With turkey season well under way, the forum is filling up with photos and reports from users knocking down gobblers. But user Seawolf, known by his buddies and family as Sonny Ithipathachai, scored a real trophy on opening day.
The bird tipped the scales at 19 pounds, 1 ounce and sported a 10-inch beard and 1-inch spurs.
Here’s the story in Seawolf‘s own words:
It rained hard the night before, and a cold front moved in. I’ve got land about an hour drive from the house. I got my entire gear ready in the garage. Vest, mask, gloves, gun, shells, vest, decoys, blind (I didn’t use), and flashlight.
(I) Went to bed by 11:30 p.m., but didn’t sleep well: just too excited dreaming about gobblers. (I) got up by 4:00 a.m., made coffee and ate a banana. Threw all the gear in the truck and headed out. It was still cool and raining, drizzly. About 52 (degrees) Fahrenheit.
I had the windows rolled down just enjoying the weather, and the fresh smell of rain. Hand out the window planning through the air like a kid.
Got to the land around 5:30 a.m., put my gear on, and walked along the edge of the field. The grass was thick and wet, and I looked on the open muddy areas for tracks, but didn’t see any.
There is a large pile of rocks about 2 feet high at the edge of the field I hunt. I like it because it provides cover and all the animals (turkey and deer) are used to it. It’s natural cover.
I’ve got three decoys and I set them out 20 yards directly in front of me. I’ve had these three decoys since 2001. One is just a cheap foam feeding hen, and I used a broken arrow to hang it on. The other two are blow up Screary’s, one jake and one hen. They pivot a little in the wind, and I noticed it was very windy and blowing into my face.
I had to break out my rain jacket because it was still drizzling. I unbuttoned my seat cushion from the vest and settled in behind the rock, my Mossberg 835 loaded with 3.5’-inch No. 4 at my side. I have an old box call, a slate call, and a friction call. My mouth call membrane dried up and I need to go to Wall-E World and get a new one.
I was happy to sit behind that rock because it kept the wind off of me and it was cool. I was thinking, “I left a nice warm bed with down blankets, to sit in the rain, cold, wind and in the middle of darkness.”
It’s funny how keen your hearing gets when it’s dark outside. I could hear some little noises, and wondered if it was deer, or fox, or something else moving about in the brush.
Slowly but surely it was getting light. I thought I heard some gobbling at 6:15 a.m., but it was still too dark. I heard the noise faintly again, and it was some dogs barking off in the distance. By 6:30 a.m., it was light enough for me to see my decoys, so I started to call.
First I tried using the slate, but it must have gotten wet and had to put it away, so I went to the trusty Lynch box call. I called loud and aggressively to let the toms know a hen was around. They’re probably still on the roost, but this would get them fired up and looking when they hit the ground.
I waited for a response – nothing. Then I start off with the friction call. It’s at a higher pitch, and I would alternate the cadence. Sometimes fast – then I would slow it down. Alternating between yelps and clucks. Again, nothing – but then I hear faint gobbling in front of me.
The wood line is across the field, and I can see it clearly now that the sun has come up a little. The woods are about 250 yards away and are a mix of hardwoods and tall pines.
By 6:40 a.m., I heard the dogs again, but it is way off. Then I hear a single shotgun go off, and it is really far out there. I’m not the only one in the woods trying to fill his tag. I call again, working both the box call and friction call. The experts say make it sound like a couple of turkeys talking.
6:55 a.m. rolls around as I look at my watch. Prime time is here I’m thinking – and sure enough, peeking over the rolling slope of the field is a little brown head. It’s a hen, and she’s cluck, cluck, cluck, clucking away. She sees the decoys and moves in fast, and I’m thinking this is not what I want, because she’s going to make them out, and warn everyone that something is amiss.
I keep my head down as much as I could and just watched. I had this hen cluck, cluck, cluck, clucking next to my decoys for a good long while. Then off in the distance I could see a tom coming. He’s about 200 yards out, but coming in fast. He didn’t run, but would walk fast, then strut, walk back and forth, strut again, and then walk in some more.
The hen stopped clucking and was now feeding next to my decoys. And this just added to the realism of my set up. As I was watched the single tom directly in front of me strut and come in, at the corner of my eye to my left I saw two white heads poke over the ridge. Two more toms were coming too. They were strutting and gobbling.
The two together would gobble, and then the single one in front of me would gobble. The single one in front of me was getting more aggressive. Needless to say, my heart was pounding, and I stopped calling all together. I couldn’t pick up my shotgun because it was sitting to the side and would show too much movement.
The single gobbler came in really close now, about 30 yards, and this made the two pair come in faster, too. The single one got spooked and moved from right to left on me, and I felt my chances slipping because that tom knew something was up.
I decided to grab my gun and shoulder it. The one single tom was gone out of my sight, but I was able to hold the shotgun and hit the friction call a couple more times.
This sealed the deal for the … pair, and they moved in quickly to 15 to 20 yards from my decoy in full strut. There were some limbs and brush in front of me, and when they moved from left to right into the opening, I took my safety off, put the red and white bead on his red, white, and blue head, and started yelling, “Bock, Bock, Bock !”like a chicken. I wanted him to come out of strut and stretch his neck….then ‘Boom.’
He went down at 15 to 20 yards with a good hit. He was flopping around, and the rest of the bunch took off flying the 250 yard to the opposite wood line. I looked at my watch and it was 7:15 a.m.
I’d probably watched the whole procession for 15 minutes, but it felt like an eternity. It was awesome; my adrenaline was pumping so hard. It was just a great feeling when everything came together. The excitement of watching the whole play come together, having to remind myself to stay calm and cool till the last minute. Just a great way to start the season and day.
I thank God and living in a free country where we can enjoy the bounty of nature.
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