Random hunting story...2005

[Chew]

I’m not a real turkey hunter. I’ve killed 5 or 6. I think all of them but the one that’s the focus of this story were with a bow over a feeder.

I only got one with a shotgun…and it turned out to be one of my favorite hunting experiences over the last 40 years.

It was Spring of 2005 and my Uncle Joe and I had just got on a new lease north of Brackettville (about 20 miles north of town off of 674 towards Rocksprings). We had both been hunting East Tx and were ready for a change. I found a lease online with two spots and we signed up…sight unseen.

We were going to drive down together for the first work weekend. About 400 miles one way. My uncle had reminded me before the trip that it would be turkey season when we got there. I didn’t think much about it until a week or so before the departure date. I knew nothing about turkeys and don’t think I had ever seen one in the wild at that point. I got on the ol’ dialup internet and did some quick research.

I headed to Walmart or Academy and bought a call and some 12 gauge turkey loads. The call was either Drury’s or Primos glass striker type call. I roughed it up with some sandpaper and started practicing with it all week. Drove the wife, neighbors, and coworkers crazy.

We got up to the lease late the first night. The guys were smoking something on an old BBQ pit and we threw some meat on there. One thing led to the other and we crashed out late.

We got up around daylight to start setting up feeders and feed pens. We were waiting around for some of the other guys to load up, when for some reason I opened up the BBQ pit to look inside.

The lid made a hellacious squeak. I instantly heard a loud gobble way down in a draw (dry riverbed) below camp. I opened the lid and closed it again and got another gobble.

I told my uncle, Y’all are gonna have to wait on me. I’m going to get that gobbler." My confidence faaaaaaar exceeded my ability.

I threw on some camo, grabbed my Winchester 12 gauge and turkey call and took off at a quick walk/trot down into the draw.

I don’t know what happened to that original tom, but when I got set up against a tree on the steep bank of the draw, I hit the call and a bird answered from a long way off. He was actually across the highway from us towards the Kickapoo Creek/Nueces River on an adjoining property.

I had never called a turkey, so my first instinct was, “The more the better”. Every time I laid down a string of rookie hen talk, he was sounding off. And then he got quiet. No answer.

I figured he was too far away and would never cross 674 to come onto our property. I didn’t realize when I first set up, but I was about 75-100 yards from a big water crossing under the roadway.

I waited and waited and then when I hit the call again, that dang gobbler was inside the culvert (under the road) and his gobble echoed out of there like the voice of God in full surround sound with Dolby DX enhancement. It gave me chills. I hit a couple soft calls and threw it down on the ground and raised my shotgun.

He must have read the script. He made it through the culvert/crossing and came running down the dry riverbed at a fast pace, head stretched out like a Golden Corral VIP member when the chocolate fountain gets turned on.

He stopped 20 yards in front of me and went into full strut. I knocked his head off with the turkey load. It took a few seconds to sink in. I had did it. My first turkey hunt. First set. Ten dollar friction call. I started dancing up and down, violating most firearms safety rules, and almost fell down the steep bank. I slid down on my butt to the draw and picked him up. He was heavy! Great beard and spurs.

I felt like the king of the world carrying him into camp with my Uncle Joe and 8 or 9 strangers staring at me as I walked up the hill with the tail fan and wings spread out behind me.

“What y’all doing boys? Thought I would get in a quick hunt while y’all were fiddle fartin’ around at camp”.

They all started laughing and shook my hand and clapped me on the back.

The lease boss said took him and came back and said he weighed just over 21 lbs. Not sure how accurate that scale was, but he felt every bit of that.

I was only on that lease for one year (anthrax zone), but that 10 minute turkey hunt was well worth the entry fee.

The yellow X is where I think he was when he first answered me. The blue X is where he crossed under 674 onto our lease. The red X is where he died. Red circle is where I “called” with the BBQ pit lid.

God bless Texas!

[lanceodom]

Isn't it amazing how fun and simple that can be. Then sometimes, it doesn't matter if you had a truck load of live hens, the gobblers won't come in.

[ccbrown50]

Great story!

[TacticalCowboy]

That’s a good story!

[Gumbo Man]

That was a good read.

[Quackerbox]

And here we have Chew before promotional exams.
Standing tall and ready to take on any turkey.

Great read though

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[Chew]

Originally Posted by Quackerbox

And here we have Chew before promotional exams.
Standing tall and ready to take on any turkey.

Great read though

Sent from my SM-G970U using Tapatalk

No promotions here!
Attachment 1086995

[Bone Thug]

I enjoyed the read. Thanks for posting…I sure like seeing some hunting threads.

[AntlerCollector]

Thanks for sharing that.

[salth2o]

Fantastic story.


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[Trapper76]

Hechava story, thanks for sharing!

[Ætheling]

Awesome story. Call that a “making it look easy” hunt. My first deer was something similar. Then the following season reality kicks in that the rest of your hunts will cost you a considerable more amount of time, effort, and material resources.


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[Mitchell8]

Great story

[Rubi513]

“at a fast pace, head stretched out like a Golden Corral VIP member when the chocolate fountain gets turned on”.

