04/12/14-Fantastic opening day”¦got settled in a place by first gray light where I knew turkeys hung out every year”¦gently touched a few soft yelps on the box call”¦and was immediately surprised by a loud gobble right out behind me 20-30 yards”¦guessing, was very close.
Waited a couple seconds and touch the call just a few ever so very light strokes again, and he immediately gobbled again right on top of me. Before I could even set the box down I heard him coming through the leaves & brush close over my left shoulder.
He stepped out of the woods into view in the open area in front of me and started going in and out of full strut when he saw the jake & hen decoy. At one point he went into full strut and turned in a couple of clockwise circles”¦when his fan was up the first circle so he couldn’t see me I leveled the Flintlock and the next time he turned to his left and dropped his fan, I put the soft lead ball into his lower back, forward through the heart/lungs and out his chest next to the beard root, collapsed where he stood”¦6:40am.
So I accomplished one of my ”˜bucket list’ items that I wasn’t able to get done in 2013, which was to learn the vital locations and take a turkey with a patched lead ball out of my 28ga smoothbore Flintlock similar to the way the settlers did (with written agreement from the NC-WRC) and am very satisfied with today’s hunt. Punched my tag, and dropped it off to a needy family.
The only thing better would be if I could have gotten it on video, which I was set up for”¦it’s just that he presented such a sure shot off to my left 45* angle that I couldn’t pass it up on opening morning, and he still wasn’t into the field of view of the camera yet.
Waited a couple seconds and touch the call just a few ever so very light strokes again, and he immediately gobbled again right on top of me. Before I could even set the box down I heard him coming through the leaves & brush close over my left shoulder.
He stepped out of the woods into view in the open area in front of me and started going in and out of full strut when he saw the jake & hen decoy. At one point he went into full strut and turned in a couple of clockwise circles”¦when his fan was up the first circle so he couldn’t see me I leveled the Flintlock and the next time he turned to his left and dropped his fan, I put the soft lead ball into his lower back, forward through the heart/lungs and out his chest next to the beard root, collapsed where he stood”¦6:40am.
So I accomplished one of my ”˜bucket list’ items that I wasn’t able to get done in 2013, which was to learn the vital locations and take a turkey with a patched lead ball out of my 28ga smoothbore Flintlock similar to the way the settlers did (with written agreement from the NC-WRC) and am very satisfied with today’s hunt. Punched my tag, and dropped it off to a needy family.
The only thing better would be if I could have gotten it on video, which I was set up for”¦it’s just that he presented such a sure shot off to my left 45* angle that I couldn’t pass it up on opening morning, and he still wasn’t into the field of view of the camera yet.