Opening day! w/story
Opening day! w/story
Opening day in Black Hills SD
Opening day in Black Hills SD
My turkey hunting career began when i was 12 years old, little did i know it would also lead to a couple embarassing stories which have haunted me since the first one happened. It was the first time I hunted, we hunted hard the whole season my dad filled his tag and It was the last weekend of the season and we located a tom with some hens and we could not pull him in our direction so we decided to get closer. Turns out they were closer than we thought and they spotted us when we were about thirty yards out. In all of the adrenaline I can honestly say that i dont remember even aiming but it all happened so fast and it turns out i shot the turkey in the butt. My dad has never let me live that down. The year after that when i was thirteen I mistaked a real turkey for a decoy and didnt shoot. My excuse was that its head was so red it looked fake and i didnt want to be shooting at someones decoys. Since then i have missed twice and been skunked every other year. I began to believe that i was cursed because my dad and his friend filled their tags every year. but of course they filled when i was gone at school.
I am now eighteen and this was my season that would change my luck.(hopefully). the day started at about 5 a.m. and i was ready by 5:15 I walked out side to blow on the crow call a few times. (I live right in the middle of perfect turkey hunting in the Black Hills.) THere were no responses and i stepped into the snow and it sounded like i stepped on a bag of potato chips. I looked around and everything was covered in this very crunchy snow. The first three spots we tried locating birds gave us nothing. we moved on and at the top of a hill about a mile away we spotted a flock of turkeys in a field. Of course they spotted us and took off. We circled around them and spent an hour trying to get in front of them just to find out that it was a big flock of hens. As soon as we found that out I heard the first gobble of the season farther down the field. we moved to the hill above where these gobbles came from and set up and began to call. The tom only responded a few times and then would not respond even to the crow call. we knew they were still on the other side of the because we could hear the hens. We decided the only thing we could do is to get at least to the top of the hill to look down. we very slowy and VERY loudly crunched to the top of the hill. when i could just barely see over the hill i saw a stump that looked like a tom turkeys fan. i thought to myself if only that could be a turkey. I turned to my dad to find out which way he wanted to go and when i turned around about 50 yards away where the stump used to be was a strutting tom. The stump was a tom turkey! my dad called and the lead Hen walked away from us and to the right of a bunch of jack pines i walked to where the turkeys would appear out of the trees and the hen sounded very close so i raised my gun and held it up for about 2 minutes and the hen appeared. it came out from behind the jackpines about a foot and didnt like something it saw and went right back the other way. I then lost all hope that i would get a turkey that morning and began to lower my gun. as soon as i did that she turned around and walked right out with two other hens following her. I could barely see a large struttin tom about to come out of the Jack pines and i began to tip over backwards form holding the gun up for at least 4 mins. the first thing that went trough my head was that if i fell over this would beat any embarassing story i have had and i would have to quit turkey hunting for good. I some how regained my balance without bein noticed all while having my heart beating out of my chest. the tom came struttin out. From behind me i heard the famous "Take em" and I dropped my first turkey at 47 yds and finally broke the curse. It is a hunt i will never forget.
The tom weighed I think around 18-20lbs and had a nine inch beard.
Opening day in Black Hills SD
My turkey hunting career began when i was 12 years old, little did i know it would also lead to a couple embarassing stories which have haunted me since the first one happened. It was the first time I hunted, we hunted hard the whole season my dad filled his tag and It was the last weekend of the season and we located a tom with some hens and we could not pull him in our direction so we decided to get closer. Turns out they were closer than we thought and they spotted us when we were about thirty yards out. In all of the adrenaline I can honestly say that i dont remember even aiming but it all happened so fast and it turns out i shot the turkey in the butt. My dad has never let me live that down. The year after that when i was thirteen I mistaked a real turkey for a decoy and didnt shoot. My excuse was that its head was so red it looked fake and i didnt want to be shooting at someones decoys. Since then i have missed twice and been skunked every other year. I began to believe that i was cursed because my dad and his friend filled their tags every year. but of course they filled when i was gone at school.
I am now eighteen and this was my season that would change my luck.(hopefully). the day started at about 5 a.m. and i was ready by 5:15 I walked out side to blow on the crow call a few times. (I live right in the middle of perfect turkey hunting in the Black Hills.) THere were no responses and i stepped into the snow and it sounded like i stepped on a bag of potato chips. I looked around and everything was covered in this very crunchy snow. The first three spots we tried locating birds gave us nothing. we moved on and at the top of a hill about a mile away we spotted a flock of turkeys in a field. Of course they spotted us and took off. We circled around them and spent an hour trying to get in front of them just to find out that it was a big flock of hens. As soon as we found that out I heard the first gobble of the season farther down the field. we moved to the hill above where these gobbles came from and set up and began to call. The tom only responded a few times and then would not respond even to the crow call. we knew they were still on the other side of the because we could hear the hens. We decided the only thing we could do is to get at least to the top of the hill to look down. we very slowy and VERY loudly crunched to the top of the hill. when i could just barely see over the hill i saw a stump that looked like a tom turkeys fan. i thought to myself if only that could be a turkey. I turned to my dad to find out which way he wanted to go and when i turned around about 50 yards away where the stump used to be was a strutting tom. The stump was a tom turkey! my dad called and the lead Hen walked away from us and to the right of a bunch of jack pines i walked to where the turkeys would appear out of the trees and the hen sounded very close so i raised my gun and held it up for about 2 minutes and the hen appeared. it came out from behind the jackpines about a foot and didnt like something it saw and went right back the other way. I then lost all hope that i would get a turkey that morning and began to lower my gun. as soon as i did that she turned around and walked right out with two other hens following her. I could barely see a large struttin tom about to come out of the Jack pines and i began to tip over backwards form holding the gun up for at least 4 mins. the first thing that went trough my head was that if i fell over this would beat any embarassing story i have had and i would have to quit turkey hunting for good. I some how regained my balance without bein noticed all while having my heart beating out of my chest. the tom came struttin out. From behind me i heard the famous "Take em" and I dropped my first turkey at 47 yds and finally broke the curse. It is a hunt i will never forget.
The tom weighed I think around 18-20lbs and had a nine inch beard.
Last edited by brn2hunt on Mon Apr 13, 2009 10:05 pm, edited 1 time in total.
"Ne A La Chasse"
Re: Opening day!
right on B2H! looks like a nice mature bird!
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MuleyMadness
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Re: Opening day!
Very cool and nice hat! 
Re: Opening day!
cant wait to here it!
