longfowler
40 Cal.
- Joined
- Feb 6, 2005
- Messages
- 459
- Reaction score
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Three weeks ago, I saw this CVA side by side 12 guage in the local gunshop...it was love at first sight! So I decided to cash in some of my coin collection, and shoot another blackpowder Bird. So after a couple of weekends of frantic pattering, I was ready - except for a Bird...A co-worker had been out on medical leave, so I haven't scouted much. 3 days before the season opens, he's back, so I can have the mornings off again, and I spot this beauty and his twin brother. So I set my alarm for 3:30 this morning and try to get some sleep....
I wake up and it's 4:45!!!!! What? I won't even have a parking space in the woods! It's a sunday opening day, everybody else must know about these 2 birds, & I'm sure I'm too late! So I don't even get a coffee, I blast out the door and drive like a mad man. I'm in the woods at 5:30, nobody is here, so I RUN to my spot - and 15 minutes later, as I'm setting out my decoy, I hear a distant gobble. So I call back. a few minutes later a distant gun shot. I call louder, and they gobble closer! 5 minutes, another call, this time they answer from only a 100 yards. I call and wait another 5 minutes, and there's nothing...I'm thinking about moving, when a double gobble booms out on the other side of the brushpile from my decoy, not 30 yards away!! A little soft yelp, and here comes a huge black tom, his beard swaying as he steps...but he goes to my right a little to far up the logging road. I try to move the gun to him, S-l-o-w-l-y, and just then, a BIGGER bird steps around the brushpile, stands right in front of me, and looks at the decoy!
I put the bead on the top of his head and let him have the right hand barrel, and jump up through the cloud of smoke to pin his head down- but I don't even need the 2nd shot. The load of 70 grains 1f with my home-made copy of Runnball's "cotton-tailed shotcup drouge", full of 1-3/4 oz. of #6 copper plated shot, worked great. I look at my watch and it's only 6:06 AM! I pace back to my tree, 13 giant steps, so accounting for my short legs, maybe ten yards...I took these pics right where he fell. And the wad was laying right behind him.
I was the first guy at the check station (right after I got my well deserved coffee) and he weighed in at 20 lbs, with a 9-3/4 inch beard and 13/16 spurs. When I skinned him, I found 15 pieces of shot in the head & neck, and none in the meat. This was my 14th bird, but only my 2nd blackpowder turkey - but I just found my good-luck gun, so there will be many more!
I wake up and it's 4:45!!!!! What? I won't even have a parking space in the woods! It's a sunday opening day, everybody else must know about these 2 birds, & I'm sure I'm too late! So I don't even get a coffee, I blast out the door and drive like a mad man. I'm in the woods at 5:30, nobody is here, so I RUN to my spot - and 15 minutes later, as I'm setting out my decoy, I hear a distant gobble. So I call back. a few minutes later a distant gun shot. I call louder, and they gobble closer! 5 minutes, another call, this time they answer from only a 100 yards. I call and wait another 5 minutes, and there's nothing...I'm thinking about moving, when a double gobble booms out on the other side of the brushpile from my decoy, not 30 yards away!! A little soft yelp, and here comes a huge black tom, his beard swaying as he steps...but he goes to my right a little to far up the logging road. I try to move the gun to him, S-l-o-w-l-y, and just then, a BIGGER bird steps around the brushpile, stands right in front of me, and looks at the decoy!
I put the bead on the top of his head and let him have the right hand barrel, and jump up through the cloud of smoke to pin his head down- but I don't even need the 2nd shot. The load of 70 grains 1f with my home-made copy of Runnball's "cotton-tailed shotcup drouge", full of 1-3/4 oz. of #6 copper plated shot, worked great. I look at my watch and it's only 6:06 AM! I pace back to my tree, 13 giant steps, so accounting for my short legs, maybe ten yards...I took these pics right where he fell. And the wad was laying right behind him.
I was the first guy at the check station (right after I got my well deserved coffee) and he weighed in at 20 lbs, with a 9-3/4 inch beard and 13/16 spurs. When I skinned him, I found 15 pieces of shot in the head & neck, and none in the meat. This was my 14th bird, but only my 2nd blackpowder turkey - but I just found my good-luck gun, so there will be many more!
