My Biggest Spring Gobbler

I was in my place along a field tucked in some brush before daylight on this brisk morning.
The decoys were set up and I was relaxing and enjoying the calls of the gobblers in the
distance. That alone is a great experince in hunting and nature.

Finally, as I watched the beautiful sunrise I started out with a little call. Eventually, I heard the
birds leaving the trees with the crash of those large wings hitting branches. I soon heard the
gobblers coming my way as they answered back so I stopped calling.

In the past I would have gobblers coming in but they'd suddenly change route which can be
frustrating. After all you are competing with real hens.

A friend had suggested once that maybe I was overcalling which is another story but
for another time.

I sat there, relaxed and waited. I heard no more calling so I figured the gobblers met up
with some hens or as in past experiences, an older gobbler will not necessarily call.

Around 7AM I caught movement to my right. It was a flock of birds walking towards my decoys.
That is so exciting to see after sitting so still and cramping from the cold. I then noticed a young gobbler with a beard about seven inches. I was going to take him but the birds were hanging around my decoys so I decided to wait.

After a couple minutes I once again caught movement out of the corner of my eye. Trying to
see, it was a huge turkey strutting his beauty. While trying to see without movement I caught
a hen's attention. Doesn't take more than a blink of an eye. They have amazing eye sight.

This hen just started that panic yelp and dancing back and forth between the decoys and me. The other birds seemed to ignore her. Surprisingly enough the gobbler kept strutting but he would turn towards the woods then back to the hens.

I had to do some fast thinking. Should I take the shot or see if he comes in further? This hen was just going nuts and I was so afraid this big beautiful gobbler would shoot for the woods. They can be gone in an instant.
He was close enough. I just had to swing around to take the shot.

I made the decision, shot and he quickly when down without movement. Didn't even flap
a wing. I was really surprised by that shot. Usually, they flap their wings a bit or I have to finish them off quickly.

The other birds were gone. I reloaded, got up and approached my gobbler. I leaned down to hold and admire the beard. His beard was almost eleven inches long and the weight was in the twenty pound range. It was my best. I was so pleased and remembering I had a camera on my cell phone I had decided to take a picture. I laid my gun across the turkey's body, stood back ready to take the picture when all chaos broke loose.

The gun went flying, the bird started flapping around and I grabbed him to have him try to hit me with
those BIG spurs. All I could think to do was throw him down and pounce on him.
Here I am, a 52 year old woman wrestling a large bird in the middle of a field. It took all I could
to finish this bird off but I finally did. I then loaded up my backpack, gun and tagged bird to head home.

The great end to this story was that my father was visiting from Arizona. He knew I hunted but never got to see any of my game other than pictures. This was a first and a last. I lost him in December.

I was so proud to share this moment with him. Of course, he got a chuckle out of it also.