I usually set aside a week to hunt turkey. This year I have new properties and several of them, so I am hunting a day or two on each to figure out what the birds are doing. On the first hunt of the year I planned to hunt an afternoon, a full day and a half-day. The ranch manager of this 4500-acre property told me that a flock of birds was coming down a certain trail every morning. In the dark he dropped me off at a point in the brush just off this turkey trail. He said they show up between 7AM and 8AM. At 7AM I saw some birds way out at around 400-yards. The little black specs got closer and closer. When they were within 20-yards I was able to figure out is was just 3 hens, interestingly one with a long beard. They slowly moved off and nothing else showed up so at 830AM I made a move of about 500-yards. I went up on a hill above where these hens seem to have come from. A gobble answered my clucks and purrs. After a half-hour of back and forth this gobbler seems to be hung up so I moved 100-yards closer to him. He continued to answer but was still hung up. I decided to move closer and see if he was in view. I peaked over a little rise and the Tom was right there. I slowly backed up and planted my decoy. I misjudged the distance to cover and backed up more than I thought. In hindsight I should have just stayed at the crest and shot him as he came over the rise. He cleared the crest and went to my decoy but right as I was about to shoot he moved off to the right. I purred and he came back but was behind the decoy a bit. I guessed 25-yards. I stacked the beads of the 20b on his head and pulled the trigger. The bird just stood there and looked around, then flew back down the hill. Disappointed, I dug out the rangefinder. It was 32-yards. I know my pattern is real good at 20-yards and can get it done at 25-yards but anything more is just too much. I spent the next 3-hours walking and calling with no answers. My friend found me with the truck and we decided to drive and call around the ranch since it was now 90 degrees. Eventually we heard a gobble. I set up the decoy and began calling. A deer joined me. The deer was within 15-feet of me just standing there taking this all in. I attribute this to the HECS suit. The Tom came in to just about 25-yards but he did not seem to like the decoy and he turned and left. Back in the truck we drove and called again. This time we saw a Tom crossing an open field. We guessed where he was headed and went up ahead. There is a think strip of trees that jets out into a circular clearing. That clearing then has three senderos that wagon-wheel spoke off of it. I tucked in next to the last little tree. My idea was to call lightly and see if the bird would come into the strip to find the hen, so I did not put a decoy out. When the bird entered the circular clearing and began to go down a spoke I called. He turned and cut the distance from about 60-yards to 35-yards. I purred and he started coming down the strip, looking into the trees every few steps to see where the hen was. He came down this strip real slow as it took him nearly 10 minutes to come the 35-yards. Coming from my right, I waited until he cleared the last tree I was next to and was right in front of me. I mean like 10-feet. I stacked the beads on his chin and let the left barrel go. He went down right there and didn't budge. Nine-inch beard and over 1-inch spurs. The Pedersoli 20 was loaded with a 1-ounce scoop of FFFg, a cardboard disc, a fibre was 1/2 inch, 1-ounce scoop of #5 shot with 7 BB's on top and an over-shot card.
