We’ve pretty much lost out little private spots due to development and such so we waited for the forest to open up before we would give it a go. I do have birds starting to show up on my place, but I just don’t want to mess with them.
So we slept in and did some farm chores and sent my oldest daughter off with her friend and family on a cruise so around noon I told the boys to get dressed because it was youth day and the Lord knows they ask me every day to either hunt or fish. We headed to a small WMA not to far from the house not anticipating much, because the one other time I’ve been here it was packed out and there’s really not a whole lot of options to what I consider good turkey habitat.
We got there around 1230 and stopped at the first descent looking spot and walked into the woods a couple hundred yards hitting the call with no response and it just got thicker and more wet the deeper we went so we backed out and moved on to the next spot. There was trucks at every access that I’ve been to before so I had to scratch my head for a minute and look at my phone map and try to decide where we could try.
We came across a thicket that looked like it would possibly open up deeper in so we settled for that and started our hike. We waded through palm frawn bottoms and briars and finally came up on a little hardwood ridge. I hit the call and nothing. I honestly was ready to move on but I had to push a little deeper because there was a little creek at the base of this ridge and it just felt like there was another ridge through the creek and there was a pretty thick section separating the two. We stopped in the creek and I hit the call again and he gobbled maybe 100 yards out front. We backed up out the creek and picked a tree. Henry sat back behind just praying little bro would finally get to seal the deal himself. I hit the call again and he was halfway to us. I cut immediately when he gobbled and a hen cut me off. I went quiet for a bit and then I hit the call and he gobbled again. Bob moved his gun to the left and I questioned him but he said the bird was to the left. I couldn’t tell where the gobble came from but I took his word from it. Almost immediately the hen popped out the thicket and started crossing the creek and a couple seconds later the gobbler popped out in full strut behind her. He was maybe 30 yards but Bob is so short he didn’t have a shot on him due to the palmettos. The boy was shaking so hard it was almost too much! The hen started getting uneasy and turned around. Gobbler still strutting at the time I told him to be ready to sit up and take the shot when I say if you’re comfortable with it. The bird spun a 180 and folded his wings back and I told him now or never son and he sat up and crushed him! We hugged, cried high fived and I couldn’t be more proud. Not to bad for a quick little midday hunt!
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