yoderjac
5 year old buck +
It was pitch black as John and I left the barn headed the field. John headed into the pines behind the field we call G6. With my back acting up lately, I once again headed for the blind on G8 to the north. It was still dark, but you could tell that day was starting to break quickly. I slipped silently along the wood-line as quickly as possible making sure not to disrupt the pre-dawn song of the whippoorwill. I setup a pair of decoys about 20 yards into the field directly across from my blind. I entered the blind a quietly eased back into my chair. It wasn’t long before the emperor declared his dominance over the morning with a thunderous gobble. He was roosted less than 100 yards from me. The hollows echoed his claim on the woodland. He was challenged by the cacophony of a passing murder, but he would have none of it. He rolled of successive gobbles at each crow’s utterance. The depth and fullness of his gobbles left no doubt that any competition was a very distant second. Other nearby longbeards had somewhat muted gobbles and offered only pro-forma challenges so as not to raise the ire of this regal master.
It wasn’t long before he pitched to the ground. I made a soft call and he responded but headed the opposite direction. I presumed he was following his consorts so I just sat back and listened to his periodic boasts. The Tom finally quieted for a while as he attended to more important pursuits. However, he had a quick recovery and was soon ready for more. Once again, he began a series of plaintiff gobbles hoping to solicit a willing partner. I quickly realized his vulnerability and began some more aggressive calling. The boss hammered at every call, and quickly cut the distance. I got quiet and his last gobble was at about 70 yards in the pines behind my blind. Soon I heard his footsteps a few yards behind my blind. At this point, my heart was pounding so loudly that I was sure he could hear it. I peered though a very small slit in the rear window but could not see him. At this point I figured it was a test of patience as he went completely silent.
Seconds seemed like minutes and minutes like hours. Finally, he sounded off once again, but he was a couple hundred yards to my south. His years of survival had taught him that it was dangerous to go to the hen rather than letting her come to him, but his drive for another tryst, would not let me retreat to security. Instead, he decided to circle and get a good look at the hen from a safe distance. He would rely on the majesty of his full fan and flag-like head to draw her to him. However, when he stepped into the open field 200 yards away and look in the direction he had heard the seductive entreatments of the hen, he got a big surprise.
I’m sure he could not believe his eyes. “What arrogance” he must have thought, “No upstart can get away with that in my kingdom”. A juvenile gobbler had usurped the duties normally reserved for the emperor of the woodland. What he saw was actually a ruse I had employed well before sunrise. I had placed a hen decoy squatting on the ground with a jake decoy in a strategic position on her back. This is known to many turkey hunters as the jealousy setup.
The Tom seemed thrice his normal size as he covered the 200 yard distance in less than 30 seconds in full strut. His waddles were engorged with blood making them a bright deep red especially when contrasted with his incandescent head glowing white. He was about 40 yards away when he passed from view of my first window. I steadied the big 10 gauge in the next window he would pass at about 30 yards just waiting for the shot. As soon as he stepped into this shooting, I make a loud sharp cluck to get him to come out of strut for a shot. His focus was too intense and could not be broken and he passed by this shooting window. I repositioned for a shot though the center window. By the time he would appear in this window, he would be a mere 20 yards out. Finally he came out of strut and presented a good shot, but I was looking directly into the sun and I could not see the red-dot in my sight. I pointed the gun off to the side and reacquired the red-dot then slowly rotated it back to the gobbler tracking the dot all the way. The big old Tom had just started to spread his winds in preparation for flogging the interloper when I squeezed off the round. The thunder of the discharge broke the stillness of the morning and the emperor hit the ground with only a couple flaps of his regal wings testifying to his previous dominance of the woodland.
He turned out to be the oldest bird I’ve ever harvested with 1 ¼ inch spurs, a 12 ¼ beard, and a weight of 21 lbs 2 oz.
It wasn’t long before he pitched to the ground. I made a soft call and he responded but headed the opposite direction. I presumed he was following his consorts so I just sat back and listened to his periodic boasts. The Tom finally quieted for a while as he attended to more important pursuits. However, he had a quick recovery and was soon ready for more. Once again, he began a series of plaintiff gobbles hoping to solicit a willing partner. I quickly realized his vulnerability and began some more aggressive calling. The boss hammered at every call, and quickly cut the distance. I got quiet and his last gobble was at about 70 yards in the pines behind my blind. Soon I heard his footsteps a few yards behind my blind. At this point, my heart was pounding so loudly that I was sure he could hear it. I peered though a very small slit in the rear window but could not see him. At this point I figured it was a test of patience as he went completely silent.
Seconds seemed like minutes and minutes like hours. Finally, he sounded off once again, but he was a couple hundred yards to my south. His years of survival had taught him that it was dangerous to go to the hen rather than letting her come to him, but his drive for another tryst, would not let me retreat to security. Instead, he decided to circle and get a good look at the hen from a safe distance. He would rely on the majesty of his full fan and flag-like head to draw her to him. However, when he stepped into the open field 200 yards away and look in the direction he had heard the seductive entreatments of the hen, he got a big surprise.
I’m sure he could not believe his eyes. “What arrogance” he must have thought, “No upstart can get away with that in my kingdom”. A juvenile gobbler had usurped the duties normally reserved for the emperor of the woodland. What he saw was actually a ruse I had employed well before sunrise. I had placed a hen decoy squatting on the ground with a jake decoy in a strategic position on her back. This is known to many turkey hunters as the jealousy setup.
The Tom seemed thrice his normal size as he covered the 200 yard distance in less than 30 seconds in full strut. His waddles were engorged with blood making them a bright deep red especially when contrasted with his incandescent head glowing white. He was about 40 yards away when he passed from view of my first window. I steadied the big 10 gauge in the next window he would pass at about 30 yards just waiting for the shot. As soon as he stepped into this shooting, I make a loud sharp cluck to get him to come out of strut for a shot. His focus was too intense and could not be broken and he passed by this shooting window. I repositioned for a shot though the center window. By the time he would appear in this window, he would be a mere 20 yards out. Finally he came out of strut and presented a good shot, but I was looking directly into the sun and I could not see the red-dot in my sight. I pointed the gun off to the side and reacquired the red-dot then slowly rotated it back to the gobbler tracking the dot all the way. The big old Tom had just started to spread his winds in preparation for flogging the interloper when I squeezed off the round. The thunder of the discharge broke the stillness of the morning and the emperor hit the ground with only a couple flaps of his regal wings testifying to his previous dominance of the woodland.
He turned out to be the oldest bird I’ve ever harvested with 1 ¼ inch spurs, a 12 ¼ beard, and a weight of 21 lbs 2 oz.
