My goal for this turkey season is complete. My dad finally connected on a longbeard. Going into this year that was the one goal I set out to accomplish and it all came together yesterday. I have been trying for three years now to no avail to get my dad a big old gobbler. We have had our close calls, bad decisons and even a longbeard dancing in our decoys and he has not been able to get one down. It all came together yesterday.
Our first set of the morning looked promising. We were in a pasture field and had birds on us but they didn't want to cooperate. Two hens stole the big boy away that we were after. I was hunting with a buddy and my dad. My buddy is as good of a caller as they get, I also killed two longbeards on his land last year, so I owed him one to say the least. We decided then to try to move to the top of a hill where we heard a couple different birds gobbling together at daylight. We trudged up the hill and when we finally got close to the top my dad stopped us and said he heard a gobble. My buddy let out a few yelps and a group of gobblers HAMMERED right back just over the hilltop. It was on.
We decided to belly crawl the last 20 yards to the fence row that luckly was covered in multiflower rose. My buddy went first with us following. We all got tucked in side by side with barrels resting on the tensil fence.
Here is where it gets good...
At that point my buddy tells my dad to switch him guys. My buddy has a Beretta Xtrema with a good turkey choke and a scope firing 3 1/2's. My dad has a 1950's pump gun with no choke slingin 2 3/4" shells. We wanted my dad to get the first shot so he swapped him guns incase they hung up at 50-60 yards. Mind you... my dad has no idea about any of this and has never shot a gun pumping out 3 1/2's. We get settled and my buddy lets out a couple more soft calls. They hammer and come over the ridge. As it turns out, it was four long beards grouped up with a big strutter dancing back and fourth in front of the other three leading the way. They get to about 40 yards and stop and begin to telescope looking over the fence for the hen. As they do not see her, they begin to get a little leary and start moving back towards the woods. It was time to shoot. My dad is to shoot when he is ready, then me and my buddy plan to follow up. My dad settles in and blazes the big strutter. Not a flop. My buddy drops the next one in line. At that point I have no shot as the birds are blocked by multiflower rose. I lean to the side and blast at the last bird standing there and smack him hard in the side but he gets out. Two longbeards down! It finally happend for my dad and it was a double!!
My dad rolls over and he is jacked!! Biggest smile I have seen on his face with blood running down his nose. As he is fist pumping he asks me, "Am I bleeding?". I look at my buddy and we begin to laugh histarically. I say, "yeah you are busted pretty good". He says "I ain't wiping it off until we get pictures." We laughed some more then grabbed the birds and headed back down the hill. My dad never ceasing to wipe that big grin off his face the whole way with a nice flow of blood dropping down. It was priceless!!! The birds had 10 and 11" beards and 1" and just over an inch spurs. The 3 1/2" and scope combo did a number on his dome. He had to go to the ER and get four stitches. That pic still cracks me up. You talk about a happy hunter. Yesterday was a day I will never forget.
Our first set of the morning looked promising. We were in a pasture field and had birds on us but they didn't want to cooperate. Two hens stole the big boy away that we were after. I was hunting with a buddy and my dad. My buddy is as good of a caller as they get, I also killed two longbeards on his land last year, so I owed him one to say the least. We decided then to try to move to the top of a hill where we heard a couple different birds gobbling together at daylight. We trudged up the hill and when we finally got close to the top my dad stopped us and said he heard a gobble. My buddy let out a few yelps and a group of gobblers HAMMERED right back just over the hilltop. It was on.
We decided to belly crawl the last 20 yards to the fence row that luckly was covered in multiflower rose. My buddy went first with us following. We all got tucked in side by side with barrels resting on the tensil fence.
Here is where it gets good...
At that point my buddy tells my dad to switch him guys. My buddy has a Beretta Xtrema with a good turkey choke and a scope firing 3 1/2's. My dad has a 1950's pump gun with no choke slingin 2 3/4" shells. We wanted my dad to get the first shot so he swapped him guns incase they hung up at 50-60 yards. Mind you... my dad has no idea about any of this and has never shot a gun pumping out 3 1/2's. We get settled and my buddy lets out a couple more soft calls. They hammer and come over the ridge. As it turns out, it was four long beards grouped up with a big strutter dancing back and fourth in front of the other three leading the way. They get to about 40 yards and stop and begin to telescope looking over the fence for the hen. As they do not see her, they begin to get a little leary and start moving back towards the woods. It was time to shoot. My dad is to shoot when he is ready, then me and my buddy plan to follow up. My dad settles in and blazes the big strutter. Not a flop. My buddy drops the next one in line. At that point I have no shot as the birds are blocked by multiflower rose. I lean to the side and blast at the last bird standing there and smack him hard in the side but he gets out. Two longbeards down! It finally happend for my dad and it was a double!!
My dad rolls over and he is jacked!! Biggest smile I have seen on his face with blood running down his nose. As he is fist pumping he asks me, "Am I bleeding?". I look at my buddy and we begin to laugh histarically. I say, "yeah you are busted pretty good". He says "I ain't wiping it off until we get pictures." We laughed some more then grabbed the birds and headed back down the hill. My dad never ceasing to wipe that big grin off his face the whole way with a nice flow of blood dropping down. It was priceless!!! The birds had 10 and 11" beards and 1" and just over an inch spurs. The 3 1/2" and scope combo did a number on his dome. He had to go to the ER and get four stitches. That pic still cracks me up. You talk about a happy hunter. Yesterday was a day I will never forget.