Lol.

[Double L]

Enjoyed the story from the Chew archives!

[Avid Hunter]

Love it! Great story man

[Drop Tine]

Man you tell a great story. Thanks for sharing.

[GARY]

Good read Bobby!

[CabezaBlanca]

Thank you!

[roberts]

Great recap. Thanks for sharing a great story.

[RifleBowPistol]

Good story. Turkey hunting can be pretty crazy, never know what to expect. I love calling in birds in the spring.

I call them crazy birds, because of the crazy things I have had happen when calling them in. Multiple times I have heard one, waaaayyy off somewhere. Then start calling trying to bring that bird in, from over a mile. Then when it gets 150 yards or so away, have a second one answer from a different direction. Then some time later, you realize the two birds are running towards you in a race to get to the hen. Then when they get about 40 yards a way, they stop and won't come any closer, you can't see them but you can hear them loudly. Then while trying to get those birds to come closer, but they just keep strutting back and forth, just out of site. All of the sudden a third bird about blows your ear drums out, with a very loud gobble directly behind you, around 15 yards away, and you have no cover on that side. Because you were hiding behind some brush, anticipating the two coming in from the other side. In those situations, I usually wind up getting seen by the bird behind me, he just ghosts on me, in a flash, not a sound. Then the other birds go silent and they are gone too.

I called in a lot of birds, before I finally killed one. I kept calling two or three at a time, I kept getting busted. My first bird, I killed when leaving for work one morning. Two days before, I was working on my car, out in the garage, then heard a turkey off in the distance. Went in the house, got My AR and turkey calls. Then started calling, the bird responded, and started coming in. I took off his direction, to look for a place to set up and call. I found a perfect spot under a cedar tree, with low hanging limbs. Called the bird in, to 30 yards. He stayed in a tree line that only had one spot where you could see up into those trees. He would strut and gobble, for 5 minutes, then walk over to that opening, peek through it and look to see where the hen was, then quickly step back out of the opening. We play that game about four times. Then I figured his game, set the call down while he was gobbling and strutting. Then got the rifle up and aimed for the opening. Sure enough he popped out, I put the crosshairs on the base of his neck and fire. Bird took off, gone. I jumped up ran, dove under the fence and took off through the opening, looking for the bird. No bird, no blood, no feathers. I looked for 20 minutes, nothing, bird gone. I am **** good with that AR, it was on a 30 yard shot, how the hell did I screw that up. As I walked back to pick up the rifle and calls. I realized I had gone under the barbed wire fence, that went through the opening, very quickly. Then thought how was my fat *** able to get under that fence so quickly. Then I looked, and saw the bottom strand of barbed wire was gone. I looked to the left, and 30 yards away, was a bunch of barbed wire coiled up. So it turns out the lower strand of barbed wire was covered my my horizontal crosshair.

I never understood what that fence line was for, it ended where at the driveway, then ran about 250 yard up in the brush, then just stopped. It saved that turkey's life that day. Afterwards, I went back to the house, and back to working on my car.

Then two days later, I was leaving for work, stepped out the front door, went to close the door and lock it, the realized there was six turkeys out in front of the house. One big tom and five jakes. I went back in the house, grabbed my 17 HMR, stepped back out on the porch and shot the tom in the base of the neck. He ran about 20 ft. then dropped dead. The five jakes ran after him, when he dropped dead, they stopped, stood around him, looked at him, then went to town pecking him. I ran out to the tom, yelling at the dang jakes. They completely ignored me. I stood right next to the group of jakes yelling at them and waving my arms, they just kept pecking the dead tom. I finally kicked one, that bird stopped and look at me, like "who are you?", then right back to pecking the tom. So I took the 17 HMR and shot one of the jakes point blank, the barrel was dang near touching the bird. After the gun went off, it took the remaining jakes a few seconds before they realized something had happened, they eventually all looked up and saw me standing right next to them. They looked at me, I stared to wonder if they were going to try attacking me, but they turned and walked off into the brush.

I grabbed the birds, went and got my big ice chest. I gutted the birds, the threw the birds in the ice chest. Then called my boss and told him I was going to be late for work, and then why. Then took off into town to go get some ice to put the birds on ice. That afternoon, I finished cleaning the birds and put them in the freezer.

I have had many crazy things happen while hunting turkey, they are very unpredictable. That's why I call them crazy birds.

I love hearing turkey hunting stories, they are usually good. Yours is definitely different, would have been cool to hear that bird in that drainage pipe. I hope you cooked that bird on that pit, you were calling him with.

[rolylane6]

Originally Posted by Chew

I started dancing up and down, violating most firearms safety rules

Lol, done that dance too!!!
Great story!


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[Chew]

Bump

[texan16]

That’s a heck of a write up, turkey birds are strange critters, you never know how they will react.

[Big Lee]

Even in 2005 you were one ugly Son of a Gun! But great story!

[Bisch]

I love it when a plan comes together!!!!!

Congrats Bobby!

Bisch


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[EarleyBird]

"...head stretched out like a Golden Corral VIP member when the chocolate fountain gets turned on."

Hahaha, that was awesome! Great story!