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Bed to Bird in 30 minutes

themedic

Junior Member
755
0
OHIO
For anyone that has followed my 2013 Ohio turkey season, you know that I have struggled and was almost ready to call its quits. This the story of how that all changed yesterday morning in a matter of minutes.

In the previous two days, hunting had taken a back seat. My priority switched to getting a few things done around the house as well as roofing a rental property. The roofing project consumed the most time and I figured one more, long, rain free day, would be enough to finish the project. Afterwards, I could then focus on chasing thunder chickens.



The forecast for day three (yesterday May 8th) was just what I needed. Clear skies and no rain, however, I decided to sleep in and skip my usual moring hunt and instead go straight to the job site. Around 7:30 I was laying in bed admits my morning struggle to get out of bed when I was snapped awake by a loud gobble just outside my open bedroom window. I jumped out of bed just in time to see a big tom slip into the tree line adjacent to my house and heard another ear piercing gobble.

In all honesty, I was stunned when looking out the window. A late night rain storm had made way to a beautiful morning. The bright early morning sun highlighted the fog and mist that was slowly rising off of the fields which were blossoming in bright yellow flowers. The colors were so vivid and the cool spring air felt amazing on my sleepy face. That gobbler was fired up and with such a beautiful morning I could see why!


The gobbler was heading into the hollow and gobbling with almost every step. Eager to keep with my plans and get moving on the roofing project, I made some coffee and stepped out on the back porch with a cup. I sat down and listened to the bird work his way to the back field. He then proceeded to start crossing the back 40 acres about 200 yards behind the house. Upon the gobbler stepping into the open field, I stood up to fetch my binoculars. My movement on the back porch froze the bird and eventually scared him back into the hollow. He then went silent for about 10 minutes but soon was back to gobbling every minute or so.

I sat down in my rocking chair and listened to his gobbles getting more and more distant into the hollow. I was honestly relieved that he was walking away and getting ever closer to the property line. Then almost on cue, the gobbler turned around and his gobbles started getting louder. I thought “I’ll give it the old college try” and threw on my camo, turkey vest, shotgun and ran to the tree line where I first saw/heard the bird.

When I reached the tree line, I picked an ambush spot in some green briars and ducked into a kneeling position. The gobbles continued to get closer and closer until his gobbles rattled my eardrum. On his last gobble, I knew the bird should be stepping into view. Then, all the sudden…..there he was, directly in front of me, paralleling the wood line at 30 yards and walking at a fast clip.

The scenario reminded me of a rutting buck cruising for a hot doe. This bird was on a mission! I let the gobbler work his way into the field for about 30 yards and I then slowly raised my shotgun, centered my Dead Ringer fiber optic sight on his red bobbing head and pulled the trigger. The gobbler crashed to the ground flapping and kicking. I did a quick fist pump and whispered “finally” under my breath.

I then raced to the bird and tried to contain his madness. But my attempts were futile as the gobbler flapped and flapped, breaking many of his tail feathers and soaking his beautiful feathered coat to a wet mush.

I love the feeling of accomplishment! I was happy to get such a great bird after a trying 3 weeks but I was also very disappointed as I knew that a wet bird would make for difficult harvest photos. Capturing the details of a hunt with great harvest pictures is an aspect of a hunt that I enjoy immensely. But on this day, capturing a quality harvest picture proved to be more than difficult. If you look closely to the below picture, you can see me almost laughing because no matter what I tried, the pictures were just not my best work.


A week and a half remain in Ohio spring turkey season with closing day being May 19th. Ohio is a two bearded bird state and with another tag in my pocket, I will continue to hunt. Good luck to all those with unfilled tags and don’t give up hope. You never know when or how fast it can happen.