# Hunter has dry-spell, succeeds in 2010. 3rd time's a charm.



## Mushijobah (May 4, 2004)

Well, let's just say 5 of those 7 years were not serious turkey hunting years..but I did make it out a few times each season. I shot my first turkey at age 13 and my second at age 17. I am now 23 and ONLY NOW have I got my 3rd turkey!

College, partying, fishing, laziness can all be to blame for not having success during my 'dormant' years, but there were times every single season that I should have killed a bird...but of course...something went wrong (usually me screwing up).

Enter turkey season 2008. I had again begun 'trying' hard to harvest a bird. I probably hunted 5 mornings, and screwed up almost every time. Lessons learned though, never forgotten. 2009 brought me semi-success. I had assisted my buddy (he may chime in here) in harvesting his first bird. All other trips were either void of turkey talk or...yet again...screwed up by impatience, bad decisions, and other hunters. I hunted probably 8 mornings during my 2009 season. That was my second year of striking out while really giving it my all.

Enter 2010.....I'm getting desperate. Thinking about quitting all together. Anyone who turkey hunts on a not so picture perfect morning knows the feelings I'm referring to. I really did my homework though...which definately should have paid off this morning IF I hadn't have screwed up! Basically, I knew where the toms were roosting (point A). I knew where they liked to travel after flydown (point B). If you guessed I was in between those two points this morning, you are correct. In short...nothing gobbled. Crows going nuts at my decoys, birds gobbling hundreds of yards away, no responses to soft yelping and flydown imitations.... you assume there are no birds roosted directly above your decoy spread at 7am on a beautiful sunny day......WRONG. I even give it 15 extra minutes, as turkeys are unpredictable by their own pea-brained nature. 15 minutes is up, I stand up and walk towards my decoys to pursue earlier mentioned birds a couple ridges away. Well, you guessed it, a mature tom turkey erupts from his roost about 75-100 yards from my decoys...and by erupt, I don't mean gobble...I mean flush, smacking every branch on the way out. It seemed like I would be having a repeat season. 

I moped a bit...I stalked a bit...I run/gunned a bit... I pursued birds on the opposite ridge of where they actually were. Damn hocking hills and their knack for making sounds seem like they are coming from somewhere they aint!

I eventually settled down in a grassy bottom where two small streams come together. I had been harassing a hen that was sounding off about 150 yards away. I set my decoys (jake and hen) out just to see if she might come and put on an entertaining show. The gobblers had sure turned off...so why the heck not? We chat, we fight, we cackle, her calling eventually fades off into the distance. Little did we know....our banter had attracted the matriarch of the area...

I cackled hard to try and entice her back, but she had other plans. I tried 3 times. On the third calling sequence, a gobbler erupted deep witin the ravine to my right. I called back, he answered...we repeated this a few times. This is when I used my past experience as a benefit. Instead of trying to cut the distance, I felt safer just remaining posted up there. A main reason of being busted in the past was trying to cut the distance too close...I had learned my lesson one too many times! I stayed put. We kept flirting via turkey noises...but he wasn't coming any closer. PAST EXPERIENCE TIP #2! We were in a stalemate. Instead of continuing that and risking him getting bored with gobbling, I threw him a curve ball. I turned around and began calling away from his direction. His next series of gobbles were 50 yards closer, respectively. I am 90% certain that he started moving my way because he believed I was moving away. 5 minutes later, I see him half strutting/half jogging down the opposite hillside towards my decoys.

I little finagling with my positioning resulted in Mr. Tom turkey being killed this morning at 8:10am in beautiful hocking county. I have to give a shout out to one of my homies.....TOPOGRAPHY! Knowing the terrain helped me so much. I was able to hide and be presented with an almost guaranteed shot so long as he came within 40 or so yards of me. Yet another experience topic used!

Sorry for being long winded, rambling, or for any grammatical/structural errors. I'm running on absolutely 0 sleep.

This was a very large bird according to everyone who saw it.

11" beard.

nearly 1.5" spurs (more like freaking eagle talons!)

Weighed between 23-28 lbs. The check station I visited were astounded when the scale read 27. While the bird was heavy, I didn't believe it. I took it home and weighed it on one of my crappy scaled and got 23 lbs. He was definately somewhere in that range. Much larger than the ones I've seen in the past.

Possibly the largest wild turkey I'll ever kill!

Moral of the story: Never give up! Even when hunting a county that is past its prime in terms of turkey population.


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## alpine5575 (Jul 22, 2006)

Congratulations on an awesome bird, and a great story to go with it. I have killed a few over the years, and that there is a big bird, I would guess over 25 lbs.

Good Job,
Mike


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## mooreman (Jul 7, 2008)

Great story and nice bird what kind of shotgun did you kill the bird with?


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## ezbite (May 25, 2006)

congrads. nice bird


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## bobk (Apr 30, 2004)

Nice job Kyle. Good story too.
Bob.


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## bulafisherman (Apr 11, 2004)

Congrats on a fine bird!


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## Mushijobah (May 4, 2004)

Thanks fellas. I shot him with a trusty Mossberg 500.


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## crittergitter (Jun 9, 2005)

Congratulations and way to hunt smart. Ya got to with them critters as they are very wary. Well done. Now, get some sleep........there's muskies to be caught!


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## Snook (Aug 19, 2008)

Great story and great bird. Any turkey with inch and a half spurs has been schooled by a few hunters. Congrats on outwitting him that day! Learning from mistakes in the past sure paid off.


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## Mushijobah (May 4, 2004)

Thanks guys, I'll get pictures of his mount when I get it back. Got the fan, legs, and beard done.


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## allwayzfishin (Apr 30, 2008)

very impressed. wonderful bird and story. this is my first year and i have seen four. only place to hunt is 100 feet either way for like 1 mile. so it tough for me . i just hope my patience pays off too. nice job on that trophy!!


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## danjaquino (Jun 2, 2005)

Wow, that is a trophy bird right there!!! My biggest ever was 24lbs with 11 1/2 beard and 1 1/2 spurs. You should be very proud of that one!!


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## ErieAngler (Apr 15, 2006)

Awesome bird dude. Ive still never turkey hunted. One of these years Im going to give it a try. As soon as I have some property to hunt where I see them more than once or twice a year Im sure Ill be in the game. 

Im glad your perseverance paid off!


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