Lowcountry huntress kills double-bearded gobbler

She killed a double-beamed buck several years ago

Several years ago, Lisa Beard of Ehrhardt, S.C. killed a unique buck that had a double beam. And on April 11 of this year, she killed her first turkey, a double-bearded gobbler in Bamberg County. This makes what was her favorite hunting story an even better one.

Her husband has been trying to get her on a turkey for the past couple of years. They struck out last season. She was determined to get one this season, and on April 11, it finally happened. At first light, the turkey gobbled from the roost. They thought it would be a quick hunt at that point.

“We got set up and heard the turkey gobble off the roost. But he actually went away from us. So we were thinking okay, it’s not going to work out this morning either,” said Beard.

They stayed put and waited, and after about two hours, a hen seemed to appear from thin air almost directly in front of them. The hen clucked for a while at Beard’s decoy, so the two hunters began mimicking the hen’s clucking.

“All of a sudden, a hen popped out, probably 15 yards in front of us. It just came from nowhere. It clucked and clucked and clucked, and we were kind of able to mimic her clucks. And it probably wasn’t 15 minutes, he came straight in to us,” she said.

Beard put the gobbler down with a 30-yard shot

But as often happens, the gobbler hung up for a minute, just out of range. One more cluck coaxed it into taking a closer look, and once the tom saw the decoy and the hen, it strutted close enough for Beard to get off a shot with the 12-gauge shotgun.

“When he saw the decoy and the hen, he turned, blowed up, and looked like a king. He came walking in and I had to switch positions the way I was set up to shoot,” she said.

At about 30 yards away, Beard’s husband wasn’t sure the bird would come in any closer. So he suggested she take a shot.

Listen to our podcast with Lisa Beard here:

“I dropped him in his tracks, and then once we walked over to him to take a closer look, we realized he had a double beard. It was just the coolest thing ever. And I didn’t realize at the time how rare that was. And it’s really something that my biggest buck had a double beam, and now I’ve killed this double-bearded gobbler. So it was pretty cool,” she said.

The gobbler sported an 11-inch beard and a 7-inch beard. It weighed 20 pounds and carried 1 1/2-inch spurs.

Beard said she initially thought killing one turkey would be enough to satisfy her. But now, she can’t get enough of it.

“My husband has been working in the mornings. So I went by myself this morning, and I’m going by myself again tomorrow morning. I’m hooked,” she said.