Story of the Hunt

It was a long hard winter this past year for us here in new Jersey. We couldn't wait till the spring and all that comes with it. I had been seeing plenty of turkeys all winter long. But like always when spring comes around the turkeys disappear! Some early morning scouting weeks before the season opener produced a few gobbles, but not what we consider hot ones! None the less we had birds to hunt.

Morning came fast on that first day of the season. Mary, my girlfriend, was up and ready! You see this was to be her first season in the turkey woods. After a quick breakfast I set out alone to see if I could strike up a gobble. Mary had to stay behind till the kids got on the bus for school just a half a mile from the house. I heard thunder. Not that of a rain storm but that of the Old Boss gobbler! He was at least three hundred yards away still up in a tree.

I hit him with a few calls from my box call that I made of Purple heart and black walnut. Bang! , he responded, again he answered and was coming fast. I found a tree to set up on and hoped that the hen that I was hearing would not take him away from me.
I pulled out my wingbone call and hit him again with some sweet sounding calls. Gobble Gobble and he was coming fast. I shouldered the twenty guage chambered with # 5's and popped off the safety. In less then five minutes he was in front of me at just 15 steps, BANG!

What a way to start out our season. I walked back to the house to see Mary with arms crossed wondering where I had went. You see as I was calling this bird up, we had one answering back to my calling just a hundred yards behind the house. And it had Mary's name all over him! So off we go after him...to be continued..................