I liked Skychief’s tale of taking a tom in only a few minutes so well I went out and did it myself this morning. I recommend it.
Shooting time was 0625, and I had my decoys, one hen and one jake, out at 15 yards and settled in my spot by 0615. Right at that time I heard a close, loud gobble. A hot bird, gobbling every few seconds for quite a while. I was tickled to hear it, but that didn’t last long, because I heard another hunter begin to call between me and that bird. I thought he sounded pretty good, but he called far too often, every 30 seconds, or so. I thought my hunt was ruined. This went on for about 15 minutes, then the tom flew down, because I heard him now more to the left and a bit farther off. He was calling less frequently, too. The hunter shut up for a minute, then a hen flew from his direction and landed in front of me, 50 yards out, and began making that same call. She was my “hunter”, and I had been fooled again. She ignored my decoys except for some sharp, high-pitched peeps, and after a few minutes wandered around and out of sight behind my left shoulder. Now the tom came into view in the field right next to the woods he had been gobbling from, with two other birds, at least one of them a tom, about 75 yards out. They moved in my direction, and I assumed they were after that hen. I never found out, because two other big toms suddenly walked into my peripheral vision right from where the hen had gone, behind my left shoulder. They were not more than 20 yards away, but were at an awkward angle, I couldn’t cover them. I had brought my Phillips double flint 20 gauge, loaded with 70 gr. 2F, brown paper wad, tow, 1 1/8 oz. #6 shot, more tow. I was sitting on the ground with my back against a tree, and It was lying on my legs, pointed generally at the decoys. I had to move it to shoot, so I cocked both locks and started doing that very, very slowly. Not slowly enough, the lead tom, now within 3 feet of the jake decoy, busted me. His neck stretched out, his head shot up and I could tell he was going to leave the county right rapidly. I snatched the gun up and popped him with the right barrel, and down he went. The other tom jumped into the air and left post haste with a lot of loud flapping. My bird hit the ground at 0650, 25 minutes after shooting time. A speed record, for me.
This was the first turkey I’ve taken with my double flint, although I’ve owned it for 25 years. About damn time. It was also my first turkey using tow as wadding. I really like taking game with the old historical loadings.
I went to school on that hen, learned a bit by watching and listening to her. I heard her directly behind my tree and within a few feet as I shot the tom. If you can arrange to have a live hen park in front of your decoys and call for you, try it, you’ll like it.
A couple of years ago I saw an ad for an “aggressive” jake decoy, with a little red on its head, small snood, small beard, etc. I converted one of my old foam hen decoys into one, and I think it might be a good thing. Like this:
Camera is acting up, no photos, this time. Look at Skychief’s.
Spence
Shooting time was 0625, and I had my decoys, one hen and one jake, out at 15 yards and settled in my spot by 0615. Right at that time I heard a close, loud gobble. A hot bird, gobbling every few seconds for quite a while. I was tickled to hear it, but that didn’t last long, because I heard another hunter begin to call between me and that bird. I thought he sounded pretty good, but he called far too often, every 30 seconds, or so. I thought my hunt was ruined. This went on for about 15 minutes, then the tom flew down, because I heard him now more to the left and a bit farther off. He was calling less frequently, too. The hunter shut up for a minute, then a hen flew from his direction and landed in front of me, 50 yards out, and began making that same call. She was my “hunter”, and I had been fooled again. She ignored my decoys except for some sharp, high-pitched peeps, and after a few minutes wandered around and out of sight behind my left shoulder. Now the tom came into view in the field right next to the woods he had been gobbling from, with two other birds, at least one of them a tom, about 75 yards out. They moved in my direction, and I assumed they were after that hen. I never found out, because two other big toms suddenly walked into my peripheral vision right from where the hen had gone, behind my left shoulder. They were not more than 20 yards away, but were at an awkward angle, I couldn’t cover them. I had brought my Phillips double flint 20 gauge, loaded with 70 gr. 2F, brown paper wad, tow, 1 1/8 oz. #6 shot, more tow. I was sitting on the ground with my back against a tree, and It was lying on my legs, pointed generally at the decoys. I had to move it to shoot, so I cocked both locks and started doing that very, very slowly. Not slowly enough, the lead tom, now within 3 feet of the jake decoy, busted me. His neck stretched out, his head shot up and I could tell he was going to leave the county right rapidly. I snatched the gun up and popped him with the right barrel, and down he went. The other tom jumped into the air and left post haste with a lot of loud flapping. My bird hit the ground at 0650, 25 minutes after shooting time. A speed record, for me.
This was the first turkey I’ve taken with my double flint, although I’ve owned it for 25 years. About damn time. It was also my first turkey using tow as wadding. I really like taking game with the old historical loadings.
I went to school on that hen, learned a bit by watching and listening to her. I heard her directly behind my tree and within a few feet as I shot the tom. If you can arrange to have a live hen park in front of your decoys and call for you, try it, you’ll like it.
A couple of years ago I saw an ad for an “aggressive” jake decoy, with a little red on its head, small snood, small beard, etc. I converted one of my old foam hen decoys into one, and I think it might be a good thing. Like this:
Camera is acting up, no photos, this time. Look at Skychief’s.
Spence
