First Turkey

muledeershedsrock · May 21, 2011

This morning, my dad and I went turkey hunting. This year all the turkeys I have seen have been on private property. I was really wanting to shoot one with my bow and I had missed 3 earlier in the hunt when I was with my friend on his property. So at about 7:30 while we were driving down the road we seen a tom strutting with a single hen. We called the property owner and were allowed to go try to get a shot. We parked down in the creek below and started sneaking up there. My dad didn't want to lose an arrow in the field so he made me bring only the shotgun. We lost sight of them until we got to about 100 yards from them. When we spotted them again in the edge of the field there was actually 2 toms. We stayed there and were trying to call them. They were interested but wouldn't quite come in. After they walked behind some trees, we snuck down a little farther. When we topped back into the field they was gone. We decided to go around a little bend in the field. My dad was walkin in front of me when he stopped and dropped to his knees and said that the two toms were walking right to us and were about 30 yards away just around a bush. He said get ready to shoot. I slid the safety off and as I was slowly bringing the gun to my shoulder I seen a tom take a couple steps out from behind a brush about 20 yards away. As soon as it stopped I pulled the trigger. The bird dropped. I had no idea how big a beard he had and was surprised to find an 8 inch beard!