Gobble Gobble

On Thursday morning of this week Keith King, one of the deacons and dads from our Church called me and asked if I wanted to go Turkey Hunting. Well who could say no to an offer like that! First I must explain; Keith is a great hunter of all types of game, and to be invited on a hunt with Keith was great.

Thursday evening we gathered up all the gear we would need for the evening hunt.

I dug out my Old BDU's and layered up in an attempt to stay as warm as I could. We were loaded and on our way to the woods by 4:30, talking about the sport of turkey hunting and the correct terms and good stuff.

By the time we had seen 2 birds, I knew this was going to be a fun. Around 4:45 we had made it to the Farm that we were going to hunt that evening, loaded our guns and started walking toward the place we would set up.

No later than 5:00 I had finally taken my seat under a cedar tree in what is called a blind.

It is basically a cover that helps you hide little movements from the birds because they have such great eyesight.

Keith and I were both in behind this tent like object and were settling in when a group of hens, female birds, come into view. They were coming from our left side and walked past us to the right. Now the object of this game is to shoot a really BIG gobbler, male bird, that has a really big beard and long spurs. The hens that walked past us acted like there was a gobbler behind them, and sure enough there he was. The sad part was that he was not within reach of the gun. I had attempted a shot but after the bird flew up from the sound of the gun we discovered that it was likely 75 or 80 yards away.

The evening continued - by 5:45 I had shot once at a bird, but coyote got it instead, devouring every thing but a few feathers. The beard of that bird is what you see in this picture, the longest one. Keith and I were watching the birds move around, and he said you can still shoot one of the Jakes, a one year old. If you want a bird tonight. I said sure it is my first turkey hunt why go home with out some meat. They all taste the same and it is after all a legal bird. 6:30 we have a second opportunity, the same group of hens that were milling around before came back through and after what seemed like hours of holding a gun in ready position I finally had a good shot on a bird. BOOM - one solid shot, and he was down. My first turkey as you can see from the first beard he was a small bird but my first bird. I was very happy.

We walked around a bit more talking and looking for some more tracks, and as Keith said turkey hunting is something that gets in your blood, so I am sure there will be another great adventure to share with you, and my next bird will be a good Gobbler.