit out with!

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Everyone sing along:

"Way to go RHINO, way to go!

Way to go RHINO, way to go!"

grin.gifcool.gif

Great bird buddy. Your friend has got him a good'un as well! Congrats on a fine season! cool.gif

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LMBO at Tom. Thanks everyone, I've had a lot of fun this season.

borch, with more than 1 bird coming in at a time for 2 out of the 3 birds I killed this season it made it easier than usual. Just pick out the big one and drop the hammer. grin.gif

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Re: Great finishing hunt to limit out with!

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Man, I bet you were sweatin' that deer bigtime. They'll mess you up bigtime. You musta been smellin' good or downwind grin.gif

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Fortunately I was downwind redbeard and yep, I was sure sweatin it out with deer mixed into the game. They will usually mess up the greatest of set ups. Fortunately, not that day though but I'll bet lady love had a lot to do with that. grin.gif

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Re: Great finishing hunt to limit out with!

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You must not be allergic to poison ivy. I think I just got a case when I looked at that one picture. grin.gif

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Actually, I am Chris. Didn't have much of a choice of trees that morning though so I took the risk and didn't catch it this time. The turkey vest will get a good washing.

Thanks again everybody, it's been a season to remember. I'm playing the guide game again this weekend for another friend of mine. The last day of our season is Sunday. To make it even better, we're having a crawfish boil late Saturday afternoon too. I know everyone north of the Mason/Dixon would just love to be chowing down on some mudbugs with us rednecks. grin.gif

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