I hunted Louisiana Saturday with no luck, so I went to a good spot just over in Mississippi yesterday. I got a good gobbler and it was an interesting morning to say the least. I got to the area well before daylight and went in to set up. The gobblers were a bit deeper in than I had thought, so I ended up setting up on the edge of an open area. I had a good area to shoot, but I was kind of exposed. Sure enough, I started cutting and yelping and the gobblers started gobbling. Five big gobblers flew down and walked right up in my lap almost.
I slowly raised my gun, picked out the biggest one and pulled the trigger. The shell just went “snap”. Holy Cow! There I was looking right at five big gobblers and my gun didn’t fire. Fortunately, only one of the turkeys saw me, but he eased off and the others followed. I put another shell in the gun and slipped around the edge of the cover. A few calls later, the turkeys came back out, but the one I wanted was at a maximum shooting distance — about 50 yards. My gun is patterned at 50, so it was no problem. I aimed and fired. And missed. Of course, they ran off. But it was in hilly terrain and I don’t think they exactly knew what had happened.
Believe it or not, I was able to make a loop and get in front of the turkeys. They crossed a little woods road and got on the same side as me. I thought I’d lost them, but a crow flew in and started “cawing”. The turkeys immediately started gobbling at the crow. The turkeys stayed hid for a while and I called and they gobbled and I called and they gobbled. Then, all of a sudden, the big gobbler strutted out and bang, this time I got him.
My adventure wasn’t over. I had worked my way quite a bit away from my Big Boy Buggy and walked back to get it. Naturally, it was up a big hill. And when I finally got there and headed back, I hit something and broke the front axle. I had a four mile walk back to camp to get a four-wheeler and some help.
What a day! It would have been a disaster, but I got the gobbler. That made it all worthwhile. Well, almost.
