I was invited to hunt with a buddy of mine in Southwest Mississippi for turkeys. I have never really hunted outside the borders of South Carolina so it was something that I wanted to do, especially since it was for the game animal that I love the most. The trip to the land was a 10 hour drive one way, but the time and adventure was well worth the effort.
I arrived to hunt in Mississippi on Thursday, March 15, 2012. When I first got there my friend took me around the land to see exactly the area we would be hunting. To say the land was beautiful is an understatement. The land was mostly pines with a few hardwoods scattered throughout it. There was a creek that ran through it and a few ponds with a camp.
We did not get out to the woods on Thursday until around 4:00 pm. We decided to go sit behind a pond that is near the end of the property. As we came to a food plot, we decided set up on the other side of it where the woods were open. After choosing the trees to sit beside and getting settled, our calling sequence was started. After finishing the first sequence I started gazing around looking for movement. Five to ten minutes had passed when I caught movement to my left. A few anxious seconds pass and then two jakes appear. They come out upon a trail working and feeding in front of us into the woods about 40 yards. We call them back to us and they work their way to the food plot and start to come to the realization that hens should be here but we cannot find them.
After they leave we pack up and start around the pond looking at where the possible roosting tree is in the area. We take an old road that has grown over a bit but is easily walked. I am walking behind Russell and all of a sudden I see that he has been surprised by something in the road. Looking passed him I see a small copperhead that is about 8-12 inches long. After stopping and dealing with the snake in the way the host wanted me to we move on.
We move slowly near the end of the road making sure there are no birds in the food plot that we are approaching. A quick scan of the plot shows that no turkeys are there. We cross the plot and set up about 40 yards apart. Our calling sequence is started. We are aggressive and loud, throwing cutts and yelps back and forth cutting one another off just to start bickering back and forth again. After about two sequences and 15 minutes we hear two birds start gobbling. They are hot!!! Counting their gobbles stopped at 34 and that was within 10 minutes of them being there.
The two birds are strutting and gobbling. One gobbles and then the other. I call to them and they double gobble. To understand the excitement here one has to realize that we are not talking about as the sun is going up, but as the sun in 45 minutes from going down. These birds are hot and they are looking for a hen. To say that I did not get caught up in the excitement of the birds gobbling would not be true and because of my over excitement I over call. Shutting up and making the birds come to me would have been the smart thing to do, but I did not do this. The birds were within 35 yards, but were in the trees with no true shot. Eventually they calm down and we hear them fly up into the tree. I have easily decided where I will be at first light Friday morning. We leave for camp.
As Russell and I are riding to hunt we discuss where we are going. He is going behind the pond again because he pulled a camera card which had four strutters on it from the morning before. I go back to the area from the evening before.
The birds start gobbling on the roost about 6:50 am, the time Russell said they would. They fly down and I start working them. They were gobbling a good bit again. We did this dance for about 20 minutes and then I heard some real hens appear. As real hens usually do, they took the boys with them. I decided I would stay put because I believed that the Toms would eventually show up once the hens left them. After about 2 hours of waiting for them to show up calling every 10-15 minutes I decide that I am going to walk around, calling on ridges down into the bottoms to see if I can strike a gobble.
After walking about 100-150 yards from my morning setup I start calling and then listen. My goodness, they are back and gobbling where I was just at! I put my unnecessary items down and run back setting up about 15 yards from where I just was. Thirty minutes pass by of me trying to work them to no avail. They are continuing to gobble. All of a sudden to my right I hear another bird gobbling. It is moving closer to me. The first two hear the third and the three start gobbling back and forth to each other. One would gobble and the other two would double gobble.
I can easily tell the third bird is moving closer. In about 15 minutes, I see 4 hens working through the woods. About 30 yards behind them I see a strutter coming along. There is an opening in the woods so I decide when he hits this spot I am going to call to see if I can make him think one of his hens has walked out to the food plot. He hits the opening so I call and he turns and starts right for me. Just as he is exiting the woods and entering the plot, a hen yelps causing him to turn around. I see an opportunity that is now or never so I cluck and he throws his head up. BOOM!!! goes the 835. The bird jumps straight up into the air and turns hitting the ground running. I missed! I grit my teeth in frustration and walk over to the area to make sure it was a clean miss. I found no feathers or any sign of a hit. I do find a sapling that is torn to pieces from my pattern. We head to camp for lunch. My nickname was (is or was) now Sir Miss A lot.
Friday evening Russell and I decide to hunt together again. This time instead of setting up in one place we decide to walk a road calling every 100-150 yards waiting to see if we get a gobble. We walk about 600 yards and are talking when all of a sudden a gobble rings out right down the road. Russell states he knows exactly where the bird is and we hurry to try to get set up. As we approach and try to make a quick plan I hear the bird coming, he is very close. The Tom pops his head up close to Russell where I cannot see him. I see Russell has a shot so I throw my gun up in case he loses the opportunity. His 835 roars and the bird is down.
I'm a slow reader, so that took a while!
